Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2), B.T. Narro [digital book reader txt] 📗

I sat beside Michael. No one seemed to be speaking before I arrived, and no one said anything after.

We were like that for a while, most of us not looking up from our bowls of porridge.

Eventually, Michael glanced around and finally said something.

“I can’t believe it was Eden.”

A few of us nodded.

“I have feelings for her—had,” Michael corrected himself. “We…good god, was I used? Was she with me just to curse me? I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“There’s no way to know,” Aliana said. “She tricked all of us. I keep wondering if our friendship was even real. Then I feel stupid for wondering.”

“Jon?” Kataleya asked. “You would’ve said something if Remi was awake, right?”

“I would’ve.”

Aliana asked me, “How did you know to do what you did? It seemed to work.”

“The king asked me the same thing. I needed a spark of life in her body, something to work with, but her heart had stopped. I didn’t know what else to do to try to make it beat again.”

Charlie had tears in his eyes. “She’s going to live, isn’t she?”

“She will,” Kataleya told him with confidence.

“How do you know?” Charlie asked.

“Because I trust the king, and I trust Jon. If there’s any chance at all that she will survive, they will make sure of it.”

Leon, Jennava, and the councilman entered the dining hall together. They grabbed their bowls of porridge from the table near the entrance and came over to sit with us.

“Barrett just told us what happened,” Leon said. His gaze stopped on my neck. “That’s Remi’s blood on you?”

I couldn’t see it, but I figured it had to be. I nodded.

Leon took a slow breath, stared at the table for a while, then looked up again. He glanced at each of us, looking as if he was going to speak. It seemed that everyone had stopped eating as they waited.

“Although this isn’t the first time that—”

“Oh my god!” Kataleya interrupted as she bolted from the bench. “Remi!”

Remi entered the dining hall on shaky legs, two servants offering support.

All of us ran toward her as the king shouted from his royal table, “She should be in bed!” He rushed over as well.

“We told her,” said one of the servants, “but she refused.”

We all asked Remi if she was all right, possibly overwhelming her as fear was evident in her eyes. She looked as if she might collapse at any moment as she weakly clutched the servants holding her up.

Then her face broke as she started to weep. She practically fell into Aliana’s arms as she hugged her friend.

“Thank you.” She cried on Aliana’s shoulder. “I remember you coming for me.”

“Oh Remi, I hardly did anything. You should be thanking Jon. He’s the one who saved you.”

“I’m thanking you first,” she muttered softly.

“You’re so welcome, of course.” Aliana held her gently.

They stayed like that for a long time. Eventually, Remi parted.

She wept openly as she embraced me next.

“Thank you, Jon,” Remi said amid her sobs. “I owe my life to both you and Aliana.”

“You don’t owe us anything,” I said as I carefully embraced her. “The king’s right, though. You should be in bed.”

“You lost a lot of blood,” Aliana added.

Remi finally parted. “No, I’m going to be fine. I want to sit down and talk about what happened. Help me to the table.”

We supported her over to the bench, everyone soon returning to their spots. The king stood behind me, his daughter and wife at his sides. Even the servants who usually stood off to the side and awaited orders had come close to listen. There wasn’t a single person in the large room who wasn’t hovering around us.

“I need to admit something, sire,” Remi said as she sipped on juice. “Why I was on the roof.”

“You should eat, Remi,” the king advised. “You can tell me later.”

She had a small spoonful. “I’m not going to be able to rest wondering what kind of punishment is waiting for me.”

“What did you do?” the king asked.

All of us were shocked as we stared at Nykal. Even Barrett looked to be admonishing the king with his eyes.

“I will be lenient,” the king added. “What did you do, Remi?”

“I had to make sure Josef wouldn’t force himself on anyone else, as he had on me.”

She put her hands over her eyes as she cried.

Kataleya put her hand on Remi’s back, but Remi shook her head. “I’m all right,” she said as she wiped her eyes. “I took one of his hairs and a gold coin to a witch. I had to do it before he traveled too far for the curse to take hold. I needed to make sure he couldn’t do that to anyone else. The witch disabled that part of his body.”

The king was silent for some time as Remi took a few more bites of her porridge with a shaky hand.

“You will not be punished, Remi,” said the king to everyone’s relief. “But we will need to investigate this witch.”

“She doesn’t curse anyone unless they deserve it. I’ve done research, sire.”

“I believe you, but she still must be investigated.”

“Can you promise you won’t put her in the dungeons?”

“I can promise that, if what you say about her is true, she will not be imprisoned.”

“Thank you.” Remi covered her eyes as she started to weep. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why I’m crying so much. I’m embarrassed.”

“It’s completely understandable,” Kataleya said.

Charlie hugged Remi while standing behind her. “I’m very happy that you’re all right,” he said. “I was crying when I thought you might die.”

Remi sniffled and stopped her crying. She put on a smile and touched his arm. “Thank you, Charlie.”

She seemed to be more in control of her tears when Charlie sat back down.

“I take it you saw Valinox when you were returning from your visit to the witch?” the king asked.

“Yes, but he had an invisibility spell on. I couldn’t see what he was doing very well. I eventually realized he flew off. That’s