Heirot

Artisuren stared at her like she was speaking in tongues. Mortification started up in his gut, but then he remembered Laurius's words earlier. Was she really not trying to humiliate him? "Not me," he said, composing his response with care and dodging her eyes. Havi piled Tenara's books in the corner while he silently appraised the situation in the room.

Tenara looked to Laurius. "You?"

"Before you accuse me of getting hurt on purpose, I didn't," he said, seeming testy. "Ren here almost fell overboard when the railing broke. Lucky for him, I pulled him back from the sea."

"Ren?" Tenara asked, smiling. "That's a pretty nickname. I like it."

"Better than Arti," Laurius agreed. He turned his gaze on Havitharon. "I followed your advice and its been fuck all since then." He stood and tried to readjust his shirt. The pain was dulled, but the stiffness wasn't, and he couldn't get his arm to cooperate in order to make himself decent again.

"You really are hurt..." Tenara frowned.

"Don't worry yourself, Princess. I'll manage. Ren's lovely magic tongue has taken most of the pain."

Tenara's cheeks flushed. "Magic..." She remembered Havitharon looking her injured hand in the cabin. She rubbed her palm a little at the thought.

Havi's gaze grew piercing when Laurius mentioned the Ivis "falling" overboard. He shot a hard look at Artisuren, but the man didn't return his gaze.

"Did you-"

"NO," he shot back, annoyed.

The swift response made the black-horned man stare at him harder.

Artisuren stuck out his chin stubbornly, and Havitharon took the cue to drop the subject. The seated man took a full breath, closing his eyes. It felt ironic that Thvoros was the only one in the room who knew what he needed.

"So you caught him? Is it dislocated?" Havi said, coming up next to Laurius to take a look at his shoulder.

Artisuren's hackles rose up again.

"I don't think so," Laurius said. "A few days rest and it'll be fine." He nearly jumped when he felt the pressure of small fingers over the swollen skin. Tenara's cool hand pressed into the joint and, even with Artisuren's magic tongue, he tried to dance away from the discomfort. "Okay. Enough prodding."

"Can you move it?" she asked.

"A little. Yes. More when the swelling goes down."

Tenara seemed skeptical, glancing up at Havitharon. "I think it's dislocated. See how this part sits lower than the other." She poked his opposite shoulder. "We could shift it back into place."

Laurius sighed, already pouring himself another drink. "Bloody hell, it's fine. Ren, drink."

"I'm not certain the drink will help."

Laurius smirked. "Says the woman who drank herself silly last night because she's scared of a ship."

Tenara's eyes flashed a second before she grabbed his arm and wrenched it up while placing her palm flat against the shoulder blade. There was a sharp pop in the air, and Laurius lost the glass in his hand. He howled, sliding off the chaise to the floor. A stream of curses rumbled out of his mouth and he whirled to snap at her but she was already heading out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Artisuren was in the midst of obeying Laurius's command to drink when the princess seemingly assaulted him. The Ivis dropped the glass he was pouring and bolted toward her, instincts blazing.

He was halted when Thvoros stepped in and blocked him. Artisuren watched in shock as the princess escaped the room and slammed the door. He backed up strategically from the other Ivis, still glaring and putting himself between him and Laurius.

"I'm just going to check that it's set right," Havi sighed.

"You'll touch nothing until you're invited," Artisuren growled, standing his ground against the stronger Ivis.

"Guarding your new Master?"

"Yes." The green of his eyes flashed sternly.

Laurius was still making a soft growl in the back of his throat, taking air tightly in through his nose. Had Artisuren meant to attack her? Would he attack her if she came back?

"You can check," he said, mostly because he wanted to make sure the woman hadn't damaged him further. To Artiuren he said, "Do not hurt her when she returns."

"Yes," Artisuren said, a bit shaky. He had never flown at a Yurivis like that before. He was fairly sure his body wouldn't allow him to hurt a female even if he tried, but the command was a welcome insurance policy. It had just been instinct, the second he'd heard the normally tough man howl in pain.

He stepped to the side and allowed Havitharon to replace him at Laurius's side. Havitharon felt the man's joint with experienced fingers. "It's in," he sighed.

"I have two toothsbanes with me," Artisuren told the other Ivis, wishing he wouldn't touch him.

Havitharon looked surprised. "You do? Why do you have something like that?"

"Kishva provided them to us...as needed."

Understanding formed in Havi's eyes, and then morphed to fury. He knew Kishva's reputation, but to think she took it so far that her Ivie required toothsbane to heal themselves...

Artisuren frowned. "Do not judge what you don't know."

"I don't need to know, I can fucking guess," Havi snarled. He turned his irritation on Laurius and snapped out "Your pain, 1 to 5?"

Laurius scoffed. "One to five? A fucking five!" The skin felt numb but the joint was a burning, ache he wanted to dig his thumbs into. Not that it would do any good. "What's a toothsbane and why is he so upset you have one? Is it an illegal drug I've never heard of?" That would be a shock. When Laurius was younger had partaken in a lot of things he shouldn't have.

----

Tenara fumed her way to the stern of the ship and plopped down on one of the wicker lounges. She was so angry, and then she was angry that her anger was dissolving, melting away into guilt. She'd hurt him. Helped him, yes, but... hurt him. It wasn't like her. Usually, that sort of thoughtless violence happened when her magic was running the show, and her rage was boundless beneath its roar. Then, people tended to break and splinter and die... She tried not to think of them, because, even if they deserved it, she felt guilty for them too. The only one she didn't feel guilty for was Edan, Crown Prince of Arken. She thought she shouldn't feel guilty for harming Laurius, either, because he was the reason she didn't like ships...

She looked around the ship, or what she could see of it from where she sat. There was nothing frightening about it. It was a passenger vessel, with all the comforts one could hope for at the price the ticket offered. No dark corners that passengers could see. No lewd gazes. No one to pour a drug down her throat or to weigh her down with their own body. There was nothing to fear in this place. Logic spoke reason but her mind and her body wouldn't listen.

She should apologize...

She almost stood to go back, but thought of Havitharon and settled back down. Tenara needed time alone. She needed to listen to the sea and think. There were too many emotions whirling around for her to make sense of anything. Besides, they would be fine without her.

Havi glowered at Laurius. "I am glad it's a 5. Since you clearly cannot think before you speak, maybe the pain will shut you up." The fury welling up inside him was equal parts worry. He didn't want to be here with them. He wanted to go follow Tenara.

He looked back at Artisuren, who had the look and stance of someone about to fight off a beast he knew he couldn't defeat. "Relax. I'm not going to kill your new master," he sighed. He grabbed a book off the top of the pile and went out after Tenara. "Rules are rules. Give him one," he spat, and left.

__________

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Artisuren rushed to the door and locked it. Then he turned and walked back toward Laurius, stopping a few paces away from him. He procured a small tin from his back pocket and handed it to Laurius, hoping the man wouldn't notice his shaking hands. Inside it were two tiny silvery beads that gleamed like liquid mercury. "These will heal most wounds, almost immediately," he said. "There are some temporary side effects..."

Laurius was staring after Havitharon, trying to understand the level of wrongness in what he'd said. Obviously, it must be a lot given her reaction... He supposed no one liked having their phobias made fun of. He turned his gaze down to the strange-looking pills and plucked one up. "What sort of side effects?" he asked, holding the pill up to the light. He wondered if the benefits of instant healing were negated by whatever might happen if he took it.

Artisuren rolled his shoulder tightly, as if imagining it. "Well... there is pain, equivalent or a little worse than the original injury. For example, healing a broken bone that rapidly, all the flesh stitching together at once and the pain of recovery being compacted into a few moments... it's almost the same as breaking it.

He glanced aside. "There is also... intense arousal."

"Ah," he said, and something clicked on in Laurius's mind. He felt compelled to make a note in one of his journals, but his writing arm was injured. He could make a note in a moment, he thought, when his injury was healed. This was fascinating! A new medicine, from a different world. Instant healing? This could change everything anyone knew about scientific health. It could put healing in the palm of the everyday man! He could make so much money if he could somehow reverse-engineer the other pill... Laurius was so preoccupied by the idea, he barely heard Artisuren's other draw back as he popped it into his mouth and swallowed.

"I'm sorry... What? How intense? How fast does it work?"

Artisuren slid his hand over his face. "It's immediate. It's... maybe about the same as knotting during a rut. Like you can't move and can't stop coming, even though everything hurts. It does wear off after a minute or so." He started looking around the room. "You need something to bite down on first. People break their teeth."

Laurius felt panic bloom in his chest. He opened his mouth to curse Artisuren, but it was too late. Pain split through his shoulder, and he doubled over the chaise he’d fallen next to when the princess had assaulted him.

He scurried his hands out, looking for purchase, for something. He snatched the pillow as his teeth ground to shatter and as he opened his mouth to cry out he had the presence of mind to shove the corner into his mouth and bite.

He felt so hard he thought his pants might tear open. He knew it had to be in his mind, this sensation of growing beyond his limits. Then, he was coming, his hips jerking against the chaise. It felt so wonderful and awful all at once to rub and thrust against it. He was moaning, growling, crying against the pillow, pain and bliss tangled so horribly together he thought he’d go mad.

He wanted to fuck and he wanted to die.

Artisuren rushed to shove the table back away from the chaise, where the man couldn't crack his head on it if he started to seize. He scrambled behind Laurius and bent his arms behind his back, then pressed him down against the chaise with his full weight to keep him as still as possible. He held both wrists in one hand and reached up to the man's face, checking to make sure the pillow was securely between his teeth. "It will pass," he soothed quietly, beside his ear. "It will pass."