Healer Huang stormed out before Chenzhou or Eirian could respond. Grumpy healer looked torn between following his boss and Yuze, who still hadn't turned around, but eventually he gave up, bowed, and excused himself.
As soon as the door shut, Eirian and Chenzhou turned to Yuze, who sagged against the window.
Well, he sagged the Yuze way, which was a barely there slouch against the wall for a half a second before he turned around. He did give a tiny jump when he found them both staring at him. Then, he stiffened, turning wary as a grin stole over Eirian's face.
"Wow," she couldn't help being gleeful, "Who was that?"
"No one," Yuze snapped, cheeks turning pink and crossing his arms.
Chenzhou's lips twitched when Eirian turned to him, but he managed a semi-successful job of looking clueless.
"Spill, husband," Eirian demanded.
"Don't you dare, Chen!" Yuze darted over from the window and shoved a hand between their faces.
"Ohhhhh," Eirian cackled. "Boyfriend? Lover? Long-time crush?"
"None of those," Yuze muttered. "Drop it."
"Not a chance. I don't have chemistry like that with any of my former paramours."
Chenzhou coughed and waved them both off when they reached for him.
"It's not…it's not a big deal." Yuze signed. "He's my ex-husband."
Eirian's jaw dropped.
"We married when we were young. Obviously, it didn't last."
"When you were young?" Eirian snorted. "We're all still young. Was this a playground marriage?"
Chenzhou chuckled, but it ended into another racking cough.
"We were seventeen. It's allowed." Yuze rolled his eyes. "It was a stupid, childish mistake." He sounded sullen, angry…hurt.
"He left you." Eirian guessed, feeling surprisingly sympathetic.
"When we were twenty," Yuze admitted and shrugged. "It is what it is."
Chenzhou didn't look like he agreed. There was something dark in his expression at the mention of leaving, so Eirian guessed it wasn't quite as simple as Yuze was trying to make it seem.
Eirian knew what it felt like to be left behind, suddenly and without warning. Was that what Yuze's husband had done? Woke up one morning after three years together and decided it wasn't what he wanted anymore?
Yuze was attractive, an elegant bird of prey with a powerful position in a powerful estate. He was a catch. Granted, he could have a terrible personality trait that Eirian hadn't seen yet, but something made her doubt it. He seemed like a workaholic. Dedicated, obsessive, and brilliant. The kind of person that was probably hard to live with but not impossible. Someone dedicated enough to become a high-ranked healer was likely just as driven. Just as dedicated.
There was something more to Yuze's husband's decision to leave him. Something had hurt Yuze enough that he couldn't bear to face him, yet his husband seemed determined to talk to him.
Did he want Yuze back? How had they not spoke in the years since the breakup if they both resided in the Camelia?
Chenzhou put his hand over hers, bringing Eirian's attention to him. He gave a minute shake of his head, a warning to drop it, and pushed to his feet. "This meeting was a waste, but we still need to attend the intelligence briefing after lunch."
He swayed a bit once he was on his feet, and Eirian and Yuze both reached for him.
"We have plenty of time." Eirian pushed him back into his chair. "Tell me what's wrong with you."
Chenzhou blinked. "Wrong with me?"
"Why has Healer Huang been treating you for so long?"
"Because he's incompetent," Yuze muttered, checking that the door was shut.
Chenzhou sighed. "I've been ill my entire life."
"Ill how? What are the symptoms?" Eirian took his chin and gently pulled his face closer. His skin was unblemished, perfect in a way most women, Eirian herself included, paid a handsome price for. It was paler than it should have been.
The sickly cast to his skin matched the redness in his eyes, and looking closely, she could see they were swollen and dull. A severe lack of rest was compounding whatever illness he had.
"Insomnia. Lack of appetite."
"He gets the flu whenever the seasons change." Yuze put in. "Muscle weakness. He can barely hold up his sword anymore."
Chenzhou flinched and then reluctantly added. "Headaches."
"How often?" Eirian pressed her wrist to his forehead.
He was burning up.
Chenzhou shrugged. "Always in some degree? Usually worse at the end of the day. Not bad at the beginning."
"What about a fever?" Eirian asked, eyes narrowed. Yuze immediately pressed his hand to Chenzhou's forehead.
He sucked in a sharp breath when he registered the temperature.
"Chen, how long-"
Chenzhou pushed both their hands away. "I am dying."
Eirian and Yuze froze.
Chenzhou sighed. "No one can find a cure. It's only a matter of time."
"It's only a matter of time for all of us." Eirian snapped. She hated people who simply laid down and accepted fate. "There is no value in simply accepting what comes. Especially when it is something man made."
"Man made?" Yuze's eyes widened. "We've never found any proof of poison."
"You can't see it," Eirian said, her eyes sweeping over every corner of Chenzhou's face, down his neck, and over his chest where the miasma was wiggling its way out of him. She couldn't be sure, but she thought it was producing faster than it had before.
She pushed a small pulse of her magic into her hand and pressed it to Chenzhou's chest.
The miasma went crazy, tendrils lashing out violently. Eirian's magic protected her, but she knew that without it, her hand would be covered in red welts. A few longer tendrils tried to wrap around her wrist, only to jerk away from her magic.
Eirian was so focused on watching them react that she missed Chenzhou's stiffening.
"Chen!" Yuze's yell startled her, and she broke out of the trance to see Chenzhou shaking in the throes of a seizure. "Oh, gods."
Eirian helped him guide Chenzhou out of his chair and onto the floor.
"What's happening?" Yuze demanded as Chenzhou's seizure grew more violent.
"Watch his head," Eirian commanded. The miasma was spilling out of him now, and she realized her magic must have set it off.
~ tbc