Eirian started to lose her patience after the fourth hour. Her strength was coming back, albeit slowly, and the fog of exhaustion and the strain of using her magic was gone. It would take another day or two of regular meals before she looked normal again, but she was on her way.
There was no need to hover and fuss. Two things she didn't like or handle well.
And right now, Chenzhou, Marian, and Finn were getting on her last nerve. Yuze had escaped before his husband could corner him and Eirian was dying to ask what had happened between Chenzhou and his ex just based on the look the dark-skinned healer had given Chenzhou's back as he left.
A little gossip was always an excellent balm for bedrest.
But Eirian was itching to move. To get up and strength her limbs and move. It was a dangerous part of her magic, when it drained her so badly but left her with the itch to run. To fight.
Like it was trying to run into the ground because it wanted to be free of her. Eirian had never tested the full limit of what it would do or how long it would push. She'd never been quite this close before, but she also had a bit more to give before she thought she was in danger of falling over a cliff she couldn't climb back up.
Regardless of the motive of her magic, Eirian just didn't like being confined or smothered and if Marian fussed with her pillows one more time the matron was going to get one to the face.
Marian's judgmental eyebrow cued Eirian into the fact that she'd said that last part out loud.
Eirian wasn't the type to give up or give in, so she doubled down. "I'm fine."
"You look like one of the skeletons in the anatomy lab at the hospital." Finn muttered. "When it has a blanket over it, so it doesn't scare people."
Eirian, and the rest of the room stared at him.
"That's oddly specific." Chenzhou commented.
"I will be fine." Eirian said.
"What were you doing in the anatomy lab?" Marian demanded.
"Uh…" While Finn floundered Eirian turned her attention to Chenzhou. She was expecting a certain degree of increased activity from the miasma in his body, and she'd been correct, although she'd clearly underestimated the degree.
It was pouring out of him like a damn had broken on the Blue River. The last time that had happened was over a hundred years ago, but it had wiped out three villages along the river.
He still looked pale, the circles under his eyes very pronounced today, until she realized he hadn't had time to cover them with makeup. They were so dark it looked like someone had given him too black eyes. Even his hair was limp and dull, and he was still in his sleeping robes.
Eirian usually preferred to sleep nude, but last night she'd been so distracted she'd gone to sleep in her own robes.
Thank the gods for small mercies. She wasn't shy by any means, but there'd been a lot of strangers in and out of her room this morning and she hated dealing with people when they were awkward and uncomfortable because of what she wore. Or wasn't wearing.
Chenzhou still seemed like a bit of a prude too.
He'd barely been able to pry himself from the sunlight once Finn had opened the windows and doors. Even know that he stepped back inside from the balcony, he was standing in a beam of sunlight let in by one of the large windows.
He looked rather ethereal in the sunlight, so bright the dust in the air glittered like gold around him. He looked like one of those beautiful spirits meant to tempt the living.
A beautiful, severally ill-kind-of-moody spirit, but still, surprisingly pretty in the sunlight.
Anna had been in her room earlier. She'd obviously been with Chenzhou when everything had happened and come with him when he rushed to check on Eirian, but she hadn't stayed. Whether it was because she didn't want to or she understood the unspoken social rule of the mistress staying out of the wife's rooms, Eirian didn't know or particularly care. She'd thanked Anna for her concern and let the woman run.
She was a bit surprised Chenzhou hadn't followed, but he showed no sign of leaving her room yet.
"I will be fine." Eirian said again to Chenzhou but also the room at large. Marian was eyeing her pillows again and Finn had looked like he was on the verge of tears since she woke up. "By tomorrow you won't even be able to tell anything happened."
"Except for the sun," Chenzhou responded and there was something odd in his voice. It broke a bit, hoarse like he'd been screaming, and she had the urge to tell him not to speak. To go drink a pot of mint tea.
But there was something else in it, that she couldn't place. Something emotional.
"You brought back the sun." Chenzhou finished and then she realized what it was.
Awe.
There was awe in his voice. Like couldn't believe what was happening, even though he was standing right in the middle of the proof.
For some reason, it made Eirian profoundly uncomfortable. "The sun was never gone. The miasma just acted as a barrier, and I weakened that barrier. It will take much more work to remove it completely."
Chenzhou's eyes remained on her, steady and dark and deep and Eirian had to look away.
No one had ever looked at her like that. With that intensity.
"The Camelia has not felt the warmth of the sun in decades," Chenzhou said and now his voice had gone quiet. Like he'd realized he'd scared her and was trying to be gentle. "You did that."
Eirian sipped her tea and avoided meeting his eyes. "It's far from over yet."
"You don't get to say you weren't worth the bride price ever again." Chenzhou said. And then he bowed and left, Eirian's eye wide and stuck on his back.
~ tbc