Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“We didn’t know how to ask for your help without sounding desperate, but Ravi encouraged us to do so. He was adamant that you wanted to help but weren’t sure how to ask.”
“I’m perfectly fine sounding desperate,” Cameron pitched in darkly. There was a pained frown gathering across his brow. “Alric’s been neglecting himself the past several days, jumping from one thing to another, and I can’t get him to slow down enough for me to apply the salve every morning. He’s in pain and ignoring it.”
And the mage was clearly upset his mate was carrying that pain. Sora could see it clearly in Cameron’s eyes. He’d not had a great deal of interaction with the consort of this clan, but in this moment, he didn’t see a consort. Just a man who was deeply worried about his husband.
Sora’s heart went out to him, even as his mind revved up to tackle the problem. “Ravi has mentioned some of it to me. What is his condition, precisely?”
Cameron answered readily, his dark eyes intense. “A spell hit him along the back and left shoulder, damaging the nerves and leaving a wicked burn mark along that area. Alric believes it was some mix of fire and lightning spells, but it’s hard for us to know for sure. It was enough to get past a fire dragon’s hide, though.”
“Two, in fact,” Lisette corrected grimly. “Alric now suffers from pinched nerves and tingling sensations, and his grip strength in that hand is basically nonexistent. If something’s over a pound, he can’t lift it. He doesn’t have full range of motion—even lifting the arm above shoulder height is difficult.”
It sounded like nerve and muscle damage to Sora. “But there’s no indication anything is wrong in his skeletal structure? Specifically along the spine?”
They exchanged bewildered glances.
Lisette offered slowly, “I think his bones are fine? Why do you ask?”
“The symptoms you’ve just relayed to me suggest that there is a compression to the c-spine. Weakness in the arm and hand, burning sensations, numbness—all of that is commonly linked to compression. It would make perfect sense to me if the spine were pinching nerves and pulling muscles and tendons out of whack.”
Cameron sat up abruptly, eyes alight. “Does this mean we can counter those symptoms if we can decompress the spine?”
“Not a hundred percent, perhaps, but we can certainly improve the situation by leaps and bounds. I hesitate to promise anything until I can examine King Alric myself. But I think it’s very possible to alleviate the worst of these symptoms.” Sora now itched to lay hands on the man himself, but it wasn’t the easiest of tasks to ask a king to strip down for a stranger’s examination. “What have you been using to treat him?”
Lisette popped up and fetched a sheet, which she passed to him. It detailed the potion elements and recipe in neat handwriting. Reflected sunlight, untouched snowflake, distilled frankincense, and carrier oil. There was a scribbled note on the side: Willow bark. Ah, a good addition. Willow bark acted as a topical pain reliever all by itself. Add that into this mixture, and it could only enhance the other elements.
“You added in willow bark recently?”
“Tori’s addition,” Cameron explained. “Tori, frankly, knows more herbology than most of us combined. He’s the one who suggested it, and it has definitely helped.”
“Yes, it would. He’s mentioned to me he’s interested in becoming a healer. I didn’t know what to say when we first discussed it, and he’s not brought it up since.”
“Tori would jump at the chance to learn, if someone was willing to teach him.” Lisette eyed him as if wondering about Sora’s intentions. “He has a very keen mind, that one.”
“If not myself, then someone of my family will be happy to teach him more of the trade. We believe that knowledge should be passed along to those willing to learn.”
Sora made a mental note to bring this up with his parents. Heaven knew, they needed more healers, and his parents were always excited at the prospect of teaching. If they were going into an outright war, then the healers would be at their wits’ end. Sora set the thought aside to be handled later and focused on the here and now.
“I see no issue with what you’re using. But I do have a few thoughts. Something we can use in addition to the salve. I suspect there is a build-up of scar tissue interfering with the nerves. I have a potion that can help break it up and then keep it from rebuilding.”
“That sounds promising, too.” Lisette propped her hands on her hips, clearly thinking hard. “A maintenance potion to keep trouble from reaccumulating in the future.”
“Yes, that’s precisely what it is. It’s not a complicated potion, and if we apply it before the pain-relieving salve you have here, then it will significantly cut into King Alric’s numbness.”