SWNOVELS The Poisoned Princess: Chapter 20
DIMITRI
The next morning we’re up and out of the cottage before Ivanka wakes up. Last night, I wanted to pull her aside a dozen times and see if we could have a conversation about all the unsaid things we’re keeping inside. But the dog showing up threw everything into a spiral.
I’ll be honest—I’d forgotten this trip was even coming up, even though it was planned months in advance. Igor, Kostya, Yasha, and I are meeting up with some men who have been traveling through the other kingdoms, collecting intel. It’ll also be a good time to check where the rumors about the princess stand.
But we don’t make it that far. We don’t even see them coming. One moment we’re moving through the woods just like any other day, the next, the bandits are upon us.
They must’ve been waiting in the trees, and they’re good. There was nothing on the pathways to indicate anyone else has been through here. There’re seven of them to four of us.
“Kostya, watch out!” Yasha yells as a man twice his size swings a sword at him. I move to help him, but I’m yanked back, slamming hard into a tree. I gulp in some air as I swing my sword, clashing it with the man in front of me. He’s quick, but I haven’t been trained by Igor for nothing.
I dodge the man’s swing, ducking under it, so I can kick him into the very tree he threw me against. Using my sword, I cut his upper arm which holds the weapon, just deep enough to render it useless. He yells, and I punch him square in the face, knocking him down, before I turn to the other.
Two more are already coming at me, as Igor holds off two and Yasha and Kostya both keep their opponents at bay.
As the men reach me, I notice that they’re wearing clean black clothes. If they’re true bandits, they must have stayed in one of the villages recently. They don’t look like men who live off the land and thievery.
One of the men swings his sword at me, and I catch it with my own. I duck under it and kick, connecting with the other man’s stomach. He stumbles back, giving me enough space to spin around and slam the hilt of my sword against the back of his head. He falls to his knees, and I kick his sword away at the same moment the other man tries to slice at me. I jump out of the way at the last moment, but to my disadvantage, I jump toward the man on the ground.
He doesn’t miss the opportunity to grab my legs and pull me down.
I hit the ground hard, the back of my head bouncing for a moment as I try to orient myself. The man drops on top of me, pinning me to the ground with his body as he puts a knife to my throat, near my shoulder.
“Warm regards,” he says. The next thing I know, excruciating pain fills my senses as the knife cuts my skin. Before I can do anything, the man is yanked off me, and Igor is there, punching him in the face enough times to knock him out.
I slap my hand over the cut, feeling some of the blood seep through, but it’s not a deep cut. And he didn’t hit an artery. Still, the pain I feel is much greater than the cut should cause, making me dazed.
“Dimitri, look at me.” Kostya is suddenly above me, his worried eyes roaming over me, before he pulls my hand away to see the cut. Because I’m looking up at him, I notice the moment his countenance changes.
“What…is…it?” I barely push the words out of my mouth. Kostya is turning away to say something to the others, but I grab his collar, pulling him back. “Konstantin.”
Kostya sighs and removes my hand from his collar. The others might lie to me, but Kostya won’t, which is why he often chooses not to say anything. But I won’t accept that now.
“The blade must’ve been enchanted. Or it’s poison,” he finally replies, just as Yasha comes into view, handing Kostya something. I watch as Kostya unscrews the lid and leans over me.
“Move your hand.”
I do as I’m told, and Kostya pours the contents of the jar over my skin. I hiss in pain, but not from the mixture—mostly from whatever is making its way through my system. A sweet smell permeates the air, and I realize Kostya just poured some of our travel honey over my wound.
Before leaving home, we were all taught some basics of first aid. Honey often acts as an anti-inflammatory agent that can speed up healing but —
“I don’t think…honey…is going to stop…poison,” I manage and watch Kostya roll his eyes.
“Which is why you’re going to drink this.” He motions for the others. Igor and Yasha drop beside me, lifting me slowly to a sitting position. “The honey is to close up the wound. This is to make sure you don’t die from it.”
He places a small vial to my lips. I don’t bother asking any more questions as I swallow. The liquid tastes bitter, with a hint of lemon, but I don’t stop drinking it until it’s gone.
“Gross,” I say.
“But effective.”
I’ll take his word for it. If anyone knows how to help a poisoned individual, it would be our resident scholar. I almost chuckle out loud, as a sense of delirious takes root in my head.
“We need to get you back to the cottage,” Yasha says. I like that idea. I’ll get to see Ivanka.
“Wow, you are more smitten than I thought,” Igor chuckles. I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud. “It’s about time you admitted it.”
I don’t reply. As we stand, I’m supported between Igor and Yasha. I glance around the best I can, noticing the bandits now tied to the trees.
“Just…going to leave…them?” I ask. Igor grunts.
“I’ll send the others for them. Let’s get you back now.”
We’re only a couple of hours away from the cottage, and I honestly don’t know if I can stay awake that long, but I do my best as whatever Kostya gave me makes its way through my system.
IVANKA
They’ve barely been gone for a few hours, and I miss him already. I am clearly out of my mind to be feeling these feelings, because I know they won’t and can’t lead anywhere. But my stupid heart seems to have all kinds of different ideas about what it should be doing.
So when Arseniy’s voice calls from the outside that they’ve returned, my heart does a series of huge erratic beats that nearly takes me to my knees. It’s the worst-case scenario—every nightmare I’ve had since I’ve realized my feelings for Dimitri coming to life in front of me. After a brief moment of shock, I rush forward.
“What happened?” Pavel asks as Igor and Yasha carry a mostly-unconscious Dimitri into the house.
“We were ambushed,” Kostya replies, going ahead of them toward the back room. I turn toward the kitchen, grabbing the freshly boiled water I’d prepared for Kroshka’s bath. She’ll forgive me, I’m sure. I pour the water into a bowl, and after grabbing one of the clean towels, I follow the men into the room.
“Here.” I hand the things to Kostya, just as they lay Dimitri down on the big bed. He opens his eyes, and they latch onto mine.
“Zvyozdachka.” He smiles, reaching out a hand that I grab automatically, before he passes out.
My little star.
My mouth falls open at the casual use of the nickname, as if he’s been carrying it around with him for a while and is now showing it to me for the first time. It feels completely natural and washes over me like early summer rain, kissing my skin gently.
I can feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I don’t register anything but how incredibly pale Dimitri looks. Tears fill my eyes, and I don’t bother blinking them away.
“He’ll be okay, Ivanka,” Kostya says softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. I tear my eyes away from Dimitri to gaze up into Kostya’s kind ones. “I gave him an antidote. And his wound is already closing up. He’ll be in and out of consciousness for a while, but he’ll be okay.”
“How did you know what antidote to give him?” I ask, my hand still gripping Dimitri’s slack one.
“You’re not the only one who’s on good terms with the land,” Kostya replies with a small smile. I furrow my brow at the cryptic way he says that, but I don’t ask further questions. He turns to the water and towel I brought, placing it on the floor near the bed. “I think he’ll want you to do this.”
“I don’t think—”
“Then don’t think,” Kostya interrupts, gently pushing me down onto the bed beside Dimitri’s sleeping form. “He needs you. Will you stay with him?”
I glance down at Dimitri.
“Da.”
The man smiles at me, and even though he says Dimitri will be okay, I don’t miss the concern in his eyes. Suddenly, the dog is there, placing his head on my lap. I use my other hand to stroke him gently. I can see the concern in the animal’s eyes and offer him what little comfort I can.
“We need to head back,” Igor announces, and that’s when I remember I’m not alone in the room. The rest of the man have crowded inside, watching Dimitri like they can will him to get better with just their presence. Right now, standing around the room with their shoulders squared and their chins raised, they don’t look like traveling merchants. They look like knights in a royal guard. I blink away the image as I focus on what’s been said.
“Back?”
“The men who attacked us weren’t typical bandits. They’re currently tied to trees about two hours north of here.” Igor replies.
“We’ll go,” Arseniy and Maxim say together, and Igor nods.
“I’ll take you there.”
“And I’ll come,” Yasha announces. For once, there’s no balalaika in his hands. He looks ready to be out in the woods again.
“Kostya and Pavel will stay with you,” Igor addresses me. “You’ll be safe here.”
I’m not sure why he adds that last part, but I nod in thanks and turn back to Dimitri as the men file out. Reaching down, I wet the towel, then lean over and dab it carefully over his forehead. He seems to be sweating a lot.
“Is he supposed to be sweating?” I ask Kostya.
“He’ll need to burn through the poison. I’ll bring you fresh honey to put over the wound in a bit. Have you eaten?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Ivanka.”
“I’ll grab something in a bit. Please go eat and clean up. You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
Kostya offers me another small smile and shakes his head.
“I’ll come check on you in a bit.”
He leaves then, and it’s only me, Dimitri, and the dog in the room. Poor thing still hasn’t been named. I watch him make a little circle before settling near the bucket of water.
A little while later, Kostya brings fresh honey as well as a sandwich.
“Eat first,” he says. Then he leaves once more. Part of me can’t believe he’s putting this much trust in me, giving me the responsibility of taking care of his friend. But maybe, he realizes that both of us need this.
Once I’ve eaten my sandwich, I get to work. Grabbing the moist towel, I lean over Dimitri just in time for him to open his eyes.
“Don’t misunderstand,” I say immediately as his gaze shifts to the wet towel in my hands. “This has nothing to do with you personally. I just care for all of Skazka’s population, and I also don’t want you to bleed all over the bed I’m planning on winning next.”
He raises an eyebrow at that, and I simply stare in return, my heart somewhere in my throat at the sight of him awake.
“Makes sense,” he finally replies, trying to sit up. I push him down gently. He must be incredibly weak, because I don’t have to use much strength.
“Stay there. I need to clean your wound.”
He doesn’t argue but lets me work. I clean off the old honey, and then the wound itself, which has stopped bleeding. It doesn’t even look like much of a cut, except where the poison has started to spread, turning the veins on his throat and shoulder a dark blue.
I feel his eyes on me as I work, but I can’t look at him now. If I do, I’ll lose it. Everything I’m feeling and everything I’m afraid to say will come pouring out of me. He doesn’t need my secrets right now.
“You have to get better,” I say, taking a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. “You have to name your dog.”
“Ah, yes. That’s important.”
“Of course, it’s important. What creature could thrive without a name?”
Dimitri closes his eyes, but there’s a small smile on his lips that’s almost my undoing. I think he’s fallen asleep, but then he speaks, without opening his eyes.
“You should name him. You have such a way with words, Zvyozdachka. You’d pick a good one.”
I don’t reply, because I simply can’t. Not when his voice is doing things to my insides that make it really difficult for me to remember to breathe. When did I get here? When did I fall so hard that I fear I’ll carry the bruises on my heart for the rest of my life?
His breathing evens out again, and I’m spared from replying. But I can’t get the sound of his voice from my mind…or the way he has given me such a sweet nickname, one I don’t deserve. Not when I’ve been lying to him this whole time. Not when I’ve stood by and allowed the queen to do whatever she wants with my kingdom. Would he even be here if I was on the throne? Could I make the land safer, Skazka more accessible? I can. I believe it with all my heart. Is this another way I’ve failed?
I close my eyes briefly, refusing to let myself succumb to my emotions. Dimitri needs me to be strong. The kingdom needs me to be strong. I haven’t made enough good choices in my life, but I’m determined to do so going forward. I have to.
I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eyes as I open them and watch as Kroshka hops into the room and lies down next to the dog. She gives me a knowing look, as if she can hear all the thoughts currently rushing through my mind. And she approves of my determination.
Glancing back over at Dimitri, I decide that as soon as he’s better, I’m returning to the castle and finding a way to take back what’s mine. Even if it means that we cannot be together. I will take the chance of losing him, if it means I can keep him safe.