Chapter Text
❀❀❀
“I need to see Varian of Old Corona immediately. Where is he being held?”
The captain of the guard looked up at the determined princess and she could almost feel the resignation rolling off the man in waves.
“The king—”
“Has no say in this,” Rapunzel interjected. “I have need of Varian’s skills. For the protection of Corona.”
From Cassandra, she thought, though she did not say it.
It appeared that she didn’t need to. A flash of pain crossed the captain’s tense features, as if Rapunzel had thought the name too loudly. He pushed himself back from his desk before rising to his feet with a sigh. “Very well, Princess. Though he may not be very cooperative. Remember, he is a terrorist.”
“I remember, Captain. I was there.”
The captain held the lantern high as he led the way down the steps, further down, into the lower levels of the dungeons. The corridors were cold and drafty in spite of the mild May evening that had descended outside of the palace walls. Rapunzel shivered slightly as she clutched the light shawl she was wearing more tightly around her shoulders.
This deep, the cells they passed were empty. She wondered why the boy was being kept here when the block appeared to be otherwise unused…
“Captain, sir!” The guard on duty sprang to attention as they approached. “Your Highness!”
“At ease, soldier,” the captain stated calmly as he stopped his steps in front of the eager young man. “Any trouble this evening?”
“All quiet, sir.”
“Very good.”
She didn’t know why, but something felt wrong. Something was wrong. It was too cold, too damp, too dark down here.
And then she saw him.
The captain held up the lamp, allowing the light to shine in through the bars as they approached the cell.
The alchemist appeared to be asleep. He was curled up on a plain wooden cot, a thin dark blanket clutched around his small body. She saw a mass of ratty overlong hair peeking out from the top of the blanket, small bare feet poking out at the bottom.
This was wrong—
“Prisoner! Against the wall!” The captain banged his sheathed sword against the bars of the cell as he shouted. The noise was so loud and startling that Rapunzel felt her heart leap into her throat.
She watched, stunned, as Varian let out a choked gasp, flailing to free himself from the blanket and rolling off the cot, falling to the ground with a thud. Before she even had the chance to wonder if he had hurt himself, he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled to the far wall. He planted his hands on the wall, spreading his feet and tucking his head all in one desperate motion.
The captain opened the cell door and crossed the small space in three steps, arriving just as the boy flung himself into his awkward position. The man grabbed the boy’s thin wrist, pulling it behind his back and cuffing it. Then he did the same to the other wrist, before spinning the boy around to face Rapunzel, his upper arm firmly in the captain’s grasp.
“The princess wants to speak with you. You will respectfully and truthfully answer any and all questions she sees fit to put to you, is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” the child mumbled.
And that was the moment at which Rapunzel’s heart shattered. Varian was looking up at her with dull eyes, the flame of curiosity that once had danced within them snuffed out. He didn’t even look angry, which she had expected, or sad and remorseful, which she had hoped.
He looked—blank. Like he wasn’t even human anymore.
She began to formulate the question she wanted to ask him—something about the scroll that needed to be translated. It was on the tip of her tongue, before it retreated, fleeing at the sight of the boy’s thin shoulders poking through his torn shirt, the messy tangled hair that was falling in his face, the constant tremble that was shuddering through his wispy frame.
“What—Captain, why does he look like this?”
“What do you mean?” The captain pulled the boy closer, glaring down at him as if he had somehow insulted the princess with his ragged appearance.
“He’s so skinny—and dirty.”
That seemed to get a reaction out of the boy. He closed his eyes, slumping slightly in the captain’s grip. Rapunzel felt a flash of shame—she was talking about Varian as if he wasn’t even here.
“Princess, this isn’t a spa and resort.” The captain’s tone was clipped, his fingers digging into his prisoner’s arm. He was clearly losing patience. “Ask your questions, Your Highness, so I can get you back upstairs. It’s too cold and damp down here for you.”
It’s too cold and damp down here for him, she thought, though she didn’t dare say it. She was worried that the concern she had already expressed would lead to unwanted repercussions for Varian. The captain’s tight grip on the boy’s arm already looked painful…
“Um—right. Hello, Varian.” She spoke slowly, trying her best to appear calm when her entire being was screaming at her that this was wrong, all wrong. “Do you remember—the scroll piece you found? The one you translated for me?”
Varian’s head jerked in an approximation of a nod, his eyes still closed.
Rapunzel carefully unrolled the scroll she had been carrying, holding it up in front of Varian’s face. “We collected all the remaining pieces. I was hoping you could translate the rest of it.”
Varian’s eyes opened, and he appeared to be trying to see the scroll through his unkempt hair. Rapunzel abruptly realized that with his hands cuffed, he was unable to push his long bangs to the side. He could barely see.
Letting go of the scroll with one hand, she reached out tentatively. Varian flinched as her fingers neared his face, but otherwise he didn’t try to pull away. She carefully brushed his long, matted hair to the side, tucking the strands behind his ear. His skin felt hot—too hot.
She then repeated the process, brushing more of his hair back to tuck it behind his other ear. She had to bite her lip to suppress the gasp that threatened to escape when she saw the long, dark bruise that ran along his hairline and down the side of his jaw.
A hot flame of anger unfurled in her chest, like a morning glory opening to the sun. But her voice remained calm, her anger hidden, as she held the scroll once more in front of the prisoner’s face. “Can you read this?”
Varian squinted at the paper in front of him. His fever-glazed eyes flitted from side to side, unfocused. Eventually, they stilled, and he shook his head with a soft whimper.
“Don’t you dare lie to the princess!” the captain growled. His free hand moved to grasp the front of Varian’s tattered shirt as he pulled the boy toward himself, nearly lifting him off his feet.
“Stop!” Rapunzel shrieked. She felt her heart pounding as the captain obeyed, loosening his grip on the limp boy. “He’s not lying. I’ve had my question answered. Let’s just go.”
“A smart move, Princess,” the captain replied, relief evident in his voice.
Rapunzel left the cell, watching glumly as the captain pushed Varian up against the back wall before uncuffing him. He ordered the boy not to move as he exited the cell, closing it behind himself and locking it with a loud metallic clang.
“Let’s go, Princess.”
Rapunzel’s eyes stayed on the thin boy huddled up against the wall as she slowly began to walk away. He didn’t move, and Rapunzel guessed that he wouldn’t dare to move until he could no longer hear them.
Following the captain up the steps and out of the dungeons felt like leaving the underworld for the land of the living.
❀❀❀
After a night of tossing and turning in restless sleep, Rapunzel tried to go about her day as if nothing had happened. She stopped by the library, handing the scroll to the head librarian, who promised to take a look at it to see if she could find a way to decode it.
Then she returned to her room and attempted to distract herself with her painting. But she found her palette darkening with her thoughts as they returned, again and again, to the deep recesses of the bright, deceptive palace, to the hidden horrors underneath.
She threw her paintbrush down with a loud groan. She needed to talk to someone, besides Pascal, but she had no idea who.
Normally, she would seek out her mother for advice, but she didn’t think that was a good option in this case. The queen had been kidnapped and terrorized by the rogue alchemist, after all. She might not be too thrilled to hear that her own daughter was feeling pangs of guilt over his treatment in prison.
But surely it wasn’t necessary to treat him that poorly—no matter what he had done. And her father had promised to help him…
She tried bringing it up to Eugene, when he came by to take her for a stroll in the gardens. But the moment she mentioned Varian’s name, the man’s face darkened with anger.
“You don’t need to worry about him,” he exclaimed as he took Rapunzel by the shoulders. “He’ll never hurt you again.”
I think we’re the ones hurting him, she thought, but she didn’t say it. Instead, feeling vaguely ill, she abruptly cut their walk short, leaving a confused Eugene standing among the rose bushes as she hurried inside.
At dinner, she was barely able to touch her food. She found herself wondering what Varian was eating…
And that was the point when something just snapped inside her. The blossom of rage that she had first felt while standing in that cold cell flared to life once more. Pushing herself back from the table, she rose abruptly, before turning and walking toward the door.
“Rapunzel, are you done so soon?”
She turned at her father’s voice. She had to restrain herself from glaring at the man staring at her in concern. He looked healthy and well-fed, not a care in the world, not a single worry about what he had done…
Her mother, too, was looking at her with wide eyes. Even Eugene was caught, fork raised half-way to his mouth, staring at her in confusion.
“Yes. I’m done.”
And with that, she turned on her heel and marched out the door.
❀❀❀
First things first—she needed a place to keep him.
Someplace out of the way, preferably, so her father couldn’t throw too much of a fit when he found out what she had done.
There was a guest wing on the east side of the palace that was rarely used, remote from most of the main living areas of the palace. The rooms were all closed and locked, unused for months (the last time the rooms were occupied was during the Contest of the Crowns).
Rapunzel had managed to snag a couple of maids that had been dusting in the main gallery and brought them up the long flight of stairs with her, along with Mrs. Crowley’s master key. She opened several of the rooms before finally settling on a suite with a small balcony (he might like having access to fresh air), two separate bedrooms, and a small room with a washstand and a privy.
She ordered the maids to prepare the suite for a guest, with clean bedding and towels, and fresh water for the washstand.
She left the room just as the maids opened the windows and the door to the balcony and began dusting, fleeing before the developing dust cloud could envelop her.
For her next step—she needed to enlist her accomplice.
She knew exactly who that accomplice should be. It hurt her heart a little to realize that it couldn’t be Eugene—not after the way he had reacted to Varian’s name earlier. He hadn’t actually seen the boy’s condition, which would most likely soften him. But she didn’t have time to argue and explain. She needed an accomplice who wouldn’t protest, who would immediately recognize the necessity of her act.
She gathered a few items she would need—a lantern and a heavy, dark blanket—and went to find him. He was, as expected, in the kitchen. Baking cookies.
“Lance. I need you for a stealth mission.”
“Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place, Princess. I’m as stealthy as they come.” Lance gave her a charming smile as he leaned casually against the table. An abrupt movement of his elbow knocked over the bowl he had been mixing with a loud clang, sending flour, sugar, and salt into the air in a cloud of white.
She told him to leave it, they would clean it up later. Looking mildly sheepish, he followed her down the steps to the dungeons as she explained to him their mission.
“We’re springing the kid who kidnapped your mom?”
“Not ‘springing,’ exactly. We’re moving him to a better location.”
Lance didn’t say anything else, but followed her in silence, carrying the lantern she had handed him, as they ventured deeper into the bowels of the palace.
Rapunzel found herself hoping that the same guard would be on duty in the corridor that she had met last evening. She knew the man—he was fresh-faced and naïve, and overly susceptible to being awed by royalty—
She was in luck. “George, was it?” she called out as she approached him.
The man snapped to attention. “Your Highness!” he barked.
Good. “You’re relieved of duty for the rest of the evening. Give me your keys, and go enjoy a night on the town. That’s an order.” She ended with a bright smile.
She saw the conflict on his face, even in the dim light. The princess was giving him an order that sounded wrong. But she was the princess, and he had to obey her.
“Yes, Your Highness.” He saluted as he marched past her. She listened as his footsteps faded away, and hoped with all her might that he wouldn’t run into the captain on his way out.
Once the hallway was quiet, she moved forward, the heavy ring of keys in her hand. Lance followed closely behind her, providing light. She found the correct cell, and after a bit of fumbling the correct key.
The small shape on the cot didn’t stir as the door to the cell creaked open.
As they stepped inside, she heard Lance inhale sharply.
“What the actual fu—”
“Varian?” Rapunzel whispered as she approached the cot. She reached out her hand, placing it on what she assumed was a shoulder hidden under the blanket, and shook gently. “Varian, I need you to wake up.”
She pulled at the thin blanket that was tightly wrapped around the small body, uncovering a mass of dark hair and a pale, pinched face. Her fingers brushed his skin, and she realized that he was still hot to the touch.
For a moment he didn’t move. Then he was staring up at her, eyes blinking, confusion swirling in their blue depths. He looked behind her, to where Lance was hovering over her shoulder, lantern held high. Then his gaze flitted back to the princess.
He bolted upright with a hoarse cry.
“No. Please.” He was pressing himself back into the cold stone wall, his arms raised up above his head, as if to shield himself from Rapunzel and Lance’s sight.
Or a blow, Rapunzel thought darkly, as she reached out a hand, trying to calm him. “Varian, it’s okay—”
“Please—just leave me alone.”
“Princess, let me,” Lance insisted as he pulled Rapunzel back gently but firmly by the wrist, his voice dangerously low. She didn’t protest, but accepted the lantern he handed her, watching in silence as the man moved forward, settling down on his knees next to the cot.
“Hey, little man,” Lance murmured softly. “I’m here to help you, okay? I’m a friend.”
Varian seemed to startle. He lowered his arms cautiously, as his eyes attempted to focus on the man before him.
“I don’t have any friends,” he finally croaked.
“Well, you do now,” Lance replied, his smile so bright it could light up the darkest dungeon. “And look what your friend Lance brought you!” He reached behind himself, making grabbing motions with his hand. Rapunzel immediately understood his unspoken signal, handing him the blanket she was carrying. “Are you cold, buddy? I brought you a warm blanket, much nicer than that rag you have there.”
Varian’s eyes moved to the thick, fleecy blanket that Lance was holding up, and Rapunzel could see the desire kindle in them.
“For me?” he asked, a tremble in his voice. “What do I have to do?”
“All you have to do is stand up, so I can wrap this blanket around you, okay?”
Varian stared at Lance for a long moment, clutching his thin blanket around himself. Then he seemed to make up his mind, pushing himself carefully to his feet, his legs shaking.
“Good boy,” Lance said encouragingly. “Now, just drop the old blanket, and I’ll get you all wrapped up in this nicer one.”
Varian looked down at the man kneeling before him, and a flash of fear passed over his features.
“This is a trick,” he whispered. “You’re going to take my blanket and leave me with nothing.”
“No—no, I’m not.” Lance sounded as horrified as Rapunzel felt. “This blanket is just for you, okay?” He held it up, stroking the soft fleece with his one hand. “It’ll be much nicer against your skin than that coarse thing you’re holding.”
For a moment, Varian’s hands clutched more tightly around the thin square of cloth held close to his body. Then his fingers relaxed, and the old blanket fell to his feet.
“Good—very good,” Lance praised. “I’m going to stand up now and wrap you up, okay? You’re going to be nice and warm.”
Varian nodded, his eyes screwed shut, body trembling.
Lance pushed himself to his feet, and Rapunzel realized that he had warned Varian so as not to frighten him. Even so, she heard the boy whimper as his eyes opened to see Lance (who really was a large man, Rapunzel sometimes forgot how large he was, probably because of his easygoing manner) towering over him. Then Lance was quickly unfolding the thick blanket and bundling it around the boy.
Varian actually sighed as the blanket was pulled tight around him, seeming to lean into its warmth. Lance took the opportunity to pull the boy into his arms, quickly lifting him up, holding him snug against his chest.
For a second, Varian spasmed, trying to free himself, but his limbs were restrained by the folds of the blanket.
“Shh, easy,” Lance soothed, rocking him gently like a small child. “You have a nice warm blanket, and now we’re going to take you to a nice warm bed, okay?”
Rapunzel was surprised to see it did the trick—Varian seemed to relax, going limp.
Or perhaps he had simply fainted.
❀❀❀
He had definitely fainted. And he woke up just as they left the dungeons and stepped into the bright light of the main floor of the palace.
Rapunzel managed to push Lance into a small broom closet and close the door behind them, just as Varian started to shriek.
“Nonono, please don’t, please, I’ll be good—”
“Whoa, easy kid.” Lance quickly loosened the blanket, repositioning Varian so that his arms were no longer so tightly restrained. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make the blanket so tight. Don’t worry, your friend Lance has everything under control.”
Varian was breathing heavily now, though at least he was no longer screaming. He placed a hand on Lance’s chest, glancing up at him from under his overlong bangs. After a moment, he reached his other arm up from under the blanket, wrapping both arms around the man’s neck and squeezing as he pressed his face into Lance’s shoulder.
“That’s better, isn’t it,” Lance cooed. “C’mon, let’s get you somewhere nice and safe.”
“Safe?” Varian whispered, as he tightened his grip.
Rapunzel helped pull the blanket up over Varian’s head once more, before she and Lance left the broom closet and hurried for the staircase that led to the east wing.
They made it the rest of the way without incident. Rapunzel opened the door to the suite she had chosen, ushering Lance and his bundle in ahead of her, before following him in and locking the door behind them.
Lance made a beeline for the bedroom on the left and the large four-poster bed it contained. The covers had already been turned down by the efficient maids, and Lance began the process of carefully depositing Varian onto the bed.
Which turned out to be somewhat difficult, as Varian tightened his hold on Lance’s neck, refusing to let go.
“Don’t worry kid, I’m not leaving you,” Lance murmured as he gently unwound the boy’s arms. “But you’ll be more comfortable on the bed, okay? And we’re going to get you cleaned up, and maybe find you something to eat.”
Varian let go with a strangled sound, falling back onto the pillow. He stared up with vacant eyes as Lance hovered above him, pulling the blanket that had been wrapped around the boy out from under him. Varian clutched at it nervously, seemingly worried that it would be taken from him, but Lance merely repositioned it so it was square with the bed. Then he pulled the bed’s duvet over the boy as well.
Varian seemed to sink into the pillow, his lids drooping, though his eyes were still fixed on Lance, who had grabbed the chair that was positioned at the desk and was dragging it across the floor, setting it down next to the bed and seating himself on it.
Rapunzel watched as Lance reached over to brush Varian’s hair from his face, before taking the boy’s hand in his own and squeezing.
“How long have you been sick, buddy?”
“Huh?” Varian asked, his half-closed eyes jolting open.
“You’re sick. How long have you been sick?”
“He had a fever yesterday, when I—was there,” Rapunzel replied, answering for the boy.
Lance turned to glare at her, though his voice stayed remarkably calm. “And you left him there in that windowless pit?”
“I went back for him!” Rapunzel exclaimed. “I didn’t know what to do at first!”
Lance looked like he was about to yell at her—there was a real anger in his eyes. Then he seemed to think better of it, took a deep breath, and turned back to gaze down at the child on the bed. Varian was still grasping Lance’s hand, but his eyes were now closed, and he’d gone unnaturally still.
“I think you should find a doctor,” Lance stated flatly.
❀❀❀
So now Rapunzel was trying to find a doctor, hopefully one who could be counted on to keep quiet about an unusual new patient. But it was late, and when she inquired at the palace infirmary, she was told by the nurse on duty that the doctors had both retired for the evening, as the only patient currently in the ward was a guard with chicken pox, who was recovering nicely.
“But Doctor Milner told me to inform her if anything came up. She’s the one on call.”
Dr. Milner lived right outside the palace walls—close enough that she could be summoned in a hurry if needed, but far enough that it was going to be a pain for Rapunzel to sneak out and find her. But that couldn’t be helped. She would have to go.
Unfortunately, she ran into Eugene just as she was about to sneak through the kitchen’s service door.
“Sunshine! Where are you going?”
Rapunzel stopped abruptly, looking up into the concerned hazel brown eyes of her boyfriend. “I need to head out for a little fresh air,” she lied. Probably unconvincingly.
“At this hour?” he retorted, confirming her supposition. “At least let me come with you.”
Somehow, she managed to fob him off, insisting that she needed some time to herself to think. He looked hurt, but he let her leave, and Rapunzel made a mental note to make it up to him later. But right now, she had more important things to worry about than his feelings.
The doctor looked surprised at seeing the princess appear on her doorstop, but she quickly grabbed her medical bag and followed her to the palace. Her eyebrows climbed her forehead when they entered through the kitchens, but she didn’t say a word about it, only asking if the patient had been brought to the infirmary.
“No, he’s in a private suite in the east wing. I’ll show you.”
Rapunzel thanked the sun and all the stars that the east wing was so far removed from the main traffic of the palace. Nobody seemed to notice the princess and the doctor hurrying toward the little-used northeast staircase.
As soon as they entered the suite, Lance popped his head out of the bedroom.
“Doctor—oh thank goodness. I think you’re needed.”
Rapunzel stopped to catch her breath as Lance ushered the doctor into the bedroom. “He has a fever and a sore throat,” she heard Lance say. “I tried to get him to drink a little water, but he complained that it hurt—”
She found herself a chair in the corner of the room and sat down to think as she watched the doctor set her bag down on the desk and help Lance move Varian into a sitting position on the bed.
There was no way she wasn’t going to get in trouble for this. Her father would be furious—and likely her mother as well.
But she would deal with that. Watching the doctor carefully and gently examine Varian, as he held on to Lance’s hand as if that was the only thing keeping him safe, she knew she had done the right thing.
And then she heard the door to the suite open and realized she hadn’t locked it.
Who? She propelled herself to her feet, reaching the bedroom’s doorway just as Eugene did.
“What in the name of Vigor’s smelly turban is going on in here?” Eugene stopped abruptly, stunned, as he stared at the scene in front of him.
Doctor Milner turned to glare at the intruder, calling for silence. Lance tightened his grip on Varian’s hand, while simultaneously shooting Eugene a death glare of his own.
Varian didn’t even look up. Rapunzel wasn’t even sure he was aware of Eugene’s or anyone’s presence, outside of Lance’s.
Rapunzel pushed Eugene backward through the door, closing it behind her. She then turned back toward him and fobbed a chunk of the anger she had been suppressing all evening directly at him.
“You followed me?” Rapunzel's hands found her hips. “Eugene—I asked to be left alone—”
“I know, I know.” he answered, hands held aloft in a placating gesture. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“Of course I’m safe,” she huffed as she moved toward the settee and plopped down angrily. “And now I’m going to ask you to leave and not say a word—”
“You know, they’re going to figure out he’s missing before long.” Eugene nodded toward the door to the bedroom. “What’s your long-term plan here?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, putting her hands to her temple. “I thought I’d start with making sure he doesn’t die, and go from there?”
Eugene walked over and dropped onto the seat next to her with a heavy sigh. “I didn’t know. I mean, what happened? To him?”
“What do you think happened?” Rapunzel snapped. “My father broke his promise. He said he would help him. But he was just thrown away, discarded, in one of the cells on the lowest level of the dungeons. I couldn’t just leave him there!”
“Of course you couldn’t, Sunshine. I just wish you had told me. I could have helped.”
“I tried to! But you didn’t react well when I brought him up earlier.”
Eugene’s eyes widened. “That’s what that was about? You didn’t say.”
“I didn’t know if I could trust you with this.” She sank back into the sofa. “I don’t—I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
Eugene leaned toward her, opening his arms, a silent offer. She flung herself into them as he pulled her close. Sighing, she closed her eyes. She felt so tired.
They just sat for a while, mostly in silence. Eventually there was the sound of a door opening, and they both sat up straighter, looking toward the sound. The doctor was standing in the bedroom doorway, motioning them inside.
❀❀❀
When Rapunzel entered the bedroom, it was to see Varian once more tucked under the covers of the enormous bed. She could see from the one arm that was resting on top of the duvet, fingers tightly tucked inside of Lance’s hand, that he had been changed out of his ragged prison clothes and was now wearing a clean light-blue infirmary gown.
At first, she thought he was sleeping. But his eyelids fluttered at the sound of her inquiring voice, revealing slivers of blue that followed her as she approached the bedside.
“Is he going to be okay?” Rapunzel didn’t like how he was trembling. She was unsure if it was from the fever or from fear.
“He’s severely debilitated, Princess. The fever is high, but right now I’m more concerned about his level of dehydration. You will need to make sure he drinks lots of fluids. Every hour, I would say, until he produces normal-colored urine.”
“Oh.” Rapunzel felt a little awkward at that. She hadn’t realized that caring for someone so ill involved helping with and monitoring their basic bodily functions.
“Don’t worry, Princess, I’ll take care of that part,” Lance stated. “You just worry about providing the fluids. I think some broth would do him good right about now.”
“Let me,” Eugene volunteered from the corner chair where he had seated himself. “I’ll make a stealthy kitchen run.” The former thief rose from the chair and hurried out the door, as if he couldn’t leave quickly enough.
“Here,” the doctor said, holding out a small flask and placing it on the desk. “This is to help his sore throat, which will hopefully encourage him to drink. It can be given every two hours. I can’t give him anything to reduce his fever until he’s had some fluid therapy—fever-reducing medications can cause internal damage when someone is severely dehydrated.” She began packing her equipment—a stethoscope, a thermometer, and some instruments Rapunzel didn’t recognize—back into her bag. “I’ll check on him in the morning, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Yes, thank you,” Lance added, a relieved smile on his face. “I’ll make sure to follow your instructions to the letter.”
Rapunzel was walking the doctor to the door of the suite, when a sudden question occurred to her.
“Doctor—if he’s feverish, shouldn’t we take his blanket from him? Help him cool down?”
She didn’t like the idea of doing that—he seemed attached to the blanket now, he might freak out. But if it would help him recover—
“Have you ever had a fever, Your Highness?” the doctor asked. She was looking at Rapunzel appraisingly, as if the princess were an interesting specimen of study.
“No. I’ve never been sick,” she replied. “I always assumed it was because of the Healing Incantation. But even after I lost that ability, I think the Sundrop protects me from illness.”
“You’re fortunate,” the doctor replied. “But to answer your question—no, there’s no reason to take his blanket. Let me explain to you how fevers work. It’ll be important for you to know, if you ever have little ones. Small children get fevers quite frequently.”
“Oh,” Rapunzel uttered with a blush.
The doctor seated herself on the sofa, setting her bag at her feet. Rapunzel plopped down in the chair across from her.
“So—the human body normally wants to keep its temperature at a nice balmy 37 degrees centigrade.
“Thirty-seven degrees?”
“That’s normal body temperature. If it’s cold, and the body’s temperature starts to go lower than that, it will respond by shivering, in order to drive the temperature back up, using rapid contractions of the muscles to generate heat. If it’s hot out, and the body’s temperature starts to go higher, it will respond by sweating in order to drive the temperature back down. The sweat evaporates, cooling the skin.
“Okay, I follow.”
“Sometimes, when a person is fighting off an illness, the body decides to change its internal temperature. It bumps it up from 37 degrees to, let’s say 40 degrees. That’s a pretty high fever.”
“It’s the body that does this? Not the illness?” Rapunzel asked. She had always assumed it was the sickness that caused it.
“That’s right,” the doctor replied. “The body does this to try to fight off the infectious agents, which usually have less tolerance for the higher temperatures.” She paused for a moment, as if considering how to continue. “Now, all of a sudden, the body is still sitting at 37 degrees, but it thinks that 40 degrees is normal and that the body is too cold. So it starts the process of shivering in order to drive the temperature up. It will also make the sick person seek out warmth. When you have a fever, you want a warm blanket.”
“But that just helps drive the fever up.”
“The fever will go up, because the body has set the higher temperature as the new normal temperature. If you try to lower a fever by using external cold sources—cold baths, low room temperatures, or blanket theft—the body will only respond by working harder to get to the temperature where it wants to be. You can actually make the problem worse. In some cases, the extremities of the body will be cooler, but the core temperature could be driven even higher than it would have been without the external attempts to lower the fever.”
“Okay. So he keeps his blanket.” Rapunzel sighed with relief. She hadn’t wanted to fight that battle, anyway. “So then why do people with fevers also sweat?”
The doctor gave a nod of approval. “Good question. The sweating phase happens when the fever breaks. The body has decided that 37 degrees is normal again. The body will then work to cool itself, causing the patient to sweat and push away the warm blanket as their body temperature goes back down to normal or near-normal. At this point, you can help the process along by using cool washcloths. But doing so isn’t what brings down the fever—it’s the brain resetting the body’s normal temperature back to 37 degrees that brings the fever down.”
“Okay—I think I get it.”
“Good.” The doctor rose to her feet. “The fever will often rise and fall and rise again, leading to periods of chills followed by sweating, until the fever breaks for good.”
“And there’s nothing to do other than wait it out?”
“There is something that can be done. Anti-inflammatory medication will tell the patient’s body to reset the body’s temperature to a lower temperature. Normally that will help to reduce or eliminate the fever, but I can’t give him that type of medication until I’m sure the dehydration is treated and his kidneys are working properly—which we check by seeing if his kidneys can produce urine, and if it looks normal.”
“Oh.”
“The important thing to remember is that you can’t bring a fever down through external factors.”
“All right. Thank you for the lesson, Doctor.” Rapunzel held the door open, allowing Doctor Milner to step through.
“You’re welcome, Princess. I’ll see you in the morning.”
❀❀❀
After the doctor left, Rapunzel spent time thinking about how she was going to break the news of what she had done to her parents. It would probably be best to do it before Varian was discovered to be missing and everyone flew into a panicked frenzy. But how to present it to them?
She could tell them that she needed Varian’s help with the scroll. That wouldn’t even be a lie really, if it turned out the librarian couldn’t decode it. And though he had said he couldn’t read it when she had shown it to him in his cell, she had understood what he had meant.
He couldn’t read it there—in the condition he was in.
But part of her balked at even doing that. She shouldn’t need an excuse to pull him from that horrible pit where he’d essentially been abandoned. The doctor had made it perfectly clear that without proper care, he would most likely die.
She wondered if the guards would have done anything—taken him to the infirmary.
It frightened her that she didn’t know the answer to that.
Just then, there was a knock at the suite’s main door, and she remembered that she had locked it. She jumped up to let Eugene in, who was carrying a tray with a large, steaming mug, and a small plate of plain white crackers.
“Sorry, it took a little while to heat the broth,” Eugene explained, looking somewhat sheepish. “The stoves had already been put out for the evening—”
“You made the broth?” Rapunzel asked with just a touch of disbelief. She hoped he didn’t hear her skepticism.
He did. “What, you think I can’t boil water?”
“Of course I think—” she began as she opened the door to the bedroom. “Lance! How’s our patient doing?” she asked, quickly sidestepping the question.
Varian looked a little better. He was no longer trembling, seeming to finally be warm enough under his new blanket and the duvet, with just his nose and the top of his head peeking out from underneath. His skin was less ashen, though his closed eyes were sunken.
“I haven’t been able to get him to drink much,” Lance replied, worry coating his voice. The large man rose from his chair in one swift moment at the sight of Eugene and the tray. “Hopefully this will do the trick.”
He grabbed the mug of broth, pointing Eugene to place the tray on the desk. Then Lance took a quick sip from the mug. “At least you know how to heat up broth, Eugene.”
“Hey! That’s for the kid!”
“I need to make sure it’s not too hot, you know. And that you didn’t completely mess it up.”
“It’s not that hard! You didn’t complain about my cooking on the road.”
Lance ignored him, setting the mug down on an end table next to the bed. Then he reached out his hand, brushing the boy’s bangs away from his forehead, surreptitiously feeling his temperature. “Hey, kid. Buddy. I need you to sit up again.”
“Mmmhm.” Varian’s eyes squeezed tight, and he tried to roll away from Lance’s hand, burrowing further under the blankets. But Lance grabbed his shoulder and gently pulled him back.
“Come on now, just drink a little broth and then you can go back to sleep.”
“Tired,” the boy croaked, though he complied, allowing Lance to help him up into a sitting position with his back resting against the headboard. His pale hands clutched at the blankets, and Lance quickly pulled the duvet up higher to keep him warm.
Rapunzel wanted to talk to Varian, ask him a million different questions that were running through her mind. Had he been in that bleak cell this whole time? How long had he been sick?
Did he still hate her? Would he still want to seek vengeance against Corona, once he was well?
She would almost understand if he did.
But this was not the time. Instead, she retreated to the corner of the room with the chair and plopped down in it. Eugene came to stand nervously at her side.
They watched as Lance placed the warm mug in Varian’s hands. “Careful, it’s hot,” Lance warned, as he helped guide the beverage to the patient’s mouth.
Varian’s reluctance seemed to vanish the minute the broth touched his lips. He took careful but eager sips, only pausing briefly to catch his breath.
“See? It’s good, isn’t it?”
“Warm,” the boy mumbled. “Doesn’t hurt so much.”
Once he had finished, Lance took the mug from him and helped him settle back into the bed, snug under the covers. The boy seemed to relax into sleep the minute his head touched the pillow.
“All right, clearly broth is the way to go,” Lance commented with satisfaction as he shooed Rapunzel and Eugene out of the room, following and closing the door behind them. “And now I can hopefully take a few minutes of a breather myself.”
“You’re doing really well with him,” Rapunzel remarked. “He seems to trust you.”
“Yeah, well, I used to take care of the sick kids at the orphanage,” Lance replied as he sank gratefully down into an armchair.
“Are we going to address the elephant in the room here?” Eugene asked as Rapunzel seated herself on the settee across from Lance. “’Cause it’s a big one, all decked out with fancy blankets and tassels and ready for the circus parade. The kid’s sick, and he needs help, I won’t deny that. And he’s awfully sweet and helpless right now. But he won’t stay that way. He’ll get better. And if you recall, his natural state is not ‘sweet and helpless.’ As a matter of fact, it could be argued that it’s the exact opposite of that.”
“See? This is why the princess didn’t ask you to help.” Lance’s comment was almost flippant, but Rapunzel could hear the anger in his voice. “I think we can worry about his mental state when—if—he gets better.”
“If?”
“There’s no guarantee, he’s pretty sick, Eugene! And it’s our fault!”
“How is it our fault—”
“We left him,” Rapunzel interjected, causing the two men to look to her. “I left him. Without checking to make sure that he was receiving the help my dad promised.” She buried her face in her hands. “Obviously, he wasn’t.”
“Blondie, that’s not—”
“It is!” she snapped, pushing away his hand as he seated himself next to hear, reaching for her. “He’s just a kid and I—I messed up!”
“We all mess up, Princess.” Lance’s voice cut through the tension. “The important thing is that you’re doing what you can to make up for it now.”
The princess nodded, her eyes briefly squeezing shut as she fought back the tears. She took a deep breath.
“You’re right. I’m going to do everything I can. Starting by telling my parents.”
Determination propelled her to her feet. “Eugene, I want you to stay here and help Lance. If any guards come looking for Varian while I’m gone, you can tell them that he is not to be moved from his bed for any reason. Other than a medical emergency,” she hastily appended.
Eugene nodded, looking grim.
“Lance, keep doing what you’re doing. Take care of Varian. Eugene is here to help you. Don’t be afraid to order him about.”
“Now Princess, that’s what I like to hear,” Lance said with a cheeky grin.
“Watch it,” Eugene grumbled.
“I’ll be back,” she added nervously as she reached for the door handle. “Lock the door behind me.”
And then she was alone, hurrying down the darkened hallway. Going to tell her parents what she had done.
Hopefully without yelling at them.