"Naomi!" Olya said a little louder. "Why are you saying all this to me? It is irrelevant."
"How is this irrelevant, Olya?" Naomi cried. "How can I make you understand?"
"You don't have to," Olya replied. "There is nothing to understand." She knew Naomi's intentions pretty well and didn't want to spend a minute more with her. She got up from her place. "I have to leave now." She started going to the door.
"Wait!" Naomi's voice came from behind. "Wait, Olya!"
When Olya turned, she saw that Naomi was rushing towards her to stop her. Olya's eyes went to her ankle and she narrowed her eyes on them. Naomi was embarrassed and her cheeks heated. She looked at her ankle and stuttered, "I think— I think—"
The door opened and the healer walked in. An old man with a white beard and a long white robe, he had a kind look. He looked between the two sisters with urgency.
Olya cocked her head as she crossed her arms across her chest. Without saying a word to Naomi, she addressed the healer directly. "My sister's ankle is swollen pretty badly. Can you apply the strongest poultice that you have with you?"
"Of course, Lady Olya!" The healer said, nodding vehemently when he saw that Naomi was standing at an awkward angle and that her face was flushed red. He thought that she was in extreme pain. He was not only going to apply his strongest poultice but give her the best sleeping draft.
"I don't want it!" Naomi said, shaking her head and feeling scared. This was just an excuse she had made to call Olya, and she didn't want to fall in her own trap. It was her will to get healed or not. No one could force her even if she was in tremendous pain.
The healer sighed. Most of his patients always got scared of him. "Please don't worry Lady Naomi," the healer said politely as he kept his medicine box on the table. "The king had asked me to heal one of his concubines, but he told me that I have to give you the priority. After all, you are above the concubines."
"The king knows?" Naomi asked, shocked with the information. If the king knew, it meant that he was going to ask the healer about her progress because even though her priority was above the concubine, the king loved his concubine over Naomi any day.
The healer opened his box and gave her a tooth grin. "Yes, he knows. Now would you kindly sit on this couch?" he asked her politely. He took out a small glass bottle that contained a gooey green paste. The moment he opened its lid, a strong smell of mint and bitter oil mixed with something that smelled like battered flesh. Naomi gagged and Olya covered her nose with her hands.
"Well, have fun, Naomi," Olya said as she rushed out of the room with a laugh that she was finding hard to control.
Naomi felt like gagging when she smelled the poultice. "I don't want it!" she squeaked.
"It may be smelling foul, m'lady," said the healer, "But it is very effective."
The healer covered the gap between them and kneeled on the ground in front of Naomi. He lifted her gown and saw the bandages tied around it. "Who has done such a sloppy job?" he asked. "The maids are absolutely useless and shitty in performing such simple jobs such as tying bandages!"
Naomi mumbled something indecipherable because she was the one who had tied the bandages on her ankle. She wanted to yank her foot away from the healer, but if she did that, he was going to report it to the king. The king would hate that Naomi was faking because that would mean that the treatment of his concubine was delayed because of her. At this point of time, she couldn't withstand King Viktor's anger.
The healer opened the bandage and picked up her ankle on his thigh. He scooped out a generous amount of poultice from the bottle and slapped it on her ankle. The effect was numbing. Naomi shouted when he spread the poultice all over. It was as if she couldn't feel her ankle. The skin had become extremely cold and numb.
The healer laughed. "You will be fine in a few days." He helped a very dazed Naomi on the bed who was now in tears. Once he settled her there, he tied bandages and then gave her a draft.
"What is this?" she squeaked in a low voice.
"This will remove your pain completely," he said with a smile.
Naomi had to gulp the potion down her throat and as soon as she did that, she felt dizzy. "Wh— what is in it?" Instead of one healer, she saw three healers and then four. And they were all smiling with pride.
"It's a sleeping draft."
Naomi's eyes rolled back in her head and she plopped on the pillow, sleeping.
The healer chuckled. "I am the best."
Olya stopped herself from laughing all the way back to her room. She closed the door and leaned against it as she burst out laughing. Lord Magnus came out of the bathroom with a frown on his forehead, wrapped in a towel around his hips. When he saw her laughing, he couldn't help smiling. That was his favorite sound. He walked to her and curled his arms around her waist. He picked her up and said, "Did you meet Naomi?"
"Yes!" Olya replied as she placed her hands on his naked chest.
"And I assume that the meeting went well?"
"It was hilarious!" Olya laughed till she had tears in her eyes. "Naomi is trapped in her own stupid web."
"I believe that you trapped her," he said as he made her sit on the mattress. He pushed her gently on the pillow and hovered over her with his hands on either side. "Just like I am trapping you now."
Olya stopped laughing. Her chest rose and fell for a different reason.
Magnus lowered his face and their lips brushed.
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