One night as he was returning to his room he heard a crash in hers.
"Calia?" he called. She didn't answer.
He pounded on her door. "Are you all right?" There was no answer.
Fear made his stomach drop and he shoved the door open. The sleeping chamber was dark but light glowed in the bathing room.
"Calia, what was that noise?"
"Don't come in here!" she cried and her voice was tinged with panic.
He crept closer to the light and he drew in a sharp breath when he saw the blood dotting the tiled floor. Ignoring her command, he rushed into the little room and found her standing at the sink with only a towel wrapped tightly around her.
"Get out!" she said, trying to cover herself more.
He averted his eyes but didn't move. "There's blood on the floor, are you hurt?" Next to the tub was broken glass and bath oil mixed with blood. "Are you cut?"
"I slipped when I got out of the tub," she said miserably. "I'm cut but I can't see it."
The king swallowed hard. "Then put on a dressing gown and come out here while I fetch Iago."
"He isn't here. It's a full moon, remember?"
Confused, he looked back to her and she gasped in mortification and spun around.
Blood was flowing freely from a deep gash that spanned from the top of her soft shoulder to the bony blade.
The kings boot heels crunched over the broken glass as he crossed the room. Calia looked around in panic for a place to hide but he ignored her modesty, being more concerned with her wound. She tried to skitter around him but he gently grabbed her by the elbow. "Don't move," he warned. "There is glass everywhere."
Blood ran over his thumb and he looked at the cut closer. Two tiny shards were imbedded in it. The king swore under his breath and he grabbed a hand towel to dab at the wound. Calia winced and her shoulders tightened, causing more pain.
"Damn it, where is Iago?" he grated.
"It's a full moon. He's out collecting the fungus he uses for his poultices."
Her wet hair was dropping into the wound and the king brushed it around her neck. Her skin was just as soft as he had imagined and suddenly he realized he was holding onto a beautiful, nearly naked girl. "Perhaps I should get Abelina," he said in strained voice.
"She's helping him, as is Klaribel."
"Of course," the king said under his breath.
Calia looked up with panic in her eyes. "Is it bad? I'm sure it's not that bad. You can go, I'm fine." The pallor of her face gave away her lie.
"I need you in the other room so I can see better." Without warning he swept her up, one arm around her waist and the other under her bare legs.
A sharp breath hissed out of her and she arched. "That hurts," she growled through clenched teeth.
"It should," he said, stepping over the blood on the floor. "There's glass in it."
He set her down gently in a chair and she pulled her towel around herself tighter.
With the lamps all lit the king could see the cut wasn't as bad as he had thought. "I think the bleeding will slow if I can get the glass out. It's going to hurt," he warned.
The king handed Calia a blanket to better cover up with before he went to retrieve the little medical kit Iago had stocked in his room and when he returned she wrapped up with only one slender arm and a shoulder exposed. She didn't look up as he came to her side and he could see red blotches on her cheeks but her eyes were dry.
Finding a tonic, he turned back to her. "Try to hold still while I do this." She didn't flinch as he poured the cold liquid onto the cut or even when he began wiping at the edges.
At the bottom of the kit was a small pair of pincers. Calia looked over her shoulder and blanched. "Just try to be quick about it."
"Tell me exactly what happened," he said, in hopes of distracting her. She was shaking and he put a hand against her back to steady her. They both jumped at the contact. Her skin was smooth and cool while his hand was rough and warm.
"I, um, I was taking a bath and put a little oil in at the end." She flinched when the tip of the pincers touched her open wound but kept talking. "I must have spilled some when I set it back down."
She groaned when the little tool found purchase and a glass shard, as thin as a needle and half as long, was pulled free.
A cloth was mopped across her back again and she continued. "When I got out, I slipped and knocked the jar over."
The king took a deep breath before positioning the pincers again. "You fell onto the jar after it shattered?"
"Maybe, I don't know." The tool dug in a little deeper and she arched her back again.
"Hold steady, I almost have it," he murmured. The pincers grabbed onto the tiny corner of glass deep in her flesh and Calia yelped as it was pulled free. Fresh blood poured out of the wound, she could feel its warmth. The king wadded the towel up and pressed it to her back. "Lean against the chair a moment," he said.
She watched him dig around frantically in the kit, pulling out paper packets, reading Iago's hand written labels and then throwing them aside. Finally he found the one he wanted. ‘Apply to bleeding area, cover with a clean cloth and keep firm pressure for several minutes.'
He ducked into the bathroom and returned with a clean cloth. "Sit up," he said, motioning her with his hands.
"Is it really so bad?" she asked. "It actually is already starting to feel better."
"I imagine it is," he said, pulling the bloody cloth from her back and smoothing the dried herbs from the packet over the cut. He put the clean towel over it all and pressed against her back. Her face was still pale and he feared he would push her over.
"I apologize," he said before placing the heel of his other hand just under her collar bone. He pressed his hands together as hard as he dared and prayed the poultice worked quickly.
Calia turned her head and found the kings face only inches from hers. "You're very good at this. Did Iago teach you?"
His lips twisted up in a little smile. "No, although he has taught me a lot. I don't always have a healer in the castle; it depends on who my servants are at the time. I found it prudent to at least know the basics."
Calia nodded and the king noticed the way her unbound hair waved around her face. His breath caught when she shifted in her chair and it brought them closer together. "Sorry, it feels better but it still hurts."
"I imagine it will be sore for a while. The second piece of glass was as large as my thumbnail."
Calia looked down at the hand on her chest to see the size of his nail and blanched. When she raised head her nose skimmed his jawline and they both froze. He could feel how rapidly her heart was beating in her chest and his own responded.
Her breath was faint and sweet on his mouth and he leaned in to taste it. He hoped she would pull away, he was sure she would, but instead she meet him halfway and pressed her mouth to his with a need of her own. The kiss was chaste but warm and sweet, everything Calia had hoped her first kiss would be.
Shaking, she pulled away and opened her surprised eyes. The king was gazing back at her and she wished she could see his face instead of the mask.
"I think the bleeding has stopped," he said huskily and jerked his arms away.
Calia nodded numbly and touched a finger to her lips.
The king stood up so suddenly his chair was knocked over. "I apologize." He stood awkwardly for a moment while she gazed up at him before turning to the leave room as fast as he could without actually running.
Iago came up to her room in the morning and knocked lightly. "Are you sleeping?" he called. The door opened and Calia pulled it back for him.
"No, not sleeping," she said quietly but there was a small smile on her face. "How did you know to come up?"
"The king was waiting for me when I returned. He said the cut was quite serious, are you in pain?" She shook her head, the smile still on her lips.
Puzzled, Iago picked through the things the king had left on the table. "Well, let me see it. Would you like Abelina present?"
"No, it's just the back of my shoulder. Besides, the king saw me wrapped only in a towel, I doubt things could be more improper than that."
Iago's jaw slowly dropped and his mouth puckered like a fish's. "Only a towel?"
Calia blushed. "He didn't tell you that part?"
"Good heavens, no. He just said you had been cut and he wanted me to check it. Why were you in a towel?"
Her face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet. "I had just gotten out of the bath and had slipped. I was decently covered," she added hastily.
Iago nodded skeptically and motioned for her to pull the shoulder of her dressing gown down. He winced at the sight of the cut and dabbed at it with tonic. "It might have used some stitches but it is too late now. It is good he put the poultice on it."