Chapter 41

  Present Time

  She would prefer to fight off another band of marauders, muck out the pigpen, or spend the day scrubbing the entrance hall to picking through people she had known for most of her life, deciding who amongst them to treat, knowing that she could not treat all. She could not ignore the Fae that had arrived with Sylvin, either, she knew, because he owed them a duty of care, and so, by extension, did she.

  How had it spread so far so fast? She wondered in despair. Her father had been unwell for over a year and tended by many of the Fae of the household, and yet none had become ill. Could an illness suddenly change and become contagious where it had not previously been? Or did the illness originate from another source? Polluted water, infected food, some type of household pest…?

  It had taken four hours and exhausted her to heal her father. Would it take as long for each of the sick in the nursery? Could she heal more than one?