CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Cousin, you look like death!” Xan exclaimed, bolting up from the dinner table.
Janus had been gone well over a month, and Xan had heard he wasn’t going to be returning to Virona at all, having been given a new assignment elsewhere. It was a shock on multiple levels to see him there in the dining room doorway, gray-faced and slick with sweat. Janus’s eyes glowed with the radiance of sickness, and his frame trembled as if he was having a hard time supporting his own weight.
Silence ruled the table, a stunned expression twisting everyone’s face. Vale and Jason recoiled, and Caleb sat still with an open mouth as Xan rushed to Janus’s side. He took Janus’s hands in his own and gasped at the heat radiating from them. “Wolf-god, you’re hot as hell itself.”
Janus coughed wetly before he collapsed into Xan’s arms.
“Damn it all!” Urho exclaimed from behind them.
A confused and frightened looking Ren hustled in, panting with cheeks flushed. “Sir, your cousin only just arrived. I tried to convince him to go to his room, but he insisted on seeing you. I told I’d get you, but—” Ren gestured helplessly, hanging back from the sweaty man in Xan’s arms. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault,” Xan said, struggling under the weight of his bigger cousin. Janus’s hot, clammy body rested heavily against him, and Xan grunted, trying to shore him up. “Run and grab some tea for him.”
Urho was suddenly there, helping him with Janus’s slack body, and Xan breathed a sigh of relief.
“Jason, take Vale upstairs through the kitchen,” Urho commanded. “Keep him far away from Janus. Don’t come back down until I say the coast is clear.”
The shocked table came to life. Jason and Vale hastily left by the kitchen entrance, and Caleb hurried to Xan’s side.
Together, they helped Janus into Urho’s abandoned chair. His arm fell onto Urho’s plate, dragging through the gravy and upsetting his glass of wine. His head lolled forward and his eyes rolled back.
Urho slapped his cheek lightly. “Janus!” he shouted. Janus moaned, but didn’t gain consciousness. “Both of you stay back! I need to get him to a bed.”
“Yes. Somewhere away from the rest of the house,” Xan said, his heart pounding and his palms sweaty.
“And away from the servants,” Caleb added.
“For wolf-god’s sake, where?” Urho asked as Janus’s breathing grew labored.
“Not in the main house!” Xan said urgently. “He’ll infect Vale!” He could never look Jason in the eye again if his child was lost because of their choices in this moment.
“To my room,” Caleb said. “It’s on the other side of the house from Vale and Jason.”
“No,” Urho said. “The detatched wing.”
Janus slumped even farther. Urho lifted him into an upright position, but he still leaned dangerously.
“Where the servants live?” Caleb shook his head. “No. We can’t ask them to—”
“There are plenty of rooms upstairs,” Xan said. “The servants can stay here with us in the main house. We can keep Janus separate. Just until we know if this is contagious or until it has passed.”
Caleb nodded, and Urho heaved Janus up from the chair and over his shoulder into a fireman’s carry. Hustling through the great hall, ignoring the cries of the servants, they took Janus out of the main house and over the walkway to the detached wing.
“This way,” Caleb said, leading them around the opposite way of his print studio. “There’s an empty room downstairs. The servants all preferred the top story and the views there.”
Urho settled Janus onto the dusty bed. Janus shuddered with his fever, and Caleb pressed his fingers against his forehead. Xan’s stomach tightened.
“Don’t get too close,” Xan said. “You’ll get sick.”
“Someone has to care for him.”
“Urho is a doctor.”
“Urho is your lover. Do you want him to be the one to catch this?” Caleb snapped.
Panic gripped Xan. “Of course not!” The thought of anything befalling Urho was unbearable.
“Let’s get Janus settled, for wolf-god’s sake,” Urho said. “Then we can argue about who is going to be exposed to this and how we’re going to care for him without infecting Vale.” He felt along Janus’s throat and examined his eyes by lifting his fluttering lids.
“What’s the matter with him?” Xan asked. “The flu?”
“I believe so,” Urho said tightly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Damn it to wolf’s own hell. This is exactly what we were trying to avoid by bringing Vale here.”
“Well, I’m sure he didn’t mean to compromise him,” Caleb retorted, pushing past Urho to touch Janus’s face again. “Janus, it’s me, Caleb. Can you hear me?” He gasped when Janus blinked up at him in confusion.
“Caleb?”
“You’re sick. We’re going to get you well again.”
“I have to tell Xan.”
“He’s right here,” Caleb said, trailing his fingers down Janus’s cheek.
Xan’s stomach tightened uneasily, and he didn’t know if it was from his omega’s gentle touch on his cousin’s face, or the ominous expression in Janus’s eyes as he sought out Xan.
“Your pater…” Janus trailed off in a rattling cough.
“Yes?” Xan’s heart skipped a beat.
“He’s sick.” Janus’s feverish eyes burned into his. “And Ray. Both sick.”
Xan swallowed hard, his pulse rushing in his ears. “Sick with the flu?”
Janus nodded. “Ray’s bad. Might die.”
“I need to go home.” Xan’s stomach flopped like a landed fish.
“No!” Janus exclaimed, reaching toward him. “Your father—You have to stay. Can’t risk—” Janus coughed so hard the veins of his throat bulged. “Can’t risk the heirs.” Collapsing deeper into the bed, he cackled miserably, tears slipping from his eyes. “But it looks like one of us caught it anyway.”
“And now you’re here coughing in the other heir’s face,” Urho barked, pushing Xan away from his cousin.
“Stop,” Caleb said sharply. “He’s feverish and not in his right mind. You’re a doctor. You know that.”
Janus rattled out another cough before his eyes rolled up, unconsciousness taking him.
“Damn it all.” Urho turned to Xan. “Go. Leave here. Wash up. Change your clothes. And then have the cook send you ginger tea with lemon. Lots of lemon. Drink it all and then order more.” He turned to Caleb. “You too.”
“I’m not leaving him until I know he’s going to be well.” Caleb tucked his hair behind his ear and looked up at Urho defiantly.
Urho caught Xan’s eye, but Xan didn’t know how to explain Caleb’s determination with just his brows or his expression. So he simply shrugged. “Urho, don’t you need your medical bag?”
Urho glared at him. “I do. Be a love and get it for me.”
“Why don’t you go get it yourself? Caleb and I need a moment.”
“And leave you both here? Exposed?”
“Like you said, we can argue about all of that once Janus is settled. Your bag’s in your room, isn’t it?”
Urho gritted his teeth, but one look at Caleb left him defeated. He stomped out of the room muttering under his breath about stubborn omegas.
Xan watched Caleb fuss over Janus for another few seconds, and then he took hold of Caleb’s hand. “He’s going to be all right.”
“How do you know that?” Caleb jerked his hand away. “He looks like wolf-god’s apprentice has come to snatch his soul.”
“Urho’s a good doctor and—”
“Urho’s scared, can’t you see that?” Caleb squeezed his eyes closed and a tear slipped out. “Besides he’s got other priorities.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Xan asked, wiping Caleb’s tear away.
“It means he cares more about you and Vale than he does about what happens to Janus.”
Xan made a soft sound. “And you. He cares about you.”
“I know. But…” Caleb shook his head.
“You’re scared, too, and that’s why you’re saying all of this. Urho’s a doctor. He cares for everyone who needs him.”
Caleb’s eyes burned into him. “Urho needs to stay well to deliver Vale’s child. You know that. I know that. So I’ll care for Janus.”
“And what if you get sick?”
“Then I’ll get sick.” He shrugged. “I’m healthy. I’ll survive it.”
“Janus was healthy—and Ray. This flu is incredibly dangerous. I won’t risk you.” Xan squared his shoulders. “I’ll be the one to care for him.”
“You can’t,” Caleb shot back. “Your father needs an heir for his fortune and his business. Betas can’t inherit. You know that. If you and Janus both get sick and if you both…” Caleb shuddered. “No. You can’t.”
“Like you said, I’m healthy. I’ll be fine.”
Urho must have run to his room and back because he came racing in, out of breath and sweating with the medicine bag in hand. “The servants are going to make the tea. They’ll be bringing it and some fresh water out for him soon.” He opened his bag and rummaged inside.
Xan caught Caleb’s eye and saw that no further argument was going to change his mind. As Urho brought out his stethoscope and thermometer, Ren came in with a facemask strapped on and arms full of cloths. Similarly masked servants carrying bowls of water, boiling and cool, and the full stock of their medicine cabinets in the house followed him. “Perhaps some of this will be of use,” Ren asked hopefully.
“Yes,” Urho agreed. He popped the thermometer in Janus’s mouth and they all watched anxiously as the mercury rose.
“Wolf-god,” one of the betas whispered.
“Ice,” Urho said. “We need ice and plenty of it to bring his fever down.”
“Yes, sir. Is there anything else?” Ren asked, motioning with his hand and sending a beta scurrying to get the needed ice.
Xan’s heart pounded so hard he felt like his chest couldn’t hold it. He’d never seen a fever so high.
“Yes, Ren. Have the other servants gather their things from the rooms upstairs,” Caleb said, taking a cloth from one of the betas and getting it damp. He pressed it to Janus’s forehead as Urho did the same at his neck. “The servants will sleep in the extra rooms upstairs in the main wing until this danger is past us. Have them prepare those rooms for themselves.”
Urho added, “Find out the name of the local doctor. Have him on call. Things could go sideways here very quickly, and we need to be prepared.”
Ren left to carry out the orders, and as they waited for the ice to appear, Urho began to chant prayers to wolf-god—old fashioned prayers, the kind that Xan hadn’t heard since he was a small child. It didn’t soothe him.
Ending one prayer, Urho turned to Xan and implored, “Go now. Do as I’ve asked. There’s no way for you to help here.”
Xan nodded, his eyes straying back to Janus’s clammy, chalky face. “Come with me, Caleb.”
“He needs me here,” Caleb said, smoothing another cold, damp cloth over Janus’s feverish forehead. “I can’t leave him alone.”
“Urho will be with him.”
Caleb ignored him.
Xan kissed his omega’s forehead and left him hovering over Janus with Urho. He couldn’t help by hovering too. He returned to the house and followed Urho’s orders to a tee, and then checked in on Jason and Vale in their rooms.
The rest of the night was a whirlwind of confusion. Liddy Bainson, a local doctor, agreed to be on call for either Vale or Janus, should Urho come down with the illness, or should Vale go into labor while Janus remained ill.
Jason and Vale were on edge, but after the beta servants cleaned all the surfaces in the dining room and entry hall, they relaxed enough to come down and have a snack to make up for their interrupted dinner.
Urho joined Xan in his bed that night after taking a shower and dousing himself in an antiseptic lotion, looking exhausted. He held Xan close and scented along his neck and shoulders. “You smell healthy,” he said. “Stay that way.”
“I’ll try.”
“Have you called your father?”
“I couldn’t get through to anyone. There was no answer at the house at all.” Xan tried not to let on how much that terrified him.
“You should go to the city. Tomorrow.”
“Perhaps.” Xan wanted to go, but he didn’t want to make a mistake. With so much happening all at once, he didn’t know the right thing to do. He hoped a good night’s sleep would clarify that for him. “Where’s Caleb?” He hadn’t heard him go into his room or use the bathroom in their adjoining hallway.
“He’s stubborn,” Urho said.
“He is,” Xan agreed, twining his fingers into Urho’s. His heart ached and his nerves sang anxiously. “I think he loves him.”
“I think he might,” Urho agreed, dropping a kiss on Xan’s head. “Does that hurt you?”
“No.”
“Do you fear he’ll leave you for him?”
“I don’t know.”
Urho sighed. “Janus is a very sick man.”
Xan tightened his grip on Urho’s fingers. “I hope he doesn’t die.”
“Funny, the last time you saw him, you hoped he’d be hit by a train.”
“Yes,” Xan whispered, swallowing thickly. “But I didn’t want him to die.”
“I know,” Urho said gently. “This thing with him and Caleb…”
“I don’t know,” Xan murmured. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Caleb loves you.”
“Yes.” Xan sighed and tucked in against Urho. “But we both know that love comes in different forms—philia, agape, eros. I don’t know what form his love for Janus takes.”
“Not eros.”
“No.” Xan sighed. “But there are levels to all those kinds of love. Take philia—brotherly love. I don’t love my neighbor as I love my best friend. It might be that he loves Janus more deeply than he loves me.”
Urho snuggled him close. “He loves you,” Urho repeated again. “No matter how he’s feeling now, Janus could be no competition for you.”
Xan thought Urho’s affection for him made him biased. But he didn’t protest. He simply closed his eyes and let exhaustion wash them both out into an anxious, tossing sea of sleep.