Free The Devil's Liege (The Mathias Saga Book 2) by Danielle DeVor

He looked over at Stuart. Then he remembered the blood and the book, and well the whole damn mess.
    “I was reading,” Mathias said.
    “Last I knew, reading didn’t give you a nosebleed,” Stuart said.
    Why didn’t they let him finish for once? Mathias laughed, then stopped and held his head. The pain was just too much. He had hurt himself more than he realized.
    “What did you do to yourself?” Vlad asked.
    Mathias rubbed his temples for a minute, trying to ease some of the pressure. It didn’t seem to help very much. “I know we have to find Nossy as soon as possible. So, I sat here at the books and thought, why not use my magic to just put the information in my head.”
    “Oh, Jesus,” Stuart said.
    “I guess it wasn’t a good idea,” Mathias replied. It had been better than what anyone else had come up with at that point. It wasn’t his fault it was a bad idea.
    Vlad shook his head. “That would be one way to look at it. But, you should know that you are lucky you are still alive.”
    His life wasn’t all that important. He’d give it up in a minute if it meant that Nossy would be okay. This time, it would be his choice, not some evil bitch who had a chip on her shoulder. He shrugged. “A little more scrambling can’t make my brain much worse.”
    Stuart laughed. “So, boy wonder, what are we going to do with you?”
    Mathias slowly got up. He had to go slow, otherwise he was going to face plant the floor. His head was swimming. “What happens with me doesn’t matter. We need to find Nossy.”
    “Not until we get you checked out properly,” Vlad said.
    Mathias rolled his eyes.
    * * * * *
    Even Mathias had to admit that the infirmary wasn’t all that bad this time. He wasn’t strapped to the bed. They allowed him to sit up. In fact, all they had done was put these weird white disk things on his head and then attached them to a machine. There was an IV in his arm, giving him blood and fluids. Vlad stood by, watching everything they did like a hawk.
    The disks felt cold and sticky. They did not hurt.
    Mathias looked at Vlad. The man was watching so intently that Mathias was glad that x-ray vision didn’t exist. He didn’t exactly want Vlad to have personal knowledge of his underwear. Still, guess being king meant that no one could be trusted.
    But, with Tallus dead, the threat wasn’t as bad. It couldn’t be. They just had to track down the rest of the traitors and find Nossy. Actually, fuck the traitors. Find Nossy first, then he’d deal with the rest of them. Death would come to them all, eventually.
    “Sir, he has some unusual brain activity,” a nurse said to Vlad. She was a small, slight lady. Her hair reminded him of his mother’s, brown with flecks of gold.
    Mathias watched Vlad walk over and look at the screen the nurse was looking at. Mathias could only see the back of the machine, not that he’d know what unusual brain activity looked like anyway. His brain brought forth images from movies of weird spikes from paranormal activity. Not exactly helpful. He was paranormal activity.
    Vlad grunted. “This aside, is he going to be all right?”
    “Dr. Koroba said that the bleeding has stopped, but to make sure King Mathias rests for at least a week,” she said.
    Vlad nodded.
    Fuck that. There wasn’t time for him to sit and heal. If he ended up permanently brain damaged, fine. That was up to him. Mathias yanked the disks off his head and ripped the IV out of his arm. They might want him to rest, but it wasn’t going to happen. Nossy was too important. If he had to make himself a vegetable to do it, he would.
    “I see you are ready to go,” Vlad said.
    “Really? Ya think? Get me out of here.”
    * * * * *
    The walk back from the infirmary hadn’t been fun. With each step, his head pounded more. Sometimes, the pain was enough that his knees went weak, but he held it together. Vlad strode in front of him, but Mathias didn’t dare tell him to slow down. There wasn’t time for