The Ever King

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of violence, murder, and kidnapping.

Erik and Livia dress quickly and return to his bedchamber, kissing along the way. As they are about to have sex, they are interrupted. When Erik goes to the door, he encounters an assassin, then hears Livia screaming by the bed.

Three men enter the bedchamber and try to capture her, but she escapes to the garden below and uses the soil and the plants that she has revived to kill one of the men. The other two assault her and promise that she won’t be healing the land for Erik. As they are about to brutalize her, Erik arrives and protects her, suffering a stab wound. The assassins try to run, but Livia uses her magic to trap them in vines. Livia tries to staunch Erik’s bleeding wound, but when Tait and others arrive, they mistake her for Erik’s assailant. They think to call the royal boneweaver, but the man is drunk from the revelry and unfit to heal Erik. Livia then thinks to take on some of Erik’s healing powers, just as he took on her earth powers earlier. She then heals him. She and Tait argue, and they eventually move Erik to his room and collect herbs for Livia to use.