Chapter 22 #2
Larellin lets out a soft sigh, her body losing its tension. Her color improves slightly, the pale sheen turning warmer. But the wound lingers, still gaping and bloody.
“That’s it.” Lenka pulls the cloth back. The last bit of venom leaks from the bite and into the basin.
“My salve!” She holds a shaking hand out to Sprite.
“Here.” He hands her another bottle, this one filled with a pale pink paste. Muttering a few words under her breath, she gently dabs the pink paste onto the injury. “And where is Kanlon?” She dabs more of her salve as Larellin’s breathing hitches.
“You’re hurting her,” I growl. “What is that?” I jerk my chin toward the potion bottles.
“Ilna didn’t send me in blind. We knew the risk. I was prepared for this, for what Sela might do. I only hope that was the extent of it.” She takes Larellin’s hand between hers. “I’m so sorry, my sweet girl. I hope one day you can forgive me.” She kisses her hand reverently.
I have the impulse to wrench Larellin away from her, to protect her.
But it’s just a feeling borne of anger. My instincts tell me Lenka is no threat.
In fact, my instincts say the opposite, that she would never want me or Larellin to come to harm.
But I can’t untangle her betrayal right now, not when Larellin is in my arms.
“I swear to you, Sire. I’m doing everything I can to help her.” She jerks her chin at Sprite. “Go find Kanlon!”
Sprite rushes out, his flames jumping and winking as he disappears into the hall. A crash follows soon after, and I hear the unmistakable sound of gold and gems tumbling to the floor. Anger tries to flare inside me, a rage that is written in my dragonblood when anyone dares touch my treasure.
“Calm, Sire. Please.” Lenka holds up a hand, her palm toward me. “Hurry!” she yells toward the door.
Kanlon stumbles in, a large gray knapsack strung across his chest. “Where?” he huffs, his body shaking from exertion.
“The bed.” Lenka motions.
Kanlon takes heavy steps, his flames low and trembling, then lurches forward and spills the knapsack.
Coins and jewels cascade along my side. A buzz of power shivers through me, and it only grows as he empties the full contents.
Sprite hurries in, a silver ingot in one hand and a ruby-encrusted crown in the other.
A low growl vibrates through me at the sight of it. Mine. But I don’t move, don’t do what a DragonKin typically does in this situation—rips apart anyone who dares touch its hoard. Instead, I hold Larellin tighter, a slight hint of her pain trickling down our tenuous bond.
“She suffers.” I force myself to look at Lenka instead of Sprite’s fumbling fingers as he places the crown at my feet. “Ease her pain.”
“You will.” Lenka leans back and covers her salve jar with a shaking hand. Wiping her brow, she sighs heavily. “You feel her.” She juts her chin at Larellin. “The bond is there, no matter how faint. You can heal her. You can give her what she needs.”
“What?”
“Focus on her. On her wound. On her healing.”
My wounds have already closed, the treasure feeding the dragon inside me, heightening my innate magic.
It’s fuel to my endless, ravenous fire. I’ve read of what Lenka is suggesting, of the ability to share between mates.
Share emotions, thoughts, even life force.
But that has always been with two DragonKin.
Never a mortal. Never one so fragile as my Larellin.
“You won’t hurt her,” Lenka says softly, as if reading my mind. “You’ll never hurt her. Just focus.”
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and focus on Larellin, on the beautiful mate the gods have graced me with. “Heal, my love. I need you.”
Something stirs between us, a ripple along the thin strand from her heart to mine. It must be more. She needs more from me.
“I’ve waited for you for so long.” The words pour out, all my concentration on Larellin.
“To think you’ve been here all this time.
I didn’t know. I didn’t want to hope, to believe it could be real.
My parents bonded the moment they met, the very moment my father sighted my mother’s golden scales in the morning sun long, long ago.
I thought … I thought perhaps it would be that way for me, too.
But I was wrong. I’ve been wrong about a lot when it comes to you.
I’ll apologize in any way you wish, my treasure, if only you’ll come back to me.
” I press a kiss to her hair, her body warm in my arms. “I need you.”
The bond is still rippling, blowing back and forth like a cobweb caught in a slight breeze. But it doesn’t break. It shimmers.
“Please,” I whisper and stroke her soft cheek.
Our bond sparks again, then goes still. Something inside me cracks at the sudden silence, fear causing me to turn her toward me so I can get a better look at her face.
“Larellin?” I stare down at her, her features lax.
“Larellin, please.” The wound on her throat is still open and bloody, the pink salve barely making a difference.
I can’t lose her. Not now. I pull all the power I can from the gold, from myself, and force myself to trust in Lenka’s words that I won’t hurt my mate. That I would never harm her.
“Come back to me.” I press my lips to Larellin’s and will my power into her. Our bond burns bright, the cobweb lit with golden flame as whatever magic I possess passes to her. My entire body hums with energy, the two of us wreathed in a cocoon of golden light.
Larellin’s eyes flutter open. “What …” She gasps as golden flame licks along her throat, closing the wound and leaving nothing but healed, pink skin behind. The flame encircles her, glowing on her skin as she gazes down at herself with wonder.
Then the light fades, melting into her. I can feel it, my power mixing with her essence, our bond growing stronger, the cobweb widening, thickening.
She looks up at me, her beautiful brown eyes now flecked with gold. “What was that?”
“Our bond.” I kiss her forehead.
The gold dissipates completely, and Larellin falls back to sleep. “Larellin?” I cup her cheek.
“It’s done. She’ll be all right,” Lenka says, relief in her tone. “She must rest. All this is too much for a mortal. Her body knows what she needs. Let her sleep.”
I feel down the bond. It still hums faintly, golden and warm. No more pain echoes from Larellin. If anything, there’s a new sense of contentment. It warms me, comforts me in a way I’ve never experienced.
“She’ll survive, and far more than that. Come, Sprite.” Lenka stands, her knees crackling. “Take me to the dungeon. I’ll await my judgment there.”
“Take her to her quarters,” I order.
“Of course, Sire.” Sprite bows and offers Lenka his elbow.
She takes it, and he helps her to the door, her body bent with what I can see now is exhaustion. “I don’t expect either of you to forgive me. But please tell her I’m here for her when she’s ready to talk.” With that, she leaves, her gait halting as Sprite helps her down the stairs.
I let out a ragged sigh and stroke Larellin’s hair from her forehead. She’s wearing a dark robe that smells of the Usurper’s Aerie. In fact, she smells strange, whatever place they held her in coating her with an odd scent.
Lifting her, I carry her to the bath and run warm water.
Too afraid to let her sit in the tub alone lest she drown, I strip both of us and slide in with her.
Cradling her between my legs, her head resting on my chest, I wash her soft hair and gently scrub the odd scent and bits of grime from her.
The bite mark is fully healed, no trace of it remaining.
Her cheek is pink, the bruise and cut now gone.
Just remembering that bit of injury has me spiraling into anger.
I force myself to stop and focus on my mate, on her warm and breathing and needing me.
Once I’ve toweled her off, I slide into bed with her, throwing our blankets over us as I tuck her tightly against me.
She snuggles closer, her soft breath on my chest. I sense no pain, no worry in her. The bond, if it’s still there, is quiet. Almost as if it’s resting, too.
“I won’t fail you, Larellin. Never again. I swear it to you.” I kiss her hair and settle in. I will stay with her for as long as she’ll have me. She sleeps soundly, no care wrinkling her brow.
I can’t rest, not really, not when I keep pondering what Lenka said. “You have some truths you must face and share with her before you can fully bond,” she’d said.
Her voice had the ring of prophecy, of fate.
But Lenka is wrong. If Larellin were to truly know about my past, about what I’ve done, she’ll never trust me, much less fully bond with me.
Those troubled thoughts stay with me for the rest of the night and through the morning until my beautiful mortal finally stirs, her body coming alive next to mine, her awakening a balm to my soul.