52. Aurora #2
Because we were bonded, my dragon and I were mentally linked—so much so that she could see through my eyes on occasion and I could see through hers. Now I felt her in my head just as I was staring down at the bloody horror that were my ruined underpants.
At once, she began to panic.
“my Auri, why are you bleeding?” she demanded, sounding scared. “and what is this pain, i feel you having? oh, it hurts…it hurts!”
“No, no, L’eesha—I’m fine, really,” I sent her quickly, trying to block off my pain and keep it from her.
But the mental and emotional channel between us was wide open and there was no stopping my little golden dragon.
“HELP! HELP!” I heard her broadcasting. “MY AURI IS BLEEDING TO DEATH!”
I begged and cajoled and wheedled as I stripped off my stained underpants and buried them in the trash can before hobbling back to bed.
“L’eesha, I’m fine—I’m fine. Stop it—stop it!
” I begged, but nothing I could say or do would make her stop.
She just kept broadcasting and calling for help.
No doubt she was causing chaos in the nursery, but I was too sick to go comfort her—which she picked up on, of course, and that made her even more agitated.
I was just deciding that I would have to get out of bed and find a way to go to her—even if it meant wadding my one spare uniform shirt between my legs and hoping nobody noticed—when Ryse burst into the room, his eyes wide with fear.
“Auri, what’s wrong?” he demanded, coming to me at once. “M’alex says you’re bleeding and dying!”
“I’m not—he’s wrong!” I protested and then groaned involuntarily when an especially strong cramp hit.
Unfortunately, this only seemed to reinforce the idea that I was dying.
“You’re wounded!” Ryse exclaimed, his nostrils flaring. “I can smell blood in the air—where are you hurt?”
Damn his dragon-blood enhanced senses!
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth, pulling the covers up to my chin. “This is all just a big…big misunderstanding.”
He frowned.
“You’re hiding something. What is it?”
I tried to think up a believable lie, but it was hard to concentrate with L’eesha blaring in my head over and over about how I was dying.
“I’m not dying,” I told Ryse and L’eesha both. “I just cut myself and bled a little bit—that’s all. Please—ask M’alex to try and calm her down,” I added.
He frowned but concentrated for a moment and I knew he was telling his dragon to tell my dragon that I was all right.
But L’eesha wasn’t having it.
“MY AURI IS IN PAIN AND DYING!” She insisted. “THIS IS HOW SHE FEELS!”
Just then, my lower abdomen seized with another painful cramp. At that moment, Ryse doubled over, his eyes wide with surprise and pain.
“God and Goddess—what is that?” he groaned, clutching at his flat abdomen. “Feels like someone stabbing me in the gut!”
I stared at him in confusion—what was going on?
He looked up at me, his eyes wide.
“Is this…what you’re feeling?” He gasped. “M’alex says…L’eesha is showing us your pain.”
I stared at him in confusion—this should have been impossible! Outside of a Mating Flight, no dragon could send emotions to anyone but their rider. And I had never heard of any dragon that could send physical sensations to anyone at all.
But somehow, L’eesha had found a way.
“It…it’s nothing,” I said, trying to wave it away.
“L’eesha, I don’t know how you’re doing that, but stop it!” I sent her mentally.
“NOT UNTIL RYSE HELPS YOU! I AM TRYING TO COME TO YOU BUT THEY WON”T LET ME!” she shouted in my head. “SO RYSE MUST HELP YOU!”
“He’s helping and I’m fine!” I protested…but then I had another cramp…which my golden dragon promptly conveyed to Ryse and M’alex.
I heard a pained bellowing outside, which much be the huge Midnight Gold-wing and Ryse groaned and doubled over again as both he and his dragon dealt with my cramps.
“L’eesha,” I sent. “He can’t help me if you keep making him feel my pain! Please stop! Don’t give my pain to M’alex or Ryse—if you do, they can’t help!”
This finally seemed to get through to her, but she still didn’t want to let up completely.
“i will only give them half your pain,” she informed me. “but Ryse had better be working to make you feel better and keep you from dying!”
“For the last time, I’m not dying!” I groaned aloud.
“Then what the hell are you doing?” Ryse sank down on the bed beside me, his eyes hollow. “M’alex says we’re only getting half of what you’re feeling now, but it’s still fucking bad,” he said to me. “What’s wrong with you, Auri?”
“I told you, I cut myself,” I said lamely, huddling under the covers. I was probably bleeding all over the sheets, but I couldn’t help it now. I would have to wait until Ryse left and wash them in the sink, I told myself.
But he wasn’t about to leave until he got some answers.
“Bullshit! Something’s wrong with you and if you won’t tell me what it is, I’ll find out for myself!”
Rising, he ripped the covers off me before I could protest. As I tried desperately to cover myself, his eyes went wide.
“Goddess above, she was right—you are bleeding to death!” he exclaimed.
Looking down, I saw the spreading crimson stain that covered the white sheet and the bottom half of my nightshirt.
Things were bad, all right—it was like my body was doing its level best to make up for the last six months when I hadn’t had my cycle by giving me six months of blood and pain all at once.
“How did this happen?” Ryse demanded, clearly horrified. “Did you stab yourself in the stomach? What did you do?”
He tried to lift my nightshirt to get a better look, and I did my best to push his hands away.
“No, stop it—I’m fine!” I groaned.
“Clearly, you’re not! Stop fighting me!” He growled. “You’re hurt—you’re bleeding!”
“BLEEDING! MY AURI IS BLEEDING!” L’eesha projected so loudly I couldn’t hear myself think. Her mental shouting was giving me a terrible headache that was almost as bad as the cramps!
“Fine, if you won’t tell me what happened, then I’m taking you to the Healer.”
Reaching down, Ryse started to scoop me up, presumably to carry me to the Healer.
“No—no Healer!” I gasped, terrified, as I pushed him away.
“YES, TAKE MY AURI TO THE HEALER!” L’eesha shouted.
It was too, too much. Feeling like I was going crazy, I glared up at Ryse.
“Fine—you want to know what’s wrong with me?” I demanded. “This—this is what’s wrong!”
And reaching for the Dragon Glass pendant at my neck, I gripped it and yanked.
I got a tingling feeling all over, like magic releasing its spell and knew I had been revealed. For a long moment there was complete silence in the room.
Ryse’s eyes went wide…then narrowed as he stared down at me.
“I knew it,” he said at last, frowning fiercely. “I knew I wasn’t imagining it!”
Then he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.