Chapter 18
VAELA
The pain was explosive. It rocked through my body in waves, catching along my ribcage. It felt like I was on fire, and despite how hard I tried, I couldn’t curl away from the burn. Nothing satiated the hunger of the heat.
All I could do was open my mouth and wail.
Sometimes I could force my eyes open, but the world was muddied yellow, dark and hazy, and that burned too. I wanted to reach up and tear my eyes from their sockets. To extinguish the ache.
I wanted to scratch my skin off and leave it in a pile like a fresh dragon shed. I thought of Min scratching her scales loose. I thought of Eden, collecting the dropped scales, hiding them away in nooks and crannies around Bramble Cottage.
Eden…
I heard a dragon screech somewhere in my memories.
The pain increased tenfold.
I gritted my teeth, fighting for consciousness. Fighting for relief.
Eden.
My stomach dropped, and it felt like I was plummeting through thin air.
The burn was so all-consuming, it zapped my energy, and by the time the wave receded, the darkness crept in, smelling like something acidic. I tumbled headfirst into that scent, disappearing down a cold, wet tunnel filled with incomprehensible whispers.
Eden, are you there?
* * *
Later, my vision returned.
It was only slightly better, still tinged with yellow fuzz at the corners. I hated that. I hated not being able to blink away the fog.
It felt like I was flying through sleet, clinging to Min, trusting her to guide us safely.
Sometimes I could make out the infirmary and the figures of familiar people, shifting around me.
Eden?
She was there, floating in and out of sight. I suppose I could have been imagining it as sparks of pain shot down my side.
I winced, curling away from the sharpness, but it followed me, shifting across my ribs and down my arm like a static shock that wouldn’t stop.
“Vaela?”
Yes? I wanted to say. Are you really here? What’s happening?
“Sleep.”
I didn’t want to sleep, dammit. I wanted to understand what was happening. I wanted this cursed pain to cease. Why couldn’t she help me?
Eden faded from view, her shape disappearing among all the others. I didn’t want her to go. When she returned later, my vision was a little clearer, and I could make out the distinct features of her face.
“How is the pain?” she asked.
I opened my mouth to tell her it was bloody annoying, but no words came out. I couldn’t make my throat work, and that scared me. The yellow at the edges of my vision ebbed.
“Shh,” Eden whispered. I didn’t like the way she looked at me, with such fear in her eyes.
It’s okay, I wanted to say. It’s not that bad.
I’d tell a lie a thousand times over to ease her burden. Just don’t look so sad.
I tried to lift my hand to stroke the worry from between her eyebrows. But lifting my hand felt like trying to prop Min on my shoulders. It was an impossible task.
I tensed, fighting for control of my muscles. My fingers twitched, and immediately the burning ache returned.
It flared so hot that I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head. I clamped my molars together, praying that someone would quench the fire.
Eden, help me.
* * *
“Where is she?” a voice bellowed.
I was wrenched from the fog of sleep but struggled to open my eyes. It felt like they’d been crusted over and glued shut with salve. I needed someone to wipe them.
Stars, was that smell me? I clearly needed a bath, too. I reeked like stagnant water. The kind that had algae growing on the surface.
“They were in my lake! That blasted scaly beast!”
Cyrus? What did he want? Also, where was I again? I shifted. Or, at least, I thought I did, touching something soft with my fingertips. This didn’t feel like my bed. The sheets were worn and pilled, and the pillow was too hard. Cyrus’s voice cut through my musings.
What the bloody hell did he want? I was too tired for his nonsense.
“I found the wrangler’s dragon asleep on the bank!”
Cyrus again. Was he talking about Min? What was she doing that close to the lake? She knew better than to get caught over there.
“You’ve seen Min?” a voice asked. It sounded like Matty. Ah, yes. I was at the infirmary. “Is she okay?”
The way he asked the question concerned me. I tried to open my eyes again, tried to pull my body from this strange, heavy fog, but my muscles refused to be roused. Curse the stars! What was going on? Min! I needed to see my dragon.
“She skulked off into the trees,” Cyrus snarled. “But don’t think I’m going to let them get away with this. I have half a mind to summon the kingsguard this very minute. Where is that bloody dragon wrangler?”
My pulse hammered in my throat, and with the surge came a strange, aching burn. It flickered beneath my ribs, and I hissed, wanting to stamp out the pain.
Min? I tried to say. Are you okay?
I needed to get to her. I summoned all my strength at once and surged. I wasn’t sure where to, but suddenly I was falling, and then—thud!
I groaned as I crashed into something. Hard.
“She’s on the floor!” a voice cried. “Reo, help me here.”
Hands touched me all over. I winced, flinching away from the burn. I needed to know if Min was okay, but my worry quickly gave way to exhaustion, and a dark wave dragged me down. I fought it long enough to hear another voice.
It was Eden. That much I was sure of.
“Get out!” she seethed. “This is an infirmary where the ill and injured are treated, not a pub where confrontation is welcome.”
“If I have an issue with one of your patients, I’ll speak to them when I see fit,” Cyrus grumbled.
“You’ll speak to them when I’ve decided they are well enough to handle it!” she snapped back. I envisioned the fury in her brown eyes, the way her hands would curl at her sides. “Now remove yourself before I throw you out!”
Cyrus sneered. “A little thing like you?”
“All she has to do is say the word and you’ll be tasting dirt.” That sounded like Matty again, and I knew Cyrus wouldn’t put a foot wrong against him. Matty might be harmless most of the time, but he could have easily tossed Cyrus out on his rear with one arm tied behind his back.
“Go!” Eden growled. “Or you’d best wish you never need the aid of the infirmary. Because we might just not be taking patients.”
Her threat was clear, and Cyrus blustered in response, footsteps stomping across the floor.
Eventually, his protests faded to muttered grumbles. A door slammed and I imagined Eden, hands on her hips, huffing angrily at his retreating figure.
I imagined it, and I might have laughed. Then the darkness came for me, tugging me into that black nothingness.
* * *
When I woke next, the room was lit only by candles—a recovery room.
I’d never been in one of these rooms before, fortunately for me.
I shifted and my shoulders ached.
I turned my head instead, glancing at the window. Outside, the blue-black of night pressed up against the glass. How long had I been asleep? Next to me, Eden was slumped over in a chair, her arms tucked against her chest, fighting a restless sleep.
I nudged her gently, and her eyes shot open, looking around for trouble before her gaze landed on me. “You’re awake,” she said, sinking down by my side as she reached for my hand. “Does it hurt? Nisse has been supplying you with something for pain, but if you need something stronger I can—”
“Min?” I croaked, finding my voice through the sand in my throat.
“She’s okay,” Eden assured me, stroking my hand. “She turned up here and curled up outside a few hours ago. She hasn’t left.”
I nodded, wading through the foggy memories and questions.
Eden clutched my hand even tighter. “You can’t worry me like that again.”
I clung to her like she was the only thing keeping me from drifting back into that dark abyss. I didn’t want to go back there. Not yet. Not when she was looking at me like that.
I blinked a few times to clear my vision. “What happened? It’s all so muddied.” I remembered the screech of the Wretch. I remembered scrambling onto Min and shooting into the sky. And I remembered Min’s roar as something collided with us, as claws scraped my ribs.
Then nothing but a fiery pain and falling…
“It was a Bane,” Eden explained. “When it collided with Min, you were grazed by its claws and—”
“—envenomated,” I said. Of course. I looked down at my side, where the skin still smarted. “A Bane could have killed me.”
Eden nodded. “You were lucky. We removed as much of the venom as we could, but we couldn’t do anything about what had already been absorbed into your bloodstream. You’ve had to burn that off yourself.” She gingerly touched the bandage along my ribs. “You’ll have some scarring.”
“How did I get here, though?”
“I pulled you from the lake.”
“You came for me?”
Eden looked at me, then away just as quickly. “Of course.”
Her cheeks pinked in the candlelight, and as I stared at her, one memory, something coated in gold, surfaced above all the others. My pulse galloped in my chest.
“Did you kiss me?” I asked, my gaze flicking up to meet those brown eyes. Soft. Warm. Open. Like newly turned earth. I wanted to sink into that stare.
Eden jerked back, blond eyelashes fluttering. “What?”
I pressed up on my elbows, ignoring the flash of pain across my chest. “Did you kiss me, woman?” I remembered her leaning over me, the press of lips against my knuckles.
And then the smell of honey and lavender as she kissed my lips.
The thought was overwhelming. Soothing. Positively delightful considering the circumstances.
“Perhaps you were dreaming,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“It wasn’t a dream,” I insisted. Of that I was sure.
She caught her lip between her teeth for a beat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But she did. I could tell from the look in her eyes—desperate, a little cautious—that she knew exactly what I was referring to.
So I did the only thing I could. I reached for her, taking hold of the front of her blouse, dragging her close enough. She tipped toward me without a fight. “Let me refresh your memory,” I said, and then I captured her lips with my own, sensation exploding inside me.
The feelings surged through my blood, the thrill of it eating away at the lingering pain. I sucked in a sharp breath, curling my hand into her hair as I held her close, as I tilted my head to explore her mouth and memorize the taste of her on my tongue.
“It was something like this,” I murmured.
She groaned, the sound sending my blood pulsing even harder. I touched her cheek with my palm, reveling in the softness of her skin.
“I don’t want to let you go, Eden,” I whispered into her mouth. “Ever.”
She pulled back slightly, those brown eyes holding me steady. “Sleep,” she said. “You need to rest.”
And with a tiny, knowing smile, I sank back onto the pillow and dreamed.