Chapter 6 #2
He collected a new bowl, scooped some liquid inside, and exited with it cradled in his claws as he made his way further up the incline. His healing room was closer to the exit, so he didn’t have to bring visitors further into his home than necessary.
After placing the bowl on the shelf, he assessed the coldness of her hands and feet. His annoyance that the witch was right deepened, and he grumbled to himself as he left to obtain a second fur. Upon his return, he covered her better with both.
“Where is Ulric when we need him?” he asked Selene, finding comfort in complaining to her just in case she was there, listening.
He sincerely hoped she remembered none of it.
“He was dependable, and his dragoncraft surpassed all the greats of the past,” he continued.
Kier fetched the chalice the witch had brought, sniffed it to ensure the water was safe, and brought it to her. He gave her a drop at a time. He’d never been able to give her more, as she’d cough and choke.
Which begged the question as to why the witch was able to do it.
“If the princess had left the Sorcerer alone like we all urged, he might not have fled to escape her.” He shook his head when the cup was empty. “Then I could have sought his aid instead. You, too, also pushed him too hard with courtship, but I know he would’ve helped regardless. It was his way.”
He tsked as he picked up the bowl of thickened broth.
Uncertainty crawled down his arms as he lifted it above her lips. Any attempts to do something like this in the past hadn’t gone well. He’d struggled to give her water, so how was she supposed to handle something more substantial?
He growled as he gained the courage to give her a mouthful. She immediately gagged and choked.
“Fuck!” he roared.
Kier placed the bowl down on the altar and twisted her until her mouth was pointed downwards off the edge. He shoved against her back until a yellowish liquid dribbled from between her teeth and splattered against the ground.
He gently laid Selene down and placed his ear between her breasts. Her lungs were no longer as clear, and fury like nothing else simmered heat into his blood. He hastily turned to obtain a salve, lowered the furs, and rubbed it into her sternum as he healed her.
Her breathing evened out, and a second listen revealed the rattling had stopped.
“Blasted! How was she able to do it?!” How was what he did any fucking different? “Our parents would phoenix from the ashes of their burning pyres if they knew I required the help of one of them.”
He shouldn’t need help from vile witches! He should be able to heal and feed his last remaining sibling on his own.
But Kier’s pride didn’t outweigh his courage, and he left to go to the very female he’d much rather have very little to do with. He stormed down into his lair until he made it back to her, and didn’t care this time about changing his size.
He glared at her back as she knelt next to a pile, already sorting through it. “You,” he bit out.
She screamed as she spun to him, causing his ears to ring and his head to rear back in disdain. His upper lip twisted.
“You scared the breath out of me!”
“Come,” he demanded, turning. “Now.”
“A please would be nice!”
Kier didn’t answer, expecting her to heed his command. His temper was rising, and it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with his constant failings. The frustration was taking its toll on him.
Thankfully he heard the tapping of her boots as she chased after him.
“Wait, slow down. You’re going too fast.”
He didn’t. Even in his smaller size, he scuttled more quickly than someone on two legs. He made her sprint after him, caring little about her comfort when his sister was constantly suffering.
Once he, and then eventually the female, entered the room Selene lay in, he gestured to her with one paw. “Show me how you did it. Feed her.”
Placing her hand on the curved stone entryway, she huffed and panted wildly. She shook her head while darting her eyes between them, and a confused frown crossed her features.
He waited impatiently for her to recover.
“You can’t do it yourself?” Her question stung his already wounded pride.
“Show me,” he growled.
She sighed and approached. Her brows came together at the mess upon the ground and the track of liquid coming from Selene’s mouth. Her eyes darted to him, then to the bowl, then to the discarded glove on the ground.
He didn’t understand why she grabbed the glove and donned it before reaching for the bowl. She cupped the back of Selene’s head with her newly covered hand, which almost caused him to snarl at her touching his sister.
Then she lifted Selene’s head until it was facing forwards and placed the bowl to her lips. She fucking drank it down with no issue, and Kier tried to assess what he’d done wrong.
“I didn’t lift her head,” he admitted, the tension in his body unwinding itself.
“Even when we’re awake, it’s not safe to eat or drink lying down,” she answered, concentrating on the task as she gingerly gave his sister sips of the broth.
Well, how was I supposed to know that? Kier wasn’t human, and he predominantly ate in dragon form, often lying down on his belly. Not to mention he’d never looked after someone unconscious in human form.
“But she sleeps,” he argued. “I thought it wasn’t possible since she hasn’t been able to take anything before now.”
“Her mind is asleep, but her body isn’t. All her reflexes work. I wouldn’t have tried to feed her without checking that first.”
He hadn’t checked that. He didn’t even know he needed to!
“You also need to give her a certain amount. Too much will flood her mouth, but too little might tickle her throat and cause her to cough or breathe it in. You need just enough to alert her to swallow. Once you start, it’s best to keep going because that reflex is already in action, then give her a break. ”
Kier watched, taking in everything, from the position of Selene’s head, to the amount poured in, to even how the witch was tilting the bowl. He’d mimic it in future.
His gaze flicked to her, and how she held his sister’s head rather gently and with care. “You seem to know much about this. How?”
She took the press of the bowl away from Selene’s lips, letting her breathe as she lifted her gaze to him. Their eyes met, and he realised then that she’d never, not once, shied away from him.
She was brave – and stubbornly stupid to hold the gaze of a dragon when seeing them often meant death. She even had the audacity to give him an adorable little glare. “I thought you didn’t want to know of my history.”
He grunted, taken aback by her response. Then he smacked his tongue on the roof of his mouth in agitation while wiggling his head dismissively. “I don’t.”
Her eyelids lowered as she cocked her head away from him with a shrug of her shoulder. “Then never mind how I know such things.”
“Answer the question, witch.”
She sighed as if he was irksome and rolled her eyes, then brought the bowl back to Selene’s lips.
“My family lives in a forest that’s surrounded by multiple towns. Their inhabitants are aware of who and what we are, and they seek our aid. We heal their loved ones, help birth their children, and give them protection charms. We are healers.”
His brows drew together. “Humans are aware of you? And they don’t seek to destroy you?”
“No. We were there long before they made their towns or their farms. We trade our magical abilities for food, clothing, and harder-to-obtain cooking and medicinal ingredients. Why would they wish to harm those who have done nothing but be kind to them?”
“And you don’t worry they will tell others about you?”
“Each new member of any of the towns, including all babies and children, must enter a blood vow which renders them incapable of speaking about us. They don’t even remember if they stray too far from the offering that’s placed in the middle of their town.
” She lifted her gaze once more. “And before you say it, this isn’t dark magic.
It’s pixie magic, all of which was offered to us by those who frolic through our forests and gardens.
Like the humans, we offer food and clothing in exchange for their magic.
That is what witchcraft is supposed to be. Unity.”
“Are you saying pixies will offer their magic to you?”
He couldn’t believe his ears! Pixies were malicious, mischievous little creatures that might actually be fouler than her kind. Not even dragons could get them to bend to their will; they were considered pests who liked to bite.
“Depending on what it is,” she admitted. “They won’t offer us any parts of their bodies, like their blood or hair, but they wish for us to remain in their territories because we keep dark witches away from their forests. They want our protection, as do the fairies.”
As she pulled the bowl away for the final time, the entirety of its contents gone, Kier stared at the female.
Perhaps a little differently.
To get pixies to bend to their will was a rather grand feat. That humans sought her family’s aid rather than burning them all at the stake was also telling. Just how long had her bloodline resided in that forest, living peacefully? Without corruption?
Was such purity actually still possible when the plague of evil continued to grow at an alarming rate? Dragons were being hunted and killed off, their numbers dwindling rapidly.