Chapter 12 #2
My words rang hollow. Such a degree of concern from him felt strange. Yes, he brought me back to the pride, to Brenna, as he promised. Duty done. It could have ended there, though. It should have.
My gaze slid to where he had been sleeping all these weeks, bewildered at the thought of him being inches from me as I was lost and senseless, fighting for my life in the throes of svefn.
I changed the subject. “What did I miss?”
“Oh, well, let’s catch you up.”
At that moment, Vetr entered the infirmary. He stopped hard when he saw I was awake. My breath caught at the sight of him. My gaze shot to his claimed bed and back to him again, an involuntary move.
He resumed walking, his strides quickening, carrying him toward me. His frost eyes swept over me in the bed, alert as a hawk zooming in on the field mouse, missing nothing. He glanced at Brenna accusingly. “Why did you not send for me when she woke?”
“I’ve only been awake a few minutes,” I said before Brenna could explain.
He sank down beside me on the bed as though it was a familiar and natural spot for him to be, and I was filled with the image of him sitting beside me as I slept, dripping drink and broth past my parted lips.
He lifted the cup and brought it to my mouth without even asking if I would like a sip. “Drink,” he commanded.
Having little choice, I obliged.
He pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. “Your color is much improved.”
“I wouldn’t know. Apparently, I have not seen myself for six weeks.” He nodded. “When I first brought you here, you were …”
“We thought you would not survive,” Brenna inserted.
He frowned at her, and I recalled him insisting that I would live.
Another memory flickered through me like a torch in the night. Tamsyn. Come to me. I need you.
My face burned to think such oddly intimate words had come from him. It was as difficult to comprehend as the image of him nursing me through these many weeks.
Brenna continued, pointing at me. “You’re a strong one. When I first saw your back …” She let out a long gust of breath. “You are lucky to be alive.” She patted Vetr on the shoulder. “Must have been the excellent care you received.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” came his quick reply, his icy gaze still moving in a quick crawl over me. “As you said, she is strong.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them, plucking uneasily at the fur of my blanket.
Brenna shrugged and clapped her hands. “Now. I’ll go fetch you some broth. You must recover your strength so that we can feast in your honor.”
“In my honor?”
“Yes.” She blinked as though it were an obvious thing. “You’re alive. We will toast and celebrate a successful rekon.”
Successful? I’d nearly died. I lost six weeks. I didn’t feel very victorious.
I watched her leave the infirmary. Then, as I had no other choice, I turned my attention back to Vetr. “I don’t require a feast in my honor.”
“You will have one,” he said quietly, but in a tone that brooked no argument.
I shook my head. “After everything, that does not seem appropriate.”
He angled his head, frowning. “Why not?”
I exhaled. “I should never have been taken, as you pointed out.” My throat thickened with the admission of this error. “Save yourself. Save the species. Leave no witnesses,” I quoted. “That is what you drill into us in training.” My lips twisted. “I should have it knitted on a pillow.”
His frown deepened into a scowl. “And that is what you did.”
I looked down, plucking more quickly at the fur of my blanket. “You were right. I should have dispatched those soldiers when they took me from Porthavn.” I’d been lost to a deep sleep, but I remembered that. I remembered his anger that I had not.
“Give yourself some credit. You managed to get out of the Terror’s camp without giving anything away about dragonkind. You controlled your blood.” He cut me a meaningful look. “Something you could never do with any level of success before, but when it mattered, when it counted … you did it.”
“And almost got myself killed,” I pointed out, as though I had to cast a shadow over my actions in some way, uncomfortable with his praise, uncomfortable with the idea that he might …
approve of me. Which was ridiculous. Before the rekon, I’d been struggling with his constant disapproval.
Now that I seemed to have his approval, I struggled with that, too. What did I want from him?
“Almost doesn’t count.” He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. My heart gave a little squeeze of its own at the tender gesture. Tenderness was not something I’d ever expected from him.
“You’re here. You’re alive.” His gaze flicked over my features.
“And you have more mettle … more courage in you than I ever—” He broke off, as though gathering courage of his own to add, “I see now what my brother saw in you.”
It was a blessing. His blessing. And I’d never known I craved it until this moment.
I couldn’t breathe. My breath was trapped. I tore my gaze from his painfully beautiful face—unable to even look at him. It was too confusing. Him. His words. My feelings.
His boots scraped against the floor as he adjusted his weight. “I think you should remain in here another night or two before returning to your own den.”
I nodded, still not looking at him.
“I’ll remain, as well—”
The heat in me flickered. “That’s not necessary.”
“It will save Brenna the trouble of getting up during the night to check on you. She has her hands full with her young one, too, these days.”
“Oh.” I moistened my lips. How could I have forgotten Brenna had a child?
The first and only offspring to be born in the pride.
A whole new generation. There were plenty of those willing and eager to look after the child while Brenna and her mate attended to their duties, but she doubtless preferred spending her nights with her family.
“I don’t think I will need checking on in the middle of the night. ”
He held my gaze, his expression enigmatic. “Just so. I will stay with you.”
I opened my mouth to further protest, but the determined set to his jaw made me rethink that. Why argue? What did it matter? He’d been here for the last six weeks, and, anyway, we would just be sleeping.
“Very well.”
A tingle sparked and warmed at the center of my palm. Frowning, I pressed my hand deeper into my furs to quell the sensation.