56. Aurora
AURORA
“HELP! HELP! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!” L’eesha blared in my head like an alarm klaxon and at the same time, my body was wracked with pain.
“Oh…Oh God and Goddess!” I cried out. It felt like when you get a terrible cramp or a knot in your calf or thigh, but it was all over my body all at once.
“What? What is it?” Ryse was awake at once. He stared down at me in fear and concern. “What’s wrong, little one?”
“Hurts…so…bad,” I managed to get out. “But I think…pain is…coming from…L’eesha!”
His face lost some of the fear, though none of the concern.
“She’s having growing pains,” he told me. “Come on—we’ll go to her.”
“Don’t know…if I can move…” I panted. The pain was coming in waves and though I was trying to send reassurance to my dragon, it was hard when I was so wracked with agony. Even the cramps from my monthly courses weren’t this bad!
“I’ll help you,” Ryse said. “Here—just be sure you have your pendant on…”
He got into a robe and helped me into one as well and then put slippers on my feet since I couldn’t bend over. There was no time to get dressed, he explained—we needed to get to her quickly.
Climbing the stairs from Level Two to Level Five was too much for me, though, so Ryse put me on his back and carried me up, taking the stairs two at a time with his long legs.
“I’m coming! I’m coming, sweetheart!” I sent to L’eesha, even as my body ached with her pain.
“It hurts, my Auri!” She moaned in my head. “Why does it hurt so bad?”
“It’s your body growing,” I told her. “You’re getting big really fast right now. I’m coming and I promise I’ll help you.”
How I was going to help, I didn’t know, but Ryse seemed to think there was something we could do to ease my dragon’s pain…and by extension, my own, so I was eager to get to her.
As soon as we reached the Dragon Caverns, the Cavern Master was there to meet us.
“We’re getting the sweet grass right now,” he said. “But she won’t take it from me—you’ll need to give it to her yourself, lad.”
I realized he was talking to me—I’d gotten used to being treated like a girl again while Ryse and I were together. Straightening up, I did my best to look masculine.
“Will the sweet grass ease her pain?” I asked him.
He nodded.
“Yes, but be careful with it. There can be side effects—for both the dragon and the rider.”
“Side effects?” I asked, but he was already shoving a bundle of what looked like long-stemmed dried flowers into my arms.
“Hurry—get over there before she wakes every last dragon in the Caverns,” he ordered. “I’ve never seen a juvenile dragon with such a loud mental voice—she’s going to get every last one of them riled up if you don’t dose her quickly.”
I hurried as fast as the terrible aches would let me, following L’eesha’s pitiful mental moans through the honeycombed maze until I found her.
My Golden Queen was a pitiful sight—she was lying on her side, crying weakly and though she was much bigger than me by this time, all I wanted to do was take her in my arms and cuddle her.
I did the best I could, sitting on the hard stone floor beside her so I could take her big head in my lap.
She opened her rainbow eyes and looked up at me.
“my Auri—i knew that you would come. it hurts so much.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I stroked her golden muzzle soothingly. “I know but I have some special medicine that’s going to make you feel better.”
I had laid the armful of sweet grass on the floor beside me and now I picked up one of the dried flowers—which had a shriveled, dark purple blossom at the end of its long stalk—and offered it to her.
L’eesha turned up her nose at it.
“no! smells nasty!” she declared.
“But it will make you feel better,” I pointed out.
“doesn’t smell good,” was her stubborn reply.
I looked up at Ryse, who had followed me and was standing there, frowning.
“She doesn’t want to eat it!” I said, waving the stalk she’d rejected.
“I’ll have M’alex talk to her,” he said. He got a look of concentration, and I knew he was bespeaking his dragon.
A moment later L’eesha’s rainbow eyes went wide, and she looked up at me.
“M’alex says that nasty smelling stuff will make me feel good. he says he had some before and it’s nice.”
“Then maybe you’d better try some,” I said. Coaxingly, I waved the dried flower in front of her nose again.
This time, she reached out with her long tongue and wrapped it around the stalk. She drew it into her mouth and crunched it between her teeth, making faces as she did so that would have been hilarious if her pain wasn’t still pouring through me.
“doesn’t taste very good,” she informed me.
“Yes, but it’s going to help you feel better—just like M’alex told you,” I said. “Here, have another one.”
She crunched another between her teeth with less drama—maybe she was getting used to the taste. I gave her another and then another but when I reached for a fifth blossom, Ryse stopped me.
“That’s probably enough,” he said, frowning. “You don’t want to over do it. Sweet grass is potent.”
I wanted to ask about the side effects the Master of the Caverns had mentioned, but I didn’t want to do it in front of L’eesha. So I just cradled her huge head in my lap and stroked her from her eye ridges all the way down her long nose, which she loved.
Gradually, I felt the pain easing and then—to my utter relief—my dragon relaxed completely.
“feels…so much…better, my Auri,” she informed me in a dreamy-sounding mental voice. “no more pain.”
“No more pain,” I echoed, stroking her some more. I was beginning to feel a bit dreamy myself. I looked up at Ryse with a wide smile. “She’s feeling better now…and so am I.”
“Yes, I can see that,” he said dryly. “We’d probably better get you back to the room before you start feeling even better.”
“Better than this? Better than a drugged dragon?” I asked and giggled because that suddenly seemed really funny to me.
“Yes, better than a drugged dragon. Come on.” Leaning over me, he took me by the arms and pulled me to my feet.
“But will my baby be all right?” I asked, suddenly worried for her.
“She’s fine—look, she’s already asleep.” Ryse nodded at L’eesha, who was letting out adorable squeaky snores that made me want to giggle for some reason. She really was the cutest thing, even though she was getting so big!
I tried to walk, but was feeling sort of dizzy by then. Not in a bad way though—actually the sensation was quite pleasant. It was like I was floating along with my feet barely even touching the ground.
“Ryse,” I said to him. “Do I look like I’m floating to you?”
He laughed.
“Oh, you’re floating all right, little one. Come on.”
He gathered the remaining sweet grass and looped an arm around my waist. He half walked/half carried me back down the stairs, though the whole journey was kind of a blur.
By the time we got back to our room, I was ready to collapse on the bed.
Ryse took off my slippers and robe and put me into my side of the bed. Then he took of his own slippers and robe and settled in beside me.
“Ryse…” I said, rolling towards him and putting my head on his broad chest. “Will, L’eesha really be all right?”
He nodded and stroked my hair.
“The sweet grass will make her sleep until morning, and it will keep her muscles nice and loose so they don’t tense up again.”
“Why do I feel so floaty, though?” I asked, looking up at him.
“That’s because sweet grass is a drug with effects that cross the bond between dragon and rider,” he told me. “The floaty part only lasts for a little while,” he added. “In a little while you’re going to feel some other sensations.”
“What sensations?” I asked, and giggled. “Are they as nice as this? Because I think I like feeling floaty.”
“Yes, well—I did too when M’alex had growing pains,” he admitted. “But you might not like the next part so much.”
“What’s the next part?” I asked, but he only shook his head.
“You’ll see.”
“Well, while I’m waiting for the ‘next part’ I have a question,” I said. “Why don’t you ever kiss me anymore?”
It seemed that the effects of the sweet grass had made me bold, because I never would have dared to ask this before.
He frowned.
“Well, I didn’t know how you felt about it. I mean, for a while you had your monthly and I knew you felt sick. After that, well…”
“Well, what?” I demanded. “Why haven’t you kissed me or done anything else? Why won’t you touch me? Don’t you like me? Don’t you want to touch me?”
“God and Goddess, Auri, of course I want to touch you.” His voice was slightly hoarse. “But I don’t want to take advantage of you. I mean, you’re a virgin, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am,” I said, puzzled by the question. “So?”
“So, I didn’t want to hurt or scare you.” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “You’re so delicate, so little…”
“I’m bigger than I used to be,” I pointed out indignantly.
The floaty sensation was beginning to leave me, and I was beginning to feel more alert mentally. But I was having other sensations as well—a tingling in my nipples and a heat between my thighs that reminded me of how I’d felt during the Mating Flight.
“Ryse, I’m starting to feel kind of funny,” I told him.
“Funny how?” He frowned, clearly concerned.
“Kind of…tingly and sensitive and hot,” I said, trying to put the strange feelings into words.
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t sound surprised. “And where exactly are you feeling tingly and hot, little one?”
“Well…here.” I touched the tips of my breasts, which were so tight they ached, pressing against the thin white fabric of my nightshirt. “And…here.” I blushed as I pointed between my thighs. I wasn’t wearing any underpants under the shirt because all of mine were still in the laundry service.
“Mmm-hmm.” Ryse nodded. “Welcome to the after-effects of sweet grass,” he told me. “You’re going to need to touch yourself very badly for a while, I’m afraid.”
“What?” I demanded, my cheeks getting hot at once. “Touch myself?”
“It’s the only way to get over the sweet grass effects,” he told me. “I remember when M’alex had growing pains—I nearly rubbed myself raw, I jerked off so many times.”
His frank words made me blush even harder. I couldn’t believe this! Was I really going to have to touch myself? It really was like the Mating Flight all over again!
And yet, I could tell he was right. The heat and need were growing inside me, making me squirm against him restlessly as I pressed my thighs together, trying to ease the sexual ache growing there.
“I can go in the bathroom if you want,” Ryse offered. “I mean, if you’re shy to touch yourself with someone watching.”
I bit my lower lip, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and need.
“I don’t…don’t want you to go,” I confessed. “This is scary, Ryse. What if I need your help?”
He frowned.
“I shouldn’t be ‘helping’ you like that, little one. Not while you’re under the effects of sweet grass.”
“But I don’t feel floaty anymore,” I protested. “I just feel so needy.”
“Touch yourself then—it should help,” he told me. He stroked my hair out of my face. “I’ll hold you while you do it if you want me to.”
“Yes, please…” I said softly.
Feeling suddenly hot and restless, I sat up for a moment and slipped off my nightshirt completely. I threw it to one side and lay back down with my head on Ryse’s broad, bare chest.
I heard him let out a faint groan and looked up to see that his golden eyes were half-lidded as he looked at me.
“Are you all right?” I asked, anxiously.
“Fine. Forgive me, little one. You’re just so beautiful,” he murmured.
I felt a blush of pleasure suffuse my body. I loved that he thought I was beautiful. It made me feel pretty and feminine in a way I hadn’t since I had come to the Academy.
“I like being a girl around you,” I said, arching my back which made my breasts sway temptingly. “I like that you love the way I look.”
“Been trying not to look at you the wrong way for days now,” Ryse admitted. “I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I don’t,” I said and it was true—I no longer felt like I was floating away but I did feel confident in my own body—in my own beauty. “I like the way you look at me,” I told him. “Would…would you like to touch me too?”
Ryse frowned.
“I shouldn’t…”
“Why?” I demanded. “We’ve waited long enough. You’ve known that I’m a girl for days now. I thought you said you wanted to kiss me. Please, Ryse…” I shifted, arching my back again. “I feel so needy everywhere. Please help me feel better.”
I could see him struggling with himself—feeling guilty because he wasn’t sure we ought to do this. But I could see the long, hard ridge in the crotch of his sleep trousers that let me know he wanted it as much as I did.
“I’m of age,” I reminded him softly. “I know what I want, and I want you.”
“All right,” he said at last. “But we can’t go too far. You’re a virgin and I won’t take that from you, Auri. I won’t take your virginity.”
“I don’t care about that,” I said impatiently. “Just touch me!”
And I reached for one of his big hands and put it directly on my bare breast.