Chapter 6
Sazzie
“Let me up! Damn it, Erish!” I shouted, my fists balled beneath me as I strained to get up from beneath the magical force that kept me confined to the nest. Face down, I couldn’t see what was going on, but I could hear them, and I’d heard my Reid go down.
I didn’t know what had happened, just that he’d suddenly collapsed.
Frantic with fear for him, I couldn’t stay still to have my own wounds tended to; I had to help him.
The past events had seen my supposedly famous battle instincts all but fade into the background, but they were here now.
Zathar was right, as always. When I knew what I was fighting for, I could do it; all the fear went away.
I didn’t care about my wounds, or dying, or pain—all I wanted was to know that Reid was fine.
He hadn’t appeared to be injured when he’d carried me through the woods; I hadn’t even seen a sign of the claw marks Evarah had made on his ankle.
He’d healed in the blink of an eye. But what if he’d been injured somewhere I hadn’t seen? What if Evarah had poisoned him?
The underhanded tactic of dipping claws in poison to win a challenge was low; it was frowned upon, but it was not unheard of.
I wouldn’t put it past Evarah or Astrexa to do something like that.
“Reid! What’s happening?” I begged when the magical field that trapped me against the healing nest refused to budge.
I could hear Erish’s machine buzz as it worked on the large gashes on my back, but I could not feel any of it.
Nor could I see any of the Shamans that were in the healing chambers with me.
Not Erish, not Chen, and not any of their apprentices, but I could hear their voices as they talked rapidly, hear them groan as they worked to lift my brave brown-eyed human onto a cot so they could work on him.
“Heart rate is dropping,” Erish said, and that sounded ominous, even if I didn’t fully understand what it meant.
Dropping? Out of his chest? “How’s his blood pressure, Codish?
” There was a garble of noise, voices layered one over the other, and I could not quite follow what was said next.
Something about no wounds (good), no poison (also good), then something about organ failure, which sounded really bad.
What I definitely didn’t hear was Reid himself, and I knew him, he was not a graceful patient.
When the force pinning me to the bed finally released me, I rose with a furious hiss.
Silence had settled over the healing chamber by then, save for the steady beep of a relic.
The chaos that had ruled when Reid first collapsed abated, but I did not trust it, and nobody had told me if he was okay.
Only Erish remained, his unseeing gaze aimed slightly above my head while his hands roamed the relic beside the nest Reid lay in.
Reid himself appeared to be sleeping, his chest rising and falling in a steady pattern, his expression serene.
A breath shuddered out of me at the sight, and a sudden wave of powerful feelings rose inside my chest. It grew tight and painful, and I rubbed my knuckles against my breastbone in vain.
Stars, what was this? I wanted to cry again.
I was a mess today. Sliding from the nest, I stretched my muscles and tested my range of motion; all my wounds were gone.
Only a slight itch remained where scales had regrown.
I was a little light-headed when I crossed the room to reach Reid’s side, but I wasn’t going to tell the healer about that.
I refused to lie back down, not when my human might need me, and I owed him.
Without him, I never would have made it out of that clearing, and if I had, I would have blundered straight into the arms of the Bitter Storm warriors.
I’d always dreamed of having a protector, of not having to be so strong and hard on myself, but not at the cost of his health.
“Is he going to be all right?” I asked, my voice small now that my worst fear and anger had abated.
He looked okay, like he was just taking a little nap and would leap into bright, powerful motion as soon as he woke up.
I wanted that. I wanted him to wake up and look at me again, tell me those sweet things that nobody ever said to me.
Call me beautiful, tell me I was safe with him.
“Why don’t you lie down, Princess Sazzie?
” Erish said kindly. He was pretending that I hadn’t been angry throughout my entire treatment.
Fine with me. I gave him a glare I knew he couldn’t see, and then I gripped the edge of Reid’s nest and hauled myself into it.
The nest was made to fit all the long, thick coils of a Naga male, and while Reid was larger than life, he did not fill the nest the same way; there was plenty of room for me.
I rested my head on his bare chest and fingered the delicate metal chain he wore around his neck, from which dangled two small metal plates.
Erish huffed; something that sounded almost like a laugh.
“That’s not what I meant, Your Highness,” he said, his hands still on the ancient machines beside the nest, but his cloudy white eyes had lowered to settle on Reid’s face.
“But it will do. To answer your question: Yes, he will be fine. Whatever he did when he chased after you finally activated his nanobots. They are doing exactly what they were designed to do—and then some. They had depleted his system of all nutrients, which caused the crash. I am devising the appropriate stabilizer for him right now.”
More fancy, difficult words and intricate explanations filled the air, but I caught the most vital message: Reid was going to be fine.
He would survive—not merely from this crash, but he was also freed from the affliction that had plagued him from the very beginning.
With Erish’s ingenious final treatment in place, Reid would soon be strong enough to return home, to Haven. To Zathar and his mate...
With a sigh, I huddled closer against his chest, my fist curled around his odd necklace.
His arm had rolled closer, pressing against my back as if he were hugging me.
I felt safe, but I also felt sad. What was I going to do when Reid left?
Where would I go? Would Zathar welcome me at Haven?
It would be nice to see my brother again, but I wouldn’t blame any of the males there if they considered me too much of a threat to their females.
They might expect me to want to start fights, claim a position of power, and seek status.
Going with Reid would also bring my problems along, and I couldn’t do that to the fragile little Clan of humans and outcasts—not if Bitter Storm was now involved.
Reid had described the odd appearance of one of the Bitter Storm males, and I knew exactly who he had been talking about.
Skinny, with missing front teeth? That could only mean Aser, the only male in living memory to ever claim the title of King.
The sniveling bastard who had killed the Bitter Storm Queen after her failed attack on Thunder Rock Village and sent the once-numerous Clan into civil war.
Now, Bitter Storm was but a remnant of itself, scrambling to hold on, gather enough food, and maintain its massive mountain home.
My thoughts were still spinning, stuck on what Aser’s presence could mean, when I sank into sleep, lulled into a sense of calm by the steady beat of Reid’s heart beneath my head, his scent filling my nose, and his warmth soaking into my scales.
When I woke, I was groggy and disoriented.
Everything was dark around me, though some tiny lights glowed like stars here and there around the room.
It took me a long minute to recall where I was, but when I did, it all came back to me in a rush: Reid charging to my defense, his mighty warrior pose over a pinned Evarah, and the way he had declared that he was going to protect me.
My mind flashed to the recollection of those Bitter Storm warriors—the true threat—but then it all faded to the background.
I was lying inside a soft nest, and I was not alone.
When had I gotten so bold as to lie down with a male—a human male at that?
He didn’t just have his arm lying against my back; no, he’d actually curled it around my waist and was holding me close.
His fingers feathered up and down my ribs with soft strokes, and, from the sound of his breathing, I knew he wasn’t asleep.
Jerking back, I began to raise myself so I could leave the nest. What was I thinking?
What was he thinking? What if he didn’t like that I’d gotten this close?
My thoughts spiraled quickly with my uncertainty, wondering how he could possibly want me near after the chaos and pain I’d caused.
After he’d seen that I was no angel. “Hush, angel,” he said, right on the heels of that last thought, echoing the words reverberating through my head.
“It’s okay. We’re okay. And I know you can understand me. Don’t try to hide it, little minx.”
He did not let me get away either, his strength far greater than mine as he pulled me back against his chest. This time, it wasn’t a one-armed hug, but both his arms wrapped around my waist as he hauled me close—practically on top of him.
I could feel the geometrical shapes beneath his skin; there were more of them now than before.
I could also feel a hot, thick bar pressing against my hip, and I didn’t know what to make of that.
If it was what I thought it was, it shouldn’t have made me feel all weak-limbed—it should have made me feel angry.
He was shaming himself, and me, by showing such a lack of restraint.
But the only things I was feeling were relief and happiness.
He wanted me close, he was holding me, and he wasn’t hurt.