Aodh shifted from one foot to the other and back again. “Are you receiving adequate care? Is there anything you require? Anything I can do to help?”
“I am fine, just fine. Bored mostly. I would be happier in my cave. It isn’t much, but I have a few things there that are special to me, and I always feel more content when I can have my treasures nearby. Silly, I know, but I am what I am.”
Aodh nodded, but Brin suspected the man hadn’t really been listening. It was clear he was trying to say something, but he was still attempting to find the right words. It probably would only slow things down even more to try and hurry him along, and so Brin waited. People were a strange lot. Every time he thought he finally understood them, they did something else to annoy or confound him. After Dearra, he thought nothing would ever surprise him again, but the fairies had proved that notion false…repeatedly.
“And food?” Aodh asked. “You are getting enough? Have they brought you meat?”
Now we come to it, Brin thought. It was bad enough that Siusan had stayed away for days on end—days that lasted forever and nights that just seemed like they did. Now she was sending someone else to spy on him, someone to needle and cajole. He missed her, but she needed to realize she was not going to force him to do anything he did not wish to do. In truth, he had started to feel a little hungry a couple of days ago, but now it was a matter of principle, a matter of pride. He probably would have eaten today, but now?
“It is kind of you to ask Aodh, but I know why you are here, and it won’t work. You can just take yourself back and tell that meddling woman she can stay gone as long as she chooses, as it will not make one lick of difference.”
“Siusan did not send me,” Aodh said. His voice was quiet, restrained, but Brin thought he heard the edge of irritation there, as well. “She does not know I have come, nor would she be happy to find out. However, she has told me you are refusing to eat, and it worries her.”
Brin rolled his eyes. “It shouldn’t. I am a dragon, after all. We can go for quite some time without food with little ill effect.”
“But Etrafarians cannot,” Aodh said flatly.
Brin raised a scaled brow. “What does that mean?”
“It means, Brin’du Drak’Tir, that if one especially stubborn dragon were to stop eating, then an equally stubborn Etrafarian woman might take it upon herself to do the same.”
“Siusan is not eating? Of all the hard-headed, misguided, foolish—Go and get her! Drag her back here, if needs be! I will make her eat!”
“As she has made you eat? No, that will not work. Besides, she is resting. I cannot bring her now.”
“Resting? It is the middle of the day. Why would she need to rest?” Brin blustered, but he was merely trying to cover for the fact that now he was concerned.
Aodh’s patience had reached its breaking point, and Brin pulled back from the man when he shouted. “Because she is sick, you overgrown lizard! I swear, neither of you has the sense that Rah has given a fruit fly. You will not eat because of your pride, and she will not eat because she cares about you, though what one has to do with the other, I could not say.”
Brin stood up so quickly that he banged his head on the ceiling of the shelter. “What do you mean, sick? A day or two without food would not make her ill. What is wrong with her?”
“It has not been a day or two. It has been nine days, at least. That is how long since she was last here, is it not? She works too hard, sleeps too little, and worries too much. All of that, combined with no food, has brought her to where she is now.”
Brin was beside himself. Sick? She was sick, and it was all his fault. Why hadn’t he listened to her? The fish wasn’t really so bad. He could have eaten a little, if only to make her happy. After all she had done for him during his recovery, it seemed more than a little selfish of him not to have done at least that much.
Brin was pacing, but he could not go more than a few steps before having to turn, and when he did, his tail knocked out one whole wall of the building. Aodh threw a hand over his head, unsure if the roof would hold with one of its supports gone. The place had been constructed in haste, meant only to keep the rain out, and little more.
“I will make her eat!” Brin said with a roar that had Aodh lowering the hands from his head and using them, instead, to cover his ears.
Brin started out through the opening in the wall, and worked his way around the trunk of the Great Tree, still laying where it had fallen. Once clear of that obstruction, he lifted his wings, but it only took a few attempts for him to discover that flight was still far beyond his ability. Just the act of trying to fly had sapped all his strength. He stood with his head bowed, panting from the exertion.
“Are you finished making a spectacle of yourself?” Aodh asked, though not unkindly. His tone was gentle, even if his words were not.
Brin sagged beneath his own weight and lay pathetically in the dirt.
Brin nodded. It was humiliating to be in such a weakened condition. How could he help Siusan when he could barely walk himself?
“Good! Now this is what I suggest: Siusan is in no imminent danger, and neither are you. Based on what I have just witnessed, your strength is returning. It would return more quickly with some good food and perhaps a change of scenery. Do you think you could make your way to your cave?”
“I would need to take frequent rests, but yes, I think I could do that,” Brin said nodding. Just the thought of being back in his snug little cave boosted his spirits considerably. The Etrafarians had done their best to make him comfortable, but being inside the wooden structure felt unnatural. He'd thought he would have been used to it by then, considering all those years he'd spent trapped inside that sword, but since he'd regained his freedom, he longed for either the open sky above him, or the dense comfort of a stone cave. The cave on Maj was his favorite, but the one on Etrafa was not too bad. In fact, it sounded like heaven at the moment.
“You go there and wait. Tomorrow, I will bring Siusan to you.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Settle down. It will take you the rest of today and most of the night to get there, and once there, you are likely going to need to sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough. Now, for once in your life, do as you are told!”
Brin grumbled under his breath.
“What? What was that? It sounded a little like, ‘Yes, Aodh, of course I will do just as you say. You are both wise and patient,’ but I may have misheard.”
Instead of the answer Brin would have liked to give, he contented himself with a nod of acceptance.
“Good, then! You go, and when we come tomorrow, be ready to eat.”
Brin staggered back to his feet and turned in the direction of his cave. Suddenly, the distance felt leagues away, but he would make it, one way or another.
Chapter 20
Siusan trudged beside Aodh. Her head buzzed as though it were full of bees, and her legs trembled with almost every step. Still, he had insisted that she needed to go with him. He had said it was a matter of life and death. No amount of questioning, however, would induce him to say more. She was so lost in her misery that she didn’t even take note of where they were until Brin’s cave came into view.
“Aodh? What are we doing here?”
“No questions. Keep walking. I am not going to carry you.”
When they entered the cave, Siusan gasped. Brin was there! How had he ever made it so far? There was a blanket spread before him, upon which sat an entire roasted boar, several small birds, mounds of fruits, vegetables and nuts, loaves of hearty bread, and multiple fish that looked as though they had been smoked.
“It looks as though you have everything you need. I will leave the two of you to take your medicine in peace. Siusan, there is no need to hurry back. Raisah is coming over to help me with the scrolls. If we find anything of use, we can discuss it tomorrow.”
She kissed him on the cheek, and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Aodh,” she whispered, and was amused by th
e blush on the man’s face.
Aodh pulled away and mumbled something unintelligible. He patted her cheek affectionately before turning to go.
Siusan stood at the mouth of the cave and looked around. Strange as it seemed, she had not been inside before. When she visited Brin, they preferred to sit outside and enjoy the stars and sky. She didn’t mind caves; they simply didn’t call to her the way they did for Brin. Inside, there was a small pile of pearls, a story quilt with panels depicting scenes from Brin’s past, a pile of gold that looked like Brin had melted and formed it into a crude representation of a bird—or maybe it was meant to be a dragon, she couldn’t quite tell. There was not much as far as dragon treasure went, but then again, he didn’t really live here.
“See anything you like?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“One or two things, perhaps, but I have heard that dragons can be a bit fussy about their treasures, so I will content myself with looking.”
“Humph,” he responded. He tapped the floor in front of him with one claw, making a harsh scraping noise against the stone.
“Did you do all this?” she asked, indicating the food spread before him.
“Aodh,” Brin responded.
“Have you eaten yet?” She looked up at him expectantly.
“No, I thought we could eat together.”
He was looking at her very closely, and she wondered what she must look like. She had lost weight, and she knew it showed. When she had looked at her reflection that morning, her face had been a pale mask. Her cheekbones protruded, there were dark circles under her eyes, her hair had lost its pretty shine, and hung in a limp tangle of red around her shoulders and down her back. When she set out with Aodh, her appearance had been the last thing on her mind, but now she was wishing that she had at least taken the time to run a brush through her hair. She tried raking her fingers through it now, but gave up after a pass or two. She moved to sit on the blanket, then reached out and tore a piece of bread from one of the loaves.
“There’s some honey, too,” Brin said, but she shook her head and sat there, holding the bread.
“You first,” she said.
Brin sighed. “You really are the second stubbornest woman I have ever met, and not second by much, might I add.”
“You miss her.” It wasn’t a question. Siusan knew how Brin felt about Dearra. Dearra and Brin were part of one another, and though he complained endlessly about her, it was obvious he adored her. Even though she knew those feelings were completely platonic, she couldn’t quite stop herself from feeling a pang of jealousy over their close relationship.
“Yes, I miss her, but—”
“But?”
“Not as much as I once did. When Aesri first called me to Etrafa and we began our search for the prophecy, I knew it was my duty to help. I felt obligated to repay some of what she and others had done to help me, but I always longed to return home, to return to Maj and to Dearra. Then something changed. I found I could bear the separation more easily. And once in a while, that something called to me from Maj, and I found myself traveling to Etrafa even when Aesri had not sent for me. That something was you.”
She flushed with genuine pleasure. Her? He had come to see her!
“Turn around,” he said suddenly.
“Brin?”
“I am going to eat the boar. I will go first, if it will please you, but don’t look. If I have to see your disappointment over the fact that I am a monster that eats the flesh of poor, defenseless animals, I’ll never be able to choke the stupid thing down, and the two of us will starve to death surrounded by all of this delicious food.”
Siusan looked away, but couldn’t repress the shudder that coursed through her at the sound of crunching bones. Brin laughed, and she looked back at him with a questioning expression.
“I thought for sure you would tell me to go ahead and eat. I expected you to watch, if only to prove to me that you could, but it was too much for you, wasn’t it?”
“I thought about it, I really did, but honestly…yuck! How can you do that?”
“It’s delicious! You should try it sometime.”
“No, thank you,” she said.
She bit into the bread she was holding, and her mouth watered instantly. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she had taken that first bite, but once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop. The bread was followed by a large piece of fruit, and a heaping portion of nuts.
“Feeling better now?”
Siusan patted her slightly rounded stomach. “Much!”
“Don’t do that again. It was foolish. Worse, it was dangerous.”
“If you will promise to take better care of yourself, there will be no reason for me to take such drastic steps,” she answered back, popping another berry into her mouth.
Brin stretched out and rested his head against the stone floor. Siusan moved to lay beside him. She nestled her head on one of his hands and looked up into his golden eyes.
“Siusan, we should talk.”
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked in a sleepy voice. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth emanating from him seep into her. That, combined with all the food she'd eaten, was making her drowsy.
“I want to talk about us.”
Siusan opened her eyes. She hadn’t expected that.
“It can’t work. There's no way it can work. It’s ridiculous to even be talking about it.”
“What cannot work?” She knew, of course, but she was going to make him say it. She needed him to say it.
Brin growled low in his throat. “You know what I mean. It’s obvious that you care for me, and I…well…I…”
“Yes?” she encouraged.
“Well,” Brin swallowed audibly. “I have come to tolerate you more than most. Annoying as you are, I find your company isn’t completely unpleasant.”
“Why, Brin! You will turn my head with that kind of pretty talk.” She fanned her face with her hand.
“Impossible woman! This is not funny. Nothing about any of this is funny.”
“Come now,” she said as she propped herself up on her elbows. “It is a little funny. A dragon and an Etrafarian? That has to be a first.”
“It won’t work, I tell you! You are going to want a relationship someday. You are going to want children. You will want the physical things that I cannot give you.”
“Like what kind of physical things? Tell me more, oh, wise one.”
“Stop it, Siusan. You're making light of this, but you know I'm right, for Tolah’s sake!”
“Dear, sweet, Brin’du Drak’Tir, I do not need children. Even were I to marry another Etrafarian, there would be no guarantee that children would follow. If I feel the need to shower affection on someone other than you, we can get a dog.”
“I hate dogs,” Brin grumbled, and just to needle her, he added, “the fur gets stuck in my teeth.”
“Fine, no dogs. How do you feel about cats?”
“You’re ignoring the other parts. I will never be able to love you in the way a man could love you. I can’t even kiss you,” Brin said with a sigh. “That’s almost funny, really. There was a time when I could not understand the appeal of a kiss. The whole notion seemed odd to me, but now…now I think I would give every treasure I own to be able to kiss you, just once.”
Siusan felt his words all the way to her toes. “I can do the kissing for both of us. Close your eyes.”
“Why?” he asked nervously.
“Because that is how it is done. Stop worrying, and do as you are told.”
She watched as he closed his eyes and then opened one lid a fraction.
“No peeking!” she scolded him. He huffed and shut the eye tightly. “Relax. This is not going to hurt. You look like you are awaiting the strike of the executioner’s blade instead of a kiss.”
Siusan cupped his face between her hands and pressed her lips to one of his eyes and then the other. She stroked his face and smiled when she heard him
make a purring growl of pleasure. She kissed the end of his nose, the top of his head, and ran her fingers along the underside of his chin. It was a little awkward, she couldn’t deny that, but it was nice, too. It also made him seem so happy.
Finally, she put her mouth to his. It was smooth, and harder than she would have thought. His breath was almost perfumed, like incense. Sandalwood, maybe. It was her first romantic kiss, as it was his. She had nothing to compare it to, but she thought it was amazing. It was as if she were claiming him as her own. She thought she could happily stay in that moment for a very long time, but the warmth of his scales seemed to magnify under her touch. Warm progressed to very warm, and then to hot, and she had no choice but to pull hastily away.
“Are you all right? Did I do something wrong?” she asked him.
Brin just looked at her. His eyes were open wide. Heat radiated off him. She could actually see it making the air around him shimmer in waves. His wings had taken on an almost purple cast.
“Answer me, Brin! You are frightening me!”
He held up one scaled hand. “Everything is fine. Just…give me a moment.”
Thus assured, she waited. The color of his wings was the first to fade, and the heat slowly subsided. He blinked rapidly, and took slow breaths.
“Well, that was…interesting,” he said at last.
“What was that all about?”
“I think you can guess. Please don’t make me say it out loud; it’s embarrassing.”
“Oh!” she gasped in understanding.
“Yeah, ‘oh,’ is right. Siusan, this whole thing is wrong on so many levels. Do you have any idea what people would say?”
“Did you enjoy it?” she asked him, but he didn’t answer. “Well, did you?”
“Gee, Siusan, I don’t know—what do you think?”
“All right, then! To hell with what anyone else thinks! Why should we be ashamed of how we feel? We may be limited in what we can do…you know…physically, but who cares? I like the way you make me feel. I like the conversations we have. I like the way you make me think about things from a different point of view. I like the way you challenge me. I like the way you make me laugh. And, now, I like the way you get a little worked up when I kiss you. It is flattering. Besides, if I had wings, mine would have been purple, too!”
Prophecy (The Destiny Series Book 4) Page 16