Warrior Lover (Draconia Tales)

by Karilyn Bentley

  As in, if he didn’t do something soon, she might catch a lung cold and die.

  Which would leave him returning to Draconia minus his exquisite woman.

  Enar rubbed the ache that slammed into his chest at the thought.

  “Turn around Jamie.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m going to undress and get under the blanket to warm up Lily.”

  Jamie made a face and turned around. Enar made quick work of his clothes and slipped under the blanket, curling around Lily, who placed the cup of tea beside her. She snuggled next to him and he couldn’t stop the shiver passing across his skin. Did she even have a pulse?

  Yes, yes she did.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as his fingers slipped from the pulse point in her neck.

  “Jamie, lay on the other side of her. On top of the blanket.”

  For once the boy didn’t argue, just laid himself next to Lily back against hers, facing the fire.

  Enar released a shaky breath as his arms tightened around a shivering Lily. Tucking her head under his chin, he stroked her back, trying to calm her trembling. If only he hadn’t left her alone. If only he had run faster. If only, if only. His mind raced with possibilities and he forced himself to focus on the here, the now. All that mattered was the feel of Lily’s skin against his, of knowing as long as he touched her, she would come to no harm.

  ****

  Lily snuggled against Enar’s warmth, pressed between him and Jamie, trembling despite their body heat.

  Would Enar punish her for wandering off, costing them valuable time? It wasn’t her fault the bank caved in under her weight. Having the water pull her under, unable to breath, the weight of her clothing and packs dragging her down terrified her. How close she came to dying, closer than anything the town’s priests had threatened.

  If Enar hadn’t noticed her gone when he did, she would have drowned. Fine tremors shook her body, tightening her stomach muscles, curling her into a ball.

  Frightened and embarrassed, what a combination. Where was the invisibility blanket when she needed it?

  Enar’s hands stroked her back until her muscles released, her legs straightening. His muscular arms clasped her against his chest, her legs entwining with his, as if she became part of him. As long as she focused on the now, the heat of his skin, the warmth of his embrace, her limbs stopped trembling. But once she remembered the plunge into the icy water, the currents pulling her under and away from the bank, the certainty death breathed down her neck, the shakes started again.

  Lily burrowed her head against Enar’s chest, the thought of looking him in the face too daunting. At least he no longer seemed angry.

  “Lily, love. Don’t. Ever. Scare me like that again.” His voice rumbled against her ear.

  Lily nodded. Not hard at all to make that promise. Swirling away in water currents to another life would not make her future to-do list.

  “Look at me.”

  She pressed her head against his chest. Why did he have to ask that? Never mind she talked to him only minutes before. At the moment she couldn’t stand to give anyone her gaze. They might see the fear in her eyes, know she almost died and pity her for it.

  A finger, thick and blunt, reached under her chin, forcing her gaze to his. She stared into blue eyes, and it seemed as if she fell into their depths, took a dive off a cliff and landed in the blue waters of Enar’s gaze.

  And while she floated on the currents of his emotions, she saw they mirrored her own. His gaze reflected the fear possessing her and it seemed so easy to give him her fear, to hand it over, to forget about its controlling tendrils snaking through her veins.

  Enar kissed her forehead, releasing her chin. Lily’s limbs relaxed, freed from their burden of tension, and she floated away into sleep, knowing Enar would keep her safe.

  Chapter 11

  Lily curled onto her side, a stone pressing through the blanket into her hip. Once her limbs stopped trembling she’d move the thing. A breath rasped out of her lungs, caught in her throat and she hacked up more water. Guess that meant time to get moving. Lily opened her eyes, surprised to see dark shadows over the landscape. When she fell asleep sunlight covered the ground. Where did the light go? And where was Enar?

  A cough later and she rolled over, her gaze focused on the campfire, its yellow and orange flames licking the air. No Jamie, no Enar, nothing but her and her blanket.

  And her packbag. With her wet clothing someone threw over the bushes to dry. How nice. Now she had no dry clothes to wear.

  Maybe Enar’s bag contained dry clothes. Wrapping the blanket around her naked body, Lily ignored the pressure in her chest and the feeling something was seriously wrong, and walked over to Enar’s packs. A wet shirt and pair of wet leathers spread across a bush, drying.

  Please tell me he has another spare set in his bag. She knelt and rummaged around until she found a black shirt and leather trousers.

  She glanced around. Still no one present. Which meant they’d show up right when she dropped the blanket. Oh well.

  But they didn’t. Lucky for her, seeing she looked like a child playing dress-up with her parents’ clothes.

  Enar’s shirt hung past her fingers, off her shoulders and halfway down her thighs, long enough to make a dress. But as the night air carried a chill, she pulled the leathers over her bare legs and rolled the hems up. A strand of rope around her waist completed the outfit.

  Wasn’t she a sight.

  The bushes rustled and Lily whirled toward the noise, heart in her chest. What if it was a wild animal? How would she defend herself?

  Yanking a smoldering stick from the fire, she faced the noise.

  “What are you doing, woman?” Enar’s voice boomed from behind her.

  Lily let out a squeak, dropped the smoldering stick on her bare toes, jumped back and landed wrong when her feet finally reconnected with the earth. Her arms windmilled as she fell backward.

  How graceful could one person be?

  Right before she hit the ground in a heap of embarrassment, strong arms grabbed her around the waist, hauling her upright.

  “Woman, I swear, you are an accident waiting to happen. What were you thinking, picking up a burning stick?”

  She turned to face him, gesturing over her shoulder. “There was a noise in the bushes and I was trying to protect myself.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  “You weren’t around.”

  “I am now.” His eyes bored into hers and Lily shivered. “What are you wearing?” Enar held her at arms length, raking his gaze over her body. One corner of his mouth twitched.

  Lily felt her cheeks flame and she doubted it was from the fire. “Mine were all wet. Yours weren’t.”

  The twitch in Enar’s mouth gave way to a grin followed by a chuckle. “You look good in those. Maybe I’ll just give them to you.”

  How humiliating.

  The feeling washed away on a wave of coughing. No more water came up, but her chest suddenly felt cinched by a tight band of red-hot fire. Enar patted her back. It had no effect, but she appreciated the effort.

  “Hurts,” she gasped, pointing at her chest before another cough rolled through her.

  “Jamie!” Enar bellowed, as he helped lower her to the ground. “Where is that pesky lad? Jamie!”

  Lily drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on top of them, trying to draw in a breath through the pain. What happened? She felt fine when she first got up. Now she felt feverish with a tightness crushing her chest.

  She’d gone from well to ill in under a minute.

  She might not have Keara’s healing abilities, but she knew this was not good.

  Twigs snapped as Jamie came running, appearing from behind a bush with a rustle of leaves.

  “What’s wrong?” He slid to a stop beside Enar, panting like he’d run a great distance.

  “Lily can’t breathe. Do you know anything to help her?”

  “You’re the adul
t.”

  “You’re the apothecary’s apprentice.”

  “Keara never said nothing about what to do when someone almost drowned.”

  Enar cursed.

  Jamie took a step back. “I can try.”

  “Do it. She has the beginnings of a lung fever.”

  Enar sat beside her while Jamie rummaged through Keara’s herb bag. Lily leaned into Enar, willing him to give her strength, to heal her. It wouldn’t happen. She knew it. She felt the illness in the swallowed water spreading through her lungs, choking her breath. She’d never see Keara again. She’d never discover what secret about Draconia Enar withheld from her. She’d never leave these woods.

  Wasn’t she morbid all of a sudden?

  Looking death in the face tended to do that to a person.

  She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live with Enar. She wanted to see what life could be like away from superstitious priests and hateful townsfolk.

  Maybe Jamie knew more about herbs than he thought. Maybe his concoction would help her.

  She could only hope.

  ****

  Enar rubbed his chest. Considering how often and hard he’d been rubbing the thing over the past day, he was surprised his shirt didn’t have a hole in it. Not to mention the skin under the shirt.

  Rubbing didn’t help the pains, nor did it do anything to lower the fever coursing through Lily’s body.

  Sweat beaded on her forehead as she shook from the fever’s chills. Jamie’s draught the night before had done nothing to help her. Not that he blamed the boy. An apprentice only knew so much. What she needed was one of the healing priestesses.

  Who just so happened to be several days from here.

  And judging by the wheezing noises Lily made, she wouldn’t make the trip.

  Another round of rubbing his chest resulted in nothing happening. The pain remained and Lily still wheezed.

  Enar’s hand dropped to his side, fingers drumming against his leg as he paced by Lily’s pallet. Where was Jamie? The boy had administered a tea to Lily and then wandered off. Maybe wandered was the wrong word. Ran out of the woods was more like it. At any other time he’d be chasing the boy, but right now he had more important things to worry about.

  Like that wheezing noise Lily made every time she inhaled.

  One minute he paced beside Lily and the next he threw himself across her to shield her from the sudden gust of wind that shook the leaves from the trees. Downburst from dragon’s wings.

  Enar felt a glimmer of hope.

  Jamie’s shout echoed in Enar’s ears. “Fafnir’s here! He came back!”

  Enar sat back on his heels as hurried footsteps beat a rhythm in the crack, snap and pop of dry twigs strewn over the ground. One of these days he needed to teach the lad a lesson in walking quietly through the underbrush.

  “Fafnir came back! He came back!” Jamie slid to a stop, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

  “Good. Maybe he can take Lily to the Temple.”

  “He said to bring her to him since he can’t get under the trees.”

  Not a problem. Enar picked up Lily and her blanket and carried her through the trees to where Fafnir sat on the dirt path. Thin light from a just risen moon shone on the dragon’s scales, making them gleam even in the dim light. Fafnir glared at Enar with narrowed eyes, his lip pulled into a snarl.

  It appeared someone forgot their happy tea this morning.

  Watcher. What did you do to the woman?

  “Pulled her out of the water. She has a lung fever.” Will you help her? Those words stuck on his tongue.

  Hmm. Fafnir drew in a breath. She is dying.

  This time the words didn’t stick. “Will you help her?”

  If she is healed, who is to say you will not injure her again? Perhaps it is better if she journeys to the next world.

  Enar opened his mouth to roar, then shut it with a snap. Roar? What did he think he was? A dragon? But everything inside cried out with agony at the thought of losing Lily. His rage-churned grief boiled over, slamming into Fafnir.

  The dragon blinked, his eyes widening.

  “Will you help her?” Jamie asked, appearing beside Enar. Or maybe he’d been there all along and Enar hadn’t noticed.

  Did the Watcher hurt the woman?

  Jamie shook his head. “Nuh-huh. He wouldn’t do that. She fell in the stream and he pulled her out. Now she’s sick and I can’t fix her.”

  “Will you help her?” Enar wanted to shake the aide out of Fafnir, wanted to scream and fight until he secured help. But his hands were a little busy holding Lily and something told him in a fight with Fafnir, he might not be the winner.

  Watcher. You never cease to astound me. You would not physically harm that woman, would you?

  Never. “No, I wouldn’t. Are you able to take her to the Temple?”

  The Temple cannot help her. She would not last until then. Enar felt the words like a hard punch to the chest, painful and breath-stealing. But the females in my family were healers and I learned a bit from them. If you will place her on the ground, I’ll try to remember my lessons.

  At least his breath returned. Although Fafnir’s words didn’t install a lot of confidence. What choice did he have?

  Enar placed Lily on the ground, straightening the blanket around her. She stirred a little, her eyes fluttering open.

  “What?”

  “Shh. Fafnir’s back. He’s going to help you.” Enar stroked the hair from her face.

  “Hmm.” Lily’s eyes closed.

  Step back, Watcher. Fafnir’s breath puffed against Enar’s cheek, a touch of fetid air. Had the dragon ever heard of mint leaves?

  Not funny Watcher. Cells don’t come with tooth-cleaning sticks.

  “I didn’t say a word.”

  Enar didn’t see well in this light, but he got the impression the dragon was puzzled. It seemed Thoren wasn’t the only Draconi to hear Enar’s thoughts. He needed to remember that wonderful fact.

  No, you didn’t, did you? You are an enigma, Watcher, one that I will puzzle over later. Now, step away from Lily.

  Enar took a step back, followed by another at the waving of Fafnir’s forelimb. A couple of steps later and he stood next to Jamie, watching as Fafnir nuzzled Lily with his snout. Then he took a step back, lifted his foreleg and placed it on Lily’s chest.

  “Hey!” Enar tried to rush forward, tried to save his woman from being squashed, but Jamie grabbed his arm.

  “No! He’s not hurting her. See he’s barely touching her.”

  Blinking the anger away, Enar saw Jamie was correct. Fafnir’s foot barely touched Lily’s chest. But still. If the dragon lost his balance, Lily was done for.

  “To heal, you have to touch them, but touching her with his snout didn’t work, and since he don’t got no hands, he has to use his foot.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “That’s what he told me when I asked him to heal Lily. He didn’t know if his snout would work. He didn’t know if he could heal her at all, but the Temple was too far and he had to try. You know? Hey, look-it! See how his leg’s glowing? That means it’s working!”

  Sure enough, Fafnir’s foot and up to the wrist joint of the forelimb throbbed a dim pinkish light that bathed Lily in its glow. Enar released a breath he had no memory of holding. The ache formerly known as his chest eased. It seemed like the bloody pain had a relationship with Lily. An unwelcome thought he refused to process at the moment.

  Time passed in a series of breaths, his, Jamie’s, Lily’s wheezing ones. Or he should say, no longer wheezing ones. Fafnir removed his foot from Lily’s chest and she drew in a soundless deep breath.

  Praise the Goddess.

  Enar hurried to Lily’s side and knelt, running his fingers down her arm. Her eyelids fluttered.

  The illness is gone from her lungs. Endeavor to keep her away from bodies of water until she knows how to swim.

  “Thank you.” Enar touched Lily’s arm, watching her take an easy
breath, one that went in and out without making a sound.

  Lily chose that moment to open her eyes. “Wha—? Where am I?” She tried to push herself up and Enar helped her. Holding her close sounded like a wonderful idea. If he held her, she couldn’t do something stupid like fall in a stream and drown.

  Enar touched her cheek. “Fafnir healed you. You were sick.”

  “I can breathe better now.” She turned to Fafnir. “Thank you, Fafnir. Whatever you did, I really appreciate it.”

  Fafnir bobbed his head. I am glad you’re pleased. Where are Thoren and Keara?

  Enar slammed mental barriers around his thoughts. He refused to tell Fafnir what happened.

  “She got sick,” Jamie said.

  “And Thoren flew her to the Temple,” Lily finished.

  Enar gathered Lily into his arms and stood. When he turned to face Fafnir, he took a step back. Not that he was scared of the dragon. But a male Draconi with steam coming out his ears and mouth was not something you wanted to cozy up to if you liked your arse covered with skin. He took another step back, trying to get out of range of a fire-blast.

  Draconi and their overactive sense of caring for their females.

  “I’m sure Thoren made it to the Temple with her. The priestesses will care for her.”

  Steam stopped wisping from Fafnir’s mouth, which Enar took as a good sign. So he continued speaking.

  “Thoren’s fast. He’s probably already at the Temple. She’s getting the help she needs.” He felt the push of Fafnir’s thoughts against his own, trying to push through his barriers, trying to determine the truth of his words. He poured more energy into his mental barriers and tried to look like he believed his words.

  She appeared to be fine. Perhaps the young Draconi harmed her.

  More than you know. A thought best left to himself. “Thoren said she was ill and he would fly her to the Temple.” Paraphrase, paraphrase. “We’ll see them when we get there.”

  Fafnir threw back his head, releasing a roar that shook leaves from the trees. Lily clasped her hands over her ears, pressing her face against Enar’s chest.

  “Fafnir! We’ll see them soon. It’ll be all right.” Jamie ran to Fafnir.