by Imogen Sera
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ingrid spent most of the morning in the infirmary, showing Caelian how to do everything necessary to keep Margaret comfortable and give her the best chance of recovering. He was eager to learn and very helpful, but he couldn’t keep his eyes from Margaret’s face for more than a minute or two. Ingrid’s heart ached for him, and for the third time in the last hour she whispered a silent prayer for Margaret’s recovery. After he knew his way around the place she left him, making him promise to come down to lunch.
She found Helias in the library with Augustus and Annie, and the three were talking animatedly. She was happy to see that Annie had seemed to lose her fear of Helias, perhaps after getting to know him a bit. She supposed that Annie had known Helias was king before Helias himself did, and she could understand being intimidated, especially after her treatment at the hands of the former king.
Ingrid was still having trouble wrapping her head around the whole situation, and rather than lose her mind she was trying hard to focus on one thing at a time. The next task was to become friendly with Annie, she supposed. They were basically sisters-in-law now. She smiled to herself at the thought.
“You’ll need to speak with Ingrid about that, but I can’t imagine it would be-” Helias stopped, noticing his mate’s entrance. She grinned at him and smiled politely toward Annie and Augustus before slipping into the seat next to Helias.
“What do we need to speak with me about?” she asked.
Augustus cleared his throat. “We believe the child will be here soon. We need somewhere safe for the birth, and Annie tells me that she feels safe here,” he looked down at Annie as her cheeks burned pink. “May we stay here until after the birth?”
“Of course,” Ingrid smiled. “We have the room and supplies. There’s a midwife in town, I can go fetch her tomorrow to stay here until she’s needed.”
Augustus nodded gratefully and Annie looked relieved.
“Annie,” Ingrid said, turning her attention to the other woman, “is there anything I can get you to help make you more comfortable?”
Annie laughed with an enthusiasm that surprised her. “I don’t think anything could possibly make me comfortable right now,” she said, gesturing to her belly, “except getting this kid out of me. There are knees in my lungs and elbows in my hips.” She turned to Augustus. “He’s going to be as big as you,” she said playfully, and Ingrid saw a look of pride cross the serious man’s face.
Ingrid laughed and put her palms up. “I have… pillows? Or a bath?” she said, trying to imagine what would help an uncomfortable pregnant woman.
“A bath? Really?” Annie asked, rising awkwardly from her seat, her mate standing with her to help her. “A bath would make me very happy.”
Ingrid smiled, happy to be able to be helpful. She leaned over to kiss Helias on the cheek, but he caught her chin gently in his hand. She raised her eyebrows at him.
“You said after breakfast,” he murmured quietly, a mischievous look on his face.
“After I help Annie,” she promised, whispering. “To make it up to you I’ll sit on your face for as long as you want.”
She pecked him on the nose and jumped up to help Annie through the door. Glancing back at him from the door, she laughed to herself at the stunned look on his face.
. . . . .
Annie had exclaimed excitedly over the huge marble tub in Ingrid’s bathroom, and once she was safely lowered in the hot water Ingrid retreated to her bedroom to give her privacy. They were talking a bit, Ingrid from her bed and Annie from the tub, mostly rehashing the events of the night before.
“Can I ask you something kind of personal?” Annie asked, sounding hesitant.
“Sure,” Ingrid replied curiously.
“Is Helias,” she paused, searching for the right word, “good to you?”
“Very,” Ingrid said.
“I’m only asking because I heard stories while I was imprisoned,” began Annie, “and I got the impression that he was… different than he seems now that I’ve met him.”
“Different how?”
“Vicious. Barbaric.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” said Ingrid, carefully, trying to ignore the protectiveness in her chest.
“I agree,” Annie said, “after meeting him. I’m only bringing it up because it seems so odd, the difference between the savage I expected and the person I met.”
Annie emerged from the bathroom then, hair wet and wrapped in a large robe.
“Who told you these stories?” Ingrid asked.
“A guard when I was imprisoned,” Annie said, squeezing water from her hair into a towel. “He took pity on me and kept me company most of the time, and he told me lots of stories about everything that was going on.”
“And that’s why you were so frightened last night?” Ingrid guided her to sit in front of the vanity, and picked up her hairbrush. As she started running it through Annie’s silvery blond hair, the smaller woman shut her eyes and relaxed her face.
“Yes,” she responded. “I’m sorry if I was rude. I should probably have told Augustus about this, but Helias is his brother and he seems to love him, and I didn’t want to cause any problems.”
Ingrid nodded, not convinced. “You should tell him.”
There was a comfortable silence as Ingrid brushed her hair, but Ingrid couldn’t shake her growing sense of unease.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Once Annie was dressed and on her way Ingrid went searching for Helias. She had missed lunch so she grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen and ate while wandering around the house. He wasn’t in the library, the trap door in the storage room was tightly shut, the front hall was empty, and only Rebecca was in the infirmary. She furrowed her brow and headed to the front door, sandwich still in hand. The day was lovely, all warm sunshine and clear blue skies, and as she shaded her eyes to look up at the sky she found him. His great, emerald wings were spread as he soared, so high she could barely make out his massive form. Three similar figures were near to him: red, blue and black. She smiled to herself.
“Ing!” she heard, and turned to see John calling her. Lily, John, Ian, and Mira had set up a makeshift picnic lunch, taking advantage of the weather. She joined them on the ground and finished her lunch before leaning back on her elbows, shutting her eyes and enjoying the sun on her face.
“It’s kind of cool, right?” Ian said, gesturing skyward. “Like going to the zoo or something.” He flashed her an impish smile, and she gently shoved him with her foot.
“My boyfriend can eat you,” she said, shutting her eyes again.
Her friends chatted around her, but she couldn’t bring herself to pay attention. She had been going nonstop and the last few days had been full of revelations and responsibilities, and this time to shut everything out of her mind was good for her. She noticed Mira seemed quieter than usual, and when she glanced at her she saw that her gaze was fixed overhead.
Time passed in mostly content silence, and soon Helias landed a little ways away. She hoped he’d had the foresight to keep his pants somewhere safe. He strode toward them a minute later, and she was relieved that her fears were unfounded. He shot Ingrid a blazing look and she knew he was remembering her promise from earlier. She flushed slightly but patted the grass next to her, and he didn’t seem at all inconvenienced to join her on the ground. She put her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder, content.
“How’s Annie?” he murmured into her hair, and she shook her head. He furrowed his brow and began to ask something about Caelian before she silenced him by shaking her head again.
She lifted his hand to her mouth and placed a quick kiss on his palm, holding onto his much bigger hand with both of hers. “There’s about a million things I need to tell you,” she started, turning her face upward and shutting her eyes again, a content look on her face, “but right now I don’t want to think about anything.”
He murmured his agreement and they sat together in comp
anionable silence. She opened her eyes to excited murmuring and saw Tarquin stalking toward them, completely naked, and she groaned and put her head in her hands. John and Ian were both pointedly looking anywhere else, Lily was trying desperately to hide hysterical giggling, and poor Mira was bright red, seemingly transfixed on the sight. Ingrid elbowed Helias playfully and ordered him to sort his brother out. She promised him she’d be upstairs and slipped through the door, darting up to her bedroom. The sunny outing had done her good, she knew, and now getting devoured by her mate would be even better for her. She laughed at the thought as she stripped to shower quickly; they were both insatiable. She washed quickly and as she dried herself she hoped that Helias would be quick about setting Tarquin straight regarding clothing.
She wrapped her towel around herself and opened the door to her bedroom, and there was Helias right in front of the door: huge, muscular, shirtless, eyes burning for her. Heat pooled low in her belly, and she released her towel to pull him to her and then she kissed him, passionately, with all of the tension from the last few days and all of the desperate longing for the last few months poured into it. He pulled away from her, breathless, and lifted her; her towel forgotten on the floor.
Helias laid her on the bed, pulled her legs apart gently, and lowered his mouth between her thighs. He pressed a gentle kiss against her inner thigh, and then again, and trailed his tongue lazily around his kisses. Her breath hitched as his lips and tongue traveled inward, but then he lifted his head and focused his attention on her other thigh. She made a desperate needy sound, and he laughed against her leg, the sound reverberating straight through her core. She gasped and bucked her hips slightly, helplessly, and begged him incoherently for something, anything, everything. He laughed again and she tensed before he placed one last kiss against her creamy thigh. He licked her then, long and soft, one slow continuous movement all the way up until he reached her clit, and he paused there to swirl his tongue around her. Her hips bucked again, and she was holding his head desperately to her, and her jaw clenched and she called his name as she came, her hands and arms shaking while her fingers threaded through his hair.
He continued there; licking, sucking, nibbling gently, and before long she was melting again. He moved down, slightly, and his tongue was there at her entrance. A moment later his tongue was inside her, fucking her, deliciously and relentlessly, and she was quivering and moaning desperately and calling for him. He came up to hold her until she finished trembling, kissing along her neck and shoulder. When she came back to herself she saw the raw need in his face, so she kissed him hard and begged him to fuck her. He obliged and positioned himself at her entrance, and as he pushed into her all she could think was how delectably he fit in her, stretching her and filling her; and as he began to move inside her all she could do was cling to him and think of how exquisitely perfect this was.
Afterward they lay together; kissing, whispering, caressing, laughing. Ingrid’s eyes grew heavy, and the last thing she thought was that this was the happiest moment of her life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Helias awoke as the sun was setting and noticed immediately that Ingrid had disappeared. He wasn’t too surprised, she wasn’t the type to lounge around when things needed to be done, and he smiled at the uncharacteristic memory of her reclining in the grass, the sun on her face. He had wanted to swoop down immediately and carry her off to bed, but he was glad he’d shrugged off his baser instincts. She had been so relaxed and happy, and he had even seen her laughing with her friends. It was a bittersweet sight. Tarquin’s research on the shrine had yielded similar information, and Helias was becoming convinced that the only way to cure the corruption and cure the ill was dragon fire. He was also convinced that the manor house couldn’t survive it, and Ingrid would lose the only home she’d ever known. He knew that she would agree to sacrifice the house, without much thought, if it would save lives; but he also knew how much she loved her home and he was delaying telling her what he had discovered until there were no other options.
He rose and dressed quickly, and followed the smell of dinner to the table. As he sat next to Ingrid, she didn’t look up and he was surprised to see that she was absorbed in conversation with Tarquin, who was seated on her other side. Augustus and Caelian weren’t present, so he supposed that Ingrid must have taken pity on his strange youngest sibling. Helias placed his hand on her back and she jumped slightly, then looked at him and laughed.
“Sorry,” she said, “I contemplated waking you, but I decided you needed sleep more than food.” She pressed her lips to his palm quickly. He grinned down at her; he adored that little ritual of hers.
She turned her attention back to Tarquin, and as he listened they were making awkward small talk, but it was clear that Ingrid was making quite an effort with his favorite brother, and he loved her more for it. She turned back to Helias after their conversation lulled, and leaned over to whisper to him.
“I have so much to update you on, come to the infirmary with me after this?”
He nodded, curious about the location, and settled into his dinner. He felt much better this evening; he’d stretched his wings, fucked his mate, and caught up on sleep. There were still many decisions and tasks looming before him, but he was prepared to face them now.
Dinner ended and Ingrid and Helias started their trek to the most remote wing of the house.
She paused in front of the door. “This is complicated, I— ” she sighed. “I’ll just let him explain.”
She pushed open the door, and Helias was surprised to see Caelian seated at a large table, hunched over a huge book, adding something to a small bowl.
“Ingrid!” Caelian said, pushing the book back from him and standing, and Helias felt a little kick of jealousy at the way his brother was grinning at her. He pushed the ridiculous emotion aside as Ingrid pulled him through the door.
“How’s she doing?” Ingrid asked Caelian, looking concerned.
He sighed. “No change from this morning. I thought she seemed like she was improving.” Sorrow flooded his eyes, and Helias was confused about why the health of a human would be affecting his brother so much.
Ingrid smiled gently at Helias’s confused face, and pulled him over to the nearest occupied bed. There were at least ten patients in here, and he understood how the resident nurses were always so busy.
“This is Margaret,” Ingrid said gently, gesturing down to the sleeping woman. She looked awful, her face covered with the plague’s signature boils. Her long yellow-blond hair was braided neatly, but her skin was pale and her breathing slow.
Caelian came to her side then, kneeling next to her. “Helias,” he said, not looking away from Margaret’s pitiful face, “Margaret is my mate.”
Helias’s eyes widened. “You’re sure of this?”
Caelian nodded, and looking at his brother’s slumped form and swollen eyes Helias saw the truth of it. He imagined Ingrid briefly in this state, and banished the thought. It was too painful to contemplate.
“Is she going to recover?” Helias asked Ingrid.
She shrugged and he could see unshed tears in her eyes. “She’s been hanging on much longer than most do. Two days ago I would have said no, yesterday I thought she would. Today I don’t know.” She rubbed the unconscious woman’s arm affectionately.
Helias took a deep breath. He had hoped to put this off longer, but he couldn’t put his brother’s mate’s life at risk by delaying any longer. “I can fix this,” he began. “Tarquin has come to the same conclusion as I: destroying the shrine will end the plague and cure these people,” he gestured around the room.
“How do we destroy it?” Ingrid asked, looking determined.
“Dragon fire,” he said, avoiding meeting her gaze.
“Lucky thing we have dragons then,” she said, smiling slyly at him.
He felt sick then. “That’s not all. Ingrid, I believe it will— ”
Lily burst into the room then, madly calling for Ingrid.
<
br /> “What is it? What’s wrong?” Ingrid asked, looking alarmed.
“The baby’s coming.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ingrid had taken charge quickly. Caelian would stay and look after Margaret and Lily had been dispatched to prepare the horses. She had looked at Helias incredulously when he had insisted on flying to town to fetch the healer.
“You think that a dragon can land in the middle of town, after dark, and then a naked, strange man can talk the midwife into coming with him?”
He seemed to appreciate her point, but he insisted on riding with her. She rolled her eyes at his protectiveness, even as it secretly sent a tiny thrill through her.
They rode quickly and arrived in town less than a half hour after Lily had fetched them. Ingrid knocked loudly on the door of the house that she knew the midwife resided in. Helias bounced nervously next to her.