“You’re adorable.”
“Mmm, I’m trying to, um.” Her words kept tripping over each other as she continued her work, this time with flushed cheeks and slightly shaking hands. “Charlotte please. I’m trying to perform an important procedure…stop embarrassing me!” She finally managed to calm down as I gave her a pat on the head.
She didn’t seem angry or even annoyed, just flustered. Really flustered. I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t having fun with that stupid grin on my face.
“Oh, fine.” I rolled my eyes. She was pouting, her entire face red. Then it turned into a glare, trying to wipe the stupid grin from my face.
“Well, I feel better!” I gave a mischievous smile while she shook her head in playful disapproval, still blushing.
“Look, you tease me all the time. I think it’s only fair,” she grumbled before punching my arm. The one with the wound. Ow.
“Okay I got it. No interrupting the medical dragon…” I whimpered, feeling like I was about to die from pain.
She examined my arm. “I don’t mind you teasing me—and making me blush—but usually people are much less sincere.” I felt her fingers on my cast again as she tossed the sticks supporting them to the side.
“Though I’ll admit, you’re the first one to try and flirt with me while your life was on the line.”
“You could tell that they were lying? Or is it not trusting people with the whole dragon thing?” I thought out loud.
“Well, considering only the royal family are supposed to be dragons, I’m a pretty big blasphemy.” Aria began unwrapping again, one strip at a time. I could see now that the inner bandages were still soaked, and it didn’t appear to be blood.
“But it’s more than that. I could see that there was something beneath the surface…it’s difficult to describe.”
I nodded in agreement to her words. Sometimes it was a feeling that the other person was an asshole.
“But you trusted me back then?”
Aria nodded as another bloody bandage was unwrapped. “You were so genuine. A breath of fresh air—damn it, I made myself blush.” She stuttered that last little bit as I burst out laughing. Her cheeks were several fascinating shades of red.
“Stay still!” she snipped at me as I caught myself, still barely able to contain my laugh. Oh dear, moving hurt too.
Now that my arm had been unwrapped, I could see that it definitely hadn’t healed properly. There was a scab forming, but much of it still had ichor dripping out. I grumbled as I leaned back, letting Aria take the lead. So that’s why I felt so sick.
Aria gave me a worried glance and then leaned in to take a closer look. I was worried that I’d have to lop off an arm. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a deep wound fester like this one, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’d seen an arm cut. Granted, old woodcutter Greggory had a much wider gash than mine, but the worry was still there.
Then Aria took a deep breath, stuck out her tongue, and started licking my wounds.
“W-What are you doing!” I blurted out as she gave me a glare that told me to shut up. Her entire face was flush as she resumed licking my wounds like a dog. At first it hurt like hell, but then it just…didn’t? It felt like my entire arm was numb and the painful pounding of my head turned to light-headedness.
“Bleh…” She scraped at her tongue before continuing. I wanted to know why I had Aria licking my arm, but that had already been asked. I felt a blush creeping in, resisting the urge to give a pat on her head as she scraped her tongue again. Guess my blood must’ve tasted bad, or maybe it was the ichor.
After what seemed like several surreal minutes of arm licking, she got off me, quickly scraping her tongue. Her face was alight with embarrassment.
“Dragon saliva heals, okay?” She pointed at her tongue then at my wound. In her defence, I was already feeling its effects. The headache had turned into a pleasant buzz as the nausea dissipated. Even the pain in my arm had been converted into a fuzzy, numbing sensation.
“I mean, you could’ve done it before or licked some bandages…” I put a head on my arm as I felt dizzier still. It felt like my body was trying to drag my sorry ass to sleep.
This time it was Aria’s turn to pat me on the head, ruffling my hair as I let my other hand drop back down to my side. Everything felt so heavy. My body felt heavy, my eyelids felt heavy, my legs felt heavy.
“It’s going to put you to sleep for a little bit while it fixes your arm.” This time it was her turn to giggle as she played with my hair. “I couldn’t use it on you before since you’d be out cold for a day or two. I tried it on Caen once…” She continued talking about the practical applications while my thoughts began to drift.
I thought back to the blizzard and nodded. She did the best she could. She wanted to keep these people safe. A tired smile appeared on my lips.
“You did the right thing. Maybe dragon them more,” I sheepishly spoke out of turn.
“…lick after battle.” She paused at her explanation, looking down at me in surprise. She smiled too.
There was a blink as I closed my eyes, my eyelids too heavy to keep up. I felt her hands on my hair again, ruffling it. I was happy that she was having fun returning the favor. The poke on the cheek was less fun and itchier.
“I told you that I’d be keeping you safe.” Another poke on my cheek. “I’m glad.” Her voice was soft and melodic, like a singer swaying a baby to sleep. A slight pause, then another poke.
Aria stop it. I’m tired.
“Actually, this is quite fun. I can see why you do it.”
My mind was already being dragged to an enchanted sleep as her fingers lifted themselves from my face.
The last thing I felt was a soft kiss on my forehead.
Chapter 9: Through Jeweled Eyes
I waited for a few minutes for Charlotte to drift to sleep before draping a blanket over her. She was still in her winter coat, so there was no need, but it was a gesture. If I was being honest, it was for my own satisfaction as well.
After I was done, I placed a soft hand on Charlotte’s forehead. Another symbolic gesture. I could tell that her core body heat was going down; there was no need to try and feel it. Yet it was still important to go through the motions…A lesson I was privy to time and time again as I grew up. I also didn’t want all their eyes gazing up at me whenever I did something out of the norm, something which I felt was more and more of a lost cause as I grew up.
I had a lot of feelings about her. Unresolved feelings. I could only wonder if what I was doing was what she wanted to see, if I was getting it right. I know that’s not what she would say, but it was a habit at this point. She made it look so easy; do and say whatever as long as it was right. But I couldn’t do that! I had no real way to tell her that sometimes it was a little too much. What if I untangled all my feelings and I found that I didn’t love her like the way she loved me? What if it was the other way around? Would it be selfish? Would she mind?
I’d been staring at Charlotte’s sleeping body for several minutes. Great.
