Page 132 of House of Ashes
I just wanted my dragon back.
“I’m here with you, just come back to me.” I kissed him, burning my lips and not caring. Tasting blood and not caring.
He gave another shuddering sigh, blinking blood out of his eyes…and the flames in them finally diminished. A low croak emerged from his throat and I knelt, forcing him to see me. “I’m here. Shift now, Rhylan, before you’re trapped in it.”
He made another sound, unintelligible, and with another shudder he moved. His size diminished slowly, scales became flesh…slowly but surely, he released his dragon form, until he lay face down on the stones.
Gods…he’d been bad in dragon form, but his male body was a wreck. Not a single inch of flesh had been left unbruised or unbloodied.
I knelt beside him, afraid to touch him, yet unable to keep my hands away.
He turned his head just enough to breathe, looking up at me with one glazed eye. “Got him for you. I hated that fucker,” he whispered, with a tiny smile.
“Don’t start talking now.” I put a finger to those bloody lips. “Not while you’re bleeding to death. We need a healer. Gods, Rhylan, I thought…”
My throat closed on the words. I couldn’t say them out loud.
I simply couldn’t imagine a world without Rhylan in it.
I heard Gaelin and Doric snapping out orders, other dragonbloods milling around us as they carried the orders out; already the people of Lunar Tides were clearing the buildings that had survived, bringing out survivors and carrying them to safety.
There was a soft rustle in the air, and I heard the voice of the wyvern-riding girl. “All their Bloodless are gone. They took off on wyverns. I tried to chase them down but—”
“Don’t you dare,” Doric said sharply. “For gods’ sakes, I’m responsible for you right now.”
“I saved her life!” the girl protested. “Give me some credit, I’m not useless in a battle.”
“No, but you’re underage and a ward of my House. You were permitted to scout, not to throw yourself in the thick of things—”
I tuned them out, focusing on Rhylan. Daring to touch his hand, though a massive gash had been cut right through the center of his palm.
Elinor knelt next to me, careful to keep the knees of her white leathers out of the puddles of blood. “The healers are coming in now, Sera. Doric will help get him to the inn.”
“Why the inn?” I asked, feeling slow, my thoughts fogged. How much agony was he in right now? It seemed like it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. “Stay awake, Rhylan.”
“I’m here,” he whispered, blinking hard.
“That’s where we’re taking the worst wounded. They still have a functional well and medical supply,” Elinor responded. “Come on, Sera. Get up. Doric will help.”
But I couldn’t stay away. I got to my feet, hovering over Rhylan.
It took both Doric and Gaelin to peel him from the ground. His chest and arms were slashed and stabbed, burns peppering his skin.
He looked at me, one eye peering through bruised, puffy flesh, and I went to him, forcing Doric aside.
“I’ll get him there,” I rasped, finally realizing how thirsty I was. Smoke and blood and bile coated my throat. We stumbled inch by painful inch to the inn where the wyvern-rider had dropped me. Now the courtyard was packed with both dragonbloods and Bloodless, healers with flashing malachite bangles moving among them with purpose.
“Bring him here,” one of the healers demanded, thrusting open a door. “Worst cases come inside.”
I looked around, feeling like my brain was coated in syrup, slower than molasses. Most of the people in the courtyard had minor wounds; cuts, bruises, a broken bone here and there.
None had been shredded quite as thoroughly as Rhylan.
Gaelin and I helped him through the threshold and into the main dining hall, and the healer directed us to lay him on a mattress that had been dragged from a bedroom and set in front of a fireplace. I sank onto a stool next to Rhylan, still holding his hand.
“I have to leave you with him,” Gaelin said quietly. I couldn’t meet his dark, level eyes, couldn’t tear my gaze away from the pulp of my dragon’s flesh. “Doric is calling in a smaller House to run patrols. We’re needed elsewhere.”
I nodded, not noticing when Gaelin left.