Princess of Dragons

Chapter 25

Ciara had almost fallen asleep when her door was suddenly kicked in, furious yelling sounding in the hall. Before she knew it, she was sitting straight up and staring at a figure she hadn't thought she'd see in a long time.

Her eyes widened slowly upon realizing this wasn't a dream, the stinging pain in her shoulder proof of it.

"Aem."

"C!" He rushed to her bed, pulling her in for a hug. Luckily, he was treating her like porcelain, not at all as forceful as she feared for a split-second.

Tears welled up in her eyes at his familiar, warm scent and reached around him with her good arm.

"I missed you." The sight of his face only reminded her how much.

He squeezed her gently, hyper-aware of her shoulder.

"I missed you too, sis." He pulled back a little. "How are you doing? You are burning up." His eyes strayed to her wounded shoulder.

She smiled. "I am doing quite well, all things considered."

He looked at her, his eyes sharp. "Did you use scales?"

"Just one." His expressions dropped almost comically. "That was all I had. I did not bring any from home."

She now knew that'd been stupid of her. She'd kind of thought that even these kingdoms would have at least some at the ready. Clearly, she'd been wrong. But then she'd thought she'd build up a storage herself over time. She hadn't expected to have to use it so soon.

He sighed and pushed her down in the sheets. "All right, lie down. I have one with me." He was already fishing for it in his pocket.

She shook her head. "That will not be necessary. I am healing well already and only have a slight fever."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Really now?" He took hold of her hand despite the protests behind him, and slowly stretched it out until she caved in and hissed in pain. Not that it was much more than just an inch above the bed. "You cannot even move that arm and this fever is anything but slight." He held her down firmly.

She sighed, knowing resistance would be futile when he got like this. Then she saw the bright, green scale he pulled out and instantly smiled.

"Bertha?"

He nodded, a smile forming on his face as well. "Yeah."

Bertha was an old earth dragon staying with one of the families back home. She was infamous for getting herself into trouble with her turtle-like, spiky back and broad build. That, and she was the brightest of green colors.

"What did she get herself into this time?" she asked, trying not to flinch when his cold fingers met her warm skin.

He shook his head in amusement as he seemed to remember what'd happened.

"One of the kids got caught in the spikes again and their mother was not tall enough to get them down. Do not ask me how they got up there in the first place." He teased her bandage a little to find the ends of it.

She laughed. "The usual, then." She thought back on how many times she'd helped that dragon in particular.

"You speak as though these scales are common currency in your kingdom. I thought they were quite the rarity," a chillingly familiar voice spoke up from the entrance.

She turned her head slowly, feeling the dread spread in her at the sight of all the people peeking in. Alex and Elias and a lot of guards from both Fire and Dragon Kingdom were standing in the doorway. Sergon was inside, but about ready to turn around and leave, red-faced as he was. And then there was the king, staring unabashedly at the two of them and her - she realized - quite compromising situation, night-robe barely covering her shoulder and all.