Flame Seeker by Kay Danella

Author:Kay Danella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Sixteen

With little to do but watch Taith fret over the passing days, Alithia soon found herself fidgeting and had to force herself to consider other, safer diversions. Joining her sword husband in his restlessness was not conducive to harmony or recovery. There was bed play, of course, and Phelan was eager to discharge his duties. But as much as she enjoyed the great dance, so much of it left her tender. Thus, when she caught Phelan hovering at the entry of their tent, a look of indecision beetling his brows, she was eager for diversion. “What now?”

“I need to see to Dinglis and Bulla. It’ll take some time.”

She frowned, not understanding. Their mounts needed little care that she noticed. On certain nights, her husbands had sent them off with the rest of the flight, apparently to feed, but other than cleaning and checking for sores, they didn’t seem to do much.

“With the rainy season begun, we must apply an unguent to prevent smot,” Taith explained beside her on the pallet. At her continued confusion, he added, “Smot is a fungus that thrives on wet scales. Infection can cause blood poisoning in wyverns.”

And with Taith constrained to rest, lest he reopen his wound, Phelan would have to do both wyverns.

“Apply unguent? I can help.” If she didn’t have anything to do, she would feel obligated to remain by her sword husband’s side despite the beautiful weather this morning. The memory of the swamp leopard’s roar left her with no desire to venture out on her own—even if Phelan were to allow her to go unattended—but working outside should ease her restlessness.

“We can’t ask you to do that! The first rub of the season is a whole day’s work.”

“You are not asking; I am offering. It will go faster with two of us.” She stood up slowly so as not to jar Taith or betray her eagerness to be out—and aggravate the soreness of her nether muscles from the morning’s great dance.

Phelan chewed on his lower lip, flicking a glance at his sword brother as so many concerns flashed across his face. She could guess what they were: Taith, her, and the wyverns, in one combination or another. “Not true, I’d have to worry about guarding you at the same time.”

Sensing his resistance wavering, Alithia smiled. “If I help you, you won’t waste time worrying about me with only Taith to attend me.”

Still, he hesitated.

She pressed her hand to her chest where Taith’s gift lay under her dragon-scale armor. “I do have the necklace, and I promise to stay within arm’s reach.”

“Ask Devyn to help guard,” Taith suggested. Gone unsaid was the assumption that their third in command would be honored by the request.

At Taith’s advice, her shield husband smiled, suddenly decided. “Good idea.”

In a more cheerful frame of mind, Alithia accompanied Phelan to Devyn’s tent, where he explained to the older man what they wanted. The air was pure, washed clear of the heavy humidity of yesterday. It felt good to be moving, to be doing something, if only tending to wyverns.

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