The Blood-Born Dragon: The Everlands Cycle Book 1 by J.C. Rycroft

Author:J.C. Rycroft [Rycroft, J.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BattleWarrior Press
Published: 2023-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

After all our time on the road, Scyless is the most incredible luxury, but it’s not enough to soothe my anxieties. I’m horribly aware I’ve put all of us in the hands of a woman I don’t know from a bar of soap.

Elouise is a gracious host, demanding nothing, not even answers, of us. Indeed, for a few days, we don’t even see her—remarkable, given the hordes of armed men we all know are gathering on the shore—but she arranges everything from afar. Food and wine, her avian veterinarian for Squid’s wing, a medic to look over the humans, her best hostler to care for Liza and Quicksilver (who revel in the attention), new clothes, a suite of apartments overlooking the sea, and, glory of all glory, a bath set into the floor within—all are provided to us.

But she’s no fool. Guards—they call themselves escorts—stand at the door of the suite we occupy. When I emerge, rested and freshly washed, from our rooms, they offer to take me to visit Squid’s veterinarian. “Oh, I like to wander a new place,” I say cheerfully.

“We can’t have you getting lost,” the gray-eyed soldier says, with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

I acquiesce with the best grace I can manage, but it’s clear we’re prisoners. Soldiers patrol the garden beneath our balcony as well, with a regular watch set along the castle battlements visible from our rooms. Even Twisty, who might be able to get away with the indulgence that some offer youth, can’t shake our kind, implacable guard. He keeps trying, regardless.

Liv disappears, not even returning to her room at night. I figure she’s spending time with the duchess she calls by her first name. The thought of her explaining Squid and Twisty and me to the woman who now holds our lives in the palm of her hand makes me sleepless, but when I request an audience, the same gray-eyed soldier tells me the duchess will send for me when she is ready. I spend half the night turning over how to respond to the questions we’re likely to confront after Liv’s story has been told.

On the second day, I am escorted through the castle to the veterinarian’s quarters. I blink at the sight of Liv leaning over Squid, gently pasting into place a piece of fabric over the puncture in its wing using a viscous golden fluid from a bowl. The dragon’s sapphire gaze meets mine, and a slow warmth burgeons inside me. Morning, I send, smiling at its pleasure. For a moment, I want to walk away before Liv sees me; the scene is that intimate.

Liv looks away when she sees it’s me. “Oh. The master left me to do this. He gave Squid an antipyretic for its fever earlier—though he wasn’t sure what its normal temperature is. Anyway, we’re patching the puncture so it doesn’t lose all its wing strength while it heals. He said it was time to do it and explained to me what to do.

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