Page 104 of Deadly Maiden

“We will get past this. If you had not healed me, we would not have survived everything that has happened.”

When he steps away from me to what he calls a safe distance to run his checks on himself, undressed and naked in this freezing air, and magnificent, every nerve in my body is on edge with worry. I hold my breath and wait and wait, curled up against my knees on the rucksack seat.

Nothing happens. I draw a long inhalation then Rorsyd shakes his head. He comes to me, shrugs.

“I cannot shift, again.”

I rest my hand on his hip. “I’m sorry.”

He pats my hand. “Now we know I can’t do it. Guess what?”

“What?”

“I’m relieved. Now that I know how it all happened. I know why I could shift and then I couldn’t. The uncertainty was like a stick in the middle of my road. One Icouldn’tsee. Is that making sense?” He actually grins.

“No? Yes? Kind of?”

“Just heal me. If you can. We need to get down off here, and if I cannot fly us down…”

“We’ll freeze.” Or I will. And starve to death. “Lie down, somewhere. I think you being still will make it easier. Then I’ll have to touch you.”

“Touching me? This is sounding better all the time.”

“Idiot.” I don’t know how, but we are back on even ground, joking, still friends, still soulmates. The connection remains.Phew.

Healing him while he is awake adds some anxiety, but I settle in, close my eyes, and let my mind submerge. I do what I’ve done twice before and knit everything back to where it was, then I rise slowly to the surface. I remember where I am, squatting over him, my palm on his chest.

Yards away, where the edge of this plateau drops away clouds are drifting by.

“Done,” I croak. “Something I observed in there is interesting.”

“Interesting as in wonderful or interesting as in not so good?” He sits up. Levers himself to his feet. Stretches. “It’s back. I can tell that already. But something is missing.Hmmm.” He frowns. “What was your something?”

“There’s an etharum source inside you. But it felt smaller than before. I guess you must use it to shift, but that etharum has to come from Artreos. The fault line of dead matter is linked to that source. I don’t quite see how, but it may help it flow when you want to shift. It might also expedite how you draw up etharum from Artreos.”

“Huh. So I will wait then. I might need to suck up more etharum?”

“Maybe. The other times, you hadn’t shifted for a while. We need a dragonshifter anatomy book.”

He laughs then sits next to me in the snow, his body heat high enough to make me want to use him like a hot water bottle. I snuggle closer, and he pulls me onto his lap.

“You’re cold?”

“A bit.” I shiver. The fire has died down to ashes and embers.

“Then I’ll find something else to burn, and then you’re going to sit on my lap and stay warm. If we must, we can burn parts of the hut’s interior.”

One of the questions I’ve considered comes to me as we sit together, and the solitude and impossibility of this location makes me wonder even more.

I draw his hand over my stomach and snuggle closer. “Are there any other dragonshifters in the world? I hope that’s not a terrible question? I don’t know much about your history…”

The quiet stretches until I begin to doubt he will answer.

“As far as I know, there are others. One in the far west of Wenway. Go east of Frenland, and there is another. I haven’t roamed far for a century so some may have moved on or died. Immortality doesn’t stop a spear in the heart. We are solitary beings and often prefer to be alone with our hoard, strange though that may seem to you.”

“Hmmm. I can see that in you. I’m glad you decided I’m worth being with.”

He chuckles softly. “So am I, my love.”

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