Page 16 of The Gold Dragon Prince
He had a point. Despite sleeping better than I’d slept in years, my entire midsection ached from wild, passionate dragon sex and from birthing an egg.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, though I wasn’t convinced I would be, as I stepped free of the bedcovers and looked for my clothes from the night before. “My pains are small. Those of the serfs will be great if we don’t intervene to do something.”
“Darling, you’re clearly not ready to get out of bed,” Gildur huffed, though I felt nothing but affection and concern for him. I was quickly coming to learn, now that the two of us were bonded, that the expressions Gildur made and the words he spoke were not true reflections of how he actually felt.
“I’m as right as rain. All I need are clothes and we can go help the serfs,” I said, remembering that my clothes were back at the castle.
Gildur shook his head and crossed the room to a large wardrobe with gold designs inlaid into the warm brown wood. “I’m certain I have something that will do for you.”
“You have clothing to fit an omega of my stature?” I eyed him suspiciously, hugging our egg tighter.
Gildur opened the wardrobe door and arched an eyebrow at me, then took out a plain pair of trousers and a shirt that were clearly much too big for me. “Put these on and I’ll take care of the rest.”
I set our egg gingerly on the foot of the bed so that I could reach for the trousers and shirt he offered. I groaned and winced a little as I did, which only increased the exasperated, caring feelings from Gildur.
“Fine,” Gildur said at last stepping closer to me as I danced around, trying to put my trousers on while standing. “I suppose I could use a bit of healing magic. But I must warn you, I’m not half as good at it as Emmerich.”
I wasn’t certain what he was talking about until Gildur caught me in his arms from behind. I jerked straight at the warm, wonderful feeling of being enveloped in my alpha’s embrace. Then he slid his hands over my bare stomach and drew in a breath.
“Oh!” I gasped as a tingly, itchy feeling filled my insides. “Ohhh!” I dragged the syllable out as the pains I’d been feeling slowly eased, then vanished altogether.
“Healing magic,” Gildur purred against my ear, then kissed the side of my neck near where he’d left his mark.
“It’s rather wonderful,” I said, stretching as he loosened his embrace and moving to feel all the things he’d done to make me better. “Oh.” I stopped and blinked at how blurry the world suddenly was. “I’m not sure it worked,” I said, twisting to blink and squint at him.
I could see enough to tell that Gildur was grinning with self-satisfaction. “It’s worked exactly the way it should, darling,” he said, then plucked my glasses from my face.
My gut squeezed and twirled as I saw Gildur, thebedroom, and everything around me as clearly as I ever had, and without glasses.
“Amazing!” I said, touching my face to see if it felt different. “You’ve fixed my vision!”
“Perhaps,” Gildur said, stepping back and moving back to the wardrobe. “Correcting vision isn’t as simple as all that. You may find you need your glasses again in a few days, when the magic wears off.”
I was amazed that he could correct my vision for even a short period of time, though it was disconcerting to be able to see without my ever-present glasses sitting on my nose.
I put on the clothing Gildur had fetched for me as he dressed in fresh clothing, then held my arms out. “I look like a child dressing in his papa’s clothes,” I said, laughing slightly.
“No, you don’t,” Gildur said.
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but with a quick wave of his hand, the clothes shrank to fit me perfectly.
“Oh! That’s handy,” I said, glancing down at myself, then smiling up at him.
Gildur pretended aloofness, but I could feel how pleased and lighthearted he felt. “Having a dragon around is handy, or so I’m told.”
I returned his look of fake conceit with a teasing grin. “Then perhaps you can conjure up some sort of sling or pack so that I can carry our egg as we make our way to the estate where this ogre attack is happening?” I suggested.
Gildur’s sly look vanished. “You do not have to do this, my darling. This is my mission and mine alone.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. Clearly, there was more going on than I knew about as of yet.
“You can stay here, building your nest for our mostexcellent egg while I deal with the ogres and Saoirse,” Gildur went on.
I shivered at the idea of being without my dragon mate so soon after he’d claimed and bred me. “No,” I insisted. “Your mission is my mission. If there’s anything I can do to help those people, I want to do it. And the egg is coming with us.”
I remembered what Tovey said about having a nursemaid look after his eggs while he and Rufus returned to our world to fight against our father’s evil plan to hurt the farmers of his kingdom, but the idea of doing the same with my egg was abhorrent.
Gildur frowned at me. “You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you,” he said.
