Page 51 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“Sorry,” she said, trying not to laugh. “I’ve never bandaged a human’s tail before.”
“Just… be gentle. But also… not too gentle.” He turned his face away from her, the appendage coiling nervously behind him, as if trying to stuff itself back into undergarments.
“Why do you hide it?” she asked.
“Because it looks weird.”
“It’sadorable,” she said, ignoring the redness in his cheeks. “And you never see anyone but me, anyway. Surely it’s uncomfortable?”
He shrugged. “I had some clothes adjusted to accommodate it, once,” he admitted. “But I’ve since grown out of them.”
“I could adjust your current wardrobe, if you like?”
His throat bobbed. “All right,” he said. “But don’t tease me about it. And don’t you dare mention if it does something… weird.”
“Weird?”
“Just don’t mention it!”
She held up her hands in defeat and returned to cleaning his wounds.
He was swathed in bandages by the time she finished, looking somehow worse than before. Something in her expression wavered, unable not to buckle under the sight of it all.
“I’ll be fine in a couple of days,” Dimitri assured her. “It looks a lot worse than it is.”
“Like the rest of you.”
He barked a laugh. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make me laugh when you’re insulting me?”
“Because you know I don’t mean it,” she said, tucking the covers in around him. “You trust me. You trust that I like you.”
She went to replace the lid on the tub of cream, but Dimitri reached across and teased it from her fingers. Gently, he pulled back the handkerchief still wrapped around her palm. She at first thought he might be taking it back—she really had no need of it, the burn was superficial—but instead he dipped his good hand into the tub and massaged the small wound on her hand.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Barely worthing wasting resources on.”
He caught her gaze, his eye as steady and strong as a heartbeat. Her skin felt hot underneath his. “Your pain is not nothing to me.”
Dimitri fell asleep after he was bandaged, and slept for most of the morning. Adeline busied herself tidying up, clearing away the bloody bandages and the smears on the carpet.
She kept glancing up at Dimitri, silent against the pillows, amazed at how he could be so calm after what must have happened.
Mrs Minton herself brought a tray up at lunch, together with some letters. “Is he still sleeping?” she asked.
Adeline nodded. “And soundly, too.”
“The full moon wears him out,” she said, as if that wasn’t immediately obvious. Her gaze remained tight on his form. “He didn’t give you any trouble?”
Adeline frowned. “Trouble?”
“He doesn’t like to be treated, usually. Makes a huge fuss.”
“Well, he was fine.”
“I see.” She glanced at Adeline’s hand. “You’re hurt?”
