34. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The thrones will anchor the magic. The Great Houses will be the conduit. The Painted Crown will be the balance.

~Sidon the Strong, A History of Magic and Dragons

I wake up screaming as fear clutches my chest. I have no memory of the nightmare, but everything inside me begs to find the trees and hide there. Don't touch the ground. My fingers itch for my spear, and I make sure that my mother's ring is still firmly on my finger.

I toss and turn, something thick weighing my body down. A trap. A net.

"Maeve!" a familiar voice shouts at me. "Maeve! What's wrong?"

I try to dig out from the weight on my body, but I can't. I'm twisted up in it, trapped like an animal. Then powerful hands grip my wrists, and I scream again. Pure terror fills me. I'm caught, and someone is going to hurt me. To kill me.

But then I see him. Cole. He's climbed on top of me. His shirt is off, upper body covered in bandages that I put there. His hair's mussed, and there's still sleep in his eyes, but the fierceness of battle is there, too.

"Maeve," he says, pinning my arms to the bed on either side of me as he straddles my waist. "You're okay. It was a nightmare."

My breath's coming out panting, but when I look up at him, I can feel my chest rising and falling slower. Almost like he's willing it to calm down. Like my body is his to control.

And maybe it is. "It's okay," he repeats. "You're safe."

Words I can't remember ever hearing. Words that I doubt will ever be true. But it's enough to snap me out of the terror. I give him a nervous nod. It's only then that I realize what had happened. The blanket is pressed tight over my legs, a knot of fabric that I've caused from tossing and turning for who knows how long.

"I…" I don't know what to say. I've had nightmares my entire life, and no one's ever woken me up from one, much less like this. Embarrassment would have crept into me, turning my cheeks a rosy pink, but Cole's calm mind brushes against mine and keeps me from feeling anything else.

"That must have been a terrible one," he says softly before releasing me. "Do you want to talk about it?" He's sitting back on his legs, his weight resting on my thighs, and a shiver runs down my spine as I think about just how inappropriate I would have found this specific situation any other time in my life.

Especially since I'm completely naked. Last night, he'd needed my warmth. I pull the blanket up to cover my breasts, but I'm not ashamed. Memories of the way he'd hurt for me last night flash through me. He'd been in so much pain. So much misery. All to protect me. He may say that he'd have been hurt like that regardless, but I don't believe him.

My modesty is a small price to pay to give him any comfort after that.

My heart is still racing, though. Cole's weight on me and the look in his eyes has me wondering if there are shadows trailing from my fingertips, but I can't look away from him. "No. I don't remember any of my nightmares," I say softly.

He puts his hands on his thighs and grins. "You did an incredible job with the medicine last night. Want to help me take off these bandages?"

I frown. Those burns were so bad last night. "To re-apply the medicine?"

He shakes his head and rolls off me. "No, I need to let it breathe. It'll still be tender for a day or so, but bandages won't be of any help at this point."

That's insane. "One night to heal those burns?"

"It normally takes at least two, but then again, I've never slept so good after being punished by my father. I don't know what you did, but I feel far better than I'd expected."

He reaches down to one of the knotted bandages and quickly unties it. He winces just a little as he tries to unwrap it, so I sit up and scoot toward him, doing my best to keep the sheet over my breasts. "Just give it to me. You're going to hurt yourself trying to undo them."

Cole grins but doesn't argue when I take the linen strip from him. When I get the first bit off, I think I'm going to be sick. The bandages are soaked with the evidence of his injuries, but I keep unraveling them. He says that they're mostly healed, and I'm sure he's able to tell at this point in his life. It's definitely not his first time being "punished" by his father.

As if what he endured last night could be considered punishment.

The entire process makes me forget about my nightmare and the fact that I'm naked under the sheet as I try my best to find skin under the bandages, desperately needing to know if he's as hurt as he was last night. The linen is sticky, blood and fluid from his burns coating the bandages, but Cole doesn't seem to hurt like I'd expect.

Then I see it. The skin that was covered by the bandage. Last night it had been black. Crispy, peeling flesh that reminded me of a chicken that had been on the spit for too long. Now… soft, pink skin covers his chest; no sign of the gruesome wounds he'd had last night. The bandages come off faster now that I'm not worried that I'm interrupting their healing.

Inch by inch, I see more and more healthy, new skin. Not a single scar on his chest. When I move to his back, it's scarred, but they're the same scars that he's had for so many years. The same marks his father had left on him while he was a child.

"All healed up?" Cole asks, a smile crossing those beautiful lips. I nod to him, and he chuckles. "If my father knew that I'd heal in just a single night by actually sleeping, he'd be furious. This is supposed to remind me for days that I need to do as he says. That's why he burns me instead of whipping me. He actively uses his power and makes himself slightly weaker so that the wounds will last, even with that medicine. Wasteful."

His smile reaches those eyes, and I can feel the heat rippling around him at his excitement. At any moment, the entire space could erupt with flames purely because of his emotions, but he keeps them just leashed enough, and all I see are those heat waves rolling off him.

My mouth's dry, like all the liquid in my body was taken away, as I did everything I could all night not to cry for him. Not last night nor this morning, but now, when I know that he's okay, I can't feel those things. Like the emotions have been wrung out of me and there are no more tears left to cry.

"How'd you keep from telling him it's all a lie?" I whisper. "I saw those wounds, Cole. I felt the first times he hurt you. How could you stand it?"

The smile fades and he rolls onto his back, turning to look up at the ceiling. "My father was right, Maeve. Anyone who wields flames gets burned, just like anyone who wields shadows loses a part of themselves. You cannot wield magic without suffering from it. The dragons wove it into the powers we all wield."

He holds up his hand in front of me, and it blazes to life. Red flames lick the air around it, and I see what he's trying to show me. The little tendrils of smoke that rise through the flames. Fire doesn't create smoke without something to burn. Not even a magical fire. It's singing his skin.

"It doesn't hurt very much," he says. "Just little pinprick burns." The fire's snuffed out, and he holds his hand so that I can see the back of it. Tiny blisters appear and then fade before my eyes, leaving his skin unmarred.

"I can't feel that pain through the betrothal bond," I say.

He shrugs. "Pain is something that the House of Flames learns to accept. We are built for it. Even as bad as last night was, I… I've suffered worse. Far worse. And Maeve," his voice falters for a moment as he looks at the blanket in front of him. "My father is more powerful than me, but I would kill him if he touched you. He knows that, and he knows that if he killed me, he'd die almost immediately because the King of Steel isn't afraid of him at all. King Gethin would sweep in and destroy the House of Flames without a second thought, keeping the Painted Crown for himself forever."

He's telling me I'm safe, but he doesn't say the same about himself. His father may not be willing to kill him, but he's obviously not afraid to torture him. "Why would you do that for me, though? Is it the betrothal bond?"

Cole frowns, and it's like he has to move, like he can't just sit here having a conversation. Remembering the feelings that had flooded my body when we'd done the betrothal ritual, it makes sense. He rolls out of bed wearing nothing but the pants he went to sleep in last night. He moves quickly, almost erratically, like he's so excited he can't stop himself, and he paces. "Because I can't let you get hurt, Maeve."

That's all. No explanation at all. I blink. We'd been having a moment. Now, it feels like we're right back to where we were before. Anger builds inside me at all the secrets, and I can feel the little buzz of that lightning inside me beginning.

My hands ball in the blanket, and Cole turns to face me. A sly grin crosses his face, and he gets onto his hands and knees, crawling toward me. He's not at all worried about the fact that I'm naked under this blanket.

"You know," he says, "we don't have anything we need to do right now. Everyone here expects us to be enjoying our betrothal."

I blink at him, and finally the blush comes over me. Maybe he realized I was naked. "Cole, I don't know if…"

He laughs. The flames flicker around him, appearing in midair and then fading instantly. "I meant that we get to rest, Maeve. We can do whatever you want, at least for a few days. There's nothing pressing, and other than some training, the world is your oyster. So what would you enjoy spending your days doing?"

Now that's a strange thought. Days with nothing to do. Lazy days with Cole in Draenyth.

We've done everything that has to be done. We've survived the dangers of the road and of Draenyth. I know I should try to figure out how to talk to Calyr, but after the stress of last night and the past few days, I just feel so exhausted. Like every bit of energy is gone, and while I probably could work on finding a way to talk to Calyr, the thought of it makes me cringe with exhaustion.

I look into those sparkling blue eyes, which are surprisingly happy, and I give him a wide smile. "I don't know, Prince Cole. After weeks of walking, it might be nice to enjoy feeling like the girl that's betrothed to an Immortal prince. Do you know how to pamper a girl?"

"Do I know how to pamper a girl? Yes, Maeve, I can show you what it's like to be my princess."