Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
As I sat in the warm water, which soothed my cramps, he washed the sheets and bedding in cold water in the sink and spread them out to dry. The mattress had suffered too, but not as badly as I’d feared. Ryse cleaned it as well as he could and then flipped it over.
“No one will ever know,” he told me when I expressed concern that someone might see. “It’s completely hidden, little one.”
I liked that he was calling me “little one” again and I was grateful for his help, though still embarrassed. When I told him so, he only shrugged.
“Why be embarrassed? It’s a normal bodily function.”
“Not around here,” I pointed out.
Ryse frowned.
“Maybe that needs to change. Why have we gone so many years without female riders when it’s clear that Golden Queens like L’eesha only bond with women?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
“Why did we stop valuing the golden eggs and finding female candidates to Impress them?” He went on. “Somewhere in the last one hundred years or so, the Academy forgot a very important part of its past.”
“How?” I asked as he helped me dry off and get into bed. He had gotten several more towels from the Commissary by saying that his had gotten lost and he laid them on the bed for me in case I bled more—which I was sure I would.
Ryse shook his head as he tucked me in with a hot water bottle to press to my aching abdomen.
“I don’t know—maybe a lot of records were lost in the fire I told you about. I’ve been trying to translate the really old book written in the Root Tongue, but it’s slow going.”
“Mmm,” I said, which was more of a yawn than an answer. Now that I was no longer in so much pain and I knew Ryse would keep my secret, I felt incredibly relaxed. So much so, that I was feeling sleepy.
“Why don’t you rest,” he said. “I’ll go get you some soup from the Mess Hall.”
“Would you go and visit L’eesha first?” I begged softly. “I feel terrible that I can’t get to her but I’m not sure how to go anywhere while I’m, you know, bleeding so much.”
Ryse got a determined look on his face.
“Don’t worry, little one—we’ll figure that out. And of course I’ll go visit her.”
“Thank you.” My eyelids were closing as I relaxed into the pillows. Who could have believed that finally telling my secret would work out so well? I was still surprised that Ryse wasn’t mad at me. More than anything else, he seemed more relieved to be certain that what he’d been suspecting about me was true.
“You’re welcome, little one.”
Leaning over me, he smoothed back my hair and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.
I smiled dreamily up at him.
“That feels nice.”
“For me, too. You don’t know how much I’ve been longing to do that,” he murmured, stroking my cheek. “Just to kiss you and cuddle you and protect you.”
“You’ve been doing that all along,” I pointed out. “Well, except the cuddling. And we’ve only kissed twice.”
His golden eyes went half-lidded.
“I want to kiss you a lot more than twice, little one.”
I felt my cheeks get hot with a pleasurable blush.
“I want to kiss you, too,” I admitted.
He stroked my cheek gently.
“Later—when you’re feeling better.”
Then he kissed my forehead again and went to check on my dragon.
54
AURORA
After that, things were different between us. Ryse still watched over me and protected me, but there was an added layer of affection between us once we got back to our room. He was always putting his arms around me or kissing me on the forehead, and I understood how much he’d been holding back when he thought I was a man.
But while I was still having my courses, he was extremely gentle with me—as though he thought I might break.
“How’s your pain today, little one?” he would ask anxiously.
But when I always said I was fine, he got impatient and told M’alex to tell L’eesha to give him my pain so he could tell how bad I was really feeling.
“You don’t have to do that!” I exclaimed on the second day, when he grunted in pain and doubled over at the onslaught. “It’s really not as bad as it was.”
“Doesn’t feel much better to me,” he gasped. “All right, M’alex—I’ve got it now. Tell her to stop.” Then he pointed at me. “Back to bed until you feel better!”
He kept me supplied with willow bark tea, well sweetened with honey, and a hot water bottle that was always hot. And somehow he got even more towels from the Commissary and tore them into strips for me to use once I felt good enough to be up and about.
As sanitary napkins they were crude but effective and I washed them out in the sink every night and let them dry. In this way, I was able to get through my classes undetected—with the help of my Dragon Glass pendant, of course.