Page 37 of Bound to the Orc Guardian

“Thank you.” Sturrm sheaths his sword and offers her a short bow.

“You’re not wearing any pants.” The dragon falls still.

“He tends to do that,” I say, suppressing a laugh. “Thanks for your help. I’m Selena.”

“I am Bellavesaria, Second of Her Line and Daughter of Sheevora the Magnificent.”

“You’re Drake’s little sister?” Sturrm asks.

“Little? Little?” She lifts her wings. “Do I look little to you?”

He doesn’t say yes, but the tiny twitch of his lips says he’s thinking it. The dragon probably doesn’t pick up on it, but I’ve been studying his subtle tells.

“I am not hislittleanything. I’m his older sister.” She snorts, and a tiny puff of smoke emerges. “He simply matured faster. Mother says girls always take a bit more time because we’re more powerful.” Her neck moves sinuously as her head makes circles in the air, her tone clearly amused.

“You can’t rush perfection.” I grin at her.

“Exactly! You get it,” Bellavesaria says. “I like you.”

“I like you, too.” Anyone who saves my life gets upgraded immediately to friend. It’s a new rule I haven’t needed until arriving in Alarria, but it’s a good one.

Sturrm walks over to Dash and removes the packs and guitar from his back. It’s not as important in light of everything we just went through, but I’m glad the instrument didn’t get crushed. It would be a shame to deny anyone his beautiful music, and by anyone, I mean me. He pulls out a spare pair of pants, and I grin, recognizing them as the ones he made my first day here when I stripped him naked.

I get one more good glimpse of his cock—what is that silver ball mounted right above it?—before he pulls the leather up over his hips and seals the front closed.

Time to focus on my last patient. I crouch beside the unicorn and place my hands on him. Wounds left by the sluagh dot his exposed hide, blotches of red against the black. My magic works on them first, since they’re easier to heal, and they close before my eyes.

But I’m far from done. Dash inhaled alotof deathsleep. The poison is concentrated throughout his body. I frown and bear down. Even more of my magic ripples through me and courses into him. When I healed Sturrm of the deathsleep, things were too tense for me to pay much attention to what happened, but that’s not the case now. This time, I feel the power travel up from where my legs touch the ground and move through my chest to pour out my hands.

Dash stirs.

“That’s fascinating,” Bellavesaria says. She moves up to stand right beside me, her head cocked as she watches me work. “You can heal. I’ve never felt anything quite like it.”

“The standing stone she takes her power from is far off any orc map,” Sturrm says.

“Thank the goddess for delivering her to it,” Dash says, his voice trying for playful but falling a bit short.

He tries to rise, but I lean forward, pushing down on him with all my weight. The unicorn’s so massive my strength isn’t nearly enough to keep him down, so I use my firm doctor’s voice on him, the one I’ve practiced for handling recalcitrant patients. “I’m not done yet. The deathsleep takes a while to burn out of you big guys.”

While I continue to channel energy into Dash, Sturrm asks, “Did Sheevora the Magnificent send you to aid us in our quest?”

“Not exactly.” The dragon’s head dips as she drops her eyes, then raises it with a touch of teen defiance. “But if Drakonisrevener gets to have adventures with humans, orcs, and unicorns for his wander years, then I can have them, too.”

“Wander years?” I ask.

“It’s a longstanding tradition. When a dragon receives their fire magic, they’re old enough to go out and experience something of the world by themselves for the first time.” Bellavesaria’s wings flutter on her back. “I got my fire, so these are my wander years, and you’re the people I choose to adventure with.”

“Don’t we have a say in this?” Sturrm asks.

“Of course not,” Bellavesaria says. “Dragons are superior fae. You should be honored that I chose you.”

“Oh, I assure you, I’m feeling lots of things right now, but ‘honored’ isn’t one of them,” Dash says, putting sarcastic emphasis on the word.

“Hey.” I press one of my fingertips more firmly into him in a poke. “She saved us. She savedyou.”

“I amend my statement. I now feel grateful, dragon. Still waiting for the ‘honored’ to come. Wait a second—what’s this?” He rolls a golden eye to look at her. “Could it be? Nope. It’s not. I just realized I’m hungry.”

“Oh, you.” I laugh. “You’re incorrigible.”

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