Page 33 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

In a moment of horror, he worried he’d pushed her frail body too far. He knew she was still struggling with the side effects of being ill for so long, knew she was stressed, knew she was a delicate immortal. Perhaps this had been the absolute wrong time to try to seduce her.

Dark lifted her off the ground. She seemed as light to him as a bag of leaves. What had he been thinking? Her head lolled against his shoulder. Laying her across his bed, he leaned over her, holding his ear inches from her lips. Her breath puffed gently.

He checked the pulse at her wrist.

She was alive and already stirring. Her lashes fluttered.

“Tomorrow? Gods, hold still.” He moved her so she was centered on the mattress, farther from the edge of the bed. Then he sprinted into the hallway. Dark stopped at the bottom of the stairs and shouted for Susan.

After a brief commotion, the madam’s blonde head appeared upside down, staring quizzically at him from the banister above.

“It’s Tomorrow,” he said hurriedly. “Bring ice and a cool compress and whatever else you’ve got.” Dark didn’t wait for her to answer before he sprinted back inside his room, leaving the door open wide.

“Dark?” Tomorrow started to sit up.

“Stay right where you are,” he ordered so firmly she flattened herself against the bed. “I’ll be just a moment in my hoard. I’m going to fetch some fairy wine—”

“No!” she snapped.

Dark froze by his closet, taken aback by her visceral reaction. “Why?” The word came out more menacing than he’d meant. Her fall had distressed him so.

Tomorrow shook her head, rustling the bedding. “My gran used a lot of it to get me on my feet again. I’ll have no more. I mean it, Dark. Keep it away from me.”

Dark glanced at the closet, feeling the beckoning call of his hoard. His instincts wanted to heal her, to help, but she was fierce in her resolve. “If you’re certain.”

“I’m certain,” she said sternly. “No more blood magic.”

Susan came into the room clutching a tall bottle of dark liquor in one hand and a kit in the other. A young maid trailed behind her, lugging a pail of ice.

“What’s happened?” Susan asked.

“She fainted and fell. If I hadn’t been there, she’d have bashed her head open on the floor,” Dark explained, sitting beside Tomorrow’s petite form on the bed, shifting the mattress with his weight. “Her nose was bleeding.”

Tomorrow swiped at her nostrils. “It’s not now. I got lightheaded, but I feel better, and the dry air in winter always gives me nosebleeds.”

Susan gave the kit to the maid. The madam removed the wax seal on the bottle while the maid prepared a cool compress, wrapping rags around chunks of ice.

Susan tapped her nail on the bottle’s label, which depicted a mountain peak. “This has a zing to it that’ll have you right as rain.”

The liquor had a spicy smell. Dark propped Tomorrow up into a sitting position, and Susan helped her take a swallow.

“Ack,” Tomorrow choked. “That’s really strong.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Mountain whiskey,” Susan said, stealing a swallow for herself. She held it out to Dark next. “You look like you need the drink as much as she does. You’re pale as a sheet.”

Dark accepted the bottle. He sniffed it before drinking. The spicy oaken taste warmed his throat. He took another swallow before handing it back. The maid readied the cool compress. He accepted it from her, sliding it along the back of Tomorrow’s neck.

Tomorrow sighed. “Ah, that’s very nice, but you don’t need to fuss over me. Apologies for startling all of you.”

“Thank you, Katherine,” Susan said, dismissing the maid. When the girl had gone from the room, Susan set aside the bottle and plopped down next to Tomorrow. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but I didn’t want to pry. I know you’ve been treated by a healer, but have you ever considered visiting a mortal physician? I mean, you are largely mortal, after all, if you consider your parents. Magic never works quite right on us. I’d just hate for something to be missed because they’re looking at all the wrong things, you know?”

Tomorrow hummed in her throat, as though considering the suggestion.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Dark said. It’d certainly make him feel a little better if a physician had a good long look at her.

“I really don’t think it’s necessary,” Tomorrow said. She stared pointedly at the ceiling, avoiding Dark’s eyes.

“If you’re at all worried about the bill . . .” Susan started gently.

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