Page 38 of The Sea-Ogre's Eager Bride

Nothing else matters if Ranan dies.

Chapter

Eighteen

RANAN

Islowly come to.

My mouth feels like a wad of dried out seaweed. It tastes rotten and yet is somehow parched. Something pricks my hot, throbbing leg, sending a dagger of pain sheeting up my calf. I jerk, trying to move away from the stinging pain, but something heavy weighs down my thigh.

“Of course now you’re awake,” I hear Vali mutter. “Your timing could not be worse.”

My eyes feel gritty, and I manage to open them a sliver. As I do, I see her naked back—fiery red with sunburn—facing me. She’s sitting on my thigh. Another hot, stabbing pain shoots up my leg and I vaguely remember the sea dragon. It’s hard to talk—my tongue feels as if it’s coated with sand. “What…are you…doing?”

“Sewing your wound. Be still or I’ll have to strap you down.”

She’s sewing my wound? I repeat the thought several times.

She’s…sewing…

…my wound?

When did she get here? Wait, where is here? I focus my gaze on the ceiling and see the familiar stone of the grotto. Another stab lances up my leg and I hiss. “Ow!”

“This was easier when you were unconscious,” she mutters.

“How long…?”

“Almost two days that I know of. I’ll give you some water once I’m done with this.” She pauses, blows out a loud breath, then breathes in again just as deeply.

“You…all right?”

“Great, just great.” She doesn’t sound great, though. Her voice sounds tight.

I lie back, exhausted and weak and still slightly dazed. I’m so thirsty. I feel hot, too, but that can’t be helped…can it? My leg feels as if it’s on fire, and I wonder if it’s even there or if the sea dragon bit it off. “How bad…is it?”

“Bad.”

And yet she went out and found me? I don’t know how, and I can’t imagine why. I haven’t been kind to her. “Leg…?”

“Still on, but it’s not pretty. It needs sewing.”

“Doesn’t hurt that bad.”

“Well, thank the gods for that. Could be all the willow bark tea I’ve been dripping down your throat.”

Has she? I didn’t realize.

“I’m lucky I had some steeping for a long time. It’s really strong. You’ll feel it when it wears off, though. I guarantee that.”

Lovely. Something to look forward to. Vali has obviously been hard at work tending to me. “Could have…robbed…me. Left. You’d be rich.”

“I’m your wife,” she points out, her weight shifting on my thigh. If I didn’t feel like I’d been pounded by an entire flotilla of hamarii, I might be able to appreciate that she’s straddling my thigh naked, her cunt snugged against my flesh. “I wouldn’t berobbing you if you died and I got your things. And besides, where would that get me? I’d be murdered at the first town I went to.”

“Mm.” I lick my lips. They feel like fish scales.

“Besides, I like you,” Vali continues in that determined voice. “Even though you make it difficult at times. Now, hold still. I need to stitch again.”

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