Page 63 of Prince of Tides
“Is this a hospital?”
“Yes,” he said distractedly, pushing open the door. “The attack left one of my Lords, a good friend, in bad shape.”
We entered and were immediately ushered to the bedside of a man covered in bandages. His right arm was missing below the elbow, and large chunks of his legs and torso were lumpy as if chunks below the bandages were missing.
“Crest,” Rip said, gripping the man’s left hand as he let go of mine. “Damn.”
The man didn’t respond. He was unconscious. A nurse came over, looking at me strangely. I wanted to give her a look back, but she held no hostility in it, only curiosity.
It’s because you showed up on the arm of their prince. You’re probably a scandal already.
“How is he?” Rip asked, not tearing his eyes away from his old friend.
“He’ll recover,” the nurse said cautiously. “But it will take time. His arm is, obviously, never coming back.”
“At least it wasn’t his dominant arm,” Rip said in relief. “That would have destroyed him.”
The nurse didn’t say anything, but I could sense her disdain for the focus on fighting. Rip either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“I will return,” he said, clasping Lord Crest’s hand once again before rising. “Come,” he said, striding into the hallway, where a guardsman waited for us. “Assemble the Lords of the Deep. We must find a way to deal with Crest's absence.”
The guardsman ran off to do as he was told. Rip, meanwhile, guided me down a different hallway.
“Where are we going?” I asked, still taking in the new side of Rip. I’d seen him be in charge before, that instinctual command, but not in such a setting.
The way his soldiers respected him was another positive I noted. An important one because it showed me that he treated them well enough to earn that respect. That was the sign of a good man and one who would, I hoped, translate into being a good father.
“The War Room,” he said. “We have to figure out a long-term response to Crest being out of commission.”
“Is he that important?”
“Yes. He wields one of the more potent weapons to fight the ancient enemy, and without it, our northeastern flank is more vulnerable. The enemy will know this. But will they strike there, or wait for us to reinforce Crest’s area, then strike elsewhere? This is what we must decide.”
I wanted to ask more, but before I could, we rounded a corner and found ourselves entering what I gathered was the War Room. The noise washed over me, and I abruptly found myself lost to Rip as he immersed himself in the defense of his realm.
Lost, but not forgotten. His arm never dropped, and he never let me go. But it was his show, and for the moment, I had to take a back seat. That, I accepted, would also be part of a life spent with Rip.
Could I handle it?
Chapter Thirty-One
Rip
As the reports came in, I was glad I’d kept Laurie nearby. Her calm presence helped allay some of my stress. She was quiet and didn’t interrupt with what I was sure were a million questions. Instead, she stood at my side and squeezed my forearm every time she felt my muscles begin to tighten.
We stood on a balcony overlooking the living Map of the Seas, a lifelike recreation of the dragon realm and its borders. Unit carvings were indicated, showing where various islands and atolls held our people’s forward bases, while the patrol areas in the deeps were marked with colored lines for each group.
“So many,” Laurie whispered from next to me as she stared down. She’d spoken softly enough that a human would have been hard-pressed to hear over the din of the room. Dragons, however, had no such issues.
She slowly looked up, blushing as the silence spread outward from her.
“This is Laurie,” I said, deciding now was the time to introduce her. “She is with me.”
I refrained from using the word mate, partner, or anything like that. I also purposefully didn’t mention she was carrying my child. That information would get out soon enough, but while I was fairly positive the ancient enemy didn’t have spies among us, I wasn’t willing to bet my heir’s life on it.
“Hi,” Laurie said, nodding politely to the assembled crowd. “Sorry for interrupting. I didn’t realize you would all hear me.”
I chuckled, and the tension relaxed as everyone saw I wasn’t upset. “Dragons have much better hearing than humans. And yes, there are a lot. The Tidal Clan is larger than any of the other clans by far. We have to be to protect all the coasts of the Sea of Oblivion.”
