Without a pause, he charges into the tent ahead, throwing a wing over my head to shelter me from the sand still pouring over the entrance.
Still panting and now thoroughly disoriented, I squint against the blaze of lantern light within. My vision clears on an assortment of bottles and bandages, as well as a very alarmed-looking Tilly, and a rather eager-looking Princess Rosa.
Who just so happens to be in her undergarments.
17
Soren
She’s hurt.
Twicein my care, she’s been hurt.
I grit my teeth, clutch her tighter, and push my wings faster.
Why didn’t she say anything before? Why was she so calm? Why wouldanyonesay they’re bleeding so calmly?
“Soren,” I hear her say, along with something about being fine, but I shake my head at her. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’s obviously delirious.
A few wingbeats more and I spot the traditional blue-tinged flames of a physician’s lamp in the middle of camp. Never have I been more grateful for my ancestors’ wisdom, for the copper-fueled lamps that have been a familiar beacon to dragons in flight since we first took human form. Tomorrow, I will have the creator’s descendants found and honored.
I plummet toward the light, cradling the princess with my second form while absorbing the shock of the landing with my first. That same form writhes within me as she screams, but I don’t dare pause to ask her what’s wrong. Charging forward, I storm into the tent.
“Bindley!”
The grizzled old physician startles from the chair he was sitting in, his eyes leaping from me to the princess.
“She’s bleeding,” I say, rushing her to him.
“Bleeding?” But this comes from my sister, who, for whatever reason, is sitting with Rosa, both of them swathed in those ridiculous Ilanthren dresses that take up half the tent, though Rosa’s seem to be missing some layer or other.
“Oh, Tilly,” Serah says from my arms. “Please help.” She’s covered her face with her hands.
My sister leaps to her side. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Serah groans. “It’s only my menses. I tried to tell him.”
Tilly’s mouth drops open, and she looks like she’s winding up for a scolding when Rosa cuts in, tittering and flapping a dismissive hand.
“We have things to manage that back in Ilanthren. Do you not have that in…” She glances at my sister. “Where is she from again?”
Tilly frowns at this. “Vasna, remember?”
“Oh, one of those little islands off the western coast? Father would sometimes point them out to me when we were on holiday.”
Have they all gone mad?
“Did you not hear me that the princess is in danger?” I snarl at Bindley, who seems to be more engrossed in the girls’ conversation than in saving his future queen.
A cool hand touches my arm.
“Soren,” my sister says, “Serah is fine.”
I bare my teeth at her. “How do you know?”
She surprises me by returning the gesture. “You know why.” Her lips ease down as she looks back at me. “Trust me, brother, and put her down. You’re embarrassing her.”
I glance at Serah. She lowers her hands just enough for me to see pleading eyes.
