Celia smirked.“Did you get in trouble for sleeping in?”she asked.
“More than once,” he admitted.“It happens fairly often, if I’m being honest.Sleep is far too appealing.I do my best to wake up, though,” he said.“It just doesn't always work out that way.”
“Perhaps once we’re done, you can help me tire the babies out so they sleep better tonight,” Celia said.“It might wear you out too.”
Darian perked up.Playing with the baby dragons?This day couldn't get any better…except maybe if Celia would smile at him again.
For some reason, that was the best thing that had happened to him all day.
Chapter five
Celia
CeliatookSodoutof the basket.He was a rather lazy fellow, and if he didn't start to perk up soon, she would worry about him.As it was, she simply wanted to get him using his leg, straightening it the way he ought to.It shouldn't be tucked up like that all the time.
“Would you help me hold his leg out like this?”she asked, straightening the leg gently.Sod still showed no sign of being hurt when the leg was straightened, which was a good sign.Sometimes they just needed a little reminder that they could, in fact, use their limbs.Hopefully a day or two with a splint, and he would be walking around on his own.
If he was an air dragon, she’d be less worried.But he was an earth dragon.He needed to be able to walk.
His voice calm and his actions unhurried, Darian gently reached toward the baby dragon, his fingers brushing against hers as he held the leg exactly as she'd shown him.
Celia tried not to flinch at the touch.
For someone who had so much energy, he was gentler with the baby than she had expected.
It didn’t mean she wanted him touching her, though.
There had once been a time when she wouldn’t have even noticed something so casual…but not anymore.
She took out the two small pieces of wood she’d bought from the store and reached for the ribbon that she'd also gotten.It was plain ribbon, nothing fancy, but it would do for straightening out this tiny leg—for now.Hopefully his leg would heal before he outgrew this version of a splint.
She'd never seen anything grow faster than a baby dragon, which made sense, if she thought about it—a creature with magic must be more likely to grow faster than a creature without.
“I'm just going to wrap your leg,” she told Sod, who chirped at her.
“She’ll be gentle,” Darian told the baby, who chirped back.“I'm glad it doesn't hurt.We want you to grow big and strong.”Sod chirped again, and Darian nodded.“I understand,” he said, “but I promise, if it doesn't hurt now, using the leg isn't going to hurt any more.”
Celia stared at Darian.“Are you talking to Sod?”she asked.
Darian blinked.“I am,” he said, and it was almost a question.“I suppose I am.”
“And you understand him?”she asked.
“Yes,” Darian said, the words seeming to stick in his mouth.
“I didn't know that was possible,” Celia said quietly.
If she hadn't known better, she would have said that she was jealous.
“I didn't, either,” Darian said quietly.“I don't know if I really am or not.Maybe I'm imagining it.”
“But you hear him talking to you?”she asked, because she didn't.
Darian stared down at the baby dragon.“Can I understand you?”he asked.Sod chirped, and Darian turned back to Celia.“He says yes, I can understand him.”
The fire dragons started chirping from where they sat in the hearth, and Darian turned to them.“They say it's because I'm smart,” he said with a wink.
“Smarter than me, apparently.”Celia said in a huff.
