Page 24 of The Dragons’ Eternal Mate

He nodded. Coming into the room behind him was Orsen. He looked exhausted, his shoulders hanging, and I smiled sympathetically.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get him,” Orsen said, pulling me into a hug and burying his face in my neck, which was impressive, considering how much he needed to crane over me to do so.

“I’m sure you will next time. Cyrus knows every nook and cranny of the horde lands. It’ll take a bit of time to smoke him out. I’m safe here. Samuel and Grey never left my side.”

“Good.” Orsen nodded, kissing the top of my head. “No one was hurt too badly, that’s the main thing.”

Bastian came in with a mug of hot water a moment later. I carefully added the herbs so that we could get Nix a bit of relief. Letting it steep for a minute, I stirred it, blowing over the top as I walked up to Nix.

“All right, here. Sip at this till it’s gone. And don’t burn your tongue.”

Smiling, Nix saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”

I rolled my eyes, watching him drink the liquid before I grabbed the cup, taking the cup to the sink. Orsen narrowed his eyes at Nix as we waited for the drugs to do their thing, as I sidled up to him again, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“Where is Grey?” I asked, craning my neck to look at Orsen. He had been with me while I was treating Nix, but the moment I let him know his clanmate was in the clear, he’d stormed off.

“Triple-checking all the security cameras, and if I’m not mistaken, installing more.”

“Aren’t there already a million security cameras here?” I asked, chuckling as I pictured Grey at his computer, sending young dragons up on ladders to install even more security cameras.

“There are!” Nix said dopily, the tea clearly starting to affect him. “But I don’t know if you know this, but Grey is a little bit of a control freak. He’s scared that anyone else could have access to the cameras, so he wants to have even more that only he knows the codes to.”

I gave Orsen a pointed look, but he just shrugged. “If it protects you, I support it.”

“Fair enough.” I looked around the clinic, sighing. “This place is a disaster. I need to clean up and put things back where I’ll know where to find them. I’ll keep an eye on Nix here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Bastian jerked his head toward Nix. “In case… you know.”

“He’s in bed. I think we’ll be okay. You two get some rest and food. We’ll be just fine. And you can check on us in a little bit.”

After a bit of grousing, the two of them left me with Nix, and I set about tidying up the clinic. Nix fell asleep in moments, and I was left to the quiet of the room after all that chaos.

Ma was having more lucid moments. She had woken up that morning and cursed Cyrus out with some of the most colorful language I had ever heard. She had resisted when I tried to give her pain medication, but eventually she relented and was once again sleeping deeply.

Two people I loved were in my clinic, and I didn’t feel good about it.

I had never felt safe and secure when I knew nothing of my past, but this was a different kind of fear. Knowing exactly what I was up against.

As I tidied the herbs and cleaned up the carnage I had left behind while treating Nix, my hand paused on a vial.

Hellabore.

There were several varieties of the one I had, with medicinal properties and that weren’t poisonous, but plenty were highly toxic.

Seeing it gave me pause.

I was a human: weak and powerless.

Only, I wasn’t.

I didn’t have claws or wings, but I had a lot of profound medical knowledge that most dragons didn’t.

Staring at the vial, I chewed on my lip. I could easily formulate something to protect myself with. There were plenty of herbs that were helpful to dragons, but if combined could be highly toxic. If Cyrus ever came near me again, I could put him in the ground with a single vial.

Shaking my head, I put the vial back.

Yes, I could easily make something deadly, but surely that would make me just as bad as Cyrus. I was a healer; my job was to help people, not to harm them.