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I should be grateful, but right now, I am so fucking tired.
I sit with the dragon guy, laughing with him, telling jokes and stories. Minute-by-minute, his feeling begins to return. I ask him if he wants me to put more of the ointment on him. Maybe it would speed the process. He tells me no, though. He thinks it would be best to try to save some of it. If there’s a chance we’ll need more of it in the future, he wants it to be available.
Who knows how long it will be before the dragons can collect more?
“Lucky is a terrible organization,” he says.
“I figured.”
“No,” he whispers, and I get the feeling he doesn’t want Nicole to hear what he’s going to say. That’s fine. She’s basically asleep, anyway. How someone can pass out while they’re completely tied up and gagged, I don’t know. She is, though, and while there’s a part of me that knows she could be faking it, there’s another part of me that’s deeply satisfied with this knowledge.
I don’t want her listening, either.
“They’re really bad,” he repeats.
“They hurt you,” I whisper, realizing what he’s trying to say. “No,” I clarify. “They hurt your clan.”
He just nods.
I reach for his cheek and I stroke it softly. The dragon looks at me, his eyes softening at the touch, and I realize we’re both enjoying this. Perhaps it’s wrong to be offering physical comfort to this stranger in the woods, but I think we both need it.
I’m sorry,” I whisper.
A single tear slips from his eye, and I wonder what it is that these monsters did to his fellow dragons. More importantly, I wonder how long the dragons have been fighting Lucky. This man seems tired. He seems done. He seems like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I don’t like that he has to feel that way.
“Tell me your name,” I whisper. It’s not a request.
“Lawrence,” he says. He doesn’t hesitate. It’s the truth.
“I’m Julie.”
“I know,” he smiles softly. “I heard you.”
“You were watching?” I ask, cocking my head. I suppose I didn’t realize he might have been following us before the altercation back at camp. Maybe that’s how he got to me so quickly when Nicole found me. He was following us. Of course. That makes a lot more sense now. I’m not mad that he was watching me. I’m more curious than anything.
“I was watching the stone tower,” he corrects me.
“Why?”
“Dragon secret,” he whispers.
“Well, Lawrence,” I use his name for the first time, testing it on my tongue. It sounds nice, smooth. I like it. I like him. “I’m going to protect you. While you’re healing,” I clarify. “So if you want to fall asleep...”
“You’ll watch over me?”
“Yes.”
“Like my guardian angel.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not going to sleep, little human.”
“I’m not little, dragon dude.”
“You are to me.”
“I’m actually a little bit tall for a woman,” I point out. At 5’9”, I’ve never been accused of being “little” before. The fact that Nicole and Bernie were both taller than me speaks volumes.
