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She sucked in a breath but held steady. Belly kept her distance before eventually joining in, and wiping excess blood with a wet towel from time to time. When Miko gasped for air, then choked on the blood, Belly made a sound of dismay.
“Now, Saph,” Klaus said.
She dragged the trembling Belly to take her position and scrambled to press her palm on Miko’s chest, pumping once more. This time, the glow remained, then brightened, before Miko’s body absorbed it. He stopped choking and began drinking the blood with gusto until Klaus took his wrist away. Miko sighed, eyes fluttering open for a few seconds, then drifting shut. Bernard was ready, patting and pressing the man’s vital areas.
“His pulse is stable, and his gashes have stopped bleeding.”
“Patch him up,” Klaus instructed, then turned his attention to Olga, who stirred to life next. “Saph?”
She was ready, too, pumping magic into Olga next until Olga was just as stable as Miko. When Klaus stepped back, he knew it wasn’t over as Bernard and Lydia hovered in his periphery, hesitating.
“Bernard, line up the still-injured men in order of how bad their injures are. Get me the most injured first and those on the verge of death.”
Whereas the man had been protesting over this earlier, Bernard now wordlessly flew off, shouting orders until the others got to moving. When the first unconscious man with burns all over his body was lined up, Klaus resumed his bloodletting.
He might have lost his men and the five freed slaves, but he would be damned before he lost the rest. This determination carried him through as he shared his blood from one man to another, their faces becoming a blur as his consciousness could only focus on the process: suck, breathe, pump, onto the next. At some point, his mind shut off and he could only rely on instinct to keep going. Despite this, he could still feel her somewhere in the vicinity, her energy a steady presence that accompanied him through every second. He could hear her murmuring encouragement sometimes, either directed toward him or someone else. He could even smell her, an anchoring familiarity that he desperately held on to as he slowly, surely felt his body weakening.
“It’s done,” Bernard said after a while, then had to repeat it when he didn’t hear. “Your grace, we’ve healed them all.”
Klaus nodded, stuck in a daze. He backed away slowly, keeping his steps light and his balance steady, but there was only so much bravado he could uphold.
“I need to hibernate. Don’t disturb me,” he managed to say.
It took all his remaining energy not to stumble on his way out, then more to spread his wings and shakily heave his tired weight off the ground. He flew unsteadily and almost crashed against some boulders, but managed to avoid complete disaster as soon as he set sights on his destination.
There was one consequence to sharing blood that he didn’t state, and that consequence manifested as soon as he landed in the cave. Scales flew everywhere as he dropped his dragon form. Then more scales fell from his body as he limped his way further inside and collapsed over a pile of gemstones. He crawled the rest of the way until he could lean against the anvil, where he closed his eyes and listened to how his hide cracked. In his mind, he envisioned his image cracking with it and couldn’t find the energy to stop it.
“Klaus?”
The voice had his heart jumping and his dread thickening.
“I’m hibernating,” he growled, willing his grumpy tone to keep her away. But he should have known that Sapphire was too stubborn to listen and too bold to be affected by it. The time and effort she took to climb this cave was proof. Seconds later, her voice was closer. He opened an eye and took in her blurry form standing in front of him.
“No, you’re not. You’re dying,” she declared.
“I’m not dying.” He opened another eye, battling the blur away so he could check out her legs. “Are you still in pain?”
“We’re talking about you,” she said in exasperation.
“Are you?”
“No.” He detected her sincerity and felt better. “Some aches, but they will go away. I told you I could work through the pain.”
“Good.”
“Now it’s your turn.”
“Saph—”
“Klaus, what on heavens is going on and why do you look like you’re dying?”
She inched forward. He snapped out a hand and growled harder until she stopped. Even then, he realized he couldn’t win all fights and there was no hiding this from her anymore.
“I’m just shedding,” he explained, keeping his tone casual.
“Shedding?”
“My flawless state. The dragon form I show to the world, which requires a lot of strength and energy to maintain…and that strength and energy got depleted earlier when I lost a lot of my special blood. Now…”
