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“Ah, that felt good.”
Char looked up as Rath reentered the room, and he frowned, scanning his brother from head to toe with a disapproving eye. Rath wore only a towel around his waist.
“Rath.”
“What? She’s unconscious anyway. You’re lucky I’m wearing this much.” Rath smirked. “And even if she woke up right now, she’d like what she sees.”
Char rolled his eyes. “Go put some clothes on.”
“Nope. I’m finally clean for the first time in days, and I am not ruining that by putting on dirty, sweaty clothes. You could stand a bath, too. Then Iris can wake up to two hot guys in towels and tell us who she prefers.”
Char was so glad Iris wasn’t awake to hear this conversation.
“You’re such an idiot.”
“Hey, I know what I’ve been told, and girls like this,” Rath replied, gesturing to himself. “And they were all over you at that one party when you took your shirt off.” His grin took on a sly aspect. “Has Iris ever seen you shirtless?”
Rath would never let Char live that stunt down.
“No. And it smells like the fairies are done cooking, so you should go get something to eat.”
Rath shook his head. “Not without you. Come on. The fairies are ready to get to work on her, but they can’t do anything with you hanging around.”
Char dropped his gaze to Iris’ still form in his arms. The fairies who weren’t busy in the kitchen had been hovering around her for a while now, but Char was reluctant to hand her off to anybody else. He’d come too close to losing her too many times.
Rath crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Char.”
“Fine.”
Char stood and laid Iris on the sofa, placing a throw pillow under her head and running his fingers through her hair one more time. Rath clapped him on the shoulder and steered him toward the kitchen.
“Come on. She’ll be fine. I’m starting to think it’s not possible to kill her.”
Char knew Rath was trying to boost his spirits, but that statement didn’t help. It just reminded Char of all his failures and her near misses.
The fairies zipped out of the kitchen when the dragons walked in, leaving them with a hearty meal of meat and potatoes in a room that felt both familiar and foreign. Dwarves and dragons carved their caves out of stone, but their materials of choice for furniture and fixtures differed, and dwarves loved right angles. Heavy woods and cobblestone bricks; square table, square chairs, square counters and cabinets.
A good meal, however, transcended all cultural differences.
“I love a little adventure, but I also love three meals a day,” Rath said through a mouthful of food. “Real sit-down meals that are hot, fresh, and tasty.”
“Agreed.”
Rath swallowed and pointed his fork at Char. “It wouldn’t kill you to take a bath after this. You need to relax.”
“I can’t relax until I know she’s okay.”
Rath sighed. “Stop beating yourself up. Nothing that happened to her was your fault, and you’ve been doing everything you could for her since you two met. Yeah, she’s been through some horrible stuff, but it could have been worse.”
“How?” Char muttered, pushing his food around his plate.
“Well, let’s see. If you hadn’t interfered, Micah would have snatched her up at Little Rest, and she would have been completely alone, with nobody to help her at all. I kind of think that would have been worse, don’t you?”
Char stabbed his steak harder than necessary. “I guess.”
Rath sighed again. “Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna finish eating, and then you’re gonna take a hot bath and at least pretend you like it. Then, you’re gonna start a fire in your bedroom—because these dwarves love their fireplaces; there’s one in every bedroom—and you’re gonna climb under the covers to cuddle with Iris, and then, I don’t care. You can cry, you can mope, you can beat yourself up all you want. That’s your business. I’ll be in my own room, getting a good night’s sleep. And in the morning, if she wakes up, you’ll be thanking me for telling you to take that bath, because she won’t want to wake up with a stinky guy.”
“What if she doesn’t wake up?”
“Then I’ll have to come up with something else to distract you. But I hope she wakes up soon, because I can’t keep being the responsible one for much longer.”
The corner of Char’s lips twitched. “Kelnor would be proud.”
“Shut up. You know he’s already been hinting that I should take team lead training.”
“You’d be good at it.”
Rath scowled. “I’m not ready to settle down and do something like that. Then I’d have to sneak around myself to cut up.”
Char’s smirk broke free from his frown. “Father was a team leader, and he still had time to mess around.”
“Father only became a team leader after he got married,” Rath retorted. “Do I look like I’m ready to get married? You’re the one who’s halfway to the altar, not me.”
“What about Misa? You’ve never been hooked on one girl for so long before.”
Rath shrugged. “Misa’s a great girl, but I wouldn’t do half the things for her you’ve done for Iris. I think that’s kind of telling, don’t you?”
“Yeah, probably.”
The conversation lapsed into silence.
Char knew everything Rath said was true. He knew Iris would have been a lot worse off if she had been forced to deal with this all alone, and he knew he had done everything he could to protect her and help her.
But it hadn’t been enough. She’d still been hurt, badly and deeply, so many times and so many ways.
That gnawed at him.
He bolted his food almost as fast as Rath and leaped to his feet, heading back to the living room before he’d swallowed his last bite. His heart catapulted into his throat and his stomach plummeted to his feet when he didn’t see Iris on the sofa. He grabbed the door frame, scanning the room with wild eyes as Rath came up beside him.
“What’s wrong?”
A fairy flitted out of the hallway, twirled in a tight circle, and then darted back down the hall. Char let out the breath he’d been holding. “The fairies moved her.”
“Is that all? You really are wound tight.”
Several doors lined the stone walls on either side of the hall. The fairy opened one just a crack and zipped inside, slamming the door shut in Char’s face.
“You can use my tub.” Rath clapped a hand on Char’s shoulder again and guided him to a door across the hall. “Well, you can use any tub, but it’s probably nicer to only dirty one up, in case the residents come back.”
“How considerate of you,” Char said in a dry tone.
“Hey, dwarves have bad tempers and big battleaxes. Plus, the fairies are probably cleaning Iris up or something, and if she hasn’t seen you shirtless, you definitely don’t get to see her naked yet.”
Heat rose on the back of Char’s neck. The glimpse of Iris in his shirt flashed through his mind, followed in quick succession by the picture of her in that towel. He hadn’t gotten a good look either time, but he’d seen enough of her long legs and bare shoulders to make him want to see more.
He had no business thinking that way when she was in this condition.
“You’re blushing!” Rath nudged Char with his shoulder.
“No, I’m not.”
“C’mon, I’m your brother. You’re supposed to tell me these things. What was she wearing—or, if I don’t miss my guess, what wasn’t she wearing?”
“No.”
Rath slung an elbow on Char’s shoulder and leaned on him. “You know I won’t leave you alone until you tell me, so you may as well spill it.”
Char groaned. “Fine. Remember the first morning she woke up back at our place? After we saved her from Micah the first time?”
“I’m not gonna forget that for a long time. If ever.”
“Well, she was only wearing my shirt that morning. And when I found her in Micah’s tower, she was only wearing a towel. I didn’t get a good look either time, and looking wasn’t exactly my top priority, either.”
Rath’s smile faltered. “Ah. Yeah. Well, that kinda ruins everything. The bathroom’s through there.”
He pointed at the only doorway in this square room other than the exit into the hall. Char rolled his eyes.
“I think I could have figured that out on my own.”
Rath shoved Char in that direction. “Wise guy. Go soak your head and loosen up. I already locked the front door, and you know the fairies are taking good care of Iris. There’s nothing for you to do but unwind. And if you don’t wanna see the towel come off, you’d better get moving, because I'm going to bed right now.”
Char turned his back on his brother, heading toward the bathroom. The towel hit him in the back of the head.
His first thought when he entered the bathroom was that Rath was right. These dwarves liked to go big.
The dwarves had carved the tub from the same stone that made up the bathroom and the rest of the domicile, but instead of having it sunken into the floor, they'd left enough stone to create a small lip a person had to step over to enter the tub. A line of narrow stairs descended from there to the bottom of the tub, which was roomy enough for multiple dwarves to bathe without discomfort. Maybe even enough room for two dragons. Not two dragons Char and Rath’s size, since they were both over six feet tall, but Char and a smaller person, like Iris—
He was quick to cut that thought short.
The dirty clothes Rath had left on the floor stunk. Char’s did, too, when he stripped and tossed them on the pile, and he knew Rath was right again. He wouldn’t want to put those on after he finished bathing. He could wash them in the tub, or he could be lazy and ask the fairies to do it later. They’d be happy to oblige.
That thought startled him. He hadn’t realized how easy it was to take them for granted.
And that was another reason the fairies loved Iris so much, aside from her saving their lives multiple times. She never demanded or expected anything of them. When she made a rare request of them, it was just that: a request. Polite and with plenty of room for the fairies to decline.
Which they didn’t, of course.
She would be okay. The fairies were taking care of her, Micah was dead, and there had to be an above ground outlet nearby. It wouldn’t be long before Char had Iris safe and back home.
He still had to figure out the proposal. She deserved something big, something really romantic.
Maybe he’d get some ideas after he got some rest.
He ended up following Rath’s example and leaving the bathroom with nothing but a towel tied around his waist. Rath was nothing more than a motionless lump under the covers in a plain, square, large bed. Clothes hung over open bureau drawers and spilled onto the floor; whether from Rath looking for something to wear or the previous residents packing to leave in haste, Char didn’t know. He rummaged through it all and found nothing that would fit him, so he gave up and headed across the hall to Iris’ room.
The fairies didn’t stop him from entering this time.
A fire crackled in the cobblestone fireplace, its flickering light sending his shadow dancing across the walls. Iris was asleep in bed, her hair damp from her own bath. The fairies had settled on the blankets around her.
“Could you wash our clothes?” he whispered to them.
A few rose from the bed and flitted out the door.
Char sat next to Iris and stroked her cheek. Her color was definitely getting better now. He wanted to climb under the sheets and fall asleep with her in his arms, but he didn’t know what, if anything, she was wearing, and the last thing he needed was for her to wake up frightened by a naked man in her bed. Whatever Rath might say, Char knew Iris’ reactions never matched those of a typical party girl.
And that was without considering the abuse she’d suffered from Micah.
Char kissed her forehead and left her with the fairies. There were other bedrooms, but the sofa in the living room would suit him fine. He wasn’t comfortable trusting the lock on the front door to keep out intruders.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmMv7uzFq7
