The Dragon Bond: Heirs of Lyra

Chapter 46

When Henry opened his eyes he was shocked into thinking there was an angel beside him. She was wiping his forehead with a cold cloth. Her eyes were green and penetrated through him, they cut him up, tugged at his heartstrings. He could feel the emotion behind them. The worry, the fear, the sleep deprivation. 

But this was no angel. It was only Mavis. He cleared his throat, fighting to speak. She smiled meekly. "You're not dead."

He laughed, despite himself. His abdomen hurt. "Disappointed?"

She shook her head, a tear falling. "Wilkin was worried."

"Where is he?"

"In his room. I told him not to come in here. I didn't want him to see you like this."

"That bad?"

She nodded. "I thought you were dead so many different times. You're a stubborn one."

"Told you I would pay you back. Clean up my mess. I haven't done that yet."

"Here I thought you were trying to get out of it the easy way." She teased.

He tried to sit up but realized the mistake immediately. She shifted forward, gently urging him down. "Take it easy."

His pillow had shifted and Mavis fixed it, fluffing it to make it more comfortable. He tried to look around the room. It was still trashed but it looked like maybe they had started to clean it up. Henry was still so mad that it had happened. He knew they would come looking for him. He just didn't realize they would tear the house apart when they came. It wasn't fair to this family. 

"I need to go," he said, his voice weak.

Mavis frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"I can't stay here. It's too dangerous for you two. They'll come again, I'm sure. They aren't going to rest until they find me."

"So we'll keep hiding you."

Henry shook his head. "I won't always have enough time to hide. Besides, it almost killed me getting in and out of that dresser. I don't know if I could do it again."

She took his hand and squeezed it. "If there is a next time, we'll be here to help. We won't leave you again. I'm sorry we left in the first place, but we needed food. We're stocked up now, so don't worry about that."

"You should be able to come and go as you please. I don't want you to worry about me."

She raised an eyebrow and smiled down at him. "You're the Prince of Lyra, heir to the kingdom. And you're under my care. Of course I worry about you. I don't want you to die. Our kingdom needs you."

"I don't think they need me as much as you think they do," the self-doubt was creeping in. He was nowhere near ready to rule a kingdom. Look at where he was now. His father wouldn't have lost that fight, wouldn't have had to hide away in another kingdom, relying on the care of an impoverished family. 

Besides, Ralf could easily take his place. He was dragon bonded after all. In most kingdoms, if there wasn't a male heir, but there was a dragon bond, they could take the throne. 

"I don't know much about you," Mavis started, "but I know you're strong. Who else would be able to survive everything you endured? How you didn't bleed out last night I'll never understand. It's like you have some hidden blood reserves I don't know about."

Henry laughed. "If only." 

She still held her hand over his. It was comforting. The Prince had to admit, when he first met her she had seemed like a very stubborn, opinionated, boisterous person. Now he was seeing a very nurturing side to her. She took such good care of her younger brother, practically mothered him. It was nice to see her soft side.

"I'd like to apologize again," Henry said. "I shouldn't have trashed your grandparent's field that day. I was...frustrated and angry. It's no excuse to ruin someone's livelihood. I hadn't thought about it effecting anyone else when I did it."

"Why were you so upset?"

Whoops. He didn't necessarily want to talk about it, he only wanted to get the apology out in the open. Now it seemed there was no avoiding it. "I was engaged to the Princess of Copia. It didn't work out."

Mavis let go of his hand and sat up. "What do you mean it didn't work out?"

Henry sighed and settled into a more comfortable position. Apparently she wasn't going to rest until she heard the full story. "We weren't in love. It was an arranged marriage for an alliance. My father wanted me to spend more time with her but he kept pushing more responsibilities on me. I didn't have time--or at least I didn't make time--to be with her and get to know her. So I pushed her onto my brother, thinking he could distract her and entertain her while I did my duties."

"Oh no," Mavis interrupted. "And they fell in love?"

Henry nodded. "I should have seen it coming. After all they spent a lot of time together. I just never thought my brother would win her over."

Mavis frowned. "Why not?"

"Well," how did Henry say this without sounding like a jerk? "Princess Karolina is a very beautiful woman. She made it clear she also found me attractive. I thought the chemistry was there. But we never felt the desire to know about each other. We weren't interested in the same thing. I figured the physical attraction would be enough. And my brother, Ralf...he's physically less attractive. He's a real scrawny guy. It sounds harsh but--"

"Don't tell me you thought he didn't stand a chance with her?"

Henry sunk lower in the bed. If he covered his head with the blanket maybe he would disappear. "I'm a terrible brother."

"Sounds like it."

Henry covered his eyes, rubbing his temples. He looked up at Mavis. "I've made a lot of mistakes. My temper gets the best of me. I don't usually have a lot of time like this to think. Now all I can do all day is think."

"Maybe in a weird way this experience has been good for you," she suggested thoughtfully.

"I don't know about that," Henry shook his head. "But I do have a better realization of the things I've done wrong. Now I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to fix things. Between my leg and the constant search party, I have a feeling I'm stuck here for a while."

Mavis stood up. "Well if that's the case, you'll have to start pulling your weight soon enough. Get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow we start exercising, getting you stronger."

"I don't know that I'll be able to exercise, I almost died a few hours ago." 

Mavis rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to make you get out of bed. There are plenty of things you can do while you lie there."

Henry wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that. She had a twinkle in her eye and that could not be a good sign. There was mischief there, something brewing that he knew wouldn't feel good.