Loving Rain (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 18 - The Care

               “How’d you know my head was hurting?”

               “It was before. And being sick isn’t going to make it go away. After the rag, you need to get warm. I’ll get a bigger fire going in your fireplace, but the easiest way to do it is body heat.”

               He didn’t stammer when he said it, or act like he was shamed by it like Alan always did. I cringed when I thought of Alan, and Cian took it as a shiver. “That’s where Kai comes in. If he sits in here as a chaperone, then nobody will get suspicious or have any wrong thoughts about what we’re doing.” As he said this, he began unbuttoning his shirt. I was still having a hard time thinking clearly, so this caught me off guard.

               The door opened again to let Melvin and Kai inside. The cup of steaming tea was instantly held to my lips, and I drank it greedily. Cian told Kai to start the fire, and it wasn’t long before I had drained the entire cup. Cian was right, I did feel slightly better. The tea was warming my insides and I could feel them start to function again instead of being dead weight.

               As Melvin left, Cayla came in and put a warm rag to my head. She sat the basin on the small table by my bed and left immediately, but I still caught the look that passed between her and Kai. It was sweet.

               I took a few seconds to gaze at the boy. His height wasn’t much different than Cian’s, but his skin was slightly darker. Kai sat down in the chair right in front of the fire he had made, and kept quiet except for saying, “I’m here as long as you need me. So no funny business,” to Cian in a joking manner.

               Cian took the rag off my head, dipped it in the basin, and rung it out. He sat it down long enough to slip his shirt off, and then picked it up as he turned back to me. My first thought was about how manly he looked. I had seen Alan without his shirt on before, but he was always covered in fur and it didn’t seem much different from wearing something. Cian’s chest was smooth, and his abs were carved and defined. My second thought wasn’t much different from the first; I was thoroughly impressed.

               He picked me up and set me under the covers of my bed, pulling himself under them with me. He pulled my body closer to him, and I could feel the warmth that radiated from him. The rag was laid back on my forehead, and I closed my eyes peacefully. To rid myself of any stray thoughts, I paid attention to his breathing. I counted the times that his chest moved up and down in the rhythmic motion. One, two, three.

               “Just relax, Rain,” he told me in a soothing voice. Four, five, six.

               “I am,” I assured him. But then a question popped into my head. “If I’m burning up, why are you wanting to make me warmer?”

               “You’re only warm because your body is fighting off whatever’s making you ill. Look at yourself, you’re shivering.”

               I did notice the shivers, then. I tucked my head down onto his chest, and felt my cheek heat up instantly. It felt amazing. Seven, eight, nine, ten.

               “I’m sorry, Cian,” I told him.

               “For what?”

               “For everything. For looking so helpless that you decided to help me. For causing such a big uprising in the castle. For not telling you anything about myself or where I came from.”

               “Shh,” he told me calmly. “Don’t worry about any of that. It’ll all work itself out soon enough. Besides,” he said in an even more serene voice, “I didn’t decide to help you because you looked helpless. I helped you because I saw something in you.”