Wildfire

Fifteen

"I...I have to disrobe?"I know that there is no shame to be found in disrobing for a medical examination... But it still does not keep my shyness from overwhelming me just in the form of thought alone. 

To have to strip down with a guard and my entire family in the room along with the Doctor and Emrys when I already feel so violated and on display makes me quake with the trauma it inflicts on my already stressed soul, the thought of my surely bruised chest and shoulders being exposed to those closest to me as well as a few strangers causing me much distress as I shiver in my Prince's arms.

I start to try and object, but my words are stolen from me as Emrys adjusts his hold on me in order to cuddle me closer, the feel of his lips pressing into my hair enough to give me pause just in time for him to speak, "Please clear the room so that the Queen may have privacy."

That's all it takes. He isn't rude or cruel... My fiancee just makes a simple request and the others in the room are glad to follow the suggestion to save my last shreds of modesty, the lot of them filing out leaving me alone with just my future husband and the physician that had taken so long to come to my aid, his hands ready and waiting to poke and prod at me. 

...

Emrys

...

This should be something more special... the first time I am allowed to see his body... and instead, I am forced to share the memory with another man, my Queen's injuries souring the moment that this was meant to be as he lets me sit him forward just slightly in my lap, my hands being the ones to slowly slip his ruined robes off of his shoulders, the torn material pooling around his waist before he finds the courage in himself to lift up just enough for me to pull the garments completely away from him with the gracious help of Kanaye, the physician's silence on the uncomfortable matter much appreciated. 

I think it does us both good to feel each other's warmth, my wounded jewel curling into me as soon as his ruined clothes are pulled away, his bottom finding my lap as tenderly as he can manage in his obvious nerves over there being nothing in between us. 

He need not worry, my careful hold on him only wanting to offer him comfort and strength in his time of need and nothing more, my interest in his body as a lover pushed to the back of my mind as I take a mental summary of all of his newly revealed wounds, Kanaye's hands causing my Love to flinch this way and that as he takes stock of all of the deep purple and black bruises, Rayne flinching hardest when Kanaye brushes his ribs. 

"Right there... That pains you?" Kanaye repeats the awkward motion with his hand and once again my bride flinches, his timid nod barely being seen in the effort he's making to hide his tears by tucking his face in my shoulder. 

"Is it a sharp pain, or a dull one?" 

"A dull one..." My Rayne is being so brave, even as he clings to me in his effort to not show how much his pain is truly affecting him, his hands wandering back and forth on my chest as though he's trying to soothe me just as much as I am trying to comfort him, my anger over the blackening of his flesh so intentionally causing molten bile to rise and fall in my throat every time I think of how it happened... Of how I had been so foolish enough as to leave him unattended and unprotected in the gardens after dark... That I hadn't thought to assign a guard to watch over him and keep him safe in my absence... 

I had been a foolish man indeed to have expected there to be an uproar over his presence but not enough forethought to arrange for him to be as safe and as comfortable as possible in his new home. 

Kanaye spends a few more minutes with the injuries on Rayne's torso before his hands flutter up to my fiancee's damaged face, Rayne flinching away from the fingers the brush ever so gently the swollen flesh of his puckered eye.

"I don't think anything is broken, a few fractures in your ribs I am sure, but none of them seem to have splintered. If the pain in your side shifts from dull to sharp please call for me Your Highness. Now, before we move on to talking about the arrangement for a sedative so that you may have a real chance at rest this evening, are there any other spots that plague you that I am not aware of?"

...

Rayne

...

"M-My eyes...I... There was a blow to the back of my head that has seemed to have robbed me of most of my vision." The Doctor doesn't verbally respond to me right away, instead, the feel of his hands as they delve into my hair in order to drag his fingertips along my scalp searching for the tender spot that feels as though it's going to make me scream in pain if it throbs any worse, a slight recoil when he finds it and I gasp, my bleary world spinning in the sharp strike of pain against my consciousness. 

"That... I'm afraid... is something I cannot fix. There is a slight fracture on the back of your skull, something that you will need to be very careful of until it has healed completely."

"But what of his vision?" Emrys asks the question hanging on my tongue, only half of my thoughts still lingering at the impending promise of a sedative and peaceful unconsciousness having stuck with my mind.

"I'm afraid there is no way to tell if it will return or not. There are very few studies of brain trauma, Your Highness. Only time and patience will tell if your vision will return, Queen Rayne, but I shall pour over my texts and see if there is anything I might do to hasten and help its recovery."