Wildfire

103

At first... At first, Emrys is content to lay in his catatonic state, Kanaye insisting that he examines me first due to the level of harm that has made itself clear on my person, Xiang having landed more blows that I had truly understood in the heated moments we had spent trying to best each other before I had found leverage in holding his shoulder... Somehow he must have struck a blow to the ribcage that had only just finished healing for me to not be bothered by it any longer from the way Shen had taken such pleasure in breaking it... And somehow he had managed to leave me just as bruised as that first beating... My face having been mostly spared only to have my chest take most of the damage... Seeing Emrys's pain being mostly mental thanks to his tougher skin had set the physician's eyes on me... His hands careful as they poke and pride at me to try and figure out what other places on my body might be broken...

Through most of it, my husband had stayed silent, his eyes tracking me to assure that I am as alright as I had told him that I was after being settled here by Papa... But the moment Kanaye's hands fluttered about my side causing me to gasp?

My sweet King found it within himself to rally, the frantic look that fell upon his face in his effort to sit up as quickly as he can manage culminating in a hiss from the beast that resides within him that causes Kanaye and his mates to all take a step back from me, Emrys's hands finding themselves protectively around me, his hold careful of the obvious bruises shining so brightly on my skin... The smell of his fear regarding my safety so heavy as it leaks into the air... The way he gathers me up to his chest while staring at the others in the room so wildly so very telling as to how the day has affected him so greatly...

...

Emrys

...

It had been hard to keep my dragon docile at the sight of Kanaye touching Rayne... The trust I had once been so easily able to extend now shattered and fragile due to the betrayal of Cho... I had tried so hard to remind myself that the good Physician has done nothing but aid us... And that if he had wanted to harm my wife he would have done it any of the number of times that he has had access to us privately before...

But the moment Rayne had whimpered I had not been able to keep the other half of myself tamped down... Neither side of me feels right with Rayne having been hurt once more on our watch... And hearing his distress... I could not allow myself to be despondent anymore... For I need to protect the one person in this world that has brought me peace... The one person in this world who loves me as much as I love him... The love he has for our people just as strong...

Today I did not protect him... He protected me... And I know the only way I can repay him is by making sure that I keep my word and prevent any harm that might come his way...

Logically I know that the Doctor has no reason to hurt the love of my life... That he has no reason to harm my love... He has no reason to harm his Queen... But then again... Neither did Cho that I had been aware of... And yet he still asked for my wife like a bartering token... Like nothing more than a substitute for coin... His words still making no sense in my mind... There is no way Rayne could be... And I know that... They look nothing alike...

...

Rayne

...

It is all too easy to see the fright Emrys causes in Kanaye's wives, the physician himself unfazed other than his lips forming a thin line, his shoulders squaring themselves as his mates find their way behind them, his voice unwavering, "Your Highness. I know that it is disconcerting to see your wife in pain... But if you do not allow me to examine him and his ribs are indeed re-broken... You risk losing our Queen from internal damage."

The words should be frightening to me... I should be worried about the words leaving his lips... The seriousness of the injuries I have collected... But I feel nothing but the warmth radiating once more from Emrys's chest... The fire finally having restarted itself deep within his belly where I had feared that it had gone out and that his mind might sink down into the coldness and leave me with nothing more than a husk of a husband that I would no doubt continue to love and continuously mourn while tending to him...

A thought that no longer has any bearing in my mind... For when I look up over my shoulder and away from Kanaye... I see that very same fire that roared to life in my husband's belly reflecting in his eyes, his face flushed with life, the need to protect me at the forefront of his mind... He is himself again at the moment... Which means... Which means I might return to myself also... And allow myself to crumble in the way that I have tried so very hard to resist...

The strength I have done my best to display and utilize finally chipping away and exposing all of the tender pained parts underneath it... I am still most certainly the Queen... I fought hard to earn that title... But I am also... I am also the very same self that I have always been... And that very same self... Was so scared... And terrified... And worried that no matter what I was capable of that it would not matter... That I wouldn't be able to change anything other than provoking our attackers into an even surlier mood...

Before I can even register the urge, I find myself turning in his protective hold so that I might cling to him and turn it into an embrace, my tears finally giving way to proper sobs that make the aching in my ribcage so much worse... Even though they make my soul feel so much more at peace with our decisions today...