The royal chambers of King Draconvieh were kept dark. He had come to lose the ability to look at himself; his beauty had been tarnished by the stupefying actions of his hated sister. Calira had been in bed for more than a fortnight, resting and healing, but for what? For the first quarter moon, he had remained unconscious and unresponsive. His body was as still and cold as a snow-driven plain, with the exception of his chest. Through it all, he had managed to keep his heart beating. The damage to his handsome face was permanent. It seemed no matter how many elixirs or polticesTonisa brewed, none appeared to work. There they sat three-quarter moons hence, and still, he grew weaker. At last, he had gained enough strength to eat, but he was reluctant. The soft touch of his forbidden passion was what kept him going. Her soft singing and the warm baths he received twice daily were a mere fraction of what she had done. In this troubled time, the pair found happiness. All except the other two Tyliquin women were banned from his chambers. With them, Tonisa found no threat they would never barge in without welcome. The past few weeks had subjected them to both solace and presentiment. But with those, both the dragon and the witch found hope.
"Hold still. Do not be so frivolous." Tonisa hissed as she removed the bandages from the King's left eye. He had begun as always to turn from her in her attempts to treat him. "It hurts!" He replied with a growl. His eye had finally come to open but still remained bruised and expelling fluid. "It should hurt. What that insidious strumpet did to you was uncalled for. For the record, you should show me some fraction of appreciation. After all, if I had not taken on half of the blow you may have been worse off than you are now." She turned sideways to dip a cloth in a bowl of warm water and essence of Willow. Twisting it softly, she began to dab it across the affected area.
"Has your vision improved at all?" She asked wearily, her free hand moving to softly take hold of his chin. As she turned him to face her, she realized exactly how much his godlike features had come to suffer. In her eyes, he was still as stunning as ever, but she knew he would not feel the same. "Yes, a bit. Though I find it at times to be quite blurred." He flinched at her touch, the skin around the affected eye tender. Part of her wanted to slap him for his shameful behavior. But seeing him in this painful state stilled her hand. She examined the clear fluid that came to flee the wound. It was thick and cold despite the body temperature ofLord Draconvieh. "I wish to be seen from this bed of convalescence, Toni. I have grown tired of the rest, and the simplicity of doing absolutely nothing." His large and scabbed hand came to take hold of her wrist. His eyes gazed at her with passion burning behind them. He wanted more than to leave the bed.
"You cannot leave this bed...not yet. You sustained wounds nearly beyond repair, not to mention the damage to your wing." He had heard enough of her talking and began to sit up. Despite her efforts to hold him down, the King rose anyway. The passion had fled his gaze and had been chased away by the look of a being insulted. Throwing the bowl of water to the ground, he pushed her aside. For the first time in nearly a moon, his feet came to touch the floor. His balance was far from ideal, but he took his first step anyway. Tonisa rushed to his side holding him up but was pushed away again.
"Do you view me as a dragon removed from the ranks of battle? Is there a part of you who believes I will not rise again? Wounds nearly beyond repair...they are but a scratchs me. The worst pain is to be seen as weak in the eyes of the woman I adore. It has been a month. My wounds have healed. I am beginning to think you wish me never to leave that bed." He pointed to where he had laid a hint of venom in his words.
The Tyliquin stepped to him meeting eye to eye before she slapped him. The blow knocked the King off balance, a searing pain rushing through his bruised eye socket before stampeding down his neck. He snarled in pain turning to look at her; his eye once more sealed. "You dare strike me, Tonisa?" He barked, his hand moving to cover his blinded eye. She moved forth to remove his hand placing a kiss on his lips. "And I would do it again if you insulted me in such a way as you have now. I could heal you with magic or blood, but I chose to treat you this way. I have loved you for years, I have longed for you as we were forced to stay apart. Your injuries provided us both with time alone to do as we pleased. I enjoy taking care of you as no one else can. I do not see you as a weak man or dragon, I see you as both in need of aid. There is nothing wrong with being ill. Do not be so prideful."
He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I want to get out of this room. I want to breathe fresh air and take a ride on my horses. You cannot keep me confined in here forever, my love. A dragon must spread his wings." Pulling away she moved to his back and softly ran her finger over the nine-inch wound lying stitched over his shoulder blade. "A dragon must spread his wings when they are ready to catch the wind. Within this moment, my darling, yours are not. Magic saved your ability to fly. But only time and rest will secure there will be no change in the way you command the clouds."
"Then if I am damned to remain here why don't you make it easier for me." He moved from her and found his way back to the bed roughly throwing the bed linens aside. "You claim to have missed me. You speak of your longing, though you have yet to bless me with your touch. Come here." Making her way over, she took his hand climbing into the bed with him. Kisses began to trail down her neck; his breath warm and alluring. He explored her body softly and teasingly before he came to speak. "You are right, my body is battered and broken. But there was one thing that remained protected."
She moaned softly, her hand moving into his hair. "Is that so, Calira? Are you certain?" He took captured her lips speaking between kisses. "Do not play the fool, my dear. I am more than sure you took notice of my arousal as you bathed me." The tone of his voice had deepened, and with it, the primal nature of his true identity became present. He pressed her down roughly into the bed. His dominance gracefully welcomed. She did not fight him, nor did she move away. Instead, she opened herself to him fully, willing him to remind her why she was there. He slid inside her with ease, this moment had taken over her mind days ago. Despite the pain running ramped through his body, the King was brutal in his sensual assault upon her. His teeth found flesh between them, his hands wrapping around her throat and hair. The feelings of forbidden pleasure set Tonisa aside from her worries of his health. Her nails found themselves stripping his flesh with lacerations of ecstasy. The bed sang as the two rolled around, enveloped in each other. Neither wished to fully submit to the other, their dominant personalities standing true even in the acts of lovemaking. Hours past and at last the two came to climax as one. Their breaths, bodies, and gazes locked as one being. The King and his mistress came to fall onto the bed, chests heaving.
"It has been far too long since we last became one in such a way." The King spoke moving to pull her into his chest. He held her close kissing her sweetly; his arms unwilling to let her go. "Such things must be done in moderation, my love. Too much of a good thing will turn you sour to it." Turning in his claim to her, she came to face him again. The sights of his suffering eye making her sigh in sadness. "Do you honestly wish me to see you healed with magic?" "Part of me, yes, but I realized that in doing so moments like these would be harder to come by. Do what you think best, not only for me but us both."
The witch came to sigh. Importance needed rest in his recovery, not in their time as one. She had been selfish setting aside what she and he both knew had to be done. "Lay back and relax. I shall see your sight restored. But know that it will leave you forever scared." Doing as told, Draconvieh rested backward unsure what was to come. Tonisa gathered a bowl of coagulated blood. From where she had taken it, the King had failed to see. The stench of it curled his expression. "What is that?" He asked his right brow coming to arch. "It is the charmed blood of a Trivochion Redhorn, the very substance that shall see you free of your ailment of decaying sight." He came to scoot backward on the bed. "You are not coming anywhere near me with that cursed liquid. I am a dragon, the blood of a hound belongs between my jaws. She came to sit on the bed; her hand pressing his head into the pillow. "Do you think I would ever bring you harm? Or provide treatment not first experimented on me? Hexonia cursed you with her attack. The frost beneath your flesh will eventually take the sight from your eye completely. Is that what you wish? Is it your want to be a King of worlds, bearing the sight of only one eye?" Calira shook his head. "I suppose not."
"Then heed my words and relax. It is believed that hounds heal by the fires that linger within their bodies. It is also believed that when a grievous wound is located, it is immediately cauterized. For years I wondered how such a phenomenon came to be. And after nearly three years of research, I have found that it is not the wound inflicted but the presence of the being's saliva, or a foreign body that activates their healing. In your case, that would be your sister's magic. It lies swirling under your skin as if a snake of decay. With a bit of your blood, I could restore your sight in mere moments." "See it done," He spoke turning to face her with mixed emotion.
The witch nodded and moved to make three vivid cuts across the King's left eye. The first ran from his forehead down along the side of his nose. The second sat right beside the last from his brow through his eye itself, until ended at last on his cheekbone. The last was the largest and deepest of the three, coming to sit in the same formation as its brothers. From the end of his brow to beneath his cheekbone did it run. It's cut jagged and unperfected as those before it. Calira bellowed in pain as all sight came to flee him. The cut stung as tears came to sweep his eyes. He attempted to move his hand to cover it, but Tonisa held it down. She looked over the pulsing veins buried within his inner arm. Finding one she thought to be viable, she cut it open allowing its forces to drain into a bowl.
"What are you doing?!" Calira hissed unsure if his trust had been misplaced. "I am making the blood of the hound your own. Without your blood it will not work," she said, pouring the thick black hounds blood into that of the Kings. The mixture began to bubble and stir, its onyx hue turning a dark cheery as the dragon became one with the hound. As the contents began to settle and the brewing came to cease, Tonisa dipped in one single fingernail.
"This will burn as you will catch fire. But know the horror shall only last a moment." She leaned over him taking his lips to hers as she ran the potion down the first cut. No pain came to overtake him, nor did his vision return. "Vaiseia vux uncatho." Vision of one, she chanted. She dipped her nail once again and dragged it along the second bleeding incision. "Vaiseia vux duvaio" Vision of two, She came to say under soft breath. With a final swirl of the bowl, she allowed her mixture to slither down the final cut. "Vaiseia vux unticara." Vision of unity, she spoke sternly and with her words came the pain. Flames of orange came to birth violently from the wounds. Each came to dance sealing them before moving further below the skin. The incisions came to shut and seal leaving but a faint scar slightly lighter than the King's flesh. He came to roar, his hands digging into the bed linens. His healer soon came to straddle his lap holding him down.
"Do not fight it! Let it go, let it heal you," she commanded, her hand moving to take hold of his throat. She held him sternly, his body fighting her at every turn. The flames soon began to burn away at the curse of Hexonia. Their potency, so strong, that when the King did come to open his eye, fire burned within his pupil. It was the most gratifying thing Tonisa had ever gazed at. Calira began to calm as the pain began to subside, and his vision returned. It had come back better than before the incident. To him the scar was a small price to pay. He came to sit up blinking with quick repetition. But no matter the flutter of his lids, his vision remained the same. "You have healed me," he stated softly, pushing his Tyliquin from his lap to move before a mirror. Though his flawless features were now long gone, the scar fit him somehow. It defined his face more and made him more attractive than he had been. A sly grin came to cover his lips as he turned to face Tonisa his arms coming to open.
"Come to me, my love. Let me embrace you in gratitude." "No need to." She spoke. She came to stand before him running her hand over his face. "You look well, my dear. Now all I must do is heal the rest of you. Oh, yes. Before it slips my mind, I must tell you something. With such blood magic always comes a price. That blood was collected from a live hound. And thus while he lives, you may from time to time see what he sees in that eye alone." "I understand that is not something I would turn away. The vision of a hound just may save my life one day. Could you do that with everything that ails me? Perhaps repair my wing the way you did my sight?"
Tonisa shook her head. "You need to let no less than a moon pass before such magic is placed upon you again. And by then, your wing will be healed. The potency of a hound's life-force never declines. If you were to expose yourself to it again so soon, it would have an adverse effect. For now simply take pride in having your sight back." She showed him back to the bed and covered him up. "Rest now and allow your body to begin its attack against the blood so recently injected." Kissing him, she moved to tidy the mess they had come to make. Before long, the King was out cold. At last, she too could rest after her duties were done. The Tyliquin began to strip her clothing and climb back into the bed. With a blow to the last candle, she wrapped herself around him and fell into slumber.
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