The pain ebbed briefly, allowing me to see Steven's concerned face. "What's wrong, darling?"
Gritting my teeth against a new lance of pain, I sagged in his arms. "I don't know," I choked out during another lull. Sweat beaded my forehead, and my heart raced.
Steven's fingers probed my shoulder, wringing a cry from me. "Did that lizard poison you?" He laid me on the bed as I continued to groan, blood oozing again from Rhaelgyr's bite.
"I don't know. Maybe. I doubt it." My fists clenched of their own accord, and I bit back a cry.
The dragon wouldn't have hurt me. He'd been trying to protect me. But I might be having an allergic reaction. Who knew how dragons and Setians reacted?
And why didn't dragons capitalize their name?"
My mind was slipping, wandering away from the pain. Steven was talking to me, but I didn't hear it. I tried to wake up, tried to not be taken under, but my efforts were in vain.
~Morgan the Gray. How do you do?~
The pain fled, and I gasped at the touch of Kurlog's mind. Hanging in Steven's arms, I could still hear him, but I was in a different place. I didn't care about him, and had no reason to go back to him.
But I didn't want to go to Kurlog either. ~What do you want?~
~To see if you'd found your boyfriend yet.~ His mental voice was echoey, like he was far away. Perhaps still in his Between kingdom.
~None of your business.~
~Oh, you're feisty. Why won't you talk to me now?~
Steven was shaking me, calling my name as he exposed my shoulder. His hands were like ice, but they felt good. ~I'm a little busy. Check back later.~
~I want to talk to you now.~ Kurlog sounded closer now, and I stiffened.
~Where are you?~ I whispered, sitting up, bringing my mind back to the present. Steven touched me, asking if I was all right, but I was still ignoring him.
"Where you least expect," the red-headed Chaos Lord said. He chuckled heartily from the other room, his mirth reverberating through the cottage.
Steven lunged off the bed, racing for the doorway. "Interloper! Why are you here?" His voice had changed, grown deeper. One more changeable part of his aspect.
Kurlog laughed again, coming closer to the door. Surely he was stooping beneath the plaster ceiling. "I've come for your girl."
I stiffened, staring through the wall at the giant warrior's voice. I'd hoped he'd forgotten me, that I'd been just a fling to him. Who would have expected he'd hunt me down to fight an old lover for me?
"You can't have her," Steven declared, crossing arms over his chest. Kurlog's shadow fell upon him, and I wondered if there's be an actual altercation.
Again, Kurlog's deep laugh. "I already had her."
Steven trembled. Though he kept his glare directed at teh warrior, I knew he was mad at me. "That doesn't give you claim over her."
"Are you sure?"
My shoulder throbbed again, and I wanted to vomit. I touched the wound, and frowned when there was no bite mark. I glanced down to find smooth skin, the faintest of blood stains along my collarbone.
"You. Can't. Have. Her." Steven's clipped tone bordered on a bark. His fists were clenched, though he kept his arms crossed.
Kurlog snorted. "What kind of man let's his woman wander around with a parasite in her soul?"
Steven finally turned to me, eyes wide. I stared back, shoulder pulsing with foreign life.
