White lies of comfort

*Calliope*
After having the Prince awakened, I explain to him what is needed. He does not hesitate one second before sending for a physician who he assures me will arrive within the hour. Obviously, he is accustomed to having his way and of being in charge. I pity any woman who might fall in love with him. He will no doubt prove a challenge as a husband.

But then I suppose all men do, dragons shifters even more so.

I go to see after Zane. His late night feeding has been handled, and he is lost in the world of dreams. Jeanette assists me in changing into my simple black dress.

“Are you certain you should be in a gentleman's bedchamber at night?" Jeanette asks, her foreign accent thick. No one would ever doubt her origins.

“He is fairly incapacitated. He can do me no harm.” I tell her.

She shakes her head lightly. “A man can always do harm."

“I must tend to him." The next few hours will not be pleasant. I dread them. For his sake, as well as mine. I do not want memories stirred.

“Your generous heart will get you in trouble,” Jeanette murmurs.

I sigh softly. “It already has."

When I return to Major Dragan’s room, I discover that he is beneath the covers. Thank goodness. Everything is neatly tucked away and hidden. I am familiar with the naked form, I have bathed men, tended to wounds in the most private of areas but still, I had been unprepared for the sight of him. He had not been aroused, but the promise of what he offered was quite evident. He had fairly taken my breath away.

His brother is giving him the proper scolding that I had wanted to.

“What were you thinking?” The prince demands. “Even I can look at your leg and tell it needs tending."

“I thought … ” Zac shakes his head, his jaw clenched, “l thought I might lose it.”

Draco huffs, “Not facing reality doesn't make it go away.”

“Easy enough for you to say when your reality comes with no troubles." He shifts his gaze to me. “Callie, come sit over here.”

The first time I had heard the shortened version of my name coming from his lips, a shiver of pleasure had rippled through me. I had thought the pleasure would diminish the next time, but it only increased. “Major ?”

“For God's sake, Callie, as I said earlier, you have given birth to my son. Formality between us is hypocritical.” He huffs.

“And politeness? Shall we dispense with it as well?” I ask.

He sighs heavily. “My apologies. I’m not at my best when my leg is consumed by fire.”

“You're an idiot,” The prince mutters. “I cannot believe you let it come to this.”

“And I cannot believe you nag like an old wife. Leave it be." Zac growls.

To stop the squabbling, I take the chair beside the bed and asks, “How much longer do you think before the physician arrives?"

“Not long," The prince says.

“When my brother barks, the people in this area all jump," Zac says.

“And you are grumpy when you’re in pain,” Draco mutters.

Zac glares at him, “If you don’t like it, leave."

Draco crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the post at the foot of the bed. His dark brooding demeanor is a sharp contrast to his brother's, at least as he used to be, it makes him seem more forbidding. “I still think I should alert our mother."

“No, not until this ordeal is over. She'll only worry and there is nothing she can do,” Zac says, his voice tight with pain. I wish there was something I could do to relieve his suffering.

“You simply hate the thought of Leo traipsing in after her,” The prince says.

Zac makes an annoyed face. “That too. He's like a well-trained dog."

“He loves her.” Draco smiles wryly at me. “You might have noticed that during dinner.”

I return his smile. “I did.”

“I like him," Draco says. “Zac doesn’t because Leo provides competition for Mother's attention and Zac has always had the major share of it. He’s our mother’s favorite."

“I don't believe mothers have favorites,” I say.

Draco raises a brow. “Trust me. Ours does.”

With the physician's arrival, all conversation ceases. He is an elderly gentleman, and while his hands seems skillful, I can tell that his examination is causing Zac a great deal of pain, which he is stoically attempting to mask. But his sharp intake of breath and the stiffness of his body reveals the truth of it.

He is in agony.

Sweat beads his brow and he locks his gaze on mine, much as he had during dinner, and I wonder if he finds me to be a distraction from the torment. Against my will, I slide my hand beneath his, and he closes his strong fingers around it. Tiny tremors travel through him.

“At least you're in a comfortable bed,” I say, to divert his attention away from the examination. “And it’s quiet here."

He looks at me as though I am prattling nonsense. Perhaps I am, perhaps I need the diversion as well. “I always thought it a shame that the men could not have private rooms in which to heal. How demoralizing it must have been to see others suffering while you were healing. There was so little we could do sometimes. But things will go much better for you here. You will be cared for.”

If he have any comment to offer, it is locked behind his clenched jaw. Taking a handkerchief from my pocket, I reach up and daps his damp brow.

“Christ!” He suddenly barks.

“Forgive my clumsy fingers, Major,” Dr. Roberts says quickly. “I don't see many battle wounds here in the home country, but I think you might be right, Miss Dawns. I do believe we have something nasty going on there. Our best recourse will be to go in and get it out."

“How could something have been left in his leg?" The prince asks.

“Depending on the severity of the wound, the amount of blood, the conditions of the hospital,” The doctor shrugs, “I wouldn’t think it would be unusual that something is missed. Medicine is not an exact science. But I shall have this matter fixed in no time. And we're in luck, Major.” He opens his satchel. “I have ether.”

“No.” He growls.

The word comes out with such force as to admit no argument. Still I decide to say. “It’ll go much easier on you.”

He shakes his head. “I need to see what he's doing."

He doesn’t. I know he doesn’t. He has to know it as well. It would only add to his torment. He would have to be held down to prevent his natural instincts to fight the surgeon's scalpel. Why is he being so stubborn?

“Please.” I place my hand over his. “I watched too many men suffer when ether was not available. You should accept this small mercy."

“You're all the mercy I need." He mumbles.

Draco scoffs. “You never miss an opportunity for a bit of flirtation, even in a situation such as this.”

My heart that had begun an erratic pattern with Zac’s words settles into calm with Draco’s. Of course, Zac would use any means to get me to do his bidding. Had he not enticed me into looking the other way when he had wanted to sneak out of the Barrack Hospital for a short walk in spite of the physician’s orders that he was not to leave his bed? Had he not given me a devilish wink that had caused me to slip him a flask of spirits? I would have been dismissed if lady S had discovered me with the contraband. He made the simplest of gestures seem more daring.

“She's quite right, Major. I’ll be doing a good bit of digging around in there.” The doctor says.

“Please,” I plead again, determined that I will be the one to prevail.

Clutching my hand, Zac pulls me down, his voice rough and urgent. “Only if you'll ensure that he doesn't cut off my leg. Promise me."

“I don't think it’ll come to that, but the physician will know best.” I say softly.

“I’ll go bloody well mad ifI lose anything else. Promise me.” He begs.

The desperation in his voice tears at my heart. How many promises have I made and not been able to keep? They drive me mad, causing nightmares to visit often when I sleep. But he doesn’t know what he asks of me or he would have not asked.

I am fairly confident of that deduction. We are practically strangers, our time together far too short. So short that he doesn’t seem to remember the night that we spent together. But I have never forgotten what I had seen of the fierceness in him when there was little he could do to prevent harm from being inflicted on another. He is courageous, strong, and unyielding in his convictions. I had witnessed his compassion when he had reassured more than one dying soldier that he would not let his brothers in arms down so the man could leave this world in peace.

He had lied in order to bring comfort. I can do the same. “I promise.”

Leaning forward and kissing his brow seems the most natural thing in the world. Just as protecting his son had been. I can’t explain the yearning in my heart for this man, but it is there, fervent and powerful. It had driven me across the world, then to the dragon capital, and finally to this place at his bedside.

I feel the fevered heat of his skin against my lips, and I pray we are not too late. That his leg can be saved.

That he can be saved.