Bellflower finished dressing the wound and prodded Taliesin’s good shoulder before holding out a loose tunic for him to take. Taliesin accepted it, and wincing as he did so, shrugged it on. After making a quick gesture with her chin, the fairy headed back to the house without looking back. “Seems like Bells wants us to follow her.”
Rhiannon looked Taliesin over. “Can you walk?”
“Should be able to. I didn’t lose that much blood.”
Could have fooled me. He’d been deathly pale when she’d found Bellflower giving him first aid. Rhiannon offered a hand. “Here, let me help you up.” He accepted without complaint and leaned heavily on her shoulder the whole way.
Inside, Copper met them and butted his head against Rhiannon’s, then Taliesin’s cheek, nearly sending the bard toppling to the floor. The creature let out a squawk of surprise and concern, but Taliesin waved him off.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just a little tired.” The pixie dragon made a sound that even Rhiannon recognized as disbelief. “Really, I’m fine. I just need to eat a little bit and I’ll be right as rain.”
Bellflower seemed to be in agreement because the “little bit” she’d already dished onto his plate was a mountain of eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes, which she made sure he ate by watching him like a hawk the whole time. He did look a little better afterward—if only because some of the color had returned to his cheeks.
Even so, Rhiannon couldn’t shake the guilt. This had all been her fault. Brodrick had come because she’d been here. If only she had remained at the castle...
Though maybe he would have found Taliesin anyway, whenever Brodrick desired to slay a monster.
At length, she said, “I should go.”
Taliesin set his fork down. “Go?” he repeated dumbly. “Go where?”
“You got hurt because of me. Maybe if I go home, I can convince my father to call off the bounty he has on your head. He probably doesn’t know that you aren’t...” She trailed off, realizing what everyone likely would think of a dragon who held a princess ‘hostage.’
“A monster?” Taliesin supplied.
“You aren’t.”
“But people don’t know that,” he said. “As far as anyone is concerned, dragons and wyverns are one and the same. One’s just bigger and can mimic human speech and shape better.”
“If you come with me—”
“I don’t see this going much better if I meet them in person,” Taliesin sighed. “I’m a bard, a warlock, and part dragon. Royalty tends to frown upon all of those individually. Together, I’m an amalgamation of the worst possible traits for a son-in-law.”
She tangled her shaking hands into her skirt. “They would understand.”
His expression softened. “What is there to understand? A witch wanted a wife for her hell spawn, and you happened to be—”
“Don’t talk about yourself like that!” Rhiannon shouted, catching both herself and Taliesin off guard. She couldn’t meet his gaze. “You aren’t... You’re you, Taliesin. You’re the kindest person I know. If anyone is hell spawn, it’s Sir Brodrick.” She’d never had a nightmare about Taliesin, nor one caused by him. The same could not be said of the knight her father had chosen as a replacement husband.
“Rhiannon...” Cautiously, Taliesin stroked her cheek. “Might I ask...are you here to avoid Brodrick or...?”
She couldn’t look up. She refused to look up. “I came here to escape my marriage to Brodrick,” she admitted, “and to keep that promise, but...”
His heart beat too fast, too loud, and threatened the stitches under his tunic. There was no way she didn’t know. She had to feel it through the palm resting against her cheek—the palm she leaned into ever so slightly. “But?” he prompted.
“I don’t know if...” Frustrated, she clenched the fabric of her skirt all the tighter. “I think maybe I came because I wanted to run away, but I don’t want to leave. I want to stay with you. And it doesn’t have to be here. If you want to travel, I’ll come with you. If that’s...okay with you.”
Why did he lean in? Why did he brush his lips against hers? His body moved on its own. His hand slipped through her hair of its own volition. When she tentatively returned the affection, he truly lost all control. He devoured her lips like a starving man. She let out a startled gasp but didn’t pull away. A small part of his brain acknowledged that she’d frozen, either in fright or shock, and the part that recognized it forced him to pull away.
Their faces were matching shades of crimson, though Taliesin’s faded much more quickly when he realized his shirt was sticky. Somehow, he’d aggravated the wound Bellflower had worked so hard to stanch.
“Taliesin!” Rhiannon cried, the color draining just as quickly from her cheeks. Her chair tumbled back with a clatter. “Bellflower!” she shouted behind her. “Bellflower! Please! Come quick!”
The silkie burst into the room. Expression devoid of emotion, she spotted the red oozing into her employer’s shirt, the flustered, disheveled appearance of their guest, and shook her head. Bellflower shooed Rhiannon away, and once she’d evacuated the room, she smacked Taliesin upside the head.
“I don’t know what happened,” he protested halfheartedly. He could still feel the judgment radiating off her as she roughly yanked up the front of his tunic to see the damage done to her flawless bandaging job. “I really don’t.”
Bellflower shook her head. The look she gave him said, leaving no room for uncertainty, Just admit you like her already.
He groaned in exasperation. This needed to end before he went absolutely insane. “Bells, could you contact my mother?”
He needed her to explain herself. Just what had possessed her to arrange his engagement to Rhiannon in the first place?