She shrugs and examines her hand, which is still bleeding lightly. "It's in the past. I forgive you. But I'd like to know the other reason you want dragon scales."
The sight of her injury turns my stomach, despite how my mouth waters again at the sight of her blood. It's such a paradox.
"I'll get bandages," I say hoarsely.
But when I try to move, Maven again stops me and seems almost…nervous. I realize why when she softly chants in necromancy. Just like when we were searching for the changeling, the air chills and my own magic tingles with wariness in my veins at my proximity to such a twisted, dark craft.
I watch in fascination as Maven's skin starts to heal and the bruises fade. But her fingertips blacken, and her skin becomes paler than its usual olive-toned hue.
When she's done, she looks at me. "Well?"
"Forbidden though it may be, I find your necromancy beautiful."
Her lips twitch. "Thanks. But I meant, what's the other reason?"
Ah. I grimace. "Don't tell Baelfire. Or the others. They'll think I secretly have a bleeding heart."
Again, she waits, and finally, I huff and sit up to magically clean up the mess I left on the floor earlier. As my magic works, I mutter, "The last family of dragons are infertile. In another generation or two, they'll go extinct. I'm developing a potion to reverse their troubles, but it requires golden dragon scales."
Maven stares at me before sitting up and tilting her head. "You're…trying to help Baelfire's family procreate?"
I wrinkle my nose. "Phrasing it that way makes it sound obscene. But yes, basically."
"But why wouldn't you tell Baelfire?"
"The Decimus family is extremely proud. They get unbelievably testy about the fact that none of his siblings has had children if it's brought up. Baelfire would probably rather eat shit than ever ask for help, let alone from me. If I told him I wanted scales for that, he would think I was freakishly invested in his pedigree, which I'm not." I shrug. "Also, I was going to sell the fertility potion to his family at a ridiculously high price."
"Because why be altruistic when you can be rich instead?"
"Precisely."
She snorts and shakes her head. "You idiots are all so determined to pretend you hate each other."
I lean forward to kiss her. "We're your idiots."
She smiles back at me, which twists my heart into delighted little knots, but then her expression shifts quickly to something heartbreaking.
"You deserve to have your curse broken. I want to find a way to help, but…" She clears her throat and looks away, seeming pained. "It's not too late for you to find a different keeper?—"
"Not this again," I sigh. "The answer is no, Maven. Absolutely fucking not."
"But if someone else who has an actual fucking heart can keep you from going insane?—"
I kiss her again, forcibly this time to keep her words from coming out. Pulling away, I shake my head. "My curse isn't your burden. If it goes unbroken, then that's my fate. I still wantyou,ima sangfluir. The descent into madness will be much sweeter with you at my side."
Maven looks as if she's about to argue more, but we both hear the sound of a door closing somewhere else in the apartment. Her face lights up, and even though I can't stand the rest of our quintet half the time, I swear on the gods, I could hug all three of those bastards for getting that pained expression off our keeper's face.
Before she can try to leave her bedroom, I quickly stand and hold up a hand to stop her. "Let me check on them first,sangfluir."
She goes very still. "You think they're injured."
"Possibly."
"And you don't want me to see it, snap, and slaughter everyone I pass on my way to the Immortal Quintet."
"Again…possibly." The whole truth is, I don't want to see her more upset than I've already seen her tonight.
Maven grumbles but agrees. As she waits in her bedroom, I slip out and find Crypt and Everett in the TV room. Everett's perfectly fine, of fucking course, but Crypt's face is slowly healing from several bruises. I watch as he rebreaks a bone in one of his fingers so it will heal correctly.
