“I do.” Now Corbin looked a little bit worried. “I’ll see what I can do, and you just stay here.”
“Thanks.” He wanted to tell Corbin he didn’t have to look so scared, that he had eaten plenty of meat before. He was one of those fae who was descended from the Lord of the Hunt. And he ate venison and rabbit. But that might make Corbin even more worried if he’d never encountered someone like Evander. So he would just keep his mouth shut.
He looked down at himself, and he was glad to see he hadn’t wasted away while he wasn’t eating or drinking for a year. The dragon magic in this house was doing wonders, he figured.
He listened with his ears and his mind as Corbin moved around in the house, finding him what he’d asked for. This dragon had seen to his every need for ayear. It boggled his mind.
It also honored him, and he couldn’t stop himself from the urge to smile, as strange as it was.
Corbin had to feel it too, the bond Evander felt. That was why he hadn’t let the fae take him. They wouldn’t have waited for him to wake. They would have just staked him through the heart to make sure there was no hint of taint or infection he could spread to their people and lands.
I would never let anyone do that to you. I would care for you, protect you, forever.
Thank you, Corbin. I would do the same for you.If anyone hurt Corbin, Evander would hunt them to the ends of the human realm or anywhere beyond, provided he could get there.
He hummed, moving his toes and then his feet, making his blood pump in his body. His muscles felt sore, unused, but not… completely useless. He might not be able to spring up and run with the hunt, but he could walk if need be, he thought.
Do I smell?
Pardon me?He could hear Corbin’s confusion.
I’ve been laying here in this bed for a year. I’m surprised I don’t have moss growing on me.
I’ve been cleaning you, Corbin chuckled softly.I promise I wouldn’t let mold grow on you, although I could make moss happen.
Yes, you are a Flower Mound fae through your mother. I imagine you can grow almost anything.
“I can, yes. My brother Cullen is an illusionist, and Cosmo is a seer. But I got my mother’s green…” Corbin held out a hand, thumb up. “Thumb and everything else.”
Corbin was holding a bowl of soup in one hand with a spoon balanced on the edge. He frowned when he glanced at Evander. “Maybe I should get a straw so you don’t have to sit up. It would be hard to feed you with a spoon while lying down.”
“Or you could help me sit up. I think I would just need some pillows behind me.” He tried to push up with his hands, but his arms shook so hard that he really couldn’t do it by himself. But Corbin looked strong. He could lift him. Evander was sure.
“Don’t wear yourself out.” Corbin set the soup aside on the bedside table and came to lift him, pulling him up to sitting easily and then leaning him against Corbin’s shoulder while Corbin rearranged the pillows behind him to prop him up.
He didn’t have the slightest urge to bite Corbin. Well, maybe nibble, but not in a bite-and-bleed manner. Only in a bite and leave a little bruise sort of way.
Those were two very different things.
Corbin chuckled softly, a sound husky. “Now be nice. I can hear you.”
And that was not a complaint, more a hint of joy.
“Yes, I’m not up to that yet, but I’ll work my way to it.” He already loved the look of Corbin with his deep green eyes, his wavy green hair, his softer green skin, his wide shoulders,and his big hands. The hint of dragon scales was something completely new to him as well, and it absolutely made him fascinated.
Corbin smiled as he moved things around and arranged his blanket so that he could put the tray holding the broth over Evander’s lap. “There we go. Now we should be able to get it all in the mouth and not all over you.”
“I approve of that plan. I prefer to be clean.” Although when he was on a hunt, things could get pretty raw. He wasn’t going to mention that to Corbin though. Corbin was of the Flower Mound. He probably wasn’t violent by nature.
Corbin gave him an odd look, one eyebrow winging up, and he felt his cheeks heat a little bit. “What?”
“Plant growth is not a gentle, kind thing. Plants burst through the ground. Plants tear things. Plants twine around things and choke the life out of other plants. Plants can eat animals. I understand you think my mother is a gentle, sweet creature, and so the rest of us must be too, but that’s not the case. And she’s hardly sweet.”
Oh ho!
There was some baggage there, he thought.
He could understand it. fae mothers could be difficult at best. His own, thankfully, was far too consumed with several changelings that she had arranged over the centuries to even notice that he had been gone, no doubt, and time did move differently in the Land of Summer.
