A smile slipped across his lips, though he didn’t open his eye. “I told you we could share a bed.”
A heavy blush warmed my cheeks. “You didn’t tell me we’d have to be injured to do it.”
Marc’s eye opened and looked me over. His good humor faltered. “I’m sorry. I should have done better on the landing.”
I snorted. “You got us off Jaeger’s boat and all the way to the Tempest. That’s a win in my book.”
“I suppose you two want to talk alone for a while,” Ramaro mused as he hopped off the chair and sauntered toward the open rear window. He climbed onto the sill, but paused and looked over his shoulder. “Don’t do too much. Neither of you is in any shape to do your usual stupid human things.” And with that warning, he scuttled out of sight up the rear wall.
Marc closed his eyes and shifted before he winced. “I think he may be right for once.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
He sank deeper into the bed and sighed. “Like I had my body stretched and snapped back.”
I winced. “Is that what it feels like?”
“It does now,” he admitted as he returned his focus to me. His eye dropped to the bandages around my chest. “That looks bad.”
I wrapped an arm around me and shook my head. “I don’t feel much.”
He chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar.”
A frown creased my lips. “And what about you? When were you going to tell me you could turn into a dragon?”
“It’s not a willing choice,” he countered as he shifted beneath the sheets. “That fool Jaeger brought it out by pulling off my patch.”
I studied the thin cloth over his eye. “What is that under there?”
“A gift and a curse,” he mused as he reached up and cupped his covered eye in one hand. “It gets the Tempest where she needs to go, and faster than any machine.”
“And you always turn into a dragon when it comes off?” I guessed.
“If I have enough strength,” he admitted as he adjusted the cloth. “That’s why I don’t take it off.”
I squinted at the patch. “Is it a little loose?”
“More than that,” he warned me as he dropped his hand to his side. “It could pop out any moment.”
What little color I had in my cheeks was drained by his warning. “Why can’t you just put it back on?”
He rolled his head from side to side. “It’s not that easy. This patch doesn’t look like much, but it has a lot of magic built into it. Magic that needs a special touch to stick it to my face and keep all that dragon power back. That’s why we’re headed for the capital.”
My eyes widened. “The capital? You have to head there to get it fixed?”
“The only person who can fix this patch lives there,” Marc revealed as he looked past me and at the door. He raised his voice. “But you guys already know about that, so why are you listening at the door?”
The door opened, and most of the sailors sheepishly shuffled inside. Fidel and Cook stood at the head, and Cook had one hand hidden by his back.
“Well?” Marc questioned them as he looked over his men. “What’s wanted?”
“We wanted to give the miss something,” Cook answered as he stepped forward and drew out his hidden hand. He opened his large fist and revealed a colorful handkerchief. “To show she belongs here.”
My eyes widened, and my jaw hit the floor. “That. . .that’s for me?”
He grinned. “We didn’t go to all the trouble to scrounge up a clean one for just anybody.”
He handed me the soft, silky-smooth piece of cloth. I held it across both my open palms, and tears sprang to my eyes. “But why?”
