A Dragon's Heart

16.

TIFFANY.

Biting my nails, I paced the corridor in the servant's quarters, where the rooms were scattered on each side. It was a habit I had tried on numerous occasions to stop but to no avail. So I stopped trying. There were a few of the maids hanging around alongside Samirah, while others were out doing their duties.

It'd been hours since the healers had returned. Hours since one of them and her apprentice had disappeared into the room and sent us all out. Hours since we last heard anything. At the beginning, the maid still screamed, followed by loud growls and whispers in different tongues that made no sense. Later, though, everything quieted down and we hadn’t heard a sound from the room again. A few times, the apprentice rushed out to fetch some water. Another time, she asked for some olive oil. That was the last we’d heard from them. What began at noon was now stretching into late afternoon, and I didn’t like that. I didn’t like not knowing what was going on in there.

I wanted to go in, but the healers had specifically asked that we wait outside, and I didn’t want to interfere with their treatment. I just hoped she'd be alright.

I looked down at my wrist, the bruise on it turning a deep shade of purple, and a part of it had turned black. Do bruises turn black? Or was it just mine? Also, wasn’t it supposed to heal already?

“Sayyada, you need to let the healer check the bruises on…”

“I won’t be leaving until I hear something from that room, Samirah. Stop pestering me.”

“The healer can take a look at it right here if you insist. Please, Sayyada,” Samirah pleaded. She had been going at it for a while now, but somehow, I didn’t feel like getting a simple bruise checked when I had no idea what was going on with the woman in there.

“It's just a bruise,” I murmured, staring down at my wrist again. “Nothing serious to get your hackles up, Samirah. My wolf should’ve already healed it.”

“Sayyada…”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine! Have her take a look!”

“Of course,” she answered with a smile and dashed out. My eyes caught the guard, my supposed personal guard, Zayyad. He had this mysterious air about him, and the mask was doing nothing to help. He hadn’t uttered a single word since he got here.

‘You good?’

‘Yes, Jay. I am fine.’

‘Gotta say though, that maid is hella strong! Even I felt the grip.’

‘You did? But yeah, she sure is strong. I’ll give her that. Also, why aren’t you healing it?’

‘I tried, but I kept feeling like something was attacking me every time I tried to. Like a blockage, which I know doesn’t make any sense, believe me. But that was how it felt. It also felt weird, though. Like a zing passing through when she touched you. Also, whatever does she mean by ‘You are finally here?’

‘What do you mean a block? That makes no sense. Also, beats me if I have any idea what she meant by that. I guess it was her lucidity talking. She didn’t sound or look sane.’

‘Hmmn. Could be. But why do I have a feeling it is something more? I mean, all that screaming? The raw power I felt when she touched you? The disjointed voices and languages? Let’s not forget the blockage I felt. Girl, this isn’t just a simple case. And I can’t help but think I’ve heard of something similar…’

She trailed off, as though trying to think. Now that she mentioned it, all of this sounded or looked a bit familiar. But how?

Before I could say anything more, Samirah walked into the corridor with an elderly woman behind her, wearing a black abaya. I said nothing as she greeted me and took my bruised hand in hers.

I watched as she stared at it for a moment, her brows furrowed. She turned and twisted my hand around, then after a moment, she released a deep sigh.

“I am not sure if the difference in our species is the reason for this, but this bruise looks weird. Almost like a marking instead of just a bruise,” the healer murmured.

“Huh?”

“It could also simply be because we aren’t the same and yours will heal in no time,” she smiled. “I will apply some healing salve on it to help and we wait for a few days to see.”

“Of course,” I nodded, pressing my back more into the wall. The place with the bruise has suddenly turned cold. But I said nothing as the healer rummaged through the small basket she carried, picked up a small container and applied its contents on my wrist.

The coolness instantly vanished, replaced by a heat so intense I thought my hand was going to fall off.

“Ouch!” I cried, holding my wrist as both Samirah and Zayyad rushed towards me at the same time Jay howled painfully.

“Are you okay, Sayyada? What is it?”

“Wipe it off,” I hissed at the healer. “Wipe whatever that was off. Right now!”

“But…”

“Do it!” I yelled as the burning pain doubled over.

Before she could move, Zayyad snatched a cloth from the basket and wiped it off, all while careful not to make direct contact with my skin.

And right before us, the bruise had turned into a burn mark. It felt like someone placed a hot coal on my wrist and pressed it in.

“What was that?” I asked the healer. “What did you put on me?”

“Nothing, just a salve made from neem and moringa oil.” The healer answered, her hands clasped together.

“Was it supposed to hurt? To feel like I was being burnt?”

“Of course not, Sayyada. It was supposed to help…”

Her words trailed off as someone pulled open the door behind us, and a sweaty healer with her apprentice stepped out. Behind them stood the sick maid, wide-eyed and curious.

“What happened? Is she okay?”

“Na….na’am, Sayyada. She is fine.”

My eyes drifted from the healer to the girl behind her, who was looking at us with a weird expression on her face.

“What is your name? And how are you feeling?”

“My name is Maryam, Sayyada. I also feel okay.”

I nodded. “What happened to you, Maryam?”

“I…I…” her brows furrowed, her blue eyes widening as she scratched her head. She had changed into another gown, since the one she had on before was torn in different places when we tried to hold her down. “I don’t know,” she finally answered.

“You don’t know? How? You don’t remember what happened to you? Were you hurt anywhere? Headache? Stomachache? Anything?”

She shook her head. “Nothing, Sayyada. I don’t remember anything, and I feel perfectly fine right now.”

Okay. That is insane!

“She was out of it for a few hours after thrashing around,” the healer said. “And when she woke up, she said she was perfectly okay, and doesn’t remember anything from last night until this morning.”

Okayyy…

“What did you find?” I asked.

“Nothing,” both the healer and her apprentice answered. “I don’t know what diagnosis to give to this. We'll have to wait for Sayyadi to return.”

Right. Bilal would know what to do. He would have the answers.

Bilal…

The air shifted just like that, and I knew, without anyone saying anything, that Bilal was here. I spun around, his scent hitting me head-on as he strode into the corridor. His gaze pinned on me alone as everyone bowed their heads in response.

A squeak left my lips as he pulled me into his chest in a fierce hug. His warmth and scent instantly enveloped me, causing my stiff muscles to relax as Jay purred.

“I was so scared,” he whispered into my ears, one hand resting on the curve of my butt while the other sank into my waves of hair. “I thought something had happened.” He pulled away from the hug, his hand still in my hair and scanned my face.”Are you okay?”

I smiled, happy that he was back. “I am,” was my simple response.

Sameer huffed and growled behind Bilal, and I caught a glance of him by the entrance, sniffing the air.

Then he growled again, this time louder, and Bilal’s hands began to roam all over my body, scanning for who knows what. Then he clasped my wrist, which was now bruised and looked like I had been burned, causing me to wince. I watched as his face tensed when he finally saw it, and then he snapped.

“Ayreh feek! What happened to you? Who did this?” His voice was a quiet whisper, rage dripping in it.

But I didn’t answer, knowing that his rage wasn’t best at the moment.

“Nurayn?” He called my name, but I could feel him shaking, and I was sure he was on the verge of exploding, which meant that it wasn't safe for me to mention the maid and what had happened.

So I tried to smile. I tried to pull my hand away, but he wasn't letting go. Instead, he kept looking at me, light smoke emitting from his body as Sameer’s growls grew louder and louder.

Shit!

When I didn't answer right away, he took a deep breath to seemingly calm himself down and asked again, only this time the question wasn’t directed towards me. Still with his arm around my waist, he turned his body towards my guard and pulled my wrist forward, presenting it to him and with an all too-calm, all too-calculated tone and asked, “What happened? Who did this?”

Everyone and everything in the space was still. No one moved, and it seemed as though everyone had even stopped breathing.

Zayyad cleared his throat, and though he was wearing the mask, I was pretty sure I saw sweat droplets falling. But a better man than me, he never broke eye contact with Bilal and I didn’t know if that was wise or not.

What was probably only seconds felt like hours passing before anyone said anything and that only seemed to infuriate Bilal more because the next thing we heard was another loud huff and growl from Sameer and Bilal’s voice thundering “WHAT HAPPENED?”

And in all of my wifely womanly wisdom, I did the only thing I could think of at that moment. I just wanted him to calm down. Nothing anyone would have said, myself included, would have calmed him down. It would have only made him more upset because no one, none of us had answers or even knew what really happened or what it meant.

So, I shifted just enough to bring his attention back to me and I pulled down his face and kissed him.

Fiercely.