Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
But she had showed me how to cut up old cloths to use as sanitary napkins and brewed me willow-bark tea for the pain. It helped but only a little—my cramps had always been grinding, crushing pains that stabbed through my lower abdomen, making me feel like I was dying—at least during the first day of my period. They eased up a little after that, but my flow was often heavy and difficult to deal with.
I had been so glad when my period stopped coming…and now it was back and I had no idea how to handle it. The grinding pain that felt like someone was scraping out my insides with a dull shovel were beginning and I was bleeding, and I had no way to deal with either problem.
And that was when L’eesha decided to check in on me.
Because we were bonded, my dragon and I were mentally linked—so much so that she could see through my eyes on occasion and I could see through hers. Now I felt her in my head just as I was staring down at the bloody horror that were my ruined underpants.
At once, she began to panic.
“my Auri, why are you bleeding?” she demanded, sounding scared. “and what is this pain, i feel you having? oh, it hurts…it hurts!”
“No, no, L’eesha—I’m fine, really,” I sent her quickly, trying to block off my pain and keep it from her.
But the mental and emotional channel between us was wide open and there was no stopping my little golden dragon.
“HELP! HELP!” I heard her broadcasting. “MY AURI IS BLEEDING TO DEATH!”
I begged and cajoled and wheedled as I stripped off my stained underpants and buried them in the trash can before hobbling back to bed.
“L’eesha, I’m fine—I’m fine. Stop it—stop it!” I begged, but nothing I could say or do would make her stop. She just kept broadcasting and calling for help. No doubt she was causing chaos in the nursery, but I was too sick to go comfort her—which she picked up on, of course, and that made her even more agitated.
I was just deciding that I would have to get out of bed and find a way to go to her—even if it meant wadding my one spare uniform shirt between my legs and hoping nobody noticed—when Ryse burst into the room, his eyes wide with fear.
“Auri, what’s wrong?” he demanded, coming to me at once. “M’alex says you’re bleeding and dying!”
“I’m not—he’s wrong!” I protested and then groaned involuntarily when an especially strong cramp hit.
Unfortunately, this only seemed to reinforce the idea that I was dying.
“You’re wounded!” Ryse exclaimed, his nostrils flaring. “I can smell blood in the air—where are you hurt?”
Damn his dragon-blood enhanced senses!
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth, pulling the covers up to my chin. “This is all just a big…big misunderstanding.”
He frowned.
“You’re hiding something. What is it?”
I tried to think up a believable lie, but it was hard to concentrate with L’eesha blaring in my head over and over about how I was dying.
“I’m not dying,” I told Ryse and L’eesha both. “I just cut myself and bled a little bit—that’s all. Please—ask M’alex to try and calm her down,” I added.
He frowned but concentrated for a moment and I knew he was telling his dragon to tell my dragon that I was all right.
But L’eesha wasn’t having it.
“MY AURI IS IN PAIN AND DYING!” She insisted. “THIS IS HOW SHE FEELS!”
Just then, my lower abdomen seized with another painful cramp. At that moment, Ryse doubled over, his eyes wide with surprise and pain.
“God and Goddess—what is that?” he groaned, clutching at his flat abdomen. “Feels like someone stabbing me in the gut!”
I stared at him in confusion—what was going on?
He looked up at me, his eyes wide.
“Is this…what you’re feeling?” He gasped. “M’alex says…L’eesha is showing us your pain.”
I stared at him in confusion—this should have been impossible! Outside of a Mating Flight, no dragon could send emotions to anyone but their rider. And I had never heard of any dragon that could send physical sensations to anyone at all.
But somehow, L’eesha had found a way.
“It…it’s nothing,” I said, trying to wave it away.
“L’eesha, I don’t know how you’re doing that, but stop it!” I sent her mentally.
“NOT UNTIL RYSE HELPS YOU! I AM TRYING TO COME TO YOU BUT THEY WON”T LET ME!” she shouted in my head. “SO RYSE MUST HELP YOU!”
“He’s helping and I’m fine!” I protested…but then I had another cramp…which my golden dragon promptly conveyed to Ryse and M’alex.
I heard a pained bellowing outside, which much be the huge Midnight Gold-wing and Ryse groaned and doubled over again as both he and his dragon dealt with my cramps.
“L’eesha,” I sent. “He can’t help me if you keep making him feel my pain! Please stop! Don’t give my pain to M’alex or Ryse—if you do, they can’t help!”