On Thin Ice (Prequel to Guild)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Phoenix Soaring

              Half-washed and half-dressed, Yuina wasn't expecting visitors. And she certainly wasn't expecting her soon-to-be husband to come stumbling into her room, gritting his teeth and moaning at the pain inflicted by the cruel, black dragon stretching from his shoulder to his calf.

The Kimsura Serpent. The Dragon. The Ryuu in all its glory.

And Dai in all of his.

Or... mostly.

While her servants stumbled over their words, Yuina grinned. She moved towards the bed- only to have Raia's favourite pet catch her wrist.

"My apologies, Your Excellency. But Princess Yuina is in no condition to accept visitors." Mistress Naoki indicated the princess's dripping hair, the puddle growing beneath her feet.

"Not visiting," Dai gritted, face buried in her mattress. "Just resting."

"Wh...Why, My Lord, I'm afraid you can't-"

"Are you giving me orders?"

"No, sir." Naoki hung her head and stepped away, clearing Yuina's path to the bed.

"Where's your shirt?" she asked the back of her almost-husband's head.

"There isn't one."

"I'm sorry?" she choked, looking from Dai to Naoki to the dressers shielding their eyes in the corner and finally to the piles of fabric waiting for her on the stand. "I have fifteen layers waiting for me over there and you don't even have a shirt?"

"No."

"For the whole ceremony?"

Dai angled to look at her, narrowing his eyes. "I have to prove to the people of Hikarishi that I have it."

"Oh?" She poked the raw flesh of her promised's tattoo, withdrawing her hand when he jumped. "Then shouldn't you show them all of it?"

He rolled around fully this time, scowling as her maids gasped at her nerve.

She winked.

Dai groaned and buried his face in her pillows again.

"We both know it goes past your waist."

"I just had to endure hours of pain, and you feel the need to-"

"Your Excellency."

They turned, stopped- glanced over at twelve horrified maids and one who regarded Yuina with exasperation lining her soft features.

Nuân stepped forward. "May we fetch you something to soothe the irritated skin, Your Excellency? A salve, or some-"

"That won't be necessary."

A strangled noise from Dai.

It surprised her servants so much that they didn't protest when Yuina crossed to the vanity and claimed a cloth and jug from Yawen.

"You mustn't deny a northern bride the chance to wait upon her husband," she scoffed, crossing to the bedside. She prepared to press the cool cloth to Dai's skin but stopped and let it hover when he spoke.

"Actually, I won't be your husband for another six hours."

"That so?" She wrung it out on his neck instead- laughed when he startled and shivered, letting his expression harden to one of flat displeasure.

"You came over here just to do that, didn't you."

"Perhaps."

He pulled himself up and sat on the edge of her mattress, hands on knees until he wrapped one around her waist. He pulled her close. "In that case, I guess I'll just have to-"