Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,27

there, covered with a sheet, his chest wrapped in thick bandages. His face was so bloodless that for an awful moment, Casey thought she had been right, that he had died. She walked towards the bed silently, only peripherally aware of the others in the room.

“Brady…” she whispered. She took his hand and held it gently. His skin was cool to the touch. Tears filled her eyes, trickling over her cheeks. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry…”

Brady’s eyes fluttered and he blinked, slowly waking. He turned his face towards Casey and smiled weakly. “You’re forgiven…” he murmured.

Casey dropped to her knees beside the bed and hugged Brady as gingerly but as tightly as she could. He winced and chuckled softly.

“Hey, hey...it’s alright.” He stroked her back with his free hand. His right arm was bound in a sling. “I’m okay.”

Casey raised her head, her cheeks wet with tears. “I told you I’d kill you if you got hurt!” She buried her face in the crook of his neck again. “Don’t do that to me!”

Her vision of his death had been so vivid that it took a few minutes for her to fully accept that Brady was alive, if not exactly in one piece. She pulled away from him, wiping at her face with the sleeve of her dress and choked out a laugh. Casey gently brushed Brady’s hair away from his forehead, gazing at him so intensely that she didn’t hear the faint “ahem.”

“I suppose you’re Casey,” a male voice said.

Casey blinked and looked across the bed. Brady’s parents stood there, trying to hide the knowing smiles on their faces. His father was tall, with ginger-blond hair and pale blue eyes. He wore a short, buttoned tunic over roughly sewn pants. The Queen held his hand and nodded her greeting to Casey.

“Oh…” Casey awkwardly struggled to her feet. “Your...Majesties?”

It occurred to her that she had no idea how to act around royalty.

“I am Gareth.” His voice was pleasantly husky. “You’ve already met my wife, Elana.”

Casey nodded. “Yes, I have.” She looked over to Elana and smiled. “Hello again.”

“Elana tells me that you saved my son’s life.”

“Oh, no...I don’t think—”

“She did,” Brady said as he took her hand.

“I didn’t do anything but yell for help,” Casey said, looking from Brady to Gareth to Elana. “Really, that’s it.”

“It was enough,” Elana said quietly. “We thank you.”

Casey opened her mouth to argue again, but quickly closed it and smiled, nodding her head in acceptance. Brady squeezed her hand gently and winked.

“Braydon has told us of your problems,” Gareth said. “We would like to invite you to stay here with us for as long as you need.”

Casey looked over at Brady, who was smiling.

“I…” She stopped fighting for words and simply nodded again. “Thank you.”

“We’ll have a celebration,” Gareth said with a wide smile. “All day and night. Lots of food and music and dancing—”

“Then hadn’t we better start planning it?” Elana asked, taking his arm and leading him out of the room. “Let’s give them some time to...talk.”

“What?” Gareth frowned in confusion for a moment, then seemed to understand what Elana was saying. “Yes, yes, of course.” He looked back to Brady as Elana led him to the door. “Try to keep out of trouble for a while, yes?”

Brady nodded and smiled. “Yes, Father.”

After they left, Casey gingerly sat on the edge of Brady’s bed, still holding his hand. “So, how are you really?”

“Just a little sore.” He glanced down at the bandages on his chest. “This should be healed almost completely by tomorrow morning.”

“What? How…” Casey caught herself and laughed quietly, shaking her head. “Wait, never mind. Magic. Of course, it exists here.”

“Something like that.” Brady shifted his head on his pillow to get a better look at her. “How are you doing?”

“Quietly freaking out,” Casey said and smiled. “But everyone seems very nice. I like your parents.”

“They have their moments.”

Casey made herself look away from him. She stood and walked to the other side of the room. The open-air bed chamber was round, with a high ceiling and visible rafters. A huge window stretched around the circumference, stone pillars rising every fifteen feet or so to support the roof. The view was breathtaking. The countryside outside the castle walls was heavily wooded, the trees so thick that the multicolored rolling hills looked as if they’d been carpeted. She could see the village surrounding the castle within the fortress walls. Thatched roofs on houses made of mud and stone. Fields stretched for miles, ready