Page 31 of Hexes & Heartstrings (Shifters of Bastion Keep #2)
The room itself was shaped like a chevron, one side for equipment, the other side for the procedure.
One-way glass peered into a central garden, with a massive, flourishing tree whose leafy-branches extended as much as a hundred feet into the sky, beyond Sergiy's sight.
The rest of the room, unlike the more sterile ones he was used to, was more homely with wooden accents.
His waiting physician stepped forward, kneeling down with one foreleg.
" Ver si tava , Lord Usenko," the centaur said in modern elvish. He had Mediterranean features, olive skin on his human half that blended well with his walnut brown coat, and wild hair that refused to be contained, no matter how tight the multiple braids.
"Rise," Sergiy said. "And it's good to see you again, too, Sage Landon."
Landon patted the medical table, and Sergiy stepped first up on the stepstool, and then took a seat.
"Phantom pains, hmm? Sorry to hear about that, but we'll see if we can't fix the problem."
Landon went over the different tests that had been taken during the week, then examined Sergiy's back for himself, running giant-sized fingers across his own tattooed handiwork.
"Have there been any major life changes recently?" he asked.
Similar questions had been asked before, and Sergiy knew what he was getting at. "I found me a promised mate about four months back, began concurrently dating Russ again, and my home and sanctuary were invaded. It's peaceful now, but…"
" Several major changes, I see. And is this the same Russ whose breakup sent you to me with the worst post-surgical pain in your record?"
Sergiy groaned, flushing. "You have a good memory."
"You might as well tell an orc he has two tusks, or a dwarf that they have six heart chambers," the centaur joked.
Quietly, Sergiy asked the question that had been burdening him the last week.
"Did this happen because I started dating again? The worries and stress?"
"Unlikely," Landon said. "Based upon your provided history, I think it's almost certainly the appearance of this other drake.
Between your shifter instincts and your warrior's mindset, you might naturally and instinctively feel that you need to 'grow' to meet his challenge.
That kind of growth can put stress on your nervous system, especially at the interfaces between yout flesh and each prosthetic device. It's not unheard of."
"That does make me feel better."
"Of course," the centaur continued airily, kneading Sergiy's back. "If a certain stubborn young lord of Bastion Keep wouldn't keep skipping his maintenance checks, maybe this wouldn't happen."
"Ah… I've been busy?"
"All the more reason to come in for touch-ups." Landon undid the rest of the toga clasps, letting it fall to the side. "Shift into your weredrake form and lie belly down, let's get the procedure underway."
Sergiy did his best to relax on the medical bench as Landon and the attending nurse finished the final preparations, confirming signed paperwork and that the tattoo gun and other instruments were properly sterilized and at hand, including the all-important living ink that would mesh between nerve endings and the spellform of the tattoo prosthetics.
He was in for several hours of a delicate and unpleasant process.
The runes on his back that crafted the wings needed the occasional touch-up, just like how a physical prosthetic device might need repair from being scratched, scuffed, or damaged, and it needed to be done without analgesics so that the ink could more rapidly bind to the nerves.
He'd even had to leave Bruin's bag of stones at the hotel, just in case there was a glimmer of power in them.
Landon set his hand reassuringly on the back of his head, and Sergiy focused his thoughts on maintaining discipline, keeping himself still through the too-familiar pain.
◆◆◆
"I'm glad that it went well!" Bruin said from across the screen. "So your prostheses are all fixed, now? No more pain?"
Fidgeting uncomfortably, Sergiy laid on his hotel bed on his weredrake belly. He had his phone in front of him, and both Bruin and Russ were laying on the witch's bed, using a laptop to share the video.
"No more pain," he agreed, "At least, not once the sting of a pair of touched up tattoos passes. I still have work to do with the wings, though."
"Physical therapy, you'd said."
"Yes. You can think about it like breaking in a new pair of shoes, going through different exercises to make sure that the spell binds itself properly to my nervous system."
He saw Bruin scrunch his face up into a pout. "So a few more days of you being gone, then."
"Just a few more, I think I'll be back Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe."
"I miss you, by the way. Russell does, too. Right? We both miss Sergiy?"
Sergiy saw Russ reach a hand out, and he wasn't completely sure but it looked like he was patting the top of the laptop as he nodded.
"So that's my end of things," he said. "What about the keep? How's everything there?"
"Well, there haven't been any incursions," Bruin said. "But you'd probably be told if there were. And the food's still good."
Sergiy growled. "Mate of mine. You're not telling me something. And Russ is avoiding eye contact."
"I'm getting to it!" Bruin crossed his arms, then for some reason reached a hand out to rub against Russ's arm. "It's just, ugh. Lady Yi is a real pain, all the time."
"I know she can be abrasive at times…" He saw Bruin open his mouth to interrupt, but then he shook his head to himself and stayed silent.
"But she's an experienced fighter and doesn't hesitate to make hard decisions.
I need someone like that to protect the keep.
Did she do something that I need to talk with her about? "
Bruin sighed, and Sergiy saw Russ wrap an arm around him, bringing him more into his lap.
"I guess she's just kind of ruffling everyone's fur, being demanding and forceful. But if your siblings haven't seen anything worth mentioning, then nah, like you said, she just has a really abrasive personality, and that's kind of a pet peeve of mine."
"You do like everyone to get along," Sergiy said. "Is that a Bruin thing, a witch thing, or maybe something your family taught you?"
"It should be an everyone thing," Bruin said, and some of his usual cheer was returning. "Why shouldn't everyone want to get along? To work together nicely? I know compassion is hard, sometimes, but we're all better off for it."
"If that's your idea of greatness, my wonderful mate, I can see why you and Russ get along so well. He's probably the epitome of compassion out of the entire keep."
"Yeah, he is." Bruin spun around in Russ's arms, burrowing his face into his side so he could give him a hug.
Sergiy's tail swung back and forth lazily as he gave them a moment, wishing he were there to share in the hug. "Doesn't explain why you're with me, though. Didn't you once call me a terrible grumpy-pants?"
Bruin grunted a few laughs. "More than once! And you make it sound like you aren't, anymore."
"Oh, har har."
"Well, you're not, at least not as much as you used to be, as long as Russell and I are giving you enough attention.
But don't put yourself down! You're actually pretty darn wonderful.
The first thing about compassion is that you have to notice someone else is hurting, or you can't do nothing about it.
You, though, pay attention to your pack, you pay attention to the staff—which is more than a certain nameless noble can say—and you even offer compassion to the shadows you fight. "
"Bruin…"
"No, seriously! I've spoken with Markos and Yacob a bunch, they say you always offer clemency when you can. You're a pretty great warlord, compared to what I've read in most history books."
Sergiy nearly jumped when a sudden thump sounded from behind him, only to realize that it was from his own tail striking the headboard. He hoped his mates hadn't noticed, but their grinning faces—well, Bruin's—said not only that they had, but that he hadn't heard the end of it, either.
"You speak fair of me," he said. "I guess I can only hope to live up to yours and Russ's ideals. Tell me if I start straying, okay? You both have good hearts that I can trust."
Now it was his turn to see his mates blushing, and he bobbed his head, pleased.
The three of them spent a short while chatting, but eventually Bruin said that he and Russ were going to help Rosemary in preparing a dinner for the Sage's Quarter.
"Oh, of course," Sergiy said, hiding his disappointment. "Don't let me keep you."
Russ poked a finger at the laptop, and Sergiy's view shook as the device rocked back, soon corrected by Bruin.
"Ser," Russ said. "It's okay. I miss you too."
"Come back soon?" Bruin added.
He assured them that he would, then watched as Bruin closed the laptop, cutting the feed.
Planting his face in the bed for a moment, he drank in the comfortable memory of seeing his two mates healthy and well. It helped to soothe his instincts, which were growing more irritated the longer he was away from others of his pack.
Thinking about his pack reminded him that he had work to get to, and he got out of bed just long enough to fetch one of the books that Rolf had brought back for him.
In just over a month, he and the guardians of Bastion would be pursuing the moving demesne, where Lord Kerry Wintersbane should be residing, and there's no telling what kind of information would be needed.
Being mindful of his back, Sergiy wrapped himself up in Russ's soon-to-be-gifted blanket in order to put more of his scent in it, then opened the book to read about Kerry and his promised witch mate, and their decade-long war losses.