Chapter 3.2

Chapter3.2

"Then please bring the medicines for me. I'll take care of her," Rei asked him. He wanted to take care of his injuries after that. The pain was becoming unbearable, and the black spots continued to spread.

Elgatos nodded and left the room again to go get said things.

At that time, Quinn turned on her back and tried to take off her top. She could feel the leather on her skin, which made things worse.

"Don't," Rei asked the young woman gently, taking a deep breath before opening his mouth. An ice-cold breath escaped his throat, spreading over her skin.

Quinn sighed softly. Still, she continued to try to pull off her top. Her hands tugged at the leather strap, and she squirmed.

Gently but stoutly, Rei took her hands to stop her. The heat in the room melted the ice almost immediately. Briefly, Rei waited for it to dry on her skin and again let a blast of ice waft over her.

Again Quinn relaxed a bit, but she tried to free her hands. It felt even hotter under the leather, and she wanted to get rid of it.

Even though he saw that the leather cage was getting to her, he wouldn't take it off. Too great was the danger that she would escape again.

Rei let his breath get a touch colder. The leather straps froze in response, transmitting the cold to her body.

This made Quinn moan and even rebel. Her fingers clawed at the sheet.

At that moment, Elgatos returned with the clothes for Rei and regarded Quinn briefly.

"When the final stage comes, the leather cage could be very painful for her," he explained quietly as he handed Rei the items.

"It's not time yet. For now, she has to wear it," Rei replied adamantly, nodding gratefully as he gladly took Elgatos' advice.

That Quinn would run away again, however, was something he could neither justify nor risk. "Please wash my back with the medicine," Rei asked the dragon. At this point, he could not treat himself.

Until then, he would keep cooling Quinn to ease her pain a bit.

Elgatos nodded, and Rei trusted him. There was no reason for the man with the orange hair to run away from here. He was probably the only one who felt comfortable here and was something of a friend.

"I don't know if wearing something like that can have an effect on the transformation in general," Elgatos said quietly as he tended to Rei's back. "In my time, there were some dragons back then who tried to use it to stop the transformation so that the women would remain more human, but it didn't have the desired effect."

Through clenched teeth, Rei let the medicine wash her back. Like fire, the treatment burned. It was even worse than the heat in the room. Every now and then, the guard would gasp violently as Elgatos rubbed his back. But he still didn't stop breathing on Quinn's body with his ice breath.

"She was trying to escape. No matter what magic ability she has: If she doesn't wear it, she'll just try to escape again and cause more trouble," Rei explained to the man behind him, pausing.

"It could kill her," Elgatos quietly reasoned. "It will hold back everything that makes her tick later, and as soon as it's taken from her, it will come crashing down on her," he continued thoughtfully, finishing his work on Rei's back. Deliberately, he kept it as short as possible because he didn't want Rei to get the wrong idea. After all, it was well known that he liked men.

The latter took the cloth from him and began to wash off his chest.

The stains had spread up to there so far. Elgatos was the only one who knew about his weakness, which is why he only let him touch it.

"Well, you can watch them when I take it off," Rei remarked somewhat pointedly. Elgatos did know that the guard had his work cut out for him. Quinn was messing up all his job if he had to watch her all the time.

"I just don't want you to end up disappointed because she won't survive," he said quietly as if to appease Rei. "I'm sure there are other ways to keep her trapped during this phase."

"Why should I be disappointed?" he asked Elgatos. He was supposed to go through with the transformation and keep her alive if possible. But since she wasn't his and wasn't going to stay here, he didn't have to care.

"Because it's your job, and you always do your jobs conscientiously," Elgatos said almost gently.

His gaze fell on Quinn, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. If it weren't for the expression on her face, which seemed tortured from time to time.

"Then watch her when I take it off, and I don't have time," Rei repeated his words. "And don't you dare, something happens, or she escapes. Then you'll wander off to Sector D as well," he threatened him.

"If you threaten me with that, I will certainly not accept this task," Elgatos said. "She is not worth it."

"She is a woman and sacred. Any woman is worth watching over, no matter how stubborn they are," Rei replied sourly.

Elgatos laughed bitterly. "I have told you what I know, but I will not take responsibility for her," he said. "She is here for you to educate her. That means she's definitely going to try, and I'm not going to let her ruin my life."

Rei turned to him with a jerk and fixed him with narrowed eyes. "It's an order, not a request, to take care of her," he growled in his direction, tossing him the cloth so he would wipe it out and hand it back to him. Should Elgatos fail, there would be consequences. If he refused, just like Mako, he would immediately go to the most unpleasant part of the castle.

The man sighed and rose heavily. "As you wish. But don't blame me if she dies," Elgatos said, pointing to the young woman in the bed. "If she runs away and I'm punished for it, I won't take it off her," he said, then set off to wash out the cloth.

"You're supposed to watch her when I take it off!" thundered Rei in a loud voice. There had been no talk of Elgatos watching her while she wore it. But only when she didn't have it on, so she wouldn't be alone and get any stupid ideas.

In the doorway, Elgatos paused and just looked at Rei for a long time. "So you're making my life dependent on a little girl trying to end her life because she can't stand the situation?" he asked, and you could hear that he sounded very disappointed. "I should have learned from Mako's fate and shut up," he remarked and left the room. He had wanted to help so that Quinn would be less likely to die, but in doing so, he had only recklessly put his own life at risk.

Frustrated, Rei let out a snort that extinguished the fire in the fireplace all at once. Did Elgatos think he enjoyed her wearing that thing? It was merely the consequence of her behavior.

Apparently, Elgatos was not capable of taking care of a woman. All he should have done was make sure Quinn didn't flee or do anything to herself.

The guard gladly accepted suggestions on making her life easier, but he did not appreciate the men defying his orders.

Elgatos returned to the room a little later with a washed cloth and more, where he put the things down and looked at Rei. His look seemed tired and worn out. "Do you still need me, or may I retire?" he asked.

"You stay here," Rei ordered sourly and stood up. He was still to rub his back with an antiseptic ointment so nothing would get infected.

As soon as Elgatos started doing that, Rei turned his head to him. "Are you really overburdened with watching her for a few hours when I have things to do? The point is that she can't run off once she's not wearing the leather contraption. Is that really too much to ask?" he asked quietly, in control. Rei wasn't asking him to watch her for days on end.

"Women like her are unpredictable," Elgatos replied honestly. "I don't know what she can do, and I can't use any skills myself," he explained calmly. "What do I do if she suddenly transforms? If she shoots fireballs around and can't control herself?" he continued to ask. He had already experienced all that, and it was not to be trifled with. It wasn't like dragons could die, but Elgatos wasn't a fan of being a target. "I can keep an eye on her, but if she really goes for it, I won't be able to stop her."

Shaking her head, Rei looked to Quinn, who was still in bed. "I was hoping I could count on you," he said, disappointed. Of course, he could put the thing on Quinn for a while. She was alone with Elgatos and take it off when Rei was there. He could undoubtedly resist her.

"I would have helped you, but not if I have to face the consequences for something I can't prevent," the older dragon told him. "That's like asking a human to watch out for a lion, but not even pushing a gun into its wall."

"Well, don't do it. Which you would have been the only one I would have trusted to watch her. At that, I would have been willing to leave the leather cage on her while you were with her and take it off her as soon as I got back," he said indifferently. Since Elgatos liked men, she would have had nothing to fear.

"At least then she wouldn't be superior to me," Elgatos said matter-of-factly. With sheer physical strength, he could definitely take her on. Why was Rei only saying that now? That changed a lot of things. Still, Elgatos didn't want to make his future life depend on the whims of a woman.