Then he heard the thump of something hitting a headboard. He broke into a full-out run.
When he got into the room, Phuong was in Olivier’s arms. He was checking her head.
“She’s going to have a big bump there.”
“What happened?”
“She fainted. Feel her. She’s burning up.”
Gahariet reached out, stopping with his hand only a half inch from her forehead. But then he finally connected with her and he saw what his twin had been talking about. Her inner fire was consuming her. Her body had no idea how to regulate her temperature as the dragon blood mingled with hers.
“We can’t keep her here. We’ve got to cool her down.”
“Ice?”
“No, water. The Yore feel the best in water.” Olivier stood with their mate in his arms. “I think that I have to carry her down. If I carry her in my claws, I might drop her or hurt her.”
“Why don’t we put her in a cart and wheel her down together?” Honestly, Olivier never planned ahead. With an ounce of foresight, the journey to their private lagoon would be much faster.
“That’s a good idea.”
Gahariet went to a nearby storage closet and pulled out a wooden cart. He made a face, because it smelled musty, as if nobody had used it for a while. But he went back to Phuong’s room. He took the blanket from her bed before Olivier set Phuong down gently inside of the cart.
“How are we going to get the cart down the stairs?” Olivier asked.
“We’re going to just carry her instead of wheeling her down.”
Gahariet picked up the front of the cart and walked backwards, carefully stepping down the stairs one by one.
When they were at the bottom, they slowly set the cart on its wheels and began to pull their mate towards the lagoon.
They didn’t anticipate quite how bumpy the ground would be. It jolted her unconscious body over and over again. Gahariet gritted his teeth. It turned out that his plans weren’t necessarily the best, after all.
But then they were finally there. Olivier picked her up.
“So how are we going to do this? Just throw her in?” Olivier asked.
“She’s unconscious, so, no.” Gahariet pulled her body from Olivier’s arms. “We’re going to just walk in with her.”
“We’re fully dressed,” Olivier protested.
“Do you care about ruining your clothes?”
“Not really, not right now.”
“Then walk in with me.” Gahariet walked into the cool water of the lagoon. He was relieved to feel that Phuong’s body temperature instantly got a little lower.
“How long is her molting going to last?”
“I have no idea. I know that some of the Yore-Draka mixes turn into dragons, but I don’t know what it’s like if you’re full Yore, like she is,” Gahariet admitted.
“Do you think that it could hurt?”
“It might. I have no clue.”
“Do you think that it’s worth it?” Olivier asked.
“Of course. She’s our mate. She’s going to be a dragon.” Gahariet shook his head.