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Chapter 52

"Ah, that felt good," Rath said an hour later, walking back into the living room in just a towel.

"Rath," Char reprimanded him, frowning.

"What? She's unconscious anyway," Rath said dismissively. "And even if she woke up right now, she'd like what she sees."

Char rolled his eyes. "Go put some clothes on."

"Nope. I'm finally clean for the first time in days, and I am not ruining that by putting dirty, sweaty clothes on. You could stand a bath, too." He smirked. "Then Iris could wake up to two hot guys in towels and tell us who she prefers."

"You're such an idiot."

"Hey, I know what I've been told, and girls like this," he replied, gesturing to himself. "And they were all over you at that one party where you took your shirt off." A sly grin spread over his lips. "Has Iris ever seen you shirtless?"

"No," Char said firmly. "And it smells like the fairies are done cooking, so you should go get something to eat."

"Not without you. Come on. The fairies are ready to get to work on her, but they can't do anything with you hanging around."

Char dropped his gaze to Iris' still form, running his fingers through her hair. The fairies who weren't busy in the kitchen were hovering anxiously around her. Rath crossed his arms over his chest and frowned down at Char.

"Char."

"Fine," he muttered, carefully lifting her head as he eased off the sofa, replacing his lap with a cushion.

Rath clapped him on the shoulder and steered him toward the kitchen. "Come on. She'll be fine. I'm starting to think it's not possible to kill her."

Square seemed to be the theme of the dwarven home. Square table, square chairs, square counters and cabinets. Although the dwarves carved the rooms out of stone, the materials of choice for all the furniture and fixtures were heavy woods and cobblestone bricks. Char and Rath sat down at the table in the familiar but different cave kitchen for a filling meal of meat and potatoes.

"I do love a good adventure, but I also love three meals a day," Rath said between bites. "Actual, hot, cooked, good-tasting meals."

"Agreed."

"It wouldn't kill you to take a bath after this and try to relax a bit, too," Rath continued.

"I'm not going to relax until I know she's okay," Char replied.

Rath groaned, exasperated. "You've got to stop beating yourself up. Nothing that happened to her was your fault, and you've been doing everything you could for her since you met her. Yeah, she's been through some horrible stuff, but it could have been worse."

"How?" Char asked sharply.

Rath sighed. "Well, let's see. If you hadn't interfered, Micah would have snatched her up straight from Little Rest, and she would have been completely alone, with nobody to help her at all. I kind of think that would have been worse, don't you?"

Char frowned and stabbed his food a bit harder than necessary. "I guess."

Rath rolled his eyes. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. You're going to finish eating, and then you're going to go take a hot bath and at least pretend you like it. Then, you're going to start the fire in your bedroom - because these dwarves loved their fireplaces, and there happens to be one in every bedroom - and you're going to climb under the covers to cuddle with Iris, and then, I don't care. You can cry, you can mope, you can beat yourself up all you want. That's your business. I'll be in my room, getting a good night's sleep. And in the morning, if she wakes up, you'll be thanking me for telling you to take that bath, because she won't want to wake up to a stinky guy."

"What if she doesn't wake up?" Char asked gloomily.

"Then I'll have to come up with something else to distract you. But I hope she wakes up soon, because I can't keep being the responsible one for much longer."

Char smirked at that. "Kelnor would be proud."

"Shut up. You know he's already been hinting at me taking team lead training."

"You'd be good at it."

"I'm not ready to settle down and do something like that. Then I'd have to sneak around myself to cut up."

Char chuckled. "Father was a team leader, and he still had time to mess around."

"Father only became a team leader after he got married," Rath retorted. "Do I look like I'm ready to get married? You're the one who's headed that way, not me."

"What about Misa? I don't think I've ever seen you hooked on one girl for so long."

Rath shrugged. "Misa's a great girl, but I wouldn't do half the things for her that you've done for Iris. I think that's kind of telling, don't you?"

"Yeah, probably."

The rest of the meal passed in silence, which Char appreciated. He knew logically that everything Rath said was true. Iris would have been a lot worse off if she had to deal with this all alone. Char had done everything he could to protect her and help her. But it hadn't been enough, and that gnawed at him.

He was on his feet as soon as the last bite of food was in his mouth, heading back to the living room. Iris wasn't on the sofa anymore. His heart immediately catapulted into his throat, and he grabbed the door frame, scanning the room with wild eyes.

"What's wrong?" Rath asked behind him.

A fairy flitted out of the kitchen and zipped straight for another door. Char let out the breath he'd been holding and followed it.

"The fairies moved her," he replied.

"Is that all?" Rath asked. "You really are wound up tight."

He followed Char into a hallway with several doors lining the stone walls on either side. The fairy opened one just a crack and darted inside, slamming the wood shut in Char's face.

"You can use my tub," Rath said, clapping a hand on Char's shoulder and guiding him to the door across the hall. "The fairies are probably cleaning her up or something, and if she hasn't seen you shirtless, you definitely don't get to see her naked yet."

Heat rose on the back of Char's neck as the image of Iris in a towel flashed through his mind. He hoped Rath wouldn't notice.

"You're blushing!" Rath exclaimed, a wide grin spreading over his face. "You have seen her naked!"

"She wasn't completely naked," Char admitted reluctantly. "She was wearing a towel."

"Bet you liked that," Rath teased.

"I would have liked it more if she wasn't washing him off of her," Char said vehemently.

Rath's smile vanished. "Yeah, that would definitely ruin it."

The bedroom was as square as everything else, and the bureau drawers were open, with clothes hanging over the edges and dropped on the floor. There was indeed a fireplace, as big and central to the room as the one in the living room. The bed across from it was plain, square, and large. Rath shoved Char toward another door.

"The bathroom's in there. Lucky for us, these dwarves liked to go big, so the tub fits guys like us."

He was right. The tub was built from the same stone that made up the room, but where dragon bath tubs were sunk into the floor, the lip of the dwarven tub was raised up off of it and required a step over the edge. A line of narrow stone stairs descended to the bottom of the tub. Char didn't need them, and the step over the edge wasn't any problem for him. Dwarves were only about four feet tall, and he was just over six feet. He stripped his clothes, dropped them in the pile with Rath's, and started the water. Iris was okay, he reminded himself. The fairies were taking care of her, Micah was dead, and there had to be an above ground outlet very near. It wouldn't be long before he had Iris safely back home.

He still had to figure out the proposal.

Rath was right about the hot bath. It felt good. Really good. And he was right about the clothes, too. Char hadn't been clean since leaving home, and everything within him recoiled at the thought of putting those sweaty clothes back on. He tied a towel around his waist and returned to the bedroom. Rath was nothing more than a motionless lump under the covers. Char rummaged through the bureau, although he knew the search was pointless. Rath probably looked earlier, and the chance of finding something that would fit a dragon was slim. He gave up and left to cross the hall. The fairies didn't stop him this time.

A fire crackled in the cobblestone fireplace, sending flickering light and shadows dancing across the room. Iris was asleep in bed, her hair damp from her own bath. The fairies had settled on the blankets around her.

"Could you wash our clothes?" he whispered to them.

A few rose up from the bed and flitted out the door. Char sat on the bed next to Iris and stroked her cheek lightly. She was starting to regain her color. He wanted to climb under the sheets and fall asleep with her in his arms, but he was just in a towel, and he didn't know what, if anything, she was wearing. The last thing he needed was for her to wake up frightened by a naked man in her bed. Whatever Rath may say, Char was all too aware that her response to that would not be the same as the girls at the party who cheered him on for taking off his shirt.

That had been a stupid stunt. He couldn't remember why he did it. Too much alcohol and a dare from Rath, probably. And then a girl stole his shirt, and she wouldn't give it back to him until he kissed her. He remembered that kiss clearly. He remembered the feel of her hands running across his chest and stomach. They ended up making out in a corner, and then they left the party to go to her place. He got his shirt back the next morning.

Definitely too much alcohol.

He kissed Iris' forehead and left her with the fairies. There were other bedrooms, but the sofa would suit him fine. He wasn't comfortable trusting the lock on the front door to keep out intruders.

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