Robbin's POV
I watched Xander's feet as they paced back and forth on the rammed earth floor due to his impatience. I ignored his mood and took the time to dwell in my home state even if it was for a limited time. The sense of style and environment had not changed. It was comforting to see that many things in the Westerlie palace remained the same after all these years, and not changed or updated like many things I've so far seen.
We were stuck in the physician's office not long after our post-battle meeting. Xander wanted to make sure I was all there, but I was more worried about him. We lost Ryker. Xander must be frustrated beyond belief about this. And myself? I feel fine, except for the random power flare-ups. Every so often, I'd get a rush of senses thrown at me. The Westerlie doctor, who deals with this stuff often, was the only one I trusted to examine me at the moment. What Ryker said still lingers inside of me.
He continued to pace the floor with an unreadable facial expression, so I direct my attention elsewhere. The room was bright, almost everything covered in white and sterile. No windows were in our room, which upset me since I wanted to see where Vision was. He flew Xander and I to the castle and had been lingering around since. I'm sure he's not far away at the moment, but seeing him might ease my mind.
Hearing the pacing stop drew my eyes back to Xander, who was hunched over a table with his arms resting on it. What was with him now? I hopped off of the bed I sat on and walked across the small room to him. "I'm sure he won't be much longer," I consoled, "Come and sit with me." my hand reached for his tensed shoulders and it slightly hesitated to touch him. But before I could pull away, Xander turned to face me, causing it to graze his shirt. I went with it and placed my other hand on his remaining shoulder and rubbed them. "Relax." He seemed to release some of his tension, but it didn't last long.
Xander removed my hands and I expected him to pull away from me, but he instead examined my body. His eyes traced over every inch of me, trying to find something wrong. I was fine, though. Regaining dragon blood is intense, but it doesn't weaken me, not unless I push myself. Knowing me, and knowing what Xander thinks of me, I might just do that. And knowing Xander, he'll do everything in his power to keep me from acting out.
The door to our room creaked open and our eyes looked to see, and in walked my father and the Westerlie doctor. Xander straightened his appearance while I retook my seat on the bed, and we waited for them to begin. The doctor closed the door and handed Xander and me papers with a list on them.
My father rushed to my side while the doctor stood directly in front of us. I gave my father a confused look but his hand rested on the mind to silence me. "Now," the doctor began, "Your head CT scan show no significant damage to your skull, and your blood work is showing active dragon blood. Activating it has extended your life sentence tremendously, but we should discuss how to control it so you don't accidentally burn out."
"Burn out?" Xander asked, stepping closer to us, "I thought dragons couldn't overheat."
"That's not entirely true." My father answered. "When we use too much our power, it can temporarily weaken us, even knock us unconscious."
Xander gave me a look I was all too familiar with, one of a weak child who had no business fighting it a grown-up battle. I have the ability to fight, to stand up for myself, so that's exactly what I'll do. "So it'll be the same as before then? I'll be locked in a tower like some helpless princess while everyone around me takes care of my mess. "No...No, I won't go through that again. I'm stronger now, and I know I'm still flawed, but keeping me from doing just about anything isn't going to help either!"
Everyone looked at me just like I knew they would, like a child, like someone who can't handle real-world problems. "You act out too much, Robbin," Xander stated, "I don't trust your actions when it comes to a battle. Look at today! You rushed into a fight and-"
"And what?" I cut him off, "Got my dragon power back? Got my Vision back? I didn't know you only liked me when I was a fragile little flower."
"You are overreacting," Xander told me. It perhaps wasn't to the best thing to say to me since I was, in fact overreacting. My face fell flat, but I had a feeling my eyes seemed a bit...crazy. I got up from my seat and left the room. Sitting in there would only prove their point, that I was prone to overreact. The hallways were empty, yet bright as this one was filled with no walls and only a pathway and roof, exposing anyone who walked down it to the daylight.
I wanted to get away, to fly with Vision for the rest of my days, but a reoccurring thought found its way back into my mind. The mole. Was there really was one, or did Ryker want to throw me off my focusing on an untrue accusation? Either way, Xander needed to know. If there is the possibility of a mole, we should deal with it head-on. I stopped on the trail and took a deep breath. Going back there was the last thing I wanted, but it's for the sake of my kingdom.
But just as I turned around, a figure appeared in my peripheral vision, and I whipped my head around. Xander stood a few meters away from me. He must've thought following and confronting me would calm me down.
"I was about to come back," I admitted, "Xander, we should talk." Xander walked toward me, the sunlight passing his face every time he stepped between a pillar.
"Yes, we should. What the hell am I going to do with you?" His attitude threw me off and my relaxed face grew into a confused one.
"Excuse me?"
He moved closer to me with calm steps and I met him halfway, curious to know why there was a shift in his attitude. "Walking away from me like that in front of your father and that doctor. I thought we were past this."
You've got to be kidding me. I gave Xander a slightly comical face, mostly because I was masking my anger, but also since I found his words funny. I scoffed jokingly and said, "You still think you have a say in what I do." I snapped my fingers in my face to alert him. "Xander, get it through your head. I am my own person. I'm not some weak child anymore who needs hand-holding. No matter how strong a hold you think you have on me, I'll never bow so easily to you."
"Your words prove just how incompetent you still are." He walked forward, unconsciously backing me into the railing. "Look at you. All that power and you still act as if you don't know what to do with it."
"It seems you've forgotten that I was a full dragon blood carrier in the past. But all that time I spent away from it doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing now. Can't you just trust me?"
"No, Robbin, I can't. You're too risky. You run off when you shouldn't. You get hurt when I tell you to stay safe."
"That was different."
"How? How is it different from now?"
"Because I didn't think I was going to live, okay?!" My words shocked me as much as it did him. He didn't respond right away, so I continued. "Everyone said I was going to die. You even knew it, and so did I. I didn't want to spend the last two months of my life tucked away while everyone risked their lives to stop Ryker. I wanted to give whatever I had left, and I know it must've hurt our bond, but I wasn't thinking about you, but I guess I should have. I'm sorry, okay?"
"And you think it's different now that you have some of your power back?" He asked, but in a more somber tone. I stepped aside from Xander as it felt suffocating while he towered over me.
"Yes. Because now, I have a chance. I have things to fight for, but I can't do that if you won't let me." Xander pondered in his place, taking in what I had said. While we stood there for those moments, a thought crossed my mind again, the same one that turned me around to go back to him. The mole.
"Xander, I don't want to argue, "I confessed, "I was coming back to tell you something urgent, something that Ryker had said to me during the battle."
His face grew hard. When Xander and I met after the battle, I told him what happened. Falling into the ocean, getting my dragon powers back, the fight with Ryker and Vision coming back. He was shocked, to say the least, and didn't know what needed his full attention, the fact that I spoke with Ryker or my dragon blood reactivating, but he quickly decided that my health was the main priority, and we flew to the Westerlie castle for a checkup.
"What did he say to you," Xander asked. I knew to give him a vague response and only told him what he needed to hear wouldn't calm his mind at all.
"He knew, Xander. He knew about everything. The attack, my sickness, maybe even more. There's a mole in the Northerner kingdom, possibly a few.
"We need to get back to the kingdom. I'll tear it apart myself if I have to." Xander walked down the walkway in a hurry, completely ignoring my trying to stop him with my hand. I did manage to grab a hold of his sleeve and kept a strong grip to keep him next to me.
"Okay, that is exactly what we're not going to do. Freaking out will only make the situation worse, and putting everyone in the Northerner kingdom on your pedestal won't help us find them any faster."
"I am their king and that is my kingdom. I have a responsibility to our people to keep them safe. If something threatens that security, what makes you think I won't use extreme measures?"
"Well, who's the petulant one now?" I let my hand slide down his arm and cupped his hand with my own, letting them hang below us. "Xander, we have to be smart about this. Yes, Ryker alerted us, but we don't have to act as if we trust his words. We work slow but cautious. They have to slip up at some point." "Now, do you have any suspicions for the mole?"
I watched as Xander pondered the thought, his eyes mentally scanning over every face that has ever been inside of the Northerner castle. I thought about it, too. No one ever set off alarms for me except Sage, but she's all bark and no bite. What reason would she have to go against Xander? From the times she's confronted me, her voice always sounded hurt. Maybe she had true feelings for him, and the wolf in her made her possessive. I was almost sure it wasn't Sage, but keeping an eye on her wouldn't hurt anyone.
Xander must've had the same thought cross his mind, but never spoke on it. He just stood there, trying to figure out who the hell has been feeding the enemy our secrets? Who could know about my sickness and the attack we planned today? My corrupted dragon blood wasn't disclosed to the kingdom. Hell, it wasn't even caught until we came to the Westerlie kingdom. But they weren't the only one who had knowledge of my medical history.
"The doctor, " I mumbled to myself, looking up at Xander. He didn't hear my discovery, so I spoke it louder, but not enough for any passerby to hear. "The Northerner doctor. It was him."