Foolishly, I released the breath that I had not realized I had been holding.
In the next second, there was a hand gripped behind my neck, a shift and crinkle of parchment, and the hollow sound of an inkwell hitting the ground. Suddenly I was on my back. A hand hovered above my jaw. I swallowed. Another few inches and my neck would have been snapped. I blinked and looked up to meet Levent’s wild eyes.
“Do not do that again,” Levent hissed.
His face was flushed and his lip curled back in a snarl. This was an expression that I had not seen from him straight on before. Slowly, he used the hand already behind my neck to help me to a seated position. Then he released me, backing away to a comfortable distance.
“Sorry,” I whispered, trying to retain my breath. I unconsciously reached up to rub where his hand had been, freezing when his eyes widened. I stopped and stared in front of me as he craned to examine my neck for himself.
He emitted a soft hiss as he sat back. Then he cursed softly and righted his inkwell. My shoulder must have hit it when he threw me – my arm was cold and wet with the ink.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, louder this time. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“No,” Levent agreed. “You weren’t.”
He sat there, rubbing his forehead with his palm for a moment. I realized I was sitting on quite a pile of parchment. When I tried to shift, he halted me with a gentle touch on the shoulder.
“Don’t move,” he growled before he unlatched the buckles on his cloak.
This action confused me immensely. He leaned forward and swung the heavy fabric around my shoulders. The dragon-kin sat down without a word, moodily staring across the water.
“I’m sorry I ruined your drawings,” I murmured.
He sighed shortly, and grumbled, “They are not important.”
“But they were so good!” I pulled one of the half-soaked parchments from under me, and held it to the light. I could not recognize the few thin lines that had escaped the ink’s blight. “It’s my fault they’re ruined. I’m so-“
“Don’t apologize again,” the kin growled.
I clamped my mouth shut. Quickly, I looked away and bit my lip.