Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 21

Artemis pounded on the door relentlessly yelling for the dragon slayer on the other side to let her out. Sting had thrown the face hunter out of the room and locked Artemis on the inside while he himself finished the brunette's fight with the assassin. The only reason for Artemis not being able to leave and help him was that the door's lock needed magic to lock and unlock it and sadly her small amount of magic was still running on low charge so she couldn't open the door herself.

"Sting!" She shouted while her hand hammered away on the door.

He never answered her like all the other times she had called his name of course but the sounds of painful growls and small shouts erupted from the other side of the door. She hadn't been keeping track of the time so the female had no clue how long Sting had been dragging this fight out. There was no way a simple assassin could be giving someone like Sting, a dragon slayer, this much trouble which is what alarmed Artemis the most.

"Sting! Sting let me out!"

Again no response from the male. She pressed her forehead to the door and listened hoping she'd be able to make out who was winning but their grunting and shouting had ceased to fill her ears. She grew worried waiting for something to happen and the silence put a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She raised her hand one more time and pulled away from the door but before she had a chance to hit the marbled object she heard the door unlock and she was greeted by a blonde on the other side. Her green eyes roamed over him, his clothes were defaced and he had two cuts along his right arm and one that ran a crossed his left cheek, and she noticed his chest heaved up and down as he let out uneven breaths of air. Minus the burn marks he looked the same way he had in her dream last night which frightened her. Behind him on the floor was the assassin all sprawled out and beaten to a bloody pulp but him painful groans allowed the female to realize he was still alive. She averted her attention back to the still standing male; a soft smile was washing away all the pain he had been showing before while he ran a hand through his hair.

"Well that wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be." He chuckled.

Artemis stared at him in disbelief. He was laughing at a time like this? The brunette shook her head faintly; not being able to comprehend this man in front of her was slowly starting to get on her nerves. Sting's soft smile turned into a cheeky grin as he walked back to the battered body on the floor which also left room for Artemis to finally leave the room herself. She stood by the man's feet while Sting crouched next to him and gingerly lifted the dagger the man had been using, his nose wrinkling slightly in disgust when he did so.

"It smells like this thing was completely soaked down in poison." Sting stated and held the thing as far away from his face, his nose more specifically, as possibly.

"Poison!?But Sting you-"

"I'll be fine, besides he didn't cut me deep and I'll have Wendy fix me when she gets here." He shrugged cutting off Artemis's panic attack.

"W-What?" The brunette questioned while tilting her head to the side slightly.

"The noise I made while fighting this guy probably disturbed some of the guards a few halls down so I'm sure most of the castle knows by now and plus with my dragon ears I can hear Wendy and the others coming right about. . .now." He said with a proud grin.

"Artemis-San! Sting-San! Are you two alright!?"

The teen blinked a few times as she watched the bluenette run up the hall to both her and Sting with Cobra and Laxus in tow. Wendy took notice to Sting's wounds and quickly went to work healing them while Cobra and Laxus examined the groaning man on the floor like he was some science project they were about to begin working on. Artemis was the only one standing there like an oddball trying to figure out just what she was supposed to be doing or if she was to be doing anything at all in that moment.

"Artemis don't just stand there come here. I want to check you to see if got you with that dagger without you realizing it while Wendy's healing me." Sting told her snapping her out of her trance.

She felt her face flush slightly and was at least glad it was dark so that he wouldn't see it. She hesitantly sat down on the spot Sting had patted with his hand and looked away from him. Not only was it awkward that he of all people had to check her over but the others were standing right there next to them as well. His hands gently gripped her arms and shoulders as she felt him twist and turn her, his hand occasionally landing on her waist which made her flinch which also made a cycle of him touching her waist, her flinching, and then him looking at that spot multiple times. She was about to get up and tell him that she was perfectly fine since he wasn't finding anything but that was only until his hand grazed over the middle of her back causing her to breath sharply.

". . . Wendy I want you to heal her back when you're finished just in case." She heard Sting mutter as he retracted his hands from her skin.

"Alright." The bluenette replied.

"I'm fine really I would've felt the dagger hit me. You don't have to heal me Wendy you'll just be wasting your energy." Artemis tried to reason but that only left a sour look on Sting's face.

He reached his hands out once more and pulled the zipper on the back of her dress halfway down the full length it could go, Artemis letting out a yelp of embarrassment. Just that much was enough for Wendy and Sting to see the cut on her back which was frankly deeper than any of the ones Sting had received. The blonde gently pressed his thumb to the unharmed skin around it and frowned more than he was.

"Hey! You don't just go around unzipping other's dresses!" The brunette snapped causing Cobra and Laxus to look their way finally.

"Relax It's not like it's a hobby of mine I was just trying to see if I was right or not which frankly I am. I told you that Dagger was soaked to the hilt with poison and if you left that untreated you'd end up with results you wouldn't really want for your health. Be grateful I did what I did, that cut is long and it looks deep enough that the amount of poison the probably got in would be enough to kill you." The dragon slayer sighed irritably not liking the fact that she wasn't looking out for herself.

Artemis gulped upon hearing that it would've killed her but luckily once Wendy had finished up with Sting and had gotten to her the wound was as good as new, or course Wendy healed her back inside the room so they had some privacy. The brunette was told that all that would remain was a faint scar, a long and thin mark down her back that may stay slightly darker than the rest of her normal skin color. She didn't care about that though; she already had a tiny scar running along the back of her ankle from an early childhood mishap so it wasn't like this one was going to affect her anymore than the other one did.

Once she stepped out of the room along with Wendy they found Grandeeney hovering over the face hunter's body with Cobra and Laxus standing on either side of her. The expression on the queen's face was one that almost made the guilt eat away at Artemis completely. Now that everything was calm the brunette really thought about the possibilities of this event now that the man wouldn't be going back to Jose anytime in the next century or at all for that matter. She knew that if he didn't go back, go back with her more specifically, Jose was going to come here next to Cait Shelter, the closest kingdom next to Pyre and Artemis didn't want that to happen. There was no way she could stand watching another kingdom crumble to the ground. She lifted her hand to her mouth and pressed her finger to her lips to try and keep herself from letting out a sob bubbling up in her throat while two of Cait Shelter's guards lifted the man to his feet and put cuffs around his wrists. His golden orbs that were surrounded by black and blue marks looked straight at Artemis, a sinister smile curling his lips upward startling the brunette.

"You can't run forever girl! Jose will get you he always gets what he wants! You won't get away from him forever! It's not possible! He'll get you just you wait! He will . . . He'll get you . . ."

The man kept repeating his words all the way down the hall and until his voice couldn't be heard. His first sentence was enough to get that single tear to slip from the teen's emerald eyes, which tear that, was caught by everyone. Sting quickly placed his hands over her ears blocking anymore of the man's unbearable words from reaching her ears.

"Ignore him, none of us will let Jose get to you . . . I won't let that happen." He whispered in her ear once he uncovered them.

"Well now that tonight's excitement has been taken to where he belongs it looks like there's a few things that need to be tied up here still since you're all leaving in the morning." Grandeeney sighed while her arms found a place to rest along her chest, "We can start by saying that this impending war will unfortunately happen at a sooner rate than any of us hoped."

"That's for sure." Cobra muttered.

"We'll go home and alert those in the royal families who haven't received such information. From there it'll be up to the heads of the families to decide what to do then." Laxus stated firmly.

"That sounds good enough to me. There's only one more thing I want to address." Grandeeney said while turning and looking straight at Artemis, "You, young lady, are not safe here in Cait Shelter anymore, not after tonight's events. It'd be best if you relocate."

"Yeah but where do-"

"You'll come with me, back to Sabertooth. I did tell you that I'd like you to visit it when we first met did I not?" The blonde beside her smiled down at her.

"yeah but-"

"Well if that's what you think is best Prince Sting then I guess she'll go with you to Sabertooth in the morning. I'll have carriages waiting for all of you in the morning so why don't you all go and get some rest, oh and it's been a pleasure to have you stay here at Cait Shelter miss. Elise." Grandeeney cut her off and smiled at her gently before disappearing down another hall with Wendy, Cobra, and Laxus right behind her.

"Great." Artemis sighed tugging on her chestnut colored bangs.

"Hey cheer up! You'll have tons of fun when we get to Sabertooth I'm sure! We always seem to hold a lot of festivals there and you'll get to meet my father too!" Sting beamed giving her that cheeky smile from before while walking off down the hall.

"Oh yeah, I didn't really get to meet your father the way I did with Natsu's did I?" The brunette whispered to herself.

"Come on! You need your rest. I'll walk you back to your room to make sure you get there safely." He said while looking back at her and placing his hands behind his head.

Artemis nodded and began to follow him. Her eyes glanced at the back of his head and the ghostly feelings of his hands were lingering on her back. The conversation Wendy had with her the other day suddenly came to mind and a soft smile tugged to the brunette's lips. She didn't understand it but there was something about him, something different and she liked it . . . a lot.