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Maybe. He’d think about that later.

Chapter Four
    Prince Jules was eating regularly now, and Lem thought his color was better, too. It made him breathe a little easier, that his prince was coming back to life. That Lem didn’t have to force Jules to eat and drink and spend time in the sun.
    He was beginning to understand Jules’ fascination with his books, too. Every day, Jules read to him from a book, and Lem had to admit, the stories were fascinating, intriguing. His main worry was that, in listening to Jules’ stories, which almost always involved Jules sitting curled in his lap, he wasn’t paying enough attention to their surroundings.
    If someone came for his charge, would he react as quickly as he should? Perhaps he was becoming lazy, complacent. It was possible.
    He did hear the servant coming to the door with Jules’ breakfast and was there to open it before the knock even came. His every sense was on high alert, his nostrils flaring.
    The servant was the usual one, as were the guards who stood outside the room. Good. Good. Everything was as it should be. He gave them all nods and waited for them to return the gesture before closing the door and placing the bar back across it.
    Lem then tasted, smelled, assured himself that the food was safe for Jules.
    Satisfied, he took the tray to Jules’ nest of a bed. “Your breakfast, my prince.”
    Jules shook his head, though. “You can eat it, Lem. My belly hurts.”
    He frowned, immediately worried. “Hurts how?” Had someone managed to poison his prince despite the care he took?
    “I just don’t want any. You can have it.”
    “No, you said your belly hurts.” That was different from not wanting any, right? Lem put the food aside and began pulling at Jules’ clothes. He needed to see his prince’s belly.
    “It does. What are you doing?”
    “Checking your belly.”
    Jules’ belly was slender and beautiful and unmarred by any bruises or other marks. Lem began to press gently along Jules’ abdomen.
    “Tell me if anything hurts.”
    The lean belly was a touch hard, distended. Ah. Gas. This was something he could help with and that was not dangerous.
    “We should walk around the courtyard. It will help.”
    “Do you think so?”
    The trust in Jules’ question honored him.
    “Yes, my prince. I believe it will help you release the gas you’re holding inside.”
    “Okay.” His prince sighed and stood, leaving the bed of his own free will.
    It pleased Lem very much. “Very good, Jul— my prince.”
    “You may call me Jules. Mabon did.”
    “Are you sure? It’s very informal.” Of course, what he felt toward his prince was not at all formal.
    “I’m not the most formal of my siblings. That would be my oldest sister, Princess Herat.”
    Lem nodded. He was not allowed to even speak the name of the other royal heirs, even if he was by himself.
    “She’s kind of a grouch, and she’s a little stinky.”
    Lem found himself laughing, and he clapped a hand across his mouth. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
    “I know, but it’s true. My brother Keen, on the other hand, he’s very nice, very jolly.”
    “Do you usually spend a lot of time with the other royals?” For as long as Lem had been here, Jules had not left his rooms except to walk around the courtyard and grounds with him. And not one person had come to visit Jules, not to see if he was well, nor to simply visit.
    “Goodness no. How horrific would that be? This is my place, down here. Alone.”
    “But you must get lonely, Jules?” Lem did not want his prince to be lonely.
    Jules gave him a surprised look. “I have my books and my guardian.”
    It pleased Lem to be included in the things Jules had. “You have lived for a couple hundred years, though. Have you never wished to have someone special, to do things other than read?”
    “No.” Jules sounded very sure. “That is for other dragons, not me.”
    Lem shook his head. His kind were made to be guardians. There was nothing else