"My lord?"
She called out, golden eyes fixed on his face, waiting.
He stopped at the threshold.
He had fought through half the palace to get here.Altansarnai's blood was still drying on his hands and there were men behind him who would need orders and a city that needed managing and Thane had been trying to reach him for the better part of an hour.None of it had mattered.His feet had known where to go before his mind had finished deciding.
He stood before her and looked down at the damage — the cheek still swollen and bruised, the split lip healing badly, the way she held her arm slightly apart from her body.His jaw tightened.He slowly reached towards her face.
She didn't pull back.
His thumb found the edge of the bruise, barely touching, and stopped there.
"You're late," she said.
"I'm sorry."His voice came out rough.
"Mm."She tilted her head slightly into the pressure of his thumb.He was not certain she knew she did it."I had the situation managed."
"I know, you did well."He crouched before her, bringing their faces level.Up close the damage was worse.The bruise spread from her cheekbone to her jaw.He did this.The thought was flat and cold and final.He is dead.It still happened."Your arm."
"Ribs," she corrected."The arm was voluntary."
He looked at her.
"Chidinma needed a delivery mechanism," she said, as though this were an ordinary sentence."The needles were the most efficient option."
The needles were the most efficient option.He repeated it in his mind and felt something shift dangerously in his chest.
"Azul."
"My Lord."
"Stop that."
She paused "Ragnar."
He exhaled and lowered himself to sit beside her, his shoulder an inch from hers.Close enough to feel the warmth of her.
"Were you afraid?"he asked."In his room."
She was quiet for longer.
"Yes," she said finally."I was afraid; it made me so angry."
"You don't have to be angry."
"I know."She didn't look at him.
He looked at her hands in her lap.The left one loose and still.The right one she was cradling carefully.Small red dots on the inside of her forearm where the needles had been.
"Does it hurt?"he asked.
"Everything hurts," she said simply.
"Chidinma said the orders came from the Khatun of the Valthorne," he said.
"Someone had to give them."
