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Taking everything back to the room, she set the basin on the nightstand. She dipped a washcloth in the cold water, wrung it out a little, then—keeping her arms well away from his hands—she moved in close, trying to reach his forehead. But she couldn’t extend her arm without Marius hitting her or even grabbing hold of her. The chains had too much give. If he caught her, she knew she wouldn’t escape him.
She dropped the wet washcloth back in the basin.
She remembered seeing a sort of clamp near each set of chains. She lay on her stomach and examined the one near his ankle. She almost cried out with relief when she realized it was a ratchet setup that could tighten down each chain. If she could just make the noise of all that rattling stop, she’d be ahead of the game.
Using the levered handle, she tightened up the first one, and it worked. The sounds of the jangling chains had just about driven her crazy. Even though she knew it would distress him to limit his range of motion further, she decided to end that part of the nightmare right now and went to his other ankle, then both wrists, tightening each chain.
All the rattling stopped. She could breathe.
But now Marius pulled with all his might on each chain. She waited, just in case the whole thing flew apart. She held her breath, because if even one chain snapped, she’d be dead and she knew it.
However, the chains held and Marius finally laid back on the bed. Though his eyes were open, his mind was gone at least for the present. “Why, Father, why?”
Picking up the washcloth, she wrung it again, then laid it over his forehead.
He grew very still and a soft sigh left his lips.
She took a moment to wash his arms, each in turn, with the cold water. He had dried blood on him from the recent battle, which of course turned the water pink as she continued to cleanse the washcloth in the water. But she kept going and he made soft moaning sounds that told her she was giving him some relief. He even settled down, at least for now.
Next, she took the scissors and while he lay still, she cut off hi
s shirt. Sweat rose in a sheen on his body. She unzipped his pants carefully, then began at one side to cut them, all the way down. Every inch of his lower body was beet red.
He’d also gone commando, which distressed her because it seemed very wrong to be looking at him. Yet he was so big that for a moment, she grew very still. Her desire for him, never far away, returned inappropriately and now her body felt flushed and hot.
She took a moment to return to the bathroom to fetch a towel. She had to cover him up, for her sake and because at some point he’d come back to himself. The last thing he’d want was to be fully exposed while tied down.
Laying the towel across his hips, she returned to the basin.
The next washcloth she dipped in the water she used on herself. What came away from her was dirt from the cave and more blood, probably from what had been on Marius’s clothes. She groaned. She had to be filthy.
But she set all these thoughts aside and for the next half hour washed Marius repeatedly until his skin resumed a more normal hue. She scrubbed beneath him as well. The sheet was soaked, and if she could manage to change it she would.
A couple of times she heard him whisper, “Thank you.” She answered quietly each time, “You’re welcome.” But she was never quite sure he actually understood her.
She found a clean sheet in a cupboard in the bathroom and set about replacing the damp one beneath him, which became a project all in itself.
She only stopped when a round of thrashing ensued, then she went back to work.
At least two hours later, he finally seemed to be resting, though his breathing seemed labored. Seeing that he was the calmest he’d been, she hunted through a chest of drawers on the wall adjacent to the bed, found one of his clean T-shirts, and went into the bathroom and turned on several showerheads.
Stripping out of her clothes, but keeping the chain wrapped around her wrist, she stepped into the spray. Never had a shower felt more glorious than in this moment. She got all the dirt off her body and out of her hair, then let the hot water beat on her now very sore shoulder and back. Siphoning Marius’s power, she sent what healing she could into her muscles. Happily, it worked. Maybe she wouldn’t have a bruise the size of Puget Sound on her back after all.
“Shayna?”
She heard Marius’s voice and slapped in quick jerks at the handles to shut off the water. “Marius? Are you there?” She didn’t know how else to ask if his mind had come back to him.
“Momentarily.” He sounded hoarse.
“I’ll be right there. I was just taking a shower, cleaning up.”
She quickly dried off, slipped on his navy T-shirt, wrapped her dripping hair up in a towel, then returned to the bedroom.
His eyes were open, but he looked haggard and pale. “How are you feeling? You don’t look so good.”
“Shayna, I’m sorry to ask this of you after all that I’ve put you through, but I need blood. I’m not gonna make it otherwise. Can you donate?”
CHAPTER 5
