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Chapter28
Awarm gush of liquid oozed from my nose and dripped down over my upper lip as the taste of blood surprised me.
It shouldn’t have, given what I’d just lived through. I brushed aside the rush of thoughts about where each injury lay on my body, because right now there was a more urgent matter before me.
Quite literally.
The attacker’s wide-eyed stare changed and narrowed after a beat of staring up at my face. I snorted. He may be seeing a bruised and beaten human, but something had changed in me on that roof. And no nose bleed, third-degree burns on my legs, or cocky stare from my enemy would rattle me.
Not anymore.
He moved fast for someone who was unconscious just seconds before, but not fast enough. As he scrambled on the stone stairs to gain his footing, rising to grab me, it only took a swift force to jostle him.
I smiled at the scared eyes that met my own as I shoved my foot out, kicking the shithead who had locked me up. Who had locked all of us up, with no intention of ever returning for us.
I’d taken him by surprise, that much was evident from the way his lips rounded as if billowing out a silent scream.
“That’s for the interrogation,” I said quietly as he rolled down the steps.
I jogged down the stairs to where my kick had landed him. He had rolled to a stop, meaning I needed to put a little more umph behind the next one.
I picked up speed, and before he could get up onto his hands and knees I connected with his ribs, shoving my foot into his side as hard as I could, while grasping the railing along the wall to steady myself.
“And that's for throwing me in that cell.”
He wouldn’t hear me, he was tumbling now, grunting as I heard the thudding of his body, falling down the stairs. I didn’t run after him this time, I’d hit him hard enough to have made it count.
I walked down the staircase. The thudding stopped and I came around the bend to the landing where we’d fought previously.
He had rolled to a stop, this time with the help of Prince Noah’s foot.
Six pairs of eyes met me. Noah’s and members of the royal guard that surrounded him. The attacker was on his face, not struggling anymore to even rise.
Maybe he was unconscious again. Or dead. Hopefully not the former so that Noah could thoroughly question his sorry self.
I continued moving downward, not even able to muster up some sort of embarrassment about the fact that I was limping, terribly burned, and practically naked in a stairwell with these fae.
No, my battle was done. And I’d come out victorious. And not even parading around bruised and tattered in my underwear and a half-missing dress would make me feel anything other than pride.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I said, barely pausing on the landing.
Two of the guards stepped out of my way, staring open-jawed like I was some sort of mythical unicorn as I hobbled past them. I looked over my shoulder as I continued my descend.
“Oh, and there’s a dragon on the roof.”
* * *
I stared at the burns covering my legs.
They were disgusting and the disfigured skin would normally have been enough to make me vomit. But instead, I felt a strange sense of pride, even if it was laced with loss.
Bathing had been difficult, but the smell of my matted bloody hair would have continued to make me gag if I hadn’t taken care of it quickly. I’d had to awkwardly dangle my legs outside the tub as I balanced to wash my hair until the water ran clear.
I lifted a hand, checking it again to make sure that I had actually gotten everything out.
Now, in a light cotton shirt, I felt clean again. Put back together slightly. Except for my legs.
I’d been alone for a long time and I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or sad. Too much had happened too quickly, and I’d need time to sort through it all.
