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“You’re bleeding,” he said, clasping my face in his hands.
“The Princess needs to prepare for tomorrow,” Theron said, snapping his fingers again, and I was determined to crack those fucking fingers clean off his hand one day. “Take her back to her room and have her seen to.”
“No need,” Rook growled, scooping me up in his arms and staring Theron down as he rose to his feet. “I will tend to her.”
The tension in the room crackled, and for a moment I thought Theron would protest. Instead, his face broke into a smile, and he gestured towards the door.
“Whatever you say, my friend.” With a swish of his wings, he turned and strode out of the throne room.
Rook gazed down at me with a furrowed brow, and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Come now, let’s get you out of here.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered, even as I slumped against his chest and began to shiver. The weight of what had occurred bore down on me with such force my head began to ache.
Rook ferried me through the palace, down the passageways and up into my room in the tower.
“Here, let me down,” I said, before he could kick the door in again the way he had the day I had almost fainted in the training yard.
He placed me on my feet hesitantly, his eyes still that violent black. I pushed open the door of the chamber, stumbling in as my legs failed me, and his hand was instantly at my back, guiding me inside.
“Sit down,” he commanded, pointing to the armchair in front of the fire.
“Rook, I-“
“SIT DOWN.” His voice had an edge of almost-hysteria to it as his eyes met mine, slowly fading from black back to blue.
I sat down in the chair and watched as he retrieved gauze and ointment from the dressing table, crossing the room to fall to his knees in front of me. He took a deep shuddering breath as his eyes settled on me.
“I’m fine,” I said again, reaching out to stroke his cheek.
He clenched his eyes shut. “I want to kill him,” he said quietly. “I want to kill him and I fucking can’t.” His eyes flew open, and he cleared his throat. He dabbed some ointment onto the gauze, and leaned over to swipe it gently against the graze on my neck. His eyes flashed up to mine as I winced. “Alright?”
I nodded. “Yes, it just stings.” I sighed as Rook continued to clean the wound. “He knows, Rook.”
“No he doesn’t,” Rook said quickly. “He doesn’t. He thinks something may happen, and he’s jealous, and he wants you for himself. That’s why Nesryn is here. He’s trying to drive a wedge between us, and that’s all.”
“He knows.” I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the velvet upholstery of the armchair.
“He can’t know.” Rook’s hands dropped from my neck and were suddenly clutching mine. When I looked down, his head had fallen to his chest, his shoulders shuddering as he tried to breathe. “Hecan’tknow.”
“I’m so sorry he’s dragged Nesryn into this,” I said softly, running my hands over his head.
He lay his head in my lap, clasping on to my legs. “She’s a child. She’s just a child. She’s my little sister. I haven’t seen her in years, and now he’s doing this.”
“I’m going to save her,” I said. “I will. I swear to you.”
“I know.” He didn’t look up at me, just stayed slumped over my legs, letting me stroke his hair.
“Rook.” I took his face in my hands, and his mournful gaze made my heart ache. “I swear to you, I will. I’ll save her.”
“And who will save you?” He asked, before pulling me down off the armchair and into his arms. “I have to sit and watch you fight, I have to sit there, unable to save you, unable to do fuckinganything. Because of this fucking mark on my fucking arm.”
“It stops you hurting him, doesn’t it?”
He sighed heavily. “Yes. Anything I do to him, I do to myself.” He tipped my head back, looking into my eyes. “And if you die in that arena, I will run him through, even if it means my own death.”
“Don’t say such things.” I clutched onto him.
“I told you already, without you, there is no breath, no life for me.” He smiled sadly, and put a hand to his chest. “Here, right here, it’s where I feel you. It’s where you’ve tethered me to your soul. And without you, that space would consume me until I was nothing but an empty void again, my love.”
