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The executioner made a move with his ax above my head and I heard Noah shout from his position. The guards had loosened their hold on me. I made a split-second decision to move sideways instead of pulling my head up in case he slammed the ax to my neck. I rolled out of the way as the ax fell to the ground.
Captain Coltrain jumped toward the executioner and brought him to his knees with barely any effort. “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear when I said enough,” he growled into the man’s ear before slamming his elbow into his neck. He grabbed him by the throat and squeezed, and when the man’s body collapsed, all I could do was stare in horror.
“Unconscious. I’ll get someone to throw him into saltwater personally.”
The captain was closest to Nicole, and he leaned down without hesitating, picking her up bridal style. She didn’t fight him. He seemed to be the only sane one in the whole courtyard.
The captain made a move toward me but halted. I felt arms wrapping me up in the same manner.
“Hold on,” Noah’s voice whispered in my ear.
Coltrain nodded in our direction. “I’ll clean up here. Make sure you’re all right, Your Majesty. As soon as possible.”
“Your timing is impeccable as ever, my friend,” Noah answered.
With that, Noah turned and carried me out of the courtyard quickly.
As much as I felt warmth at the closeness and Noah’s kindness, I still said, “I can walk.” I didn’t recognize the raspy sound coming out of my mouth. The last thing the prince should be doing is worrying about me, I’d thought he was dead. “Noah, please,” I coughed, my voice hoarse.
“Quiet, Coraline.”
I obeyed. The anger radiating off of him was palpable, and I didn’t want to be the cause of furthering it. Noah rushed onward, into and through the castle, on a mission to get us to wherever he seemed hell-bent on going.
He strode through double doors into a dark yet peaceful bedroom. The tightly made bed in the far corner and the masculine features had my entire body tighten immediately.
We were in Noah’s room.
His private quarters.
And after everything that had happened, the discomfort I felt at being in the prince’s bedroom seemed ridiculous.
He sat me in a plush chair, beige with a dark-stained wood frame that made me feel out of place. The light airiness of my room was a stark contrast to the darkness that met me here. And yet…
It was very much like Noah himself. Unassuming with much more bubbling beneath the surface than it let on. Dark yet beautiful.
“Stay,” he commanded, pointing at me as I sat in the chair.
A small part of me that was still somehow intact after what I’d been through wanted to be indignant, but I settled for sighing as loudly as I could manage.
Noah fumbled around in an armoire and reappeared with supplies in hand. The wrist brace I recognized. But the container made me wary. Even more so when he kneeled before me, twisting it open and revealing a pungent odor.
I flinched, but my silent protest did nothing to stop Noah from what he had set out to do.
He set the container down, his breath ragged and heavy. Like he’d spew a rant at me I wasn’t ready for if I tried to resist.
He didn’t ask permission, simply took my injured wrist gingerly and placed his hands around it. The warming sensation started, just like it had on my side, and within a few moments his grip loosened and the warmth spread.
My breath hitched as I sucked in, amazed at the lack of pains that I’d grown too accustomed to in the past few hours. Noah paused, studying my face and then wincing and returning to the task he’d set out to complete.
He dipped his hand into the salve and rubbed it on my wrist, coating it while gently massaging before he placed the brace on.
His movements were tender and purposeful. But he refused to meet my gaze.
I swallowed, thinking now he’d say something. Instead he left my side again, this time walking behind me. I watched him duck into another door and heard water running. He returned a moment later with a towel and took his spot on the floor in front of me again.
I wanted to ask why he was bothering with me when he’d practically been dead himself. I worried that he should be tending to himself, just in case there was something wrong.
But no matter how much I thought about what I wanted to say, nothing actually came out. Instead, I watched Noah’s jaw clenching and a storm raging behind his eyes as he wiped blood off my face.
