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I was positive there would be a reason for why Valeri had done what he’d done…what hemightdo. He wasn’t a monster. Yet to not only hand Ren over to his enemy, but to fuckingmutilatehim first by cutting out his tongue? What could possibly justify that?
Then I remembered the vice-like grip on my arms, the pain in my legs. If Val believed that by damning Ren he could save me…my brother had acted out of desperation before when it came to my safety. What if this was no different?
“Urgh,” Ren groaned, gingerly peeling back the bandage wrapped across his chest and left shoulder so he could peer at the wound beneath. “Whoever you asked to tend to this was a fucking butcher.”
“Well,” I said, drawing the word out. “He was.”
“I’m glad you agree, because...” Ren paused and stared at me. “You meanliterallya butcher, don’t you, Mathias?”
I gave him a bright, comforting smile that he didn’t buy for an instant. “I didn’t exactly have many options when you were inconsiderately bleeding out all over me.”
“About that. Why do I still hurt?” he asked, tugging back the bandage further to reveal ugly stitches. He prodded at them until I smacked his hand away. “You know magic exists, right?”
“Healers don’t grow on trees,” I retorted, pulling a face at his patronising yet playful tone. “You try finding someone with the Touch who doesn’t work for the crown or is on its watch list.”
And then I frowned at him. “You don’t remember me telling you this already? You woke up yesterday after scaring the shit out of me for being unconscious for over aday.”
“Not a word,” Ren said cheerfully. “Although I vaguely remember you crying.”
“I wasn’t crying. I don’tcry.”
He patted my hand condescendingly. “Of course you don’t.”
“What do you actually remember?” I asked.
“Pain. A lot of it. Someone saying I’d pull through. Then some nonsense about not engaging in anystrenuous physical activityfor at least a week, at which point I thought I must be having a nightmare and went back to sleep.”
“Ren,” I began slowly, not wanting to relive those terrifying moments where I’d thought he was going to die. “You were shot as we fled the palace into the city, and you fell from the horse. You dragged me off with you, so you kind of landed on me instead.”
“It’s good to know even my unconscious self wants to get you beneath me,” Ren commented slyly, and then quietened as I shot him a dark look.
“A lot of your people saw it happen. And obviously the rumours about your illegitimacy hadn’t reached the city yet: all they saw was their prince injured, and they helped get you away from the men pursuing us. By the time order was restored – apparently Councillor Navar himself had to come down from the palace to validate the demand for our arrest – I’d managed to hide you.” I gestured to the dim room around us, although little could be seen past the sheets that surrounded the makeshift bed. “But as it was known you were wounded, the city’s healers were the first to receive a visit from the guards. The butcher was the only one we could trust who had any experience with…flesh.”
Ren wrinkled his nose. “Animal flesh, Nat.Dead. Animal. Flesh.”
“Yeah, you complained about that yesterday, too.”
He thought about that. “If we did already have a conversation while I was delirious, then I’ve missed the rest of it. Give it to me now.”
“The rest of what?” I asked, suspecting a trap from the way his eyes had begun to sparkle with mirth.
“The part where you flung yourself at me in overwrought relief as to my heroic survival,mi amor,” Ren said with a shit-eating grin. “The part where the distraught and certainlycryingnorthern prince breaks down out of fear that he might have lost his one true love forever, and then he wails in gratitude as he pulls through, having promised to do anything –anything, Mathias– if he would just live.”
“You’ve read too many books,” I said dismissively. “There was none of that.”
There had, in fact, been alotof that, but if Ren didn’t remember rousing to consciousness before now, I certainly wasn’t going to be repeating such an embarrassing performance.
“I think you’re-”
Footsteps echoed in the basement with us; close, heavy treads on stone that strode towards us with purpose and made him falter.
Mat,Ren mouthed.We’re not alone.
The noises drew closer, but their maker was hidden by the linen sheets gently fluttering around us.
The prince’s fingers found mine and squeezed tightly.
“Señor?” our visitor called out.
