107. Rorax
Rorax jerked straight up, her nightmares fading into the back of her mind. She looked around the room with wild eyes before the muscles in her back seized up, trying to protect the still shredded tissue there. She cried out in pain.
“Hey, hey. You”re alright, Ror. Relax,” a deep, velvety voice commanded. There was a fireplace lit in the room, and in front of the flames, a big body rose from a makeshift bed on the ground.
Rorax would know that body anywhere.
She was panting and sweaty, situated in the center of an overly large, four poster bed, with nothing but a white sheet surrounding her waist. Her upper body was completely bare, but she didn’t care. It was Ayres.
She bit her lip and rocked forward, willing the sharp pain to fade and the tears to stop.
Ayres hesitated on his way over to her before situating himself on the side of the bed.
Her eyes filled with tears as the skin on her back seared again in pain. She clenched her jaw and tried to blink them away. “Fuck, that hurts.”
“How can I help?”
She looked up at Ayres. The corners of his mouth were turned down and his dark, charcoal eyes scanned her face.
This man. This man had once been a symbol of comfort and strength to her. He had protected her, advocated for her, saved her life and had become one of her most trusted friends.
Looking up at him, Rorax’s heart broke.
“Ror,” his voice was thick and hoarse as he reached out for her, but then thought better of it and let his hand fall uselessly to the bed next to her.
She closed her eyes, forcing herself not to lean into the touch as tears started to track down her face. “Safe. Being with you was where I used to feel safe. But now . . . ”
Tears clogged her throat, and her voice sounded more broken than it ever had before. He had lied to her.
“Ever since you made me take the Blood Oath, I don’t want to know you, and it feels like something fundamental—something deep inside of me—has shattered. It’s broken. I-I’m broken.” A sob ripped out of her chest so painfully that her back seized up again in protest and gods, it was like her whole body was on fire.
“Ror, fuck. I’m so sorry.” He tried to pull her into his chest, but she pushed his hands away the best she could.
“Stop, please, Ayres. Go get Jia, please.”
Ayres’s hands froze. He looked tortured and his throat worked with words she thought he was going to say, but eventually he nodded and silently left the room.