Chapter 38 Trew
TREW
The healer’s ward smelled of dried sage, fire-warmed stone, and the sharp tang of something medicinal from the cupboards where Meren kept her concoctions.
I’d been sitting in the same chair for hours, with Isi resting in my arms.
As dawn crested the horizon, the torches burned low. My eyes stayed on her face that remained pale but not as bloodless as before, her lips parted, her lashes as black as ink against her skin.
I didn’t move when the door opened.
Kira came over to stand in front of me, her gaze jerking across Isi before it lifted to meet mine. “We still have Maddox in custody.”
I forced my gaze away from Isi long enough to look at my first in command. “In the southern cells.” It was a statement, not a question. The iron-banded door would take both magic and a battering ram to breach.
Her brow arched. “Naturally. He’s surrounded by our most loyal guards. What do you want us to do to him?”
My jaw flexed. “No one speaks to him but me.”
Kira’s eyes narrowed. She’d been in court long enough to recognize the brittle control in my voice. “I’ll see to it myself.”
At my nod, she inclined her head, glancing at Isi again, before slipping out into the hall.
When the latch clicked shut, my mask slipped. The fury I’d been holding inside roared to the surface, eager to break free. The only thing keeping it contained was the woman in my arms.
I looked down at her again. The blanket had shifted, baring her neck to the air. I adjusted it, smoothing the fabric over her, brushing a lock of hair from her temple. I slipped my fingers into her hair, the silk catching on my callouses.
“You’ll wake,” I said softly. “You have to. I didn’t carry you all the way from the inn just for you to prove me wrong.”
I’d stand guard over her until the world forgot her name, as long as it meant she stayed safe.
Kings guarded kingdoms. I guarded her.
The fates help anyone who tried to take her from me. Because I’d already decided. My reign, my crown, my life—none of it mattered half as much as the rise and fall of this woman’s lungs.
Her breathing shifted. It was subtle, only a slightly deeper pull of air, followed by a longer exhale. I gazed down at her face. Her lashes fluttered, and her eyes opened. She blinked up at me.
Relief hit me so fast I couldn’t suck in a breath.
Her unfocused gaze found mine. Surprise flickered there, at me and at the position she was in.
“You’re awake,” I said, my voice sounded nothing like a king’s.
She blinked again, her frown deepening. “Why am I…” She glanced down at my arm under her knees, my hand cupping her hip. “In your arms?”
“Because I brought you to the healers. I’ve held you since.”
“Healers…”
I could see when she remembered the tavern. The wine.
Heat flared through me, so sharp the torches near the bed hissed. I let my magic simmer under my skin this time, not bothering to hide it.
“Maddox will never touch you again.” My voice came out quiet, which made the words worse. “I’ll see to that.”
Her lips parted before she compressed them into the stubbornness I knew too well. “No.”
I stilled. “Why the fuck not?”
She rolled her eyes, and I was grateful she was well enough to argue with me about this.
“I…” Her gaze flicked to mine before skittering away. “Thank you. I remember you coming to the inn. Saving me.”
“He will not touch you again. I swear it.”
Her nod told me she accepted what came out like a demand but was more a plea. “I need to deal with him myself. Do you understand?”
“You can fight your own battles,” I said. “But you’ll never fight them alone. Not while I breathe.”
Her chin tipped up, and I hated that she was still as pale as marble. “While I appreciate the offer, I don’t want you avenging me like I’m a damsel.”
“You’re no damsel,” I said. “You’re trouble wrapped in silk and steel. But he tried to hurt what’s mine.”
Her brows lifted. “Yours?”
I met her gaze without flinching. “Yes. Mine.”
A faint flush rose in her cheeks, but her mouth remained as stubborn as ever. “That doesn’t mean you get to kill him for me.”
“Doesn’t it?” I ran a fingertip along her jaw, tracing the faint edge of color there. “If you think I’m standing by while he breathes the same air as you, you haven’t been paying attention.”
Let them call me ruthless. I’d be worse than that for her.
“I don’t want the other warriors thinking I can’t handle things on my own.”
“I don’t care what they think.” I leaned in until my forehead touched hers. “I care that the next time someone looks at you with that kind of intent, he doesn’t live long enough to think twice about it.”
If she told me to stop, I would.
If she told me she was mine, I’d never let her go.
We stared at each other, her breath ghosting across my mouth. Awareness crackled between us, half full of challenge, half weighted with something I couldn’t name without giving too much away.
Finally, she eased back against my chest, her eyes sliding shut again.
“You’re impossible,” she said in a limp tone that wouldn’t last long. My strong-willed minx would be back soon, and I was so grateful, I was tempted to drop to my knees and thank the fates for the gift they’d given me.
“So I’ve been told.” I tucked the blanket higher around her shoulders, letting my hand linger there. “Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake again.”
“You can’t hold me in your arms forever.”
I bent to her ear, my voice rasping out. “Watch me.”
Every kingdom had a crown jewel. She was mine.
Her face lifted enough for me to see the slight, upward curve of her mouth before she drifted off to sleep again.
I held her tighter, my thoughts dark and churning. She could insist she’d handle Maddox herself all she wanted. I’d let her think that. But I was already planning how to make him regret the moment he’d decided to touch her wine.
Time passed.
Finally, the door creaked open, and Meren stepped inside, an assistant at her heels. She paused, taking in me in the chair, with Isi in my lap. “We’ll need to move her to the bed so I can examine her properly.”
I didn’t like the idea of putting her down, but I stood and carried her the short distance to the bed, where I laid her down slowly, keeping my hands on her for a breath longer than anyone but me would find necessary.
Her eyes, still heavy-lidded, tracked my face.
“Mmm, Trew,” she murmured, the corner of her mouth tugging faintly upward again.
“Don’t start.” I told her as I tucked the blanket around her.
“Didn’t say anything.” Her voice was little more than a scratch, but the spark in it loosened something in my chest.
I eased back enough to let Meren and her assistant in, my hand tightening on the bedrail.
Meren pressed her palm a breath above Isi’s chest, magic flickering between them as she examined her patient.
“Her pulse is strong,” she said. “Her color’s returning nicely.
” She tilted her head at me. “Your Majesty… Perhaps you might take this opportunity to bathe, change into clean clothes, and comb your hair.” Her gaze slid over me, lingering on my crumpled tunic.
“And present yourself to the court as a king again.”
“I’m not leaving her,” I growled.
Meren’s brows rose, and while her tone remained polite, amusement edged in. “Do you plan to remain by her side while we help her bathe?”
The image slammed into my mind. Steam curling over her bare shoulders, the line of her neck, her hair slick and dripping down her back. I’d seen her wet and naked after her bath, and I’d thought about that image too often.
One day…
My hands curled at my sides. I’d kill for the right to be the one to bathe her, to see every inch of her warm and safe under my hands. But despite my every bone insisting she belonged to me, I knew the truth. Before she was mine in any sense, she was her own.
Isi shifted on the pillows, her lashes lifting enough for me to see her pale blue eyes glinting with mischief. She flicked her fingers toward the door. “Go. You need to wash.”
My brows pulled together. “Do I?”
She tilted her head, feigning seriousness. “You smell like worry, wine, and, for some odd reason, a feral beast.”
I lowered my head until my lips almost brushed her ear. “Careful, Minx. Keep talking like that, and I’ll show you exactly how feral I can be.”
Her breath caught, and I didn’t miss it.
While her mouth twitched upward, I lifted my eyebrows. “I don’t smell like that—”
“You do.” Her smile bloomed fully, and there was nothing lovelier than that.
Fates, it was ridiculous how fast relief could flood through me just to have her teasing me. My minx was back.
“You’ve been unconscious for hours, and the first thing you say to me is that I smell.”
“I didn’t say it was a bad smell.” Her eyes slid closed again, her lashes trembling.
I narrowed my gaze on her face. “You’re lucky you’re still recovering.”
Her lips twitched. “Lucky, am I?”
“Yes. Because otherwise, I’d be proving you wrong about that smell right now.”
One pale brow arched without her opening her eyes. “By…bathing?”
“By other means entirely.”
The faint shiver that went through her told me she’d caught my meaning.
Behind me, Meren made a small, deliberate noise in her throat. “If you’re done threatening each other about questionable hygiene…”
Isi’s eyes opened again, a gleam of challenge in them. “Go, Trew. I’ll be alright without you.”
That was debatable.
I leaned down again until my face was inches from hers, keeping my voice low enough that only she could hear. “I’ll be back soon.”
Before she could reply, I kissed her. Her lips softened under mine, and the smallest sound escaped her throat. I pulled back far enough to see her eyes wide open now, color suffusing in her cheeks.
Meren stared at us, her brows high, her assistant frozen in place with linens clutched to her chest.
I straightened, my gaze lingering on Isi’s mouth. “I’ll be back before you miss me.”
She grumbled, but her fingers twitched toward mine, brushing them once before I stepped away.