34. Kaedryn #3
“No.” The word comes too sharp, and she flinches. I lower my voice at once, though it feels like dragging a storm into a cup. “No. You are not sorry for this. You hear me? Not for defending yourself.”
Maelin glances at me, then back at Adelina. “Princess, I would like to check you for further injury.”
Adelina goes utterly still. There it is. The wall. The fear that care will become another violation.
Maelin sees it at the same time I do and does not press closer. “I will not do anything without your permission. I can check only what you allow.”
Adelina’s hand fists in the robe. Her eyes drift to the guard again, then the blood, then the knife still in his side.
Her face drains. “I hurt him.”
Sylas’s voice is quiet but fierce. “Good.”
She looks at him, startled.
He holds her gaze. “I wish you had aimed lower.”
“Sylas,” Soren mutters.
“What? I do.” He shrugs.
Adelina looks too stunned to be afraid. It’s not comfort, not exactly, but it breaks the spiral long enough for Maelin to shift closer.
I keep one arm behind her because if I move away, she may fold to the floor, but I loosen my hold enough to make clear she is not trapped against me.
Maelin checks the marks on her shoulder, then her face. She asks about pain.
Adelina answers in a barely audible tone. “I am fine.”
Fine.
The old lie dressed as obedience.
Maelin hears it and does not challenge it. When she asks to check beneath the robe, Adelina shakes her head so quickly her body sways against mine.
“All right,” Maelin says at once. “Then no.”
Adelina blinks. That is the moment that nearly breaks me. She doesn’t expect any autonomy.
I look toward Rowan. “Alric in custody. No estate guard remains armed. Replace every man on this floor with one of mine.”
“Already moving,” Rowan says.
“Merritt,” I say.
He looks up.
“Take the guard below. Keep him alive. Keep him separate. I want every word he said, every order he was given, and every assumption he made.”
“With pleasure.”
“Soren goes with him,” I add.
Soren nods. “Knife stays in until I say otherwise.”
The guard lets out a strangled sound.
“Kellan,” I call.
He appears at the doorway, face stricken as he takes in Adelina.
“Clear the corridor. No servants. No household staff. No one gets near this room unless Maelin approves it.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
My eyes return to Adelina. She is still trembling against me, but her gaze has gone distant in a way I do not like. Not asleep. Not unconscious. Somewhere else.
“Adelina, did he do anything? Did he…” I can’t even say it.
Her fingers clutch the robe.
“Adelina,” I say again, quieter.
Her eyes flicker, but do not focus.
Maelin’s expression tightens. “Shock.”
“What does she need?” I ask.
“Quiet. Warmth. Something mild to calm her if she will take it. And everyone who does not need to be here needs to leave.”
I am included in that. I know it before she says so. The knowledge lands badly.
Still, I nod. “Sylas,” I say.
He looks at me.
“Stay with her if she will allow it.”
The words taste like glass. His expression shifts, but he is wise enough not to comment.
I look down at Adelina. “Princess.”
Her lashes flutter, but she still doesn’t speak.
“Sylas can stay. Maelin can stay. I will be outside the door,” I say.
Her gaze drifts to mine, unfocused but present.
“I will not be far,” I assure her. That may not comfort her. It may even frighten her.
But it is truth.
I help Maelin settle her on the bed. My hands leave her carefully, and for one breath her fingers catch in my sleeve. She is shaking too hard to control the movement.
Everything in me stops.
She releases me at once, like she has done something wrong. I want to tell her she has not. I do not know how without making the moment heavier. So I step back. My shadows withdraw with me.
In the corridor, the estate has become motion and fear.
Guards are disarmed. Servants are removed.
Rowan and my men replace every post. Alric is hauled away under Kellan’s orders.
Merritt and Soren carry the wounded guard out a different way, the knife still in place because Soren refuses to let anyone remove it until they reach the lower room.
The guard’s eyes meet mine as they pass.
He knows he’s a dead man walking.
Good.
Let him know.
I wait until Adelina’s door closes behind Maelin and Sylas. Only then do I let one shadow drive into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster from floor to ceiling.
Rowan pauses at the far end of the hall. “Your Highness?”
I close my hand. The shadow withdraws.
“I want the northern message,” I say quietly. “And I want every man who read it, touched it, carried it, or interpreted it in chains before we leave this estate.”
Rowan bows once. “Yes, Your Highness.”
I look at Adelina’s closed door. Inside, she is alive. And she defended herself. She apologized for it.
The realization sits in my chest, a coal that will never cool.
“Alive,” Soren said earlier, knowing I need to hear it.
I do. Again and again, apparently. Because I keep promising safety after danger has already found her.
The next person who reaches for her will lose the hand. And this time, I will not be too late.