Chapter 42 #2
“Would you like me to help?” Caden asked, and my gaze shot to his. “I’m actually quite accomplished at combing the knots out of ornery females.”
“I have so many questions, starting with how in the world you have that experience.”
A faint, wistful smile appeared. “Fabian and I had a younger sister.”
“Oh.” Had being the keyword. “I…I didn’t know that.” I dragged my thumb along the teeth of the comb. “Maybe I’ll just cut it all off and start over.”
“Let me help you instead?” he offered. “It won’t take very long at all, and then I’ll leave you be.”
I looked at the comb and then at him. “You promise?”
“Promise,” he murmured.
I had a feeling he was lying, but there was no way I could comb the knots out, and waiting until Ivy returned was just going to make them worse. A little embarrassed and a whole lot unsure, I handed over the comb.
He took it so quickly that I didn’t even see him move. “I’m going to move behind you, but I’m going to hold you up so it doesn’t jar your ribs.”
I nodded, and then Caden did just as he said, somehow rearranging me and the pillows so that he was behind me, one long leg hanging off the bed, and I…I was sitting between his thighs, leaning onto one of the pillows, holding it close to my chest.
This was so inappropriate.
But I didn’t say anything as Caden began to separate my hair into three sections. He didn’t note the tremors that had picked back up in my body.
“My sister was the baby of the family,” he said, beginning to work at the knots in the center section. “She was born two hundred years after Fabian and I were.”
Goodness.
It was easy to forget how old Caden and his brother were.
“Scorcha was…she was the kindest and most beautiful soul,” he said, gently tugging at the rat’s nest that was my hair.
“Far better than Fabian or I could’ve ever hoped to be, except when it came to getting the knots out of her hair.
You see, she had long, thick hair, and was constantly running about after Fabian and me.
It was a constant battle between our mother and her to get her to sit still long enough, but she always did it for me. No matter what.”
I hugged the pillow. “Sounds like she wanted your attention.”
“She did. She wanted both Fabian’s and my attention, but we’d just gone through puberty, and well, we were concerned with other things,” he said.
“Funny how you think you’ll learn from the knowledge that time can be fleeting, even for our kind, and come to realize that as fickle as time is, it also makes you forget. ”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. “What happened to her?”
He was quiet, and a part of me wished I hadn’t asked.
“We do not suffer from many illnesses, but there are a few that are similar to cancer or…heart failure. Some of the older fae believe that these sicknesses are curses, while others believe there are genetic reasons. Either way, Scorcha came down with what was called The Long Sleep. It’s a…
wasting disease. Appetite and stamina are lost, and eventually, one slips into a sleep they don’t wake from.
She was only ten years old, very young, even by human standards. ”
“That is so young. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” Finished with the center section, Caden moved on to the right. “You asked how I got broken ribs. I was a Prince, but I was always a warrior first. Before the big war, there were skirmishes, and I often found myself embroiled in a tavern fight—or five.”
“That I can easily see.”
“What? The tavern fighting?”
My lips twitched. “Well, yeah, but also the warrior part. I didn’t think you just lay around all day and….” Something prodded at my memories, but I couldn’t reach it. My eyes had drifted shut. There was something incredibly relaxing about having your hair brushed.
“I could be lazy and indulgent, but I always did my duty,” he said after a few moments. “My parents used to think that was one of my admirable traits. However, I have come to realize that it’s a flaw.”
“How so?”
“Duty should never supersede what is right,” he said. “No matter the cost.”
Before, I would’ve argued that duty always came first. It was everything to those raised in the Order, but that was before learning what Ivy was, before meeting the Summer fae and learning that not all of them were evil creatures hellbent on destruction.
That was before meeting and…and falling for Caden.
Now I knew that duty often dictated things that were not right. Duty was too black and white, with little to no gray area.
Caden fell quiet as he worked at my hair, moving on to the left side. Not only was this incredibly soothing, it was also…kind and so sweet. And if I believed him, believed what he’d said about why he was here, then why was he—?
I cut those thoughts off. There was no reason for me to go down that road. A knot lodged in my throat anyway.
His hand stilled. “What are you thinking, sunshine?”
“Don’t call me that.” My voice rasped.
“Why wouldn’t I?” The comb started moving again.
Why? I almost laughed, except nothing about this was funny, and considering that he was pledged to another, the nickname was cruel in a way.
“You shouldn’t be doing this,” I whispered, blinking back tears.
“There is nothing wrong with what I’m doing. You need help, and I am here, where I am supposed to be.”
“But—”
“Let me help you. That is all,” he coaxed. “Then you can rest. Later, if you’re feeling up to it, you and I can talk.”
I turned my head to the side. “There’s nothing to talk about. I already told you that.”
“And I already told you that there is a lot.”
“Then talk to me now.”
His chuckle somehow rumbled through me, stirring parts of me I’d rather ignore. “Now is not the time, Brighton. Not for a conversation like this.”
No matter how much I insisted, he wouldn’t tell me what he thought we needed to discuss, deflecting each question by changing the subject.
He talked about the tavern brawls, which always surrounded some sort of perceived insult, and then he told me about the little-girl games his sister would make him and Fabian play.
It all seemed so…human. I imagined if I had older brothers, I would’ve forced them to play with dolls and eat pretend food.
I would’ve chased after them just like Scorcha had with Fabian and Caden.
When Caden finished with my hair, I could actually run my fingers through it, and like I had suspected, he didn’t leave.
After helping me lay back down, he got me one of those pain pills and refilled my glass.
Then he pulled up his chair as close to the bed as he could get it and told me more stories about him and his brother like he had before.
And when my eyelids got too heavy to keep open, his voice softened.
I fell asleep knowing that he would remain and that he’d be there when I woke up.
And I wasn’t afraid.