8
I wake up to strong hands on my throat, choking me as someone pulls me up and slams my head back down into the ground.
The back of my head throbs so violently, that I want to reach my hands up to hold it together and stop the beats.
Gods, I must have fallen asleep.
Still dazed from the aggressive wake up, I grab at the attacker's hands, trying to pry them off me.
My vision is so blurry that I can’t make out who it is. My fingers tear at the strong hands, ripping and pulling but they're too strong. I can’t get their hands off my throat.
My eyes go wide with realisation.
My abilities aren’t back yet.
I wrestle beneath him, trying my best to loosen his hold.
I will not die like this. Not to this brute.
My attacker is straddling me but has left enough room so I managed to wriggle my legs out and knee their groin.
My attacker yells in pain but doesn’t falter, they lift my head up and slam it down again, harder.
Fuck.
“You stupid girl.” He seethes.
I try again but he’s learnt his lesson and crouches down lower.
I’m running out of time and air.
I thrash about under him, trying to make this harder for my attacker and use up his energy. But it's useless without my powers.
I feel so fucking weak.
“Get…”
“Off…”
“Me…”
I croak out, my voice almost gone. My vision’s fading even further and my head becomes fuzzy from the lack of air. But I can’t give in, I force myself to stay awake and fight a little longer.
I claw my nails into his hands, trying to do any sort of damage or distract him.
Suddenly, the hands on my throat lose pressure. The weight on my hips is released. My attacker goes limp and falls off to the side.
I can’t see what happened, I don’t know what stopped him. But I am grateful as I grunt and push the heavy weight the rest of the way off me, before I scramble out from underneath him.
My breaths come out in heaves and I roll over panting. Trying and failing to retain any oxygen.
I feel a hand at my waist and I startle and roll back, eyes wild and ready to fight again.
“Relax Maeve, it’s just me.” The King says as I’m propped up on my side looking across at him.
“Who... the fuck... was that?” I croak out at him.
“Desmond.” The King says bitterly, looking behind me with death promised in his gaze.
He puts his hand on my back again. “Are you hurt anywhere else? Is it just your throat?”
I sit up and bring my hands to the back of my head. I feel a warm stickiness there and when I pull my hands back, I see the blood illuminated by the fire.
“Mannuel!” The King calls out, looking over his shoulder.
“No... no.. it’s not.. that bad.” I groan out, hating how hard it is to talk.
“Yes it is, you’re bleeding.”
“I’ll wait… for it… to heal.”
“Absolutely not.”
The King’s words have no room for arguments and I don’t bother trying.
The healer comes over and I see Cole has joined him.
“Can you even help her?” Cole asks.
“I can mend the back of her head but I can’t do anything about her throat, we can’t heal internal injuries that aren’t already open wounds or broken bones.”
“That’s fine, just do the back of her head.” The King says urgently.
I feel Mannuel crouch down beside me and I ready myself for the pain. He places his hands gently over my head and starts the process.
A hot searing sensation comes crashing over the back of my head. It feels like I’ve fallen head first into the fire.
I start to scream but nothing really comes out.
The King runs a soothing hand up and down my back but it does nothing to take away the pain. I barely notice him there.
I clutch the sides of my face and squeeze doing anything to escape the feeling of my scalp melting.
Finally after what feels like hours, I feel Mannuel move away and the pain starts to dissipate.
I feel like I can finally try to breathe again and I prop myself up, resting my forearms on my knees to open up my chest and let the air in.
“How are you feeling?” The King asks.
“Never... better.” I reply, my words grazing my throat.
It still burns and could take days to repair. I haven’t been strangled this bad in almost a year now.
“Water… please.” I groan out.
“Cole.” The King commands and motions for him to fulfill my request. After which, he grabs my wrists and takes off the rope.
I sigh with relief, though it doesn’t really come out like normal. “Thank… you.” I say to him and roll my wrists, stretching them out. It’s a welcome distraction to have one less part of my body in pain.
Cole returns with the water and hands the flask to me.
I gulp the whole thing down straight away and he hands me another, already anticipating I’d need more. I gulp that down too and feel my body relax, that seems to be enough for now.
“What do you need, can we get you anything else?” The King asks, almost sounding worried.
I shake my head. “Just... need.. to lay... down.” I croak out.
The King nods his reply as I start to lay back and rest. “Cole and I will be here the whole time, you can sleep.”
Not a chance.
It was a long night waiting for sunrise while still in pain from my throat.
I’m so angry with myself for falling asleep, that’s not like me at all. I let my guard down and let myself get hurt.
Maybe I can trust the King and Cole, they did save me after all. But I can never ever let my guard down again.
The only good thing to come from last night is the knowledge that the King definitely doesn’t want me dead, he saved me by killing one of his own men. One that I would imagine he’s known for years.
I slowly get up from where I was laying and walk over towards the river. Using my now free hands, I splash the water over my face and then take some in my hands to drink.
“So you’re not going to run away then?” I hear the King ask from behind me.
I jump, slightly startled. How is it that he moves so silently? I had no idea he was even there.
It’s time to test out my voice.
“Figured... I should at least... hear you out.” I say with a groan. I don’t sound like myself but it’s less painful to speak than it was last night. Thank the gods for fae healing.
“Good.” He says as he smiles at me.
“We’re getting ready to go, it’s only four more hours till we’re home. Once we’re there, I’ll show you straight to your room, where you can rest and get your bearings— we’ll talk about everything the day after tomorrow, when hopefully you can join the conversation more freely.”
He says as he nods towards my neck, where I’m sure the bruising is starting to form.
I nod my reply and start to follow him over to the horses.
“I’m sorry about Desmond.” The King says suddenly. “I want you to feel safe with us and if I had known that he actually wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have asked him to take watch.”
I stare at him, taking in those blue eyes filled with rage and sorrow.
“You… killed… one of your own… men.”
The King looks away, his jaw ticking and his shoulders tensing.
“He was disloyal. He had disobeyed direct orders.” He replies bluntly.
With the war that I can see stirring in his eyes as he looks back at me, I wonder if he had considered Desmond a friend once. If maybe it had hurt him to kill one of the members of his royal guard. Or maybe it hurts him more to have been betrayed, to have not known someone’s real intentions.
The King turns away from me, stalking off towards Cole.