Ella
Ryatt takes a single step into the room before his face flushes of color, and his eyes roll back in his head.
Mom gasps and rushes forward just in time to break Ryatt’s fall.
“Ryatt!” I screech, jumping in to help as he pitches forward.
“Goddess above, Ella. How much does he weigh?” Mom grunts, her cheeks puffing with effort while we try to keep him upright.
“Ryatt, come on,” I urge, helping Mom lower him to the ground. Some of the warriors he tore through in the hallway are back on their feet and limping toward the door. I pull my lip back in a snarl as a trio of them stumbles into the room. “GET OUT!”
They back away, going pale.
“Shut the door, please,” Mom huffs, forcing a kind smile, but her eyes are narrowed with determination and concern as she looks down at Ryatt.
The warriors reluctantly edge out of the room and shut the door slowly behind them.
“Ryatt, please.” I help Mom roll him over onto his back.
“Oh, no,” Mom whispers, mumbling the words under her breath as she looks down at his bandages. “His stitches came undone.”
“But he’s okay?”
“He’s fine,” she says with a hint of annoyance. “Stupid, but fine. What was he thinking fighting all of those warriors in his state? I’ll call for the healer. We need to get him back to his room.”
“He’ll stay with me.”
Mom meets my eyes. I suddenly feel like I’m sixteen again, asking for a later curfew so I can stay out with my new boyfriend, even though she knew full well I’d be finding a way to sneak out regardless of her rules.
“Mom, he’s my mate.”
“I know.”
“Why are you giving me that look, then?”
“Your dad is… uncomfortable with this.”
“With me sharing a room with my mate?”
“With Ryatt.”
I should have expected this. I’m numb, to be honest. I’m still riding some kind of high brought on by the sheer reality that we survived, and King Kane is dead. But there’s so much that needs to be discussed. There’s so much that needs to be done. We have to go back to Eastonia as soon as possible.
But right now, I’m on the other side of the veil with what could possibly be my brother’s number one enemy, and therefore, my dad;s as well. “Oh, shit.”
“Ella,” Mom warns, clicking her tongue in distaste.
“What exactly is Dad planning to do to him?” I glance at the door. “Oh, my Goddess. All of those warriors have been standing guard outside of his door, haven’t they?”
“What exactly did you expect to happen, Ella?”
“I wasn’t expecting anything! I brought him here because–because I had no other options. He was going to die, Mom! You were the only person who could help!”
“I couldn’t.” The words settle between us heavy and thick, choking the air from the room. Her eyes darken as she checks Ryatt’s pulse. “My tears barely helped him. They might have kept him alive long enough to get into surgery, but that was it, Ella.”
“Did your tears help me?”
She glances at my thigh and the exposed bandages creeping toward my knee.
My chest tightens.
“Everything healed but that.”
I try to distract myself from the memory of how I ended up with a gaping wound in my leg by running my fingers through Ryatt’s hair. He’s beginning to stir. His brow pinches as he tries to open his eyes, but early morning sunlight is starting to stream through the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea and the increasingly bright sunrise.
“Ella, how exactly did you get that wound?”
“Not now,” I whisper. My throat tightens around the words as the reminder of the injury brings on a wave of fresh pain. Mom’s powers might have healed the bruises Kane left on my body, but I can still feel his touch on my skin. It sends a chill up my spine, my entire body suddenly racked with shivers.
“I think you should rest,” Mom says quietly.
I can’t even look at her right now. The act of holding myself together and burying my feelings–something I’ve been so damned good at before–is taking all of my strength.
A soft knock on the door releases the tension in the room, and suddenly, I can catch my breath again. I inhale deeply as Mom turns and rises on her knees, beckoning the healer into the room.
Jane, who has been hovering around me like an anxious bird since the moment we arrived in the Teal Isles, lets out a little squeak when she sees Ryatt lying on the floor. “Oh, dear. Not his stitches!”
“I’m afraid so,” Mom says with a sigh. “What can we do?”
“No more,” Ryatt groans, waving a hand, his eyes narrowed to slits against the glare of the sun. “Please, no more needles.”
“I didn’t know the word please was part of your vocabulary,” I say lightly, giving him a teasing smile.
His eyes slide to mine with so much annoyance shining behind them that I nearly burst into tears. He’s okay. Ryatt is truly alive and already back to usual self.
“It’s right in between the words shut, and up–”
“My mom is standing three feet away from us,” I hiss, gripping his arm and lowering my voice to a whisper. “You need to be on your best behavior. I’m dead serious, Ryatt. We’re not in Eastonia. You’re not the king here.”
“Yet.”
“That’s not even remotely funny!”
Ryatt thinks it is. His mouth quirks into a smug, but sleepy, smile. “I’ll behave if no one touches me for at least a few hours.”
“He’s going to be loopy for some time.” The healer's voice cuts over our murmured conversation. “The sedation from his surgery to close his wounds won’t wear off until later this evening, I’m guessing.”
“And what can we expect when the sedation does wear off?” Mom glances down at Ryatt with a weary expression.
“He’ll be in pain, for sure.” The healer tucks her hands in the pockets of her white coat, her eyes sliding from mom to Ryatt. “I’d like to suggest keeping him medicated to help with that.”
“It’s not necessary,” I tell them, patting Ryatt on the thigh. “He’s been through worse.” It’s not totally the truth, but in the months I’ve known him, I’ve seen him battered and bruised and incredibly worse for wear. “He’ll be good as new after some rest and a glass of whiskey.”
Mom raises her brows, but there's still weariness behind her eyes as she turns her attention back to the healer to discuss what to do about his torn stitches.
In the end, I don’t get my way. He’s going to be moved back to the room assigned to him. Whatever strength Ryatt summoned to fight his way down the hallway to my room against over a dozen royal guards fades with each passing second, and soon, he’s fast asleep on the carpet while Jane and Mom discuss how to move him back to a sterile room to redo the ridiculous amount of stitches holding his chest together.
I watch as two warriors lift Ryatt to his feet and drag him away, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Where’s Dad?” I ask, hugging myself as Ryatt disappears from sight.
“He went to Maatua. I’m sure he missed all of this commotion by only a few minutes–if that.”
“Why is he going back to Maatua?”
“Isaac and Maddy should have arrived there an hour ago,” she breathes. She turns her gaze to me, a flash of guilt lighting behind her eyes. “I called Isaac and told him what happened.”
“It would have been hard to keep this a secret, I guess.”
“He’s not going to hurt Ryatt.”
“I’m more worried about Isaac getting hurt.”
She purses her lips. “Ella, look. Ryatt is an enemy of our kingdom until proven otherwise. Your father is under the impression that he may have… that he may have done this to you.”
“What? Why would he think that?”
“You were tortured, weren’t you?”
I turn my expression to steel, refusing to let even a glimmer of the truth show. “He didn’t do this to me.”
“Your Dad couldn’t scent the mate bond between you–”
“It’s gone.” The words hurt almost as bad as the act that severed the bond between us. I fight the urge to scream, keeping my expression painfully neutral. “It was broken. But he’s my mate regardless.”
“Do you love him?”
“Of course.” My voice breaks despite my best efforts. “I wouldn’t have flattened an entire kingdom for him otherwise.”
Confusion flashes across Mom’s face, but I shake my head, refusing to even think about what I’ve done, and what might be happening in Eastonia right as we speak. “Will Hannah and Cassian come here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, but it’ll be up to Isaac.”
“I’d like to at least talk to them.”
“I’ll try, Ella. Please get some rest.” Mom reaches out and takes my hand, squeezing hard. “Everything is going to be fine.”
I watch her walk away. I walk to the door and slowly close myself into the unfamiliar room. I’m exhausted, and nothing sounds better than falling into a deep, dreamless sleep, but I know once I close my eyes, I’ll relive the nightmare that was my time in the fortress of King Kane.
I’ll see Westfall’s lifeless eyes locked on Ryatt.
I’ll see Amanda and Granger in that cavern beneath the coven, not knowing if they’re dead or alive.
I place a hand on my stomach and close my eyes. “We’re safe,” I say to myself–and to the tiny flicker of life I tried so hard to protect.
Then, I crawl into bed, and dissolve into a puddle of tears.
***
“Please–” I shove my hands against his chest. He shouldn’t be this strong. He’s so small, so old, so withered beneath the mask.
Kane drags the silver blade up and down my thigh while his other hand clutches my throat. Blood trickles down my neck and shoulders from several deep, jagged bite marks.
“It was so foolish of him to mark you, to think he could claim you.” His laugh cuts through my soul. “You’re mine. I’ll drink from you and drain you of your powers until the end of your days. You’d taste so much sweeter without the taint of his bond staining your blood.”
“Don’t, please! I’ll do anything–”
The edge of the silver blade slices into my thigh as I scream Ryatt’s name.
“No!”
I shoot straight up in bed, my hands curling around my throat. I can still feel Kane’s touch there, like the imprint of his hand is now burned onto my neck. My entire body is coated in sweat, causing my shirt to cling to my damp skin. Shivers snake up and down my spine as I blink wildly into the darkness, trying to clear my vision.
Outside the window, the moon is high in the sky. It’s the middle of the night. I slept the entire day.
“Oh, Goddess,” I breathe, running my fingers through my hair. My hands tremble as I bring them down over my face, rubbing sleep from my eyes.
I barely register my actions until I find myself in the darkened hallway outside of my bedroom dressed in sweatpants and a crewneck sweatshirt, my hair tied in a messy bun on the very top of my head. My bare feet pad over the cold stone tiles, and the only sound beside my footsteps is the gentle hum of the AC. Several warriors turn to look at me as I make my way further down the hallway. I ignore them. I doubt any of them have the balls to stop me. I’m still a princess here, aren’t I? What authority do they have over me?
“Princess Ella,” someone says, stepping into my line of sight. “You’re not allowed to go in there–”
I stare up at the warrior, narrowing my eyes at him. Moonlight creeps over his face as he slowly backs away. “I’ll take it up with my parents when I see them in the morning. Get out of my way.”
“Princess–”
I wiggle the doorknob I believe leads into Ryatt’s room based on the fact that there’s a million warriors standing guard nearby. “Unlock it. Now.”
He reaches past me and slides a key into the doorknob, and then I’m inside Ryatt’s room, locking the door from the inside.
He’s asleep facing the window overlooking the endless ocean. Fresh bandages wrap around his chest and back, the sheets pulled up to his waist.
I silently walk across the room and slide into bed beside him as gently as I can. I carefully wrap an arm around his waist and find his hands, knitting my fingers between his.
I brush my lips over his bare shoulder as I close my eyes, breathing in his scent. He smells different. I can’t pick up everything I used to. That leather scent is gone, replaced by the astringest the healers used to clean his wounds.
Tears sting my eyes as I cuddle closer.
“I’m so sorry, Ryatt.”
He squeezes my hand just as I start to drift back to sleep.
I don’t know how long I’ve slept, but I slowly crawl back to life to the sound of voices shouting nearby. Heavy, determined footsteps breach the quiet, peaceful climate in the room as Ryatt goes totally and wholly still. “Ryatt?”
The door opens at the same moment I roll over to face it.
I knew who it would be before the man entered the darkened room and turned on the light.
I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Ryatt is going to do everything in his power to not behave right now.
“You fucking prick,” Isaac sneers.
And then all hell breaks loose.