ANOTHER TOGETHERD
anika’s bladder woke her up all of a sudden. She’d kept her eyes closed, trying to put off having to get up from the bed and use the bathroom, but the pressure was unbearable.
She stirred, stretching herself a bit. She felt his presence when she took that first step into consciousness.
King Lucien is here. He really did come tonight.
Danika’s eyes opened and found him standing beside her bed.
“My king…” Danika whispered sleepily.
“Get some sleep, Danika. I was not here.” His deep voice blended with the night and sent shivers through her bruised body.
“Yes. You were not here.” She easily agreed with him to make everything easy. Dozens of potions and pills discombobulated her mind. But no matter how hazy her mind was, she knew the king was standing there. And she didn’t want him to go.
“How are you feeling?” His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was dressed for bed.
He didn’t look like a man who had gotten any sleep. He must have been busy all day.
“I feel… better than I did yesterday,” Danika told him truthfully. Whatever Baski had been giving her, it was working.
He nodded once and turned to leave.
Her bladder pressured her even more. She moved to get up from the bed, wincing when her body protested.
He turned to her and scowled when he realized she was trying to get up from the bed. “What are you doing?”
The deep command of the calm question halted her, and she glanced at him warily. “I w-want to use the bathroom…”
His scowl went blacker. “No one is here with you? Baski should be here. Or your former personal maid.”
“They were here w-with me all day. Madam Baski might h-have left for a little… while to put… Remeta to sleep…” Danika rushed defensively so that he wouldn’t get angry at them.
He made no move, but she noticed some of the tension left his body. He was still frowning as he watched her struggle to get up from the bed.
Finally, he moved, and she expected he would leave. But he walked towards her and took hold of her arm gently. His help startled her. If he noticed her startled look, he said nothing about it. “Lean into me.”
She followed his soft command, leaning heavily into his body, letting him take most of her weight.
He smelled so good. She breathed him in deeply and held it for a moment before she let it out.
In steady steps, they made their way to the bathroom. He pulled up her nightclothes and began untying her underthings.
Danika flushed red, staring down at him as he worked the laces of her linen shorts till he untied them. He pulled them down and looked at her meaningfully.
“Thank you, my king.” Danika’s face was crimson as she did her business. He waited patiently for her, holding most of her weight.
Afterwards, he laced her up and dressed her before leading her out of the bathroom. He helped her get on the bed before he took a step back.
Danika lay under the coverlet, drinking in the sight of him. She’d carried his child and lost it, too. Tears sprang to her eyes at the reminder.
“Are you alright?” he asked at the sight of the tears.
She nodded rapidly. “Yes. My wounds hurt.” Her internal wounds hurt more than the external ones now.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, my king,” she whispered. Danika did not want him to go. Although it was inevitable, she wanted to keep him close for as long as she could… no matter how little.
“May I ask something…?”
He untangled his hands, walked towards her, and sat beside her on the bed. “You may.”
“How was your day?”
King Lucien spared her a glance because the question was unexpected. Unbidden, he searched his memory and realized she was the first person to ever ask him that. Baski would, if she were allowed to, and Chad would too. His mistress wouldn’t. His brows knitted at the thought.
She saw it and shook her head. “I’m so sorry for asking…”
“I spent most of the day in court. A lot of things to do. A lot of decisions to make. It was quite a strenuous day,” he answered at last.
“I’m so sorry--”
“Stop apologizing for things you have no control over,” he chided, but his voice was unusually soft.
It must have been the softness in his voice that gave her courage. Or was it the way he had been with her lately? Or that he won’t punish her now because her body was one massive bruise?
She wasn’t really sure where her courage came from when she whispered, “Come and hold me…”
Silence met her request—a silence that stretched while he looked at her with blue eyes that didn’t reveal anything.
“Do not think you can order me around,” he stated, at last, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“I’d never think… of something like that,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Do not think you can ever tell me what to do.”
“Creator forbid that I’d ever do something… like that,” she countered softly.
Silence. Then, he looked away. “If I hold you, I will want to stay here with you. It is not proper.”