I couldn’t bear to watch it any longer and I tried to pry Cai away from Lance, but he was too strong and too determined.
“Cai, that’s enough!”
I was afraid that if he didn’t stop soon, he might kill him.
It was Elara’s sudden scream at the end of the hall that made Cai freeze.
“Cai.” Her voice was shaky, almost desperate. “Please.”
I realised then that she’d seen him do it. She’d seen him kill my brother, and based on the look in her eyes, it haunted her.
Cai sat back, both him and Lance breathing heavily. He took hold of Lance’s collar, pulling his head up from the floor beforeleaning down to whisper into his face. “If you ever so much as hurt a hair on her head, I will end you.”
“I have no such intentions,” Lance huffed out before Cai let him go, his eyes quickly shooting to Elara as she stormed away. He was up in a moment, chasing after her and leaving me and Lance alone in the hallway.
I kneeled by his side and helped him sit up slowly.
“We need to get you cleaned up.” His lip was split and his nose was bleeding. “I’ve never seen Cai like that.”
Lance pressed his fingers to his nose and flinched. “Can’t say I didn’t deserve it a little.”
“Still, he shouldn’t have done that to you for kissing me.”
Lance gave me a wide smirk before saying, “It was entirely worth it.”
* * *
We sat on Lance’s bed while I helped nurse the wounds Cai had inflicted.
I knew the two of them had a bit of history and Cai had never exactly taken a liking to Lance, but his outburst had been rather intense. Though I suspected that it only partly had to do with Lance kissing me, and it was more because of everything that had happened since his return to Mistwood.
While I was saddened by my brother’s death, I knew how close he and Cai had been. It must have shattered something in Cai that was now beyond repair.
I’d asked a servant to bring a bowl of water and some cloth and ointments. Lance lay back on a few stacked pillows, holding a piece of the cloth to his nose.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” I said. “I think Cai’s overwhelmed with everything that’s happening and seeing us made him snap.”
I took another piece of cloth and sank it into the bowl of lukewarm water before wringing it out.
“He shouldn’t have taken it out on you, though.”
Lance wiped the last of the blood away from his nose. “I probably would have done the same if I had been in his position.”
“You mean you’ve never caught Cai and Lara kissing?”
“That’s not what I meant.” He sat up with a frown. “And I’d rather not think about that, to be honest.”
“You know, they’ve probably done a lot more than kissing—”
“Okay,” he said. “You can stop talking, please.”
I gently pressed the damp cloth to his lip, and he flinched. “I have to say, he got you pretty good.”
“That’s only because I wasn’t hitting back.”
True. Lance had let Cai hit him without defending himself.
“Right, because he wouldn’t have stood a chance, I’m sure,” I teased. While Lance might have been strong, Cai was a trained soldier.
