Oh, praise the Goddess for she is kind!
“One,” he said, bored. “But it’s a single.”
“Don’t care—we’ll take it,” I said, turning to Caly, who had discreetly removed the gold from her cleavage and was holding it out for me.
The innkeeper gave us both a once-over as he accepted our coin, but I couldn’t care less what he thought of us.
“Need any food?” he offered begrudgingly.
“No,” I replied, holding my hand out for the blessed key.
“Ale?” he asked, still withholding it.
“Nope.” My tone was extremely clipped. I was worn so thin I needed to get to the room and work myself off of this damn cliff. I needed that damn key like I needed my next breath.
“Very well,” he said, finally handing over the key to our room and my sanity. “Third floor, right at the end.
I pressed my back to the closed door, locking all my need back inside myself while trying to find some composure. I must have been there a long time because Caly’s fingers lightly brushed my cheek, startling me.
“Did you fall asleep standing up?”
I shook my head, tired to my bones of denying her. “No, just…who the fuck knows?”
“I understand.” Her fingers continued their path down my arms. “You’re bleeding.”
I followed the path of her fingers, seeing the red she’d marred. I mean to move, to go to the washroom, to do something, but I couldn’t pry myself away from the door. If I moved, I was going to do something stupid. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong. Let me go get a rag to clean you up.” She moved away, giving me some space to breathe.
I found the strength to get away from the door and sit on the edge of the bed by the time she returned with a small bowl and a wash rag.
“The water is cold, but it’s better than nothing.” She stood in front of me, and it took everything in me not to touch her.
“I can warm it.” I closed my eyes and bent myself to the task, running warm air through the water. “It should be okay now.”
She tested it with a fingertip before submerging the rag in it. “Hold this.” Setting the bowl in my hands, she wrung out the rag, then carefully dabbed it on the wound.
“It would be easier if you took this off.”
I hissed but held up the bowl. She ignored it and began undoing the buttons and laces on my tunic. My body stiffened, and I dared not move. Each tie she loosened was another barrier in my mind falling. I held onto my resolve by the skin of my teeth.
She pushed the fabric off my shoulders, and I held the bowl with one hand while she worked the tunic off one arm, then the other. The silence was easy as she worked, so carefully cleaning my wounds. It probably should have hurt, but every place she touched ignited with a different kind of burn.
My hands shook, splashing the water in the small basin.
“Are you okay? You might be going into shock…” Alarm widened her eyes.
“I can assure you, this has nothing to do with shock.”
Confusion colored her features. “What’s wrong?”
I caressed my fingers along her jaw, bringing her face closer to mine. “If I don’t have you, I may die.”
“Then have me,” she said it like it was so easy. Like we could just decide.
“What of all the consequences?”
“Damn them. Take what you want.”
