By the second day, his patience had snapped. He had almost torn through the palace, every corridor echoing with the sound of his furious steps, ready to rip open every door until he found her. Only Alina had stopped him, her voice soft yet unyielding, urging him to trust them, to trust the process. And, against all odds, he had listened.
He stopped abruptly when he reached the bed, one of those impossibly grand phoenixian things, wide enough to cradle fivepeople with room to spare.
There she was. Dawn. Sitting upright, her long white hair a dishevelled halo around her face, eyes shadowed with exhaustion. Yet when those amethyst eyes, sharp and unnervingly clear, met his, every muscle in his body unclenched, as though he had been holding his breath for a lifetime and could finally exhale.
She was alive. She was truly all right.
‘Are you going to stand there gawking like an idiot,’ Dawn muttered, rubbing at her temples, ‘or are you going to bring me some water? I feel like I died and clawed my way back again.’
Kai hesitated only a heartbeat, unwilling to lose sight of her for even a moment. Then, as though wrenched from a trance, he strode out to command a servant for a jar of cold, fresh water before returning swiftly to the foot of her bed, close enough to watch her breathe, but careful not to trespass further.
‘You look dreadful,’ he remarked, voice dry as flint.
Dawn’s purple eyes narrowed to slits. ‘Charming, commander. Is that your idea of seduction? Whispering sweet nothings to a woman who’s just crawled through hell and back?’
Kai rolled his eyes. ‘You broke your leg, Dawn. I wouldn’t exactly call that a journey through the underworld.’
She dismissed his words with a flick of her hand and yanked the covers aside. Both their gazes fell to the once-shattered limb. Now straight, whole, and unmarred. ‘I must admit,’ she said, her lips quirking faintly, ‘for people with no magic, they’re rather good.’
‘How did they manage to heal it so quickly?’ he asked, suspicion lacing his tone.
‘Does it matter?’ she countered, already swinging her dark legs towards the edge of the bed. ‘It doesn’t hurt, and I can walk now.’
She tried to stand, but Kai moved swiftly, blocking her escape. ‘You need to rest.’
‘I’ve been unconscious for days,’ she snapped, heat flaring in her cheeks. ‘What I need is to stretch my legs… and to pee.’
‘Charming,’ he muttered under his breath.
Her gaze speared into him, sharp as a blade. ‘What? You have an issue with me mentioning a perfectly natural act?’
‘You’re being vile,’ he said flatly, ‘as usual.’
Dawn rolled her eyes, but the moment her feet touched the floor, pain flashed across her face. Without thought, Kai caught her hand to steady her. They both froze, suspended in that fragile breath between instinct and awareness.
Her eyes lowered to his hand clutching hers, then rose to meet his. ‘What are you scheming?’
‘I’m trying to be nice.’
‘Why?’
‘Because, believe it or not, I was worried.’
Her lips parted, a retort ready to spring, but no words came. Instead, she closed her mouth sharply, pulling her hand free and rubbing it against her chest as though to erase the phantom warmth of his touch.
‘So… what now?’ she asked softly, her voice frayed at the edges.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Alina knows who I am.’
‘It changes nothing.’
Dawn exhaled, the sound fragile, almost weary. ‘We both know that isn’t true.’
Kai’s hands closed gently but firmly over her shoulders, compelling her to meet his eyes. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you if that’s what gnaws at you. I swear it.’
‘I can take care of myself,’ she muttered, stubborn as ever.
