She was still paralyzed. She couldn’t make any noise other than a humiliating whimper in the back of her throat.
Then he dropped to the ground beside her, rolling over and throwing up on the stone away from her. Black blood.
Was it even blood?
He curled in on himself and his eyes started rolling into the back of his head all while she was screaming in hers.
He wouldn’t dare. He wouldn’t dare die and leave her like this.
She couldn’t help him. All she could do was lie there, useless while he bled out beside her.
Then he was getting his arms underneath him, painfully slow, sweating as his hair stuck to his skin. He looked down at the stone before he got back to his knees, the moonlight framing him as his head tilted back to the sky. He grunted, grabbing his shirt and tearing it the rest of the way, fully exposing his wound. Then, to her shock, he took his hand, lighting it with a mix of sunlight and fire.
He was going to—
As soon as he pressed his palm to the wound, the burning smell returned and the noise he made was going to haunt Hellebore’s nightmares. His face screwed up in agony would accompany it.
What was worse was when it was over, and his hand fell and he slumped slightly back down. Then he took his hand again and it lit with his magic, and he reached over, scorching the ground where his blood was so no one would ever see anything but the burn. He took several deep breaths, wiping his filthy blood-stained hands on his clothes before he came crawling back over to Hellebore, and his face filled her vision as he took her face in his hands.
“Hellebore, it’s alright. You’re safe. I’ve got you. You’re going to be fine.”
She just swallowed.
But he wasn’t. Sun Elves bled red just like the rest of them.
“Did they give you a paralytic?”
She was able to give the tiniest of nods. Which meant it was starting to wear off, but it was doing so slowly.
“Alright, I’m going to get you back to your room and then I’ll call a healer.”
How was he—
Taiyo was scooping her up and into his arms, staggering slightly as he stood up, but quickly regaining his balance and securing her in his arms, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. He adjusted his hold until she was comfortably tucked into his chest, her head resting against his shoulder.
But with no voice, Hellebore couldn’t protest and insist he leave her on the ground to let it wear off or go find a healer for himself first. All she could do was let him slowly, carefully, like she was something precious to be handled delicately, carry her back inside the castle and through the hallways and to their rooms.
She hated it. She hated him.
As more feeling returned, her eyes welled up and she had no choice but to turn her head deeper into his shoulder to hide it.
“You’re safe, sunshine,” Taiyo murmured, somehow managing to shift her even closer. “I made a vow to protect you, and I have. I always will.”
If she had her voice, she would have come up with something between a laugh and a sob and told him that those vows didn’t mean anything.
Instead, feeling came back into her fingers, but not her arm. So she just curled her fingers into the tatters of his shirt.
She heard a door creak open, and she shifted her head just enough to see her room greeting them. Guilt turned her stomach at the sight of her crates of research that had contained the note for the trap she’d foolishly fallen for.
He quickly started toward her bed, but the last thing she wanted was to stare at the evidence of her duplicity. The word caught in her throat, not quite coming out as a word, but yet another displeased whine. Taiyo froze, glancing down at her.
“No?”
She nodded.
Taiyo just stared down at her with a dumbfounded expression, and she had no clue what was going through his head. But whatever it was, it worked in her favor since he headed for the door connecting their rooms. Once they were in his room, he quickly but gently set her down on his bed before moving back.
She couldn’t stop him from slipping out of her grip even as she’d tried to hold onto his shirt.
