Beside her, Nicolas panted heavily. He rolled his lips together and shut his eyes for a moment as if to reset. “Here, let me take a look.”
“That’s okay. I can handle it.” Jade shot to her feet. The world tilted, and she staggered, but Nicolas was right there, steadying her by her arm.
“Clearly.” He stood squarely in front of her, examining her face as he held her still. His voice was a gentle murmur as he added, “There’s a bed in the next room. I can set you up in there to rest.”
“No,” Jade responded, a little too quickly. She readjusted her tone and tried again. “Thank you. It’s very kind. But I have to go back to base. It has to be close to first light, and if I’m not there, they’ll send out a search party. And I’ll get in heaps of trouble. The last thing I want is for them to think I deserted.”
Nicolas brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “You’re always welcome here, you know.”
Jade nodded. She did know, in some innate way. But that didn’t mean she was agreeing to stay.
“I’ll help you out.” Nicolas leaned down and kissed her once more. The intensity was gone, but his passion remained. Jade allowed him the kiss, partly to keep from creating any suspicions in his mind and partly because a portion of her wasn’t ready to give him up.
He released her and retrieved her jacket, handing it to her before going to the bunker door.
“No blindfold this time?” Jade asked, not hiding the snark in her words as she stopped in front of him at the door.
Locks of tousled brown hair danced as he shook his head. “Not this time.”
Thirty-Four
The pounding in her headreverberated all around her, filling every fiber of her being until she couldn’t ignore it any longer. Jade’s eyes cracked open, blinded by bright light streaming through cracks in the curtains, and she tried to place where she was. She’d been inside the manor at Lesseine. No, wait, she was at the bunker. But the bunker didn’t have windows. Then the recollection came back to her. Nicolas had ridden her over halfway back to base on his horse.
Jade’s world tilted at the sudden burst of memory that bombarded her. She shut her eyes again, burying her face in her pillow as images flashed through her mind. Nicolas finding her. Saving her. Stitching her up. Kissing her. She gripped handfuls of bedsheet as she remembered the feel of him in her hands: his hair, his arms, his chest. And then there was the look in his eyes—the look of insatiable desire. She had fawned under it, fallen forit.
What in the absolutehellhad she done? To nearly give it all to Nicolas when she was with Theo. Her lovely, caring Theo didn’t deserve that in the slightest. She didn’t deservehimin the slightest.
But in the sharpness of day with her senses returned to her, Jade saw the utter foolishness of the previous night in surprising clarity.
She couldn’t deny the magnetism around Nicolas. Something about him always drew her in, and he was so damn hard to resist whenever she was around him. But what did she know about him, really? Aside from the traitorous feelings completely disregarding her love for Theo, Jade had plenty of reasons why the previous night should never have happened in the first place.
The wicked pounding never ceased, and Jade covered her ears with her hands. Her hair was still done up in its wraparound braid, though several chunks had fallen loose and it barely held together at all anymore.
“Jade, come on, you’re starting to scare me.”
That voice.
The hammering wasn’t just coming from her head. Theo was at her bedroom door.
Jade managed to sit up in bed, which only worsened the stabbing pain in her head. She inhaled deeply a few times to try to regain her bearings and bring herself a modicum of relief. She stood and crossed to the door, opening it to reveal a frantic-looking Theo on the other side, his arm still raised.
“Blazing hell, Jade, where have you been? What happened?” Theo’s crystal blue eyes took her in, and the worry in his expression only compounded. “You missed morning announcements and physicals. And Prince Reynauld was attacked last night.”
Jade’s eyelids squeezed shut for a moment before she gripped Theo’s hand and pulled him into the room.
“You were there,” he said in a sudden realization, his brows raising. “Were you tracking the assassin?”
Jade sighed. “Iwasthe assassin.”
Alarm flooded Theo’s face, but Jade shook her head. “I mean, Reynauld thought I was there to kill him. I was afraid he was being targeted, but he caught me.”
“Jade.” Theo angled his face toward her, his unanswered questions written all over his face. “What happened?”
Before she could answer, Theo dipped his head further, and the panic in his eyes as he met hers again told her he saw the cut under her chin. “Did Reynauld do this?”
Jade nodded, her lips pressed into a tight line. She’d have to go to the beginning, she supposed, and tell Theo everything. It was the least he deserved.
“Sit down. Matherson can wait a few more minutes.” She turned toward the bed to take a seat and dive into her explanation, but Theo caught her left hand and tugged her back toward him.
