My throat closes up just at the sound of his worried voice.
When I don’t respond, he pushes the handle down and cracks the door open. But I can’t look in his direction. Because if I do, I know that I will start crying. So I just keep my eyes on the pale stone wall ahead. Soft white light from the faelight gems in the ceiling makes the walls shimmer and casts glittering sparkles over the still water in the bath. It’s beautiful and serene, but it does nothing to soothe the ache in my chest.
I can hear Draven walking across the smooth stone floor. Then he becomes visible in the corner of my eye as he stops right next to the bathtub and crouches down. I bite my lip hard to stop myself from crying.
With gentle movements, he reaches out and grabs my chin. Then he turns my face towards his. He is kneeling there on the floor, right by the side of the bathtub. His black hair is slightly mussed, as if he has just raked a hand through it, but it’s dry now since it has been a long while since his own bath. He’s still only wearing a pair of black underwear, though.
The moment my eyes lock on his golden ones, that sob I’ve been trying to keep at bay immediately rips from my chest, and tears start streaming down my cheeks.
Sadness washes over his handsome features. “Oh, little rebel.”
Cupping my cheeks, he leans over the side of the bathtub and kisses my forehead. Then he stands up and bends down over me instead. Sliding one arm underneath my knees and the other under my back, he lifts me out of the bath.
Water splashes down on the smooth stone floor as he turns away from the bathtub and then gently sets me down on thefloor. My soaked hair falls down my back, and water runs down from my entire body.
Draven immediately wraps a fluffy dark blue towel around me. Warmth fills my body at the comforting sensation. Once the large towel envelops me fully, Draven carefully moves my wet hair so that it is draped over the soft fabric instead of lying plastered to my skin. Grabbing another towel, he begins squeezing the water out of my hair.
The care in each of his gentle movements just breaks my heart all over again. Sobs rack my body and tears stream down my cheeks. I bury my face in the fluffy towel as Draven finishes drying my hair.
Once he’s done, he wraps his arms around me and holds me tightly to his warm body. For a while, we just stay like that. With my head bowed and my face still buried in the towel, I remain there in his strong embrace until my body has stopped shaking so badly.
Then he picks me up again and carries me back into the bedroom.
Glowing light bathes the room, making it feel even more warm and inviting after the cold water I have been submerged in for so long.
Draven sets me down on the dark blue sheets of the double bed and then walks over to the wooden dresser by the wall and picks up a silver hairbrush. I just sit there on the edge of the soft mattress, trying to force myself to stop crying, while Draven walks back and climbs onto the bed.
Settling behind me on the mattress, he begins combing out my hair. His strong body is a steady warmth behind me, holding me together while he works. Tears slide down my cheeks as he gently combs through the tangles. The feeling of his muscular body behind me combined with his comforting brush strokes through my hair is so soothing that every time he draws thathairbrush softly through my hair, I manage to piece myself back together a little more.
When he’s done, and I can feel him brushing my already smooth hair just so that he can continue giving me that calming sensation, the tears on my cheeks have finally stopped falling and I have at last managed to compose myself again.
Still wrapped in that soft warm towel, I turn around and pull myself up fully onto the bed so that I can face Draven instead. His eyes are filled with so much worry and love when he meets my gaze that my chest tightens again.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my voice coming out small and strained.
Pain flickers in his eyes at the sound of it, and he sets the hairbrush down on the dark wooden nightstand before scooting closer to me again. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulls me close to his chest and holds me.
Suddenly desperate to feel his warmth, I pull back slightly from him so that I can throw off the towel. The damp fabric flutters in the air as I toss it down on the floor next to the bed. Then I bury myself in Draven’s chest again and move us both so that we’re lying on the soft dark blue sheets instead. He wraps his arms around me again, holding me close.
The extraordinary warmth from his body seeps into mine, thawing that terrible coldness that had begun to spread through me. I hold him tightly, pressing my cheek against his firm chest and breathing in his intoxicating scent of night mist and embers.
He starts gently stroking my back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
My heart swells with love. Love for this perfect man who knows exactly what I need. The towels, the hairbrush, the gentle care, and this perfect question. Not:What happened?Not assuming that I will tell him everything that happened. Instead, he is asking if I evenwantto talk about it.
Oh Goddess, what did I ever do to deserve this man?
I drag in a deep breath to compose myself. “Haldia couldn’t heal Orion’s eye. She can’t grow a new eye from nothing.”
Draven continues stroking my back. “I heard. When I went to ask about mending your fighting leathers, I heard some of his staff talking about it. He must be devastated.”
“He is.” My chest tightens painfully again. “I’ve always just thought that we will all make it through this. That we will all somehow be okay in the end. But now… Now, I’m terrified that we won’t.”
He pulls me even closer, his arm tightening around me while he still continues to stroke my back in that comforting way.
“We have to make it through this,” I declare, my voice filled with desperation. “All of us. Because I want everything. I want you. I want my freedom. I want my friends. All of them. Orion included. I want love and happiness and safety and laughter and adventure and opens skies and endless horizons. I want my happily ever after. I want everything, Draven. I want fuckingeverything!”
Those final words tear out of my throat like a defiant cry to this cruel world that has denied me that all my life.
