Gone to the South Wing, I knew. I shared one single look with Maudoric, and she inclined her head in knowing.
“He’ll be okay,” I promised her, though it sounded more like comfort for myself. “I’ll make sure of it.”
I turned from the doorway and ran past the soldiers and the keepers, whispering in a corner. I could only imagine the talk at the kitchen table in the morning.
I had to believe Kaldur would be okay. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t worry. But he’d been so weakened lately. I didn’t know how much blood a Kylorr could lose before it became a mortal wound.
My worries made me run as fast as I could through the keep, back to the South Wing, taking every shortcut I knew.
When I reached our corridor, I saw the light underneath the door ofhisroom. Not mine.
My brow furrowed. He’d thought to hide this from me?
I didn’t knock. I barged through his door, just as I’d done the night we’d made our child.
His balcony door was open. Even I could smell the sharp metallic tang of blood, and it only made my fear rise.
“Kaldur!” I called, slamming the door behind me.
The fire wasn’t lit, but there was a single Halo orb humming in the center of the room, casting out a glow of golden light. It deepened and sharpened the shadows across the room.
“Where are?—”
“I’m here,” came his voice, from a darkened corner of hissitting room. There was a chair there, and I saw the gleam in his silver eyes when the Halo light turned and a golden ray hit him.
“So stubborn,” I breathed, tears of relief pushing into my eyes when he stood.
I heard his pained wince when he did as I flew over to him, already sweeping my hair over my shoulder.
Kaldur eyed me, his breathing labored. I scanned his body, finding a wet bloom of black blood along his side, around his hip and appearing to curve around his back, the material of his tunic completely shredded.
It felt like there was a lump of fear lodged in my throat, one I couldn’t swallow down. Itwasa lot of blood…and already he’d been weak.
I looked into his already scarred face, my hands reaching for him.
“No tears,” he grumbled, seeing them make little rivulets down my cheeks. “Please,dallia, I can’t stand to see you cry.”
I unclasped his tunic with trembling fingers, ignoring him, my heart beating fast. Kaldur grunted when I helped him out of his shirt, peeling it away from the flesh wound along his side. I reached out for the Halo orb, bringing it around so that I could see the entirety of the wound.
The smooth flesh was torn in one jagged slice.Lyvinshad a singular sharp claw on their fore limbs. Their back claws had more.
“It’ll heal,” he grunted.
Determination rose in me when I saw the wound, covered in his blood.Stillbleeding. He’d been sitting in the chair because he’d been exhausted. From the short flight up to his balcony?
Enough.
“You’re right,” I said. “It will heal.”
I came back around to Kaldur’s front, and his eyes met mine. His bloodied hand started to come to my cheek, before he remembered the state of it.
“I’m all right,dallia,” he murmured. His voice was pained, and suddenly I was so angry at him. I was angry, frightened, worried, and wanting him.
He drove me to madness. He was equally wonderful and horribly frustrating.
I pushed at his chest, walking forward until he took a step back. The backs of his knees met the chair, and my hand on his chest made a fist. I beat it against the hard flesh to push him down.
His brow furrowed as he sprawled into the chair, grunting when the movement jostled the wound.
