Dying embers in the hearth cast a faint orange glow across the floor. The room is exactly as I saw through her eyes. Armoireagainst one wall, washstand near the window, dressing table with its mirror catching the firelight.
And the bed.
She’s curled on her side, one hand tucked beneath her pillow, the other resting on the mattress near her face. Her hair is loose, spread across the pillow in dark tangles. Her breathing is slow but shallow, and even in sleep her face is drawn tight, a frown creasing the space between her eyebrows.
The bandage on her arm is visible above the blanket’s edge. Green cloth wrapped from shoulder to elbow, with darker spots where the blood has seeped through.
I cross to the bed on silent feet and look down at her.
The princess. TheMoirthalen. The human who came to the Dell with excitement in her eyes, ready to hunt me like an animal for sport. Nowshe’sthe one being hunted. There’s a symmetry to it that almost makes me smile.
She looks smaller than I remember.Younger. Asleep, wounded and alone, she’s not the threat she once appeared. She’s just a human girl. Fragile in the way all humans are, convinced of their own importance until they’re snuffed out.
I reach out and touch her forehead with my fingertips.
Her skin is warm. Her pulse flutters at the base of her throat, too fast even in sleep. She’s dreaming. Possibly of the attack. Possibly of me.
I could reach in and find out. I could sift through her dreams, learn what she fears, what she wants, and what secrets she’s hiding. It would be useful. But that’s not why I’m here.
I whisper a word, and send her into a deeper sleep. Her breathing slows, her face goes slack, and the tension drains out of her body. She doesn’t stir at all when I pull back the covers.
She’s wearing a nightdress. Thin white fabric that’s ridden up around her thighs, tangled from restless sleep. The bandageon her arm looks worse up close. It’s been hastily wrapped, too tight in places, already soaked through in others. She clearly had no idea what she was doing, just pressed cloth against the wound and hoped for the best.
I slide one arm beneath her shoulders, the other under her knees, and lift.
She weighs almost nothing. Her head lolls against my chest, her wounded arm dangling until I shift her to cradle it against her body. She smells like soap and blood, and something faintly floral that humans put in their bathwater. The scent fills my lungs with each breath, and I hate it. I hate how close she is. How easy it would be to?—
Therin appears from a doorway nearby, his own arms full. His eyes move over the princess, then back to me.
“Ready to leave?”
We go back the way we came.
Down the stairs, through the hallways, across the grounds. The glamour holds stable. The princess doesn’t stir. Her breathing stays slow and even, her body limp in my arms. The spell will hold for hours yet, long enough to get back to the hollow.
At the outer wall, we slip through the gates behind a patrol, ghosts in their wake. They ride the perimeter, never knowing that we’re taking one of theirs away from them.
Once we’re clear, we summon our mounts. I drape the princess across the saddle.
“She’ll wake up covered in bruises if you ride back with her like that.” Therin’s voice is dry.
“And?”
He levels a look at me. “You’re not a monster, Cairn. No matter what they might claim.”
I want to laugh, and tell him that I’ve been a monster for so long I’ve forgotten what the alternative looks like. The part ofme that might have cared about her comfort died years ago.
Instead, I settle her across the saddle in front of me, her back against my chest, and her head tucked beneath my chin. It’s not comfortable. Her weight is awkward, her body too warm against mine, and every breath I take is full of that damned floral smell.
But she’s secure and won’t fall. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic.” His mouth curves into that irrepressible grin. “Let’s ride.”
Dawn is touching the horizon when we reach the hollow. Pale light filtering through the trees, and birds morning songs filling the branches overhead. We dismiss our steeds, and I carry the princess through the sleeping camp.
Therin follows with his bundle. “Where do you want this?”
“Take it with you.”
