CHAPTER 28
“Take care of her, Raph.”
Raph’s eyes opened long before dawn broke the horizon. He lay still, his chest rising and falling beneath the sheets after hearing the distant echo of his sister’s voice. In his left shoulder, the dull ache thrummed with the weight of an old memory.
A strange yet familiar lightness rested on his right shoulder. The relief of Camelia’s closeness caught him off guard.
He sat up slowly, his fingers curling into the sheets. His injured shoulder was stiff but quiet. He pressed his good hand flat against his chest, feeling the steady pulse beneath.
After gently rolling Camelia away, he crossed to the window overlooking the gardens. The heavy velvet curtain resisted before he drew it aside.
He lingered there, exhaling into the hush. There was a new emptiness in his chest that was tender and raw. He pressed his palm to his heart as if reassuring himself that something at least still belonged to him. A heavy burden had lifted off him, yet he still felt caged by the secrets that remained.
His sister’s face flickered at the edges of his vision, and he was grateful that some things remained untouched. The duel, the bullet lodged deep in his shoulder, the scar that bound him to silence, all led back to her.
I’m not that boy anymore.
Still, he kept the old defenses.
A soft sound drifted from the bed.
“Raph?”
Raph turned away from the window and raked a hand through his dark hair. “I’m here,” he murmured.
“What’s wrong?” Camelia sat up quickly, worry etched across her delicate features.
“I was just thinking.”
“Come here.” She beckoned to him like a siren out at sea, and he listened to her.
He crossed the floor until he reached her, gathering her in his arms. She curled around him, fitting perfectly.
“Thank you for yesterday.” Her voice was soft and almost shy.
Raph turned his head on the pillow, one eyebrow arched. “What exactly are you thanking me for, Duchess? You’ll have to be specific. Yesterday was… thorough.”
A flush crept onto her cheeks, but she didn’t look away. “For making love to me in ways I did not imagine possible,” she said, the words steady despite the color in her face. “And for staying afterward. For holding me. For not leaving the bed the moment it was over.”
He studied her for a moment, something unreadable flickering in her eyes.
“I believe you asked me to stay,” he said.
“Still, you could have rolled over, stared at the canopy, and reminded me it was only duty. But you didn’t.”
Raph exhaled through his nose. “I’m not always a complete bastard, Camelia.”
“Only on Tuesdays,” she teased, then grew serious again. “Truly, Raph. When you stayed… when you let me fall asleep against your chest, I felt—” She paused, searching for the right word. “Safe.”
“Safe?” he repeated, his voice rougher than he had intended.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Safe. Wanted. Not just… well, a duty.”
Raph felt a sharp pang in his chest.
I should tell her the whole truth.
But the promise silenced him, again.
