“Give me a second.” I stand, throw off my armor and vambraces. “Don’t move.”
She stares up at me with those unfathomable eyes, made larger and blacker by the thick rim of her lashes. I wait for her nod before turning into smoke and streaking toward the healing quarters, which Arin stocks with salves that she pulps and brews herself, thanks to her flourishing herb garden.
I gather gauze, a safety pin, and a bottle labeled: “Staunches bleeding.”
I tuck everything inside my trousers’ waistband, then shift and return to my injured mate.
Who isnotin my bed.
I’m about to storm the castle to locate her when I hear the water running in my bathing chamber. I step inside to find her standing naked in my shower with her face tipped up and her eyes closed. I pull my healing paraphernalia from my waistband and lay it out on the dark stone sink top.
Zendaya must sense my presence because she glances over her shoulder at me and sighs. “No work.”
“What”—I swallow—“doesn’t work?” I clear my throat that’s grown husky at the sight of her glistening, tanned flesh. It isn’t the first time I’ve laid eyes on her naked form, but it’s the first time she stands naked in a space that is mine, knowing full well how fucking attracted I am to her.
“Shift to Serpent.” She spins the dial on the wall. I’m surprised she even knew how it worked considering they don’thave showers in her homeland, though they do have pipes and levers.
I rub the back of my neck and attempt to keep my gaze leveled on her face as she takes a towel and pats her skin dry, avoiding her gash.
“What you bring?” She is now rubbing the towel over her hair while the rest of her…the rest of her is bare.
“What?” I blink at her.
A small smile plays on her lips as she nods to my sink top.
“Ointment to stop the bleeding and a bandage to wrap around your thigh.” My heart begins to racket as I picture wrapping the dressing and, holy fuck…I should probably suggest she do it herself. My leather breeches are suddenly so tight that I half expect to burst through the laces.
She’s hurt, you fucking creep,I chide my cock that keeps swelling.
I close my eyes, nostrils flaring as I try to calm down before I put my hands on her body and play doctor.
“Cathal?” Her bright voice agitates my blood some more.
When I feel her hand on my jaw, I snap my lids up.
She flinches and lowers her arm. I want to snatch her wrist and carry her palm back to my cheek. I want her to touch me again. Instead, I snatch the bottle of ointment and unscrew the lid, and then I sprinkle the elixir onto my fingers and carefully slather the wound. Her hiss catches on my earlobe.
“Bearable?”
Teeth denting her bottom lip, she nods. Arin’s ointment works like a charm. Although it doesn’t magically seal Zendaya’s wound, the black essence that runs through her veins no longer dribbles out.
My hand shakes as I set the bottle back down and seize the gauze. “I—um…I…”
She tilts her head.
“I’m going to wrap this around your, uh, leg.”
She nods.
I step to the side before crouching, because unlike when she crouched before me, I’ve not an ounce of innocence. If I crouch in front of her mound, or in front of her ass…Mórrígan have mercy on my soul.
Keeping my gaze locked on the gash and the bruised skin ringing it, I unroll the gauze and begin to wrap it. Too low. I tug the strip up until it shelters the wound, then loop it once more, a little more snugly this time. As I pass the roll between her legs, my knuckle grazes her slit which causes a shallow breath to leave her lips and a ragged one to leave mine.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—” I glower at her wound. “Touch you there.”
Her throat clenches. “Like Fallon say, fair and square now.”
“Let’s not talk about our daughter right now.”
