“Are you nuts? No. You’re badly burned.”
His eyes meet mine, flashing dangerously. “I’m fine. The pain’s tolerable right now. We need to get you back and get your leg treated. Now put your arms around my neck, so I can get us on Noxlyn and get us out of here.”
“I’m not—”
“Harper, I am hanging on here by a thread. Before I lose complete control and destroy everybody and everything in our vicinity, would you put your arms around my neck?!”
“Rauk,” Shane says in a warning voice.
“Thorne, get them out of here,” Rauk demands in an icy voice I don’t recognize.
I am aware of the absolute silence moments later. “Why did you make them leave?” I ask in confusion.
“So, I don’t kill them.” He strides forward while I try to process his words.
“What are you—” the words get lodged in my chest when he moves and my leg jostles, causing white hot pain to flare. I blink and try to breathe through the pain.
“I’m sorry,” he says in a voice that sounds different than it normally does. But I can’t focus past anything but the pain. I drop my head to my chest and try to breathe through the pain. Everything around me sort of fades in and out. My leg is pulsing in pain to the tempo of my heartbeat again. The pain keeps coming until finally Rauk is still. “We’re going to fly now.” I try to lift my head from his chest, but I’m not currently capable. I feel something feather soft at my hairline, but I can’t process anything outside of the pain.
For the second time in so many weeks, I ride in Rauk’s lap on Noxlyn’s back.Are you with us?I suddenly remember to send to Redara.
Right next to you.
The ride seems to take forever, but I know the exact moment Nox lands. Rauk lifts me against his chest. “We just have to get off now. Hang on. I’ll need my hands for this part.” Even though I don’t want to put my hands anywhere near his back, I don’t want to be dropped from up here. I wrap my arms around hisstrong neck, being careful to keep them high so they don’t touch his injured back. The second he’s on the ground, he starts barking orders.
“You do remember you’re not king here, don’t you?” I ask him.
“You do realize I don’t care, don’t you?” he responds. “We need a room, and I need your best healer to set her leg.” I put my hand on his chest.
“Put me down.”
He doesn’t skip a beat. “No, and we need pain reliever.”
“Put me down, Rauk,” I try again. “I can—”
Suddenly his eyes are in front of my own. “If you say walk, I’m going to murder someone.”
My eyes widen. “What is your deal? Why are you so unhinged?”
“Unhinged?” He laughs, but there’s no warmth. He starts on the wooden walkway over the water. “Do you want to see unhinged, Harper? Just try walking to where we need to go,” he all but growls at me. I’m ready to lay him out when somebody bumps into him. White hot pain flares through me, and I nearly cry out in pain as I drop my head to his chest again. “Watch where you’re going!” he roars at some poor innocent person, but I can’t lift my head to tell him to chill. I take in a deep breath, trying to breathe through the pain. I take another deep breath and keep up the motion. In some far part of my mind, I catalogue Rauk’s scent. It’s everything that’s him. It’s icy and cold and yet somehow feels warm and comforting. I realize the pain must be making me lose my mind.
Somebody stops to talk to Rauk, and then I hear multiple voices. But between the headache blooming behind my eyes and the pain in my leg, I don’t really process any of it. It seems to take forever, but finally, all the sounds fade away. I manage to open my eyes and realize we’re in a house; it doesn’t take me long to realize it’s the same house I stayed in when I was here with Kinsley months ago. I feel movement, and then we stop. “If I’m going to lay you down, you need to release me,” I finally hear Rauk say. His words take a moment to register. When they do, I automatically pull my hands from his neck, and then I’m being lowered to a bed. The softness wraps around me, and even though my leg is screaming at me, the rest of my body sighs in relief. “Open your mouth.” I look up at him and realize he’s like, right there. “They told me this will melt under your tongue. Once it hits your system, it will give you relief and then knock you out.” I’d do anything for relief at this point, so I don’t question him. I open my mouth, and he sticks something under my tongue.
“What about you?” I ask.
He pulls back but doesn’t move far from me. “What about me?”
“How’s your pain?” I ask.
His dark eyes meet mine. “Better. You need to rest.”
“Are you going to?” I question. “Because if you aren’t, I’m not.”
His eyes narrow on me. “You are so stubborn.”
I shrug. “Takes one to know one.”
He stares at me, and I can’t read the expression on his face. “If I lay next to you and rest, will you rest?”
