I left the hall and stepped out, flying east and landing on the decking outside of the open doorway of the healing rooms. I stood there for a moment, looking into the main room as the curtains shifted in the breeze. The sweet, balmy smell of elixirs greeted me.
No one was in the spacious front room and I walked through and to the back. The door was open, showing Jacqueline as she stood next to a tall, slim table with a vase displaying lush, colorful flowers. She had her arms wrapped around herself and was watching a hologram of her sitting and laughing with Jaron. It looked like it had been taken during the festival.
I folded my wings tightly against my back to make myself seem smaller and stepped inside, slow and careful with my movements. Like prey about to be caught, her head snapped up and she froze, eyes on me.
“Jacqueline.” I kept my voice soft but didn’t make a move toward her.
Confusion and fear and yearning all warred in her gaze as she took me in. My face and horns, my wings and claws, so different from her soft, delicate form. Would she call me a monster?
She swallowed. “Where have you been?”
I took a step toward her and when she didn’t flinch or back away, I continued forward. “I’ve missed you,” I murmured, stopping a short distance from her.
“You haven’t been here at all.” Her voice broke, and she looked up at the ceiling as though it might help with the moisture gathering in her eyes.
“I’m here now.” I raised my arm, inviting her to me. She watched me with a combination of wariness and hope.
A moment passed, the tension between us palpable. I feared she would ask me to leave and when she stepped toward me it took everything in me not to sweep her into my arms.
She came to me, carefully, watching my face as though I might bear my fangs and make a move to tear into her. I kept myself still and she rested her head against my chest. Slowly, I brought my arms around and caressed her arms, her back. I cupped the back of her head and needed her neck. She slowly relaxed into me and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of her against me. Her heartbeat against my chest, her face pressed against me, the silken skin that I lightly ran my fingers over. It felt right.
We stood like that for a long time until she finally pulled back. I didn’t drop my hands but cupped her shoulder blades. Not hard enough to keep her against me, but enough that she knew I wanted her to stay close. She tilted her head back so she could see me and met my gaze.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
I almost laughed in disbelief. “Why would you ask me such a nonsense question? You’re the one who was shot in the side after being knocked around.”
She swallowed. “I saw you fighting. You…” she seemed to struggle to find the words. “…tore them apart.” Her voice broke again.
Ripples went through my wings and they ached as I watched fear encroach on her gaze.
I cupped her face and brought mine down slowly until my forehead rested on hers. “Jacqueline, you mean so much to me.” I paused. I wanted the words to sink in, for her to believe me despite the frightening things she’d seen. “We were ambushed, I was trying to stay alive and protect my vorpyrren. I would never, never harm you.”
“I’ve had nightmares,” she whispered, a tear overflowing and trickling down her cheek.
I dipped my head and kissed her cheek, taking the salty tear into my mouth, before raising to kiss the edge of her eye. She leaned into me and I let my lips linger against her.
“Let me take you to my rooms. Let me guard you tonight. I want to take care of you, Jacqueline.” I didn’t know if it would help her nightmares or make them worse, but I had to do something. I was a Vorazyr, I protected and cared for my own. And Jacqueline was mine and mine alone.
She pulled away from me and I clenched my hands into fists to keep from reaching for her.
A sharp inhale greeted my statement. “That can’t be true, you gave us back with no issue. You said that we weren’t worth anything, that you just used me.” She bit her lip.
I rubbed one of my horns. “I was trying to antagonize the Consortium general. I said what I did to hurthim, not you. I didn’t mean what I said about you. You have to know that. What we share is beautiful and unique and important to me.”
“And yet you threw us away the first chance you got.”
“No. It enraged me that I had to let you go. Believe me, we tried everything. I tried as hard as I could to negotiate you out of the deal. We had hours of meetings day after day. Do you remember the human made tranquilizing dart we found?” I couldn’t help but reach out to her and softly brush a bit of unruly hair back from her face. “They kidnapped a pregnant female. It killed me to do it, but the female they took delivered a child while held captive by them. I couldn’t allow them to keep her and the babe and they refused all my other offers. They wanted you three along with the resources we negotiated.”
Her lips parted in shock, her eyes sharpening behind the sheen of tears that had been threatening this whole time. “I didn’t know.”
I huffed a hard breath through my nose, my wings restless. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
“Did you get her?”
“No. They had no intention of going through with the trade we negotiated.”
“Are you sure there’s not some mistake?” More tears welled in her eyes but when I stepped toward her, she stepped back and I stilled.
