He stepped forward, and she took a step back. He took another step forward, and her back hit the wall. Caspian put his hand on the wall beside her face, boxing her in, and gazed down at her intently.
He touched her cheek. “Kiss me,” he ordered, a man confident of the response he would receive.
She paused, reining in her anger and considering her next words carefully. “You will have another woman’s blood on your lips in less than an hour’s time. I owe you nothing tonight.”
She ducked under his arm and walked away.
“Elizabeth. Why have you gone so cold with me? What must I do to warm your affections?”
“As. If. You. Care,” she said acidly, and left him standing in the hall.
She asked Fiza to draw her a bath as she tried not to hear the voices in the hall or the door shutting as they went hunting for some poor woman.
Someone Elizabeth could not save from the horrors that were coming for her.
After her bath, she changed into a nightgown and spent the night reading. She couldn’t stomach the idea of reading nonfiction tonight. Her eyes burned, and the words blurred when she tried. She picked up an old novel, one she’d read countless times, looking for something lighthearted to occupy her thoughts. An escape from this world, if only for a few hours. She dove into her book, devouring the pages until the burning in her eyes eased.
Sometime later, someone knocked on her door.
It was Caspian.
“Hello, Elizabeth,” he said, his face cold and expressionless.
“Hello, Caspian,” she said coolly.
He held his arms out, waiting.
“Come here,” he said.
Confused, she hesitated and walked into his embrace, not sure what to expect. His arms encircled her, pulling her in and holding her close.
She waited for the trick.
She stood stiffly, and a minute passed, and then two.
When his arms were still around her, and he showed no sign of letting go, she relaxed, the tension slowly easing from her shoulders.
He held her for what felt like an eternity—the devil himself offering her safe shelter.
He held her until, somehow, all her hurt melted away, and all her anger dissolved into nothing. How could she stay angry in the circle of his arms? She nestled into his embrace, her head on his shoulder.
After some time, he pulled back. “Better?” he asked, raising his brows as if the answer mattered.
She sniffed and nodded. “A little.”
“Good,” he said, wrapping his arms around her again. His lips found her forehead. There wasn’t any romance behind it. The act was purely comforting.
A silent apology from a man she knew couldn’t find the words to say it.
She wondered why he had bothered at all, but she was glad he had. She felt an unseen weight on her shoulders fall away and found a place of safety in his arms she would have never imagined existed.
She knew he had gone hunting some poor soul tonight, but she was afraid to ask.
Afraid to confirm it.
She wanted to live in ignorance and stay in the circle of his arms forever.
***
