I turn to him in a daze, blinking away blood, then peer at the prisoner again. His upper body is a mass of gleaming crimson. His beaten face is pale and lax, head hanging against the back of the chair. Blood trickles down his legs and pools on the stones under his feet. My face and hands are sticky with it.
Killian is looking at me with unguarded worry. We’re alone. The second guard is long gone. But he must have seen… must have heard the screams.
I lift the red-slick knife in my hand and wait to be disgusted at what I’ve done.
But I don’t. I can’t. I’d do it again and again to protect my sister and all the other commoner children.
Anassa’s voice fills my head, thick with wrath.
“Some people deserve to die.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Idon’t remember most of the trek back to Killian’s chamber. A miserable sort of numbness falls over me, thinking of Sae. Wondering if the man I just killed really was the one who took her away.
Not for the first time, I think of how terrified she must have been. How alone she must have felt.
The numbness melts away, replaced by that dark, shadowed wave of violence once more. It makes me want to kill that piece of shit all over again. And his brother and all their friends, too.
Scum of the fucking kingdom.
I start to come back to myself when Killian guides me into the bathing chamber connected to his bedroom. This place puts the Bonded washroom to shame. Elaborate mosaics cover the walls, dotted with precious stones that catch the lamplight like stars. There’s a deep tub set into the floor, large enough that it could hold ten people comfortably, steam already rising from water that smells of richly fragrant oils.
“You should clean up,” Killian says, his gaze scouring me without judgment. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
I’m sure I look awful right now, given how sticky my face and hands are. But he’s not flinching from the sight. He never has.Killian has always,alwaystaken me as I am. Accepted my wild side and helped me resist my more self-destructive instincts.
He turns to go and I catch his wrist, the part of me that has been fighting him finally turned silent. I think back to how he tortured the prisoner so calmly.
How calculated and brutal he was. How much I liked seeing him that way.
I’m exhausted and disappointed that we didn’t find out anything about Saela, and more than anything, I’m done.
Done fighting this, done pretending that I don’t ache to be in his arms, having him take care of me.
“Stay,” I say plainly.
His sapphire eyes snap to mine and he takes a step closer. “You’re sure?” he asks.
“Positive,” I say. “I’ve missed you.”
He reaches out, calmly taking one of my hands into his larger ones and turning it over. “I’ve missed you too, kitten. You didn’t cut yourself?” The blood on them is dried and cracking now. It starts to flake away under his unflinching touch.
“I don’t think so,” I murmur.
“Good,” he says. “Let’s get you bathed.”
He unbuttons my blood-soaked shirt and peels it away, stepping closer to me, the heat of his body already warming me. Killian leans down and kisses my filthy cheek, my shoulder, my breastbone, working my breast binding off with his agile fingers. His hands slide down to my hips and he helps me wriggle out of my pants and underthings.
Then he steps back and stares hungrily at my naked, bloodied form. My cheeks flush.
“I’m sure I look frightful,” I say.
“You’re the most beautiful you’ve ever been.”
My heart swells and suddenly I can sense Anassa’s presence growing stronger in my mind. Mortified and acting on instinct, I slam down the iron wall between us.
“Not this,” I think desperately at her, hoping it reaches her behind the barrier. “You are not welcome to my intimate moments.”
