I wanted to tell him that he had made me feel like I was the lucky one, not him, but I couldn’t manage to say the words.
“So let’s act like we’re still back there, in our crappy Institute apartment. You can touch me, and I’ll touch you. We can just… forget. It can’t hurt now. Nothing can hurt us. Not anymore.” There were literally no more surprises that would make this situation any harder than what it already was. Might as well make the best out of the worst.
Charlie chuckled softly. “Is it a good idea to not have our clothes on when the Warden’s trying to get in here?”
“Too bad. I’ll fist-fight him naked. Maybe he’ll get weirded out and leave.”
Charlie gave another sad laugh. “Here’s hoping.”
Charlie shifted against me. “Will you let me kiss you?”
My throat got so tight I had to choke out my reply. “Yes. And make it a good one. I never want to forget it.”
What I was really saying was I never wanted to forget him. I hoped he knew that.
“Okay.” Charlie’s lips brushed against mine, softly at first, before he pressed the kiss deeper. I accepted his tongue into my mouth, sucking his lower lip lightly before softly biting the tip of his tongue. Charlie moaned, his hands running down my back and through my hair as he drew me closer.
I’d forgotten how good of a kisser he was. He could make my whole body glow with just his lips alone. I forgot about everything— forgot that he was supposed to be my ex-husband, forgot that I hated him, forgot everything wrong he’d ever done as his hands wandered across the front of my gown, caressing my breasts.
I moved to slip my hand inside his pants, wandering my fingers down his length. He sighed in gentle relief, and I felt my broken heart relax. Soft, kind feelings of passion and endearment kept building, until I swore I felt the tiniest bit of myself connect to him again. We moved slowly together, him massaging between my legs and me stroking his length. The intimate moment wrapped around us like a protective blanket, until I could slip away and make believe that we were the only people in the world that existed once again.
This felt so sweet and innocent— it nearly resembled our first time. We’d done so much in the Sanctuary together, so many erotic and devious things to satisfy each of our dark desires, and I’d enjoyed every second, but this moment was different. It was nothing but pure, devoted love, a reminder of what we’d once been as husband and wife, and I was willing to accept it. There wasn’t any weight hanging over us about what I’d done, and what he did. Our mistakes were pointless. The only thing that mattered was acknowledging we were going down together.
While Charlie was touching me, I felt warmth seep outward, though the sensation was off. I felt wetter than I ever had before. I opened my eyes for a moment and noticed his fingers were streaked with blood.
I felt a chill sweep across my cheeks as my face went pale. I yanked up my skirt, looking down. Below me, I sat in a puddle of blood, which was quickly soaking my thighs. “Charlie? I’m… I’m bleeding.”
He stilled. “What? I just thought you were?—”
“No, that’s blood. There’s a lot of it.”
Oberi popped up from the floor, panting and looking panicked. He began barking his head off, pacing around the room and emitting loud whines.
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
“I don’t know, he’s just freaking out.” Charlie shook his head. “It’s just a bunch of jumbled words. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, he wouldn’t be acting like this if there wasn’t something wrong with me.” My heartbeat pounded as I felt an innate instinct that I’d missed something in a big way.
Charlie jumped up from the bed. My throat tightened when I realized that his clothes were soaked with blood— my blood— and I hadn’t realized until now. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
He didn’t even put me in my chair, he just stooped down to carry me. Charlie lifted me into his arms, and he hurried to leave the apartment as Oberi ran ahead of us, barking the whole way.
The halls were pretty empty at this point. It looked like everyone had run out into the city to fight the Warden, who was still banging on the shield outside.
At this point, I barely heard it. My mind was racing to come up with explanations. If I was bleeding, why didn’t I feel any pain? I hadn’t noticed anything different when I got up. Everything seemed normal.
We passed Eddie in the hallway. He was fully armored, carrying a sword like he planned to personally battle the Warden head-on. He dropped it when he saw Charlie carrying me through the halls, and the blood trail I was dripping behind on the floor. “Princess!”
“Come with us. We might need you,” I ordered. Eddie dropped whatever he was doing and hastily went to follow, Oberi barking at him to hurry up.
The hospital was nearly deserted, because most of the staff had run out to deal with the current crisis. Even so, a small group of doctors and nurses looked up when Charlie nearly kicked the door in. They blanched at the blood droplets accumulating at his shoes.
“Ava’s hurt,” Charlie told them. “We don’t know what’s wrong.”
A nurse glanced at the blood staining the skirt of my dress. “We have a room prepared at all times for members of the monarchy in case of emergencies. Come.”
They got me into a bed, where a group of staff started poking and prodding me, checking the area I was bleeding from. I didn’t tell Charlie to leave. I needed him here, to be some sort of anchor within the chaos. Oberi sat with his head on the side of the bed, his eyeballs shifting left and right as the staff moved to figure out what was going on.
