Page 406 of Reign

I carry her beneath the shower and lower her carefully onto her feet.

She stands.

I keep both hands on her anyway.

Water moves over us. I rinse the last traces of blood from her hair. Her face. Her shoulders. My hands move over her because I need to feel warm skin beneath them.

Alive.

Here.

My fingers pass over her upper arm and I stop. Dark marks are deepening beneath her skin.

His fingers.

Something violent rises inside me again.

I force it down because there’s no one left to kill.

My thumb moves carefully beneath the bruises. Elena flinches, and I pull my hand away immediately.

“Sorry.”

Her gaze drops to my hand.

“It wasn’t you.”

The words do nothing to quiet what’s moving beneath my skin.

“He shouldn’t have gotten close enough to touch you.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I knew enough.”

I increased the guards. Changed rotations. Brought men back from Florida. Put security around her until she complained about being watched.

And never once reconsidered the people already inside my gates.

“When you moved in, I should’ve vetted everyone again,” I say. “The gardener. The staff. Every person with access to this property.”

“That doesn’t make this your fault.”

“It makes it my failure.”

Her lips part, but I keep going.

“Rafael is coming back tonight. He’s the only man I trust without question. I’m calling Korsakov too. I want additional men here. Snipers if he can spare them. Then I’m checking every person who has ever crossed this property.”

Elena says nothing.

I wash the blood from myself, shut off the water, and wrap her in a towel.

She lets me dry her.

Lets me carry her into the bedroom.

Lets me put one of my shirts over her head and guide her arms through the sleeves.