Page 46 of Hunter's Trial
She must not even realize that she’s crying.
I wrap my arms around her, bruising be damned, and hold her tightly enough that it feels like I’m holding all of the pieces of her together. Only then does she settle. Only then does she loosen her hold around my neck and fully sink down into my lap. I shift us both until she’s got her legs draped over my thigh and her shoulder tucked into the crook of my neck.
“You have nothing to apologize for, baby girl.” I smooth her hair down the back of her head.
“Yes, I do! I shouldn’t have told you to leave. We should have figured it out together. I should have… I…”
“Shh. I’m the one who put you in danger in the first place. I’m the one who needs to apologize to you.”
“I just want all of this to be over and done with. I hate it.” Kate says. Her voice tells just how vulnerable she’s feeling. I hook a finger under her chin and lift it so that her teary eyes lock onto mine.
“We will figure it out. I will protect you. I swear.”
Kate’s smile fixes something in my damaged heart. The way that she looks at me makes me believe that I could do absolutely anything.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
KATE
“It’s not much farther now.” I say gently as I guide Nikolai in the direction of the guest room that’s been assigned to me for the night. Just down the hall from where Liz is likely sleeping.
“This is not a good look for me,” Nikolai says through gritted teeth. I’m sure that he’s still in a considerable amount of pain.
“You’ve looked better, that’s true.” I tease him as we cross the threshold of the room. I keep hold of the arm that Nikolai has wrapped over my shoulder as if I’m actually able to support him. He’s pretending that I’m helping him walk, and that’s enough for me for now. “Though, I do think that you’ve looked worse too.”
“Such a flatterer.” Nikolai starts to laugh, and then winces in pain. His free hand reaches to close the door behind us and then moves to wrap around his ribs. He likely still has something broken or bruised in there.
“Don’t laugh if it hurts, you big oaf.” I chastise him as we head toward the ensuite bathroom. I had all last night to get myself cleaned up and showered; but Billy’s blood, the grit and grime from the cell, are all still on Nikolai’s body and clothes. I think that we will both feel better once he’s all cleaned up and I’m not having to actively stare at a reminder of what happened yesterday.
“Where did they put Liz?” Nikolai asks as he shifts his hold from me to the polished bathroom counter. He tries to pull his shirt up and over his head, but he doesn’t seem to have the proper mobility to do it. He tries another angle, but he can’t seem to manage it. He must be more hurt than I originally thought.
“She’s down the hall in Henry’s room.” I say as I step forward to help him remove the dirty shirt from where it’s practically stuck to his body. Quickly. I even behave and refrain from letting myself trace the pronounced muscles in his stomach when I do it.
Nikolai arches a brow in question. I can feel the words that he’s very pointedly trying not to say to me as I move over to the shower and turn it on. I turn the heat to where I personally find it the most comfortable. Everything that we could possibly want is already in that shower. Luxury spa products and the robes on the wall that look impossibly soft. It feels like I’m staying in a five-star hotel instead of somebody’s house. Funny, in a weird way.
Nikolai finally blurts the question that he was poorly attempting to refrain from. “In a boy’s room? A much older boy’s room?”
“He’s not that much older.” I grin, purposefully not elaborating just to see how much it bothers him. It’s damned attractive to me that he is worried about my daughter. I’m more than a little touched by his concern for her. “Besides, Henry would never do anything to make Liz at all uncomfortable. He’s not that kind of kid.”
A muscle tenses in Nikolai’s jaw like he’s about to say something about his son and then catches himself.
I continue before he has the chance to say something silly.
“It’s kind of cute, actually. Liz doesn’t seem to be able to figure out which fantasy prince he reminds her of the most. She says that his hair is the most like Prince Eric’s, but that he doesn’t act like him. Though, she has considered the fact that Prince Eric plays the flute and Henry also has an interest in music. She’s been singing more too.” I answer him easily. Now that I know that he’s watching me, I don’t feel bad for making comments like that. “I think that Henry’s a good influence on her. I am more than happy to let them spend time together while we are staying here. Somebody that she can get to know and have a friendship with that already has something in common with her. They won’t have to keep secrets from one another about their family lives as she would have had to do otherwise.”
I pull my shirt up and over my head, dropping it to the floor before stepping out of my pants as well.
“What are you doing?”
“You couldn’t get your shirt off, do you really think that you’re going to be able to get yourself all washed up on your own?” I say with a knowing smile. I gesture for him to come closer. Tendrils of steam are curling up and out of the bathroom and licking at the ceiling. When he’s close enough, my hands move for his belt buckle.
“You don’t have to–” Nikolai starts to say, letting me know that he doesn’t expect anything to happen.
“Shut up.” I tell him as I push his pants down his hips, and he steps out of them. I open the shower door and follow him inside. I might press myself more closely to him than I need to as I reach for the loofa. My eyes trail over the scars on his body, the tattooed lines over the back of his hip. The new bruises on top of the ones that are still in the process of healing.
I put soap on the loofa and help him wash the blood off his body and out of his hair as gently as I can. The water near our feet turns pink as it rinses him clean. He washes my hair and his hands massaging my scalp feels so incredible. I try not to focus too much on how badly he must be hurt. I also try to not think too hard about the fact that he is still moving around like almost nothing is wrong.
Someday he will tell me the story of how he’s so accustomed to pain.