Page 70 of Tarnished Crown

“Well, that would have been a waste of a perfectly good political prisoner, and a bit of a mess for Bea--” I cut off with a cough, my parched throat giving out on me.

“Here, you need water.” Evander twisted around, presumably to get some from the side table, but I suspected it was also to hide the strange expression crossing his features.

The movement gave me a clear view of his very unclothed back, and a gasp escaped my lips.

White lines crisscrossed his skin, contrasting deeply with the smooth tan around them. They varied in thickness, and some of them had healed cleanly while others were knotted...like perhaps they hadn’t had time to stitch themselves back together before they were broken open again.

He froze, his shoulders going taut.

“Are you, too, an escape artist?” I kept my tone casual, not wanting to make it worse for him.

He turned back toward me slowly, though his posture remained rigid.

“Something like that,” he muttered.

Curiosity crept in through my fatigue. If floggings were common here, did that just mean he was more rebellious than most? But how early did that start? Some of those scars had looked too old to be from his time as a soldier.

Before I could question him--if I even would have--he pressed the cup of water into my grasp. I brought it to my lips with trembling hands, cursing the residual weakness from the fever. For a moment, the only sound in the room was my overly loud gulps as I downed the entire glass.

My wrists burned where the cup brushed against them, and I realized they were raw, chafed from the cuffs. On my left wrist was a mostly healed puncture wound from where the lotus charm had pierced my skin.

Perfect.I should have taken it off when I read Theo’s letter, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to rid myself of what little comfort I had here.

Just one in a long line of lapses in judgment.

I looked away from the damaged skin, and several beats of silence passed between Evander and me.

He didn’t remind me that he had specifically warned me against leaving my rooms, and I didn’t remind him that I wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for him.

What were you supposed to say when someone first put you in danger and then rescued you from it several times over?

My body solved that problem for me with an enormous yawn. I belatedly covered my face with my hand, wincing when the motion pulled at my back.

“I’ll go so you can rest.”

“No.” The word escaped my lips before I could stop it, but I didn’t try to contradict myself.

I didn’t want to be in this room alone when Ava was somewhere in this house, probably hoping her punishment had killed me. Possibly planning to try again.

I didn’t want to be alone. Period.

And stars knew it was far too late to argue propriety.

He let out a slow breath, searching my features before speaking in a carefully neutral tone. “You want me to stay?”

Holding his gaze, I nodded, slowly.

After only another moment’s hesitation, he pulled a book from his nightstand and settled back against his pillow. He looked exhausted, and part of me wanted to tell him to get some rest, too.

But another, less reasonable part couldn’t deny that I felt better knowing he was keeping watch.

After all, he clearly had a vested interest in keeping me alive, even if his reasons for that felt a little murkier every day.

CHAPTER47

Evander was gone when I woke up.

My heartbeat pounded in my chest, and I cursed myself for caring. For believing that he would stay. For feeling safer when he was around even though he was myowner. For--