Warlord's Ward

Enlightenment

I couldn't imagine anything King Detry could possess that'd make Warlord cave to his whims. I stared into his blue eyes and saw only resignation and pain.

Who'd have thought he was capable of pain.

"Why'd you save me?" I blurted. Reaching up to catch a handful of wet dark hair. Surprised at his thickness as I pushed it back behind his ear to better see him. Despite that he was now clothed, that dense mane still hung in heavy straight strands, dampening his shirt.

A flick of his hand could dry it instantly.

What am I doing touching him?

The look on his face was nearly as startled as I was sure mine was.

Why'd I move his hair? It was such an achingly intimate gesture.

To try and read him. I could admit I'd been having a hard time with that since I'd gotten here. Nothing I'd seen so far matched the character that he projected. That everyone said he was before I met him.

"Because I could." He said simply.

***

"But why?" I gave him a penetrating look as I forced my tone strong enough to demand an answer.

"I felt your fear, your haplessness, sensed who you were. And I didn't want to see you die out there, the way all your kin had."

"You could feel me?" I reared back slightly.

His lips whitened as if he sensed my next question.

"Then why do you not sense the heart of the others you murdered that day?" I was baffled.

"I did."

I was astounded at that revelation. I couldn't imagine feeling who someone really was and taking their life anyway. I couldn't decide if it made him more cruel or stronger for being capable of doing such a thing. I was horrified. Looking at his face, I thought I suddenly understood the anguish I read there.

Anguish for knowing so many souls before he took their lives. Pain he could never compensate for what he destroyed. But somehow...

Feeling he has no other choice.

What the devil does the King have on him? I was dying of curiosity and couldn't resist asking the question.

"How does he control you?"

His face hardened. Jaw lifting as those blue eyes turned cold. Staring down his nose at me.

***

"Is the blood off me?" He queried tonelessly. Turning smoothly so I could inspect him.

I frowned. Eyeing him suspiciously.

His demeanor had changed so fast. Making him look dark and dangerous. And he was glowering at me as though I were his enemy.

Sensing danger, I took a step back. Trying to put space between us. "It appears so."

"Good. I must go." He said briskly. Striding past me, so coldly that he bumped me with his shoulder.

"Why do you do that?" I called after him.

"What?" He turned near the table. Dropping a palm to it and cocking a hip as though he were bored.

Being deliberately cruel in his dismissal.

"Go from being warm and almost open to shutting down and being nasty!"

He snorted. Eyes falling to the table. "You think this is me being nasty?"

The faint amusement in his voice made my ire mount. "You can't do that! Can't play games like that."

"Like what?"

"Be close, touching me, inside my body and then suddenly treat me like I'm some worm beneath your boot."

"Wish that you were." He gave me his back. Catching his cloak from the back of the chair and tossing it over his shoulder.

"Why!"

"It'd be far easier to put you out of your misery." He glanced over his shoulder.

"Better than being stuck here with you."

"I'd assume so. A worm I could crush under my boot and end her suffering. You're not so simple."

"You want me from under your boot then let me go."

His head whipped. "That's not happening, Jade. So, drop it."

The tone of his voice was so fierce that I felt myself immediately cower. An animalistic whine escaping my throat at the sight of a more dominant animal declaring his place in the hierarchy.

I instantly hated that I acted that way.

***

"Stop." He strode back to me and tipped sideways to lift me off my feet.

I yelped and automatically folded an arm around his neck. "What are you doing?"

"Seeking something to make me feel better."

"I don't want to! You were just so cruel." I objected.

He walked to the side of the bed and deposited me like a sack of potatoes on the bed. I scurried to the far side, glaring impudently up at him. Twice as fierce to hide how weak I'd been when my she-wolf had reacted to his threatening voice.

"I didn't ask what you wanted."

He tossed the bedding back and crawled beneath it. Peeling it from under me to toss over me to. Then he roughly snatched the elbow I braced my weight on and tossed me over. Forcing me to flip onto my other side, facing away from him.

"Stop!" I cried.

"Shut up, She-Wolf." He growled. Catching one hand about my waist and dragging me back toward him. Pulling me into the crook of his body, his legs drawn up behind mine. His hard body molded along my back.

What's he doing?

He wasn't tearing my clothes off me or forcing himself on me.

Just laying behind me.

He made a sound almost like a purr as he nestled his face into the crook of my neck, burying it in my wet hair.

I drew a quick breath and held it. But he was still. And soon his breathing softening eased my tension.

He's asleep? I was utterly confused.

He said he was looking for comfort.

He's finding that by falling asleep holding me? None of this is making any sense! But I was totally still. Afraid of disrupting him and inciting the attack I'd so feared.

He slept for a long while.

The sun was beginning to descend and the air darkening by the time he woke.

I thought if I remained completely still he might think I was asleep and leave me as I was.