Curiosity

We Have a Plan!

She couldn't breathe. The water and darkness closed around her and she was desperate for air. Unable to stop herself, she breathed in and her lungs filled with water, it burned, it hurt-

Curiosity jerked out of the nightmare, breathing hard. Mace slept beside her and Pink was curled up in one of the chairs. The house was silent, but it was a comforting silence that told her all was well.

Still, she couldn't shake the nightmare. She had a feeling she would remember the sensation of drowning for a long time.

She got up and stretched in front of the fireplace. The fire was low but it still gave off enough heat to warm her chilled body.

"Are you alright?"

She turned to see Mace watching her.

"I'm fine," she said softly.

He continued to look straight at her. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

She turned back to the fire. "I'm okay, Mace. I'll be able to go back to sleep in a bit. You should get some more rest."

He ignored her of course, getting up to sit beside her. He towered over her.

For a long while they were both silent, but when he finally spoke, she was surprised at the direction of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Cat," he said quietly.

"Sorry? For what?" she asked blankly. Why should he feel sorry?

He growled. "For leaving you. For the fact that you were hurt."

She hesitated, not sure what to say. "Mace," she started, but he interrupted her.

"Don't," he said.

"Don't what?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"Don't tell me it's okay, or that you are fine, or that it wasn't my fault. The fact is if I hadn't left you, you wouldn't have been in danger."

"But Mace, it really wasn't your fault. The golems would have attacked us anyway."

"I still should have been with you."

"You couldn't have known they were so close."

"Nothing you can say will change the fact I should have been with you," he said stubbornly.

She sighed. She had a feeling he was right, nothing she said would change his mind. "Maybe that's true. But I want you to know I don't blame you. You saved my life. You and Pink. We don't know what would have happened if you had been with me when they found me. Maybe they would have killed me outright. It would have been easy," she said thoughtfully. "I wonder why they didn't."

He growled again. She looked up to see his teeth bared in anger. "They were playing with us. The one pinning me down wanted me to watch. They enjoyed tormenting us."

She leaned against him and waited for him to calm down. Eventually his tense body relaxed.

"They are the ones to blame," she said gently.

"I'll agree they deserve some of the blame. But from now on, I'm going to take better care of you," he said.

Part of her glowed at those words. Another part of her wanted to insist she could take care of herself.

"We'll take better care of each other," she said. "After all, enchanteds have to stick together!"

He looked down at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "Maybe. But we stick together because I'm Mace and you are Cat. Got it?"