Page 70 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

“We are safe. This is my room in Kalyx’s palace, not Auretras.”

Despite the knowledge of us still being in the Beyond, I slumped against the wall in relief, his hand falling from my throat as he did the same. This room was nothing like the Beyond we’d been in; it felt warm and inviting. Cozy. I wanted to explore it, to find the pieces of himself that Tallon had left lying out. While I ached to know how I’d transported us here, having never been here myself, there were far more important things and Tallon needed care.

“That was very good for your first time,” he said between panted breaths. “I think I need to sit down for a moment, though.”

My ears rang, a shrill noise blaring through my head and blocking out all else as I fought through my own exhaustion. I lunged towards him just in time to get my shoulder beneath his arm on his uninjured side, catching him moments before he fell face first onto the floor.

He’d thrown himself in front of a knife for me, hadn’t hesitated for a moment, and holding him now as he bled sluggishly, the gaping pit in my heart that had longed for someone to care for me rather than use me began to close.

Heaving his not unsubstantial weight onto me, I quickly discovered I would not be able to get him to the bed and settled for lowering us both gently to the floor in his entryway. I let my hand settle over his chest, to feel the steady hammering of his heart against my palm for just a moment before I stood. I was covered in his blood, and though the bleeding had slowed, the wound in his side needed treating and likely stitching. He’d done the same for me before, albeit on a far less serious injury, and I could do the same for him now.

I wiped my hands on my stained and torn dress and hurried into the room, pulling open drawers and doors until I found what I was looking for: a medicine kit, rags, and water. I’d just gotten him; he would not die because he chose to protect me. I could not bear it if another person was torn from me.

ChapterThirty-Three

Tallon regained consciousness again as I was maneuvering his body to remove the shirt and inspect the damage. “Why are we on the floor?”

“Because you are heavy.” I reluctantly pulled my hands away from his bare torso and settled back on my heels as I looked at him. “I couldn’t move you to the bed.”

He was quiet as he looked me over, his eyes bright and alert in a way they shouldn’t have been given how recently he’d lost so much blood. “We are in the Beyond, Odyssa.”

“Yes, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” I replied, my voice far too casual. “How did I transport us here when I’ve never been here myself?”

His eyes were fixed on my face, a look akin to wonder in them that sent the silver there swirling. He reached up to cup my face, wincing as he did so.

“Will you please stay still?” I asked with a sigh. When he still didn’t reply, I tugged at the open side of his shirt. “Take this off, please, so I can clean and stitch your side.”

“If you wanted my shirt off, there were far easier ways to accomplish that,” he said, though he assisted in getting the blood-soaked fabric off his body. It fell to the floor with a wet sound.

“Why did you step between us?” I asked, picking up the damp cloth I’d brought with me and setting about cleaning the blood away from the wound. His muscles twitched beneath my touch. This was hardly the first time I’d seen his torso, and now was not the time for my body to be reacting to the feel of the hard muscle beneath the warm skin. Not when the warm skin was covered in blood.

I focused on my task and gently wiped away the worst of the blood in silence, waiting for his answer.

He shifted, grunting softly until he was sitting up straighter, and then his hand was on the side of my face again, his fingers splaying across my cheeks and down beneath my jaw. His touch was warm and sticky with the remnants of his own blood as it transferred to my skin. For whatever reason, I didn’t mind. “You need to ask?”

“Yes,” I said. I gently pulled his hand away from my face and took the rag to it, using it to wipe uselessly at my own hands before I finally raised my eyes to his. There was still blood on his hands, as well as over the rest of his torso, but the rag was already saturated with blood. “You stepped in front of a knife for me, Tallon. Of course I need to ask.”

He chuckled, the sound falling off into a groan as the movement tugged at his side.

“You’re going to hurt yourself even more,” I scolded, bending to poke at the skin around the wound. The bleeding had slowed some, now sluggishly leaking, and with most of the blood washed away, it didn’t look nearly as bad as it had seemed at first. It was deep, though, deep and jagged at the edges.

“Odyssa, look at me.” He tugged my hands away from his side and held them with one of his own in his lap. The other returned to my face, his thumb stroking along my cheek. “I told you no more harm would come to you in that castle, and I meant it. Do not worry about me; I will heal quickly. You would not have.”

“I—”

His hand moved to my throat again, grip firm but not tight. His eyes sparkled as my breath caught. “And I may have been bleeding at the time and trying to calm you down, but don’t think I didn’t notice how this affected you.”

His words should have stoked the fire in my belly back to blazing, but they drenched it in ice-cold water instead as the Beyond came back to my mind. He seemed to notice the change and let his hand drop slowly. I let him, but was quick to add it to the pile of hands in his lap. “We need to get your wound cared for, Tallon, before you ruin everything by bleeding on it. Can you stand?”

“I can,” he said quietly but made no attempt to move.

Swallowing down a sigh, I stood, holding my hand out to him. I was surprised he took it, but he did, and together, we got him on his feet, though he still leaned heavily against me. The atmosphere in the room had changed, still charged with the aftermath of what we’d just done, but it was colder now, awkward. I hated it, even though it was likely for the best. Even though I had caused it.

“Where do you want me?” His words were rushed out on an exhale, and looking up at his face, I saw he’d grown pale again.

“Gods above, Tallon,” I cursed, shifting to take more of his weight and tugging him towards the bed.

“Wrong god,” he said, dragging out the last word into a groan as I settled him on his back against the pillows. He panted for a moment before attempting a smirk that was more a grimace than anything else. “Mine’s just down the hall most likely, though, if you truly want to meet him.”

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