Page 66 of The Nightmare Queen

“YOU YIELD EVEERA!” Ezra barks at her but that doesn’t stop her advance on him. Each of her tendrils twist and tighten against his limbs, effectively mummifying everything but his neck, face, and the hand clutching his marred cheek.

She's turned predatory and whatever humanity hangs on inside of her has completely succumbed to the magic. Her men watch stoically from the sidelines. No one making a move to stop her right now. So I do. Not for him, but for her. We don’t need her murdering her own right now.

I step up behind her, carefully reaching out. “Nightmare…”I whisper, as my left hand gently wraps around her wrist. My right comes up to close around her throat so that I can pull her flush against my chest. My chin rests on top of her hair, narrowing my eyes at Ezra who's struggling against her magic. “Whatever he said, whatever he did. We will take care of it. But not this way. Not here.”The palm of my left hand comes to rest over her heart. The muscle beats rapidly against it. “Pull it back. Pour into me if you need to. But I have a feeling if you don’t let go of your commander, your other men will have to step in.”No response flows back into my mind, but her form starts to melt into me and her magic retreats.Slowly. “That’s it. Good girl.”I purr running my thumb up and down the column of her throat, feeling her pulse calm under my touch.

I back up with her in tow, thankfully, she doesn’t fight against my grip. Maxwell and Orem fall in front of us, hauling their commander up from the ground. His eyes are aflame with rage. “Traitorous bitch.” He snarls, spitting at our feet.

Axel comes up next to me and I gentlyshove her into his arms. I take two steps at a time towards Ezra. My hand flies out to grab the nape of his neck pressing my blade against his carotid. I drag his face to me putting my mouth right at his ear - just like he did to her. “You’ve caused problems from the moment I met you.” He jerks against my hold but I dig the blade in harder until copper hits my nose. “Whatever you said to draw that out of her should’ve cost you your life. Next time I won’t be so generous with saving it. Speak to her like that again, call her any more names,spitin her direction and I’ll cut your tongue out myself and wear it around my neck like a fucking trophy.” With a hard push I send his body back into the brothers standing behind him.

“We’re done here.” I growl, grabbing Eveera from Axel to usher her back to my bedroom. Surprisingly she doesn’t protest - not on the walk up or when I sent her to the shower.

She’s been in there long enough now that the hot water has probably run cold. Axel wordlessly joined me on the couch as I waited for her to finish up. I keep hoping with every swig of wine I swallow that he’ll leave me be. If he thinks my ire doesn’t extend to him as well for being a part of that exhibition, he’s grossly overestimating my patience for him.

“You should know—” His voice breaking the silence we’ve been sitting in the sound of it only serving to annoy me more, “—if you plan to play the part of her lover, you should at least be giving the illusion you’re in the shower with her. She takes them a lot, sort of helps recenter herthoughts. It’s also a favorite spot for her to spendquality timewith her lovers.” He waggles his brows at me.

“I’ll go join her then.” I snap, abandoning him on my couch that he doesn’t bother moving from. “You’re not planning on staying are you?” I ask my annoyance a little more evident now.

He shrugs giving me a lazy smirk.Great. I shove my empty glass into his hand and stalk off to our bedroom -my bedroom- lettingthe door slam behind me, Axel’s deep laughter drowning out behind the wood.

I knock on the bathroom door but no answer comes from the other side. Based on how beat up she was I make the executive decision to peek my head in there. The door creaks open under the weight of my hand not allowing me a more quiet entry. The shadow of her small frame leans against the back wall through the foggy glass.

“If you’re checking out my ass I’ll gouge your eyes out with my thumbs.” Her voice is gravelly and low. It sounds a lot like the voice that takes over when her Wield is in control.

“Mm. Noted.” I say to her, deciding to fully allow myself in the room.

“Is there are reason you’re fogging up the other side of this glass?”

I tap my finger against the shower door rhythmically. “Assumed you might need a hand in there. You barely made it up the stairs.”

“Bold of you to assume that I want your hands anywhere near me. And I had a difficult time with the stairs because you practically dragg—”

“Eveera.” She sighs in defeat, relenting much to my surprise as her hand reaches back to slide open the shower door.I guess that’s my invitation in.I step backwards onto the slick tile keeping my front facing the glass instead of her. “Apparently showering with a lover is a favorite pastime of yours.” It’s the only thing I can think of to say to break the awkward tension swirling around us. Why I thought this would be a good idea is beyond me.

Astonishingly she laughs. “I have a lot of favorite pastimes. But you could say showering is one of them. Though, I’d be shocked if you came in here just to fuck me.” The carnal side to me perks up at that idea. To distract myself I look down at my boots, noticing that the water swirling around them is tinged pink.

“You’re still bleeding. You’ve been in here for at least an hour and you’re still bleeding.” I take a deep breath before speaking to her. “Eveera. You have two options here. One - I can turn around and assess the damage while you let me or two - I can…no no there’s only one option.” I say lifting my head and turning around slowly. I keep my eyes looking up to the ceiling, because if I focus any lower... “I turned around.”

She shifts the weight on her legs, hissing at the movement. “I figured as much.” We stand there like this for a moment. “Well aren’t you going to nurse me back to health?” She asks, her tone anything but permissive.

“I think it would be rude of me to do so without your permission.”

She scoffs. “And it wasn’t rude of you to just waltz in here during my very private, very naked shower?”Fair point.“Well go on. Nurse.” Very slowly I drop my gaze and find her facing me already, glowering upwards. Her tattoos have strategically moved to cover the more intimate areas of her body.

“Eyes up here princeling.” She grits out. Her face is puffy; whether from crying or the fight I’m not sure. The more severe injuries ended up being her black eye, the cut in her bottom lip, and the gash in her hairline. Any other scrapes or bruises I take note of are superficial, but the cut in her hairline continues to weep.

She could have easily dodged every one of the punches, kicks, and slaps her men threw at her. She chose not to. She chose to be their punching bag. “You let them get those hits in.”

She shrugs. “Boosts morale.”

“Fuck that. Allowing yourself to be beaten in a spar you can clearly win, isn’t boosting morale. It’s masochism.” The scars on her legs should be proof enough to me that she savors her own pain. Even if her men tolerate it, doesn’t mean I have to. I grab the rag from the shelf above her to soak under the stream. I bring it up to the cut on her forehead the contact has her wincing slightly before relaxing under the touch. It takes a few dabs at it until the blood flow lessens. It won’t scar but it’ll give her one hell of a headache. I continue the dabbing motion on every one of the cuts, careful not to press on the swelling under her eye. “We ought to get a healer to look at you before dinner. People may question why you look like a human pincushion. And by people, I mean the court nobles.”

Her nose scrunches in disgust and she pulls back from the cloth. “Fuck your nobles.”

“Ha. I wouldn’t recommend it.”

She rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t afraid to wear the collar you put on me. What makes you think I am afraid to wear the marks from a fight?” With her chin raised, she decides she's done and slips past me to leave the shower.

“Eveera I—” The words catch in my throat. Large, puffy, red and white scars peek out of the edge of the towel she’s wrapped around herself. “Eveera.” I breathe, the words still lost. Her head turns to the side as she peers at me from over her shoulder.

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