Page 127 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

“They took you to get to me.”

I grabbed the towel sitting at the edge of the tub, wrapping it around my waist as I stepped out of the tub. I sat against the basin, facing Lennox as she remained staring at her hands in her lap.

“None of this is your fault, Lennox.” I took her chin in my hand, tilting it to make her look at me. “They came here with the intention of killing—whether it was you or me or someone else—this is all their fault, not yours.” I swiped my thumb over her cheek. “I’m here because of you Lennox. You saved me. None of this is your fault. Do you understand that?”

She closed her eyes but remained silent.

“I need you to answer me, Lennox, do you understand none of this is your fault?”

She breathed deeply before answering, “I understand.”

“Good.” I swiped my thumb over her bottom lip—the soft sigh that escaped her lips sending blood rushing to my cock.

“Come here.” Confusion clouded her features at my demand, but I gave her no time for argument as I pulled her to my lap.“I need to hold you for a moment, is that okay?”

She nodded.

Her bare legs wrapped around my waist as I pulled her to my chest, wrapping my arms around her. Ever so slowly her arms wrapped around me and she rested her head on my chest.

“Thank you for coming for me.” I rested my chin on her head. I felt the deep inhale she took in my bones.

“I’ve tried so hard to keep you at bay—to try and care less about you—so if something happened to you, it wouldn’t hurt me, but it never works. Last night—” She shuddered under my hold.

I gripped her tighter, rubbing circles on her back as she searched for words. “When I got to your room and you were gone and there was blood on the floor—I was so terrified I would never see you again. I’m starting to think no matter who you are to me, it will hurt me if something happens to you.”

The words were on the tip of my tongue.I love you.

I was fairly confident she knew how I felt about her, but if I had died never having told her those three words—I knew I’d regret it.

But I’d also regret telling her that now. She was still figuring out where we stood, what our future looked like. It was still too soon to tell her how I felt. But every day I felt like we were getting closer and closer to bridging the gap between us.

Lennox’s breathing slowed as I held her to my chest.

“You should get to bed,” I said finally.

“You’re the one that was attacked, I’m supposed to be taking care of you.” She yawned.

“You already took care of me. Let me take care of you now.” She said nothing but remained resting against my chest.

I poked her side. “Bed. Now.” As much as I was tempted to let her fall asleep in my lap like this, I also needed my sleep.

“Fine.” She crawled out of my lap before silently leaving the bathing chamber.

I quickly dressed, slipping on a loose pair of pants before heading into the bedchamber. My body felt weak, my legs weary. It had been a long fucking week.

I halted in the doorway at the sight of Lennox curled up in my bed.

“I can leave if you don’t want me here.”

“No, it’s—I’m surprised, that's all. Of course, you can stay.”

I peeled back the sheet and slipped in beside her, resting my arms under my head as I lay on my side to face her.

Her hand reached out slowly. Her fingers moving up my bare arm to my face. She traced her fingers across my jaw, my cheek, across my brow. “I hate how afraid I am of losing you,” she confessed as her fingers moved to my hair, she twisted the damp stands between her fingers.

“You don’t need to be afraid of losing me. I’m not going anywhere.” I dusted my thumb over her cheek.

“You can’t promise me that.”

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