Page 28 of Brutal Queen

“Without Aurora? You want to sleep in here, with me, without Aurora?” I ask, confused as fuck right now.

“We don’t have to. I can move him. It’s just Benedict’s used to us all sleeping together, and he didn’t want to encroach on Aurora and Enzo tonight. He said he was coming up to talk to you. I had no idea he was just going to go to sleep,” Nico explains.

I turn to look at Nico, and I see what he’s not ready to say. It’s not just Benedict, and it’s not just me.Hedoesn’t want to be alone either. I don’t think now’s the time to unpack this, so I just say, “It’s late, and we need to sleep.” I move to my side of the bed and nod my head towards sleeping beauty. “You’regoing to have to move him to the middle though. This is my side. You can take the other side.”

We don’t say another word. He gets into bed and snakes his arms around Benny’s torso, dragging him towards him. After settling on his back, Nico rolls Benny until he’s nestled into his shoulder. I face away from them, unsure of how this works with no Aurora to act as a buffer.

As I drift off, what’s slightly unsettling is how at ease I feel.

I’m rippedfrom sleep by an ear-splitting scream and deep, loud roars of anguish coming from the room next door. I’m out of bed and out the door immediately, Nico and Benny behind me.

Bursting through the door to Enzo's room, he’s on his back screaming while Aurora straddles his chest, her knees pinning his wrists and her arms at full stretch, trying to hold him while he screams for help.

“He’s asleep,” she shouts as she tries to hold her balance while he writhes beneath her. “I can’t fucking wake him up. Help me hold him down, otherwise he’s going to fuck his shoulder and rip his stitches open.”

Enzo is completely out of it. This isn’t a nightmare, it’s more like he’s having a night terror. It’s not hard to figure out what he’s reliving right now. In between his garbled pleas, we hear some words as clear as day.No. Stop. Don’t.

“Benedict, you steady his legs. Nico, as soon as I pull Aurora free, grab him and pull him forwards. I’m going to get behind him and try and hold him steady enough to get a chokehold on him.”

“Like fuck are you choking him out, Sinclair. You lay a hand on him, I will fucking end you,” Aurora yells.

I ignore her as I pull her back and Nico jumps into action. I drop her on her feet and slide in behind Enzo, back against the headboard. Careful to avoid his left shoulder, I throw an arm around his neck and clutch my wrist with the other, hoping I can get control of him without having to choke him out or do him any harm.

Nico holds Enzo’s wrists, trying to stop him from flailing his arms, while Benny has his ankles pinned.

“I’m not going to hurt him, hummingbird. I’m immobilising him so you can get through to him,” I say as calmly as possible, which is tricky, bearing in mind the effort it’s taking to subdue Enzo. “Talk to him, calm him down.”

She gets back on the bed. “Wake up, baby,” she says, her voice strained, but she continues, telling him how much she loves him and how she needs him to wake up and come back to us. He’s still straining against me so I grip him a little tighter and although I’m not squeezing hard enough for him to lose consciousness, he begins to settle in my arms, his shouts retreating to whispered mumbles.

Aurora places her hands on either side of his face and lowers her lips to his. It’s a soft, chaste kiss but it seems to snap him out of it. His fists unclench and his spine relaxes. Instead of railing against the weight of the grips we have on him, he does the opposite and sinks back against me, breathing a massive sigh of what sounds like relief.

“You’re here,” he croaks, his voice scratchy and raw from the screaming.

“We’re here. You’re safe,” Aurora whispers. She kisses his forehead and sits back on her heels, smiling at him. He swallows hard against my forearm and it dawns on me that I’m holding him too tightly.

I let go and move out from behind him as Nico and Benny slowly release him. Aurora straddles him, pulling his head into the crook of her neck and whispering in his ear. I can’t hearwhat she’s saying, but with every word, the tension visibly leaves him. His shoulders drop little by little and his breathing evens out.

After a few minutes, he lifts his head. “I could have hurt you.”

Aurora shakes her head. “You could never hurt me. I could have gone for help, but I didn’t want you to damage your shoulder. At no point were you a risk to me, only to yourself.”

Her words seem to reassure Enzo, but I’m still not happy that she was next to him while he was in that state. The grunt and huff to my left from Nico and Benny seem to imply they agree with me.

“Was that the first time you’ve had one of those nightmares?” Nico asks carefully. I can tell he doesn’t want to ask, but if it’s something that puts Aurora at any risk, then we need to deal with it.

“I had a couple in the hospital, which is why they prescribed me something to help me sleep. I forgot to take it tonight,” he says. His cheeks flush like he’s embarrassed to admit weakness in front of us.

“I’ll go grab them. Where are they?” I ask.

He tips his head towards the bathroom. “In the vanity, the pink ones in the smallest bottle.”

I bring them to him with a glass of water. Once Enzo has taken them, Aurora lays her head on his right shoulder and hugs him. Enzo kisses her forehead and then palms her jaw, tipping her chin up and forcing her gaze to his.

“These things knock me out. You don’t have to stay with me,mia guerrierotta. I’ll be fine now. You should go with them and get some rest.”

She shakes her head before turning to us. “I’m sorry, but I need to stay here tonight.”

Benedict takes her hand. “Stay here. Someone needs towatch over him.” He leans down and kisses her without a second thought. I don’t know how I expected Enzo to react, but I’m relieved when their intimacy seems to put him at ease.

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