Page 114 of Uprising

And then I freeze, staring at the scene before me.

Rose is here. She’s lying there, propped up on her elbows, gun pointed right at me but that’s not what gets my attention. I don’t care right now if she does pull the trigger because she’s covered in blood, utterly soaked in it.

I blink, taking in her body, she’s in nothing more than a damned slip of fabric. The silk clings to her and I can see from the way her body is trembling that she’s absolutely freezing and utterly petrified as well.

“Rose.” I murmur.

She tilts her head, that gun still dangerously blocking any movement on my part.

Behind us the crowd seems to burst through like a damn finally giving way.

She spins around, her eyes so wide with fear, pointing the weapon at this new threat. I take the chance to close the distance, crouching down when I get close enough, putting my jacket around her to get her warm.

“It’s okay.” I say quietly, wrapping my hand around the metal.

She whimpers, shaking her head, as if this gun is the only thing that can save her right now.

“It’s okay Rose, I’ve got you.” I state.

She gulps, her tears are now streaming back down her cheeks. I prise the weapon from her hands and suddenly she’s collapsing into my arms, sobbing into my chest.

“I knew you’d come.” She says. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me here.”

I clasp her head in my hands. “I’ll never leave you Rose. I promised you. Whatever happens, wherever we end up, we’ll always be together.”

She cries harder then. I try to soothe her but I’m infinitely aware of all the people swarming us. All the crowd that seems to watch us like this is some sort of performance put on for their entertainment.

I raise my head, glaring at them, daring them to come closer because I swear to god I will kill anyone that goes near Rose right now. And then thankfully I see Holden making his way, with half a dozen of my men too. They’re clearing a path, giving us a safe route out of this damned place.

“It’s time to go.” I say to Rose.

“Go where?” She whispers.

“Home.” I say back before lightly kissing her forehead. “And back to our daughter.”

She bites her lip, trying to force some sort of composure but she’s too far gone for any of it. She looks like she’s in a trance, she looks like she’s almost delirious. I wonder if Darius drugged her too. I guess we’ll find that out when we get her to a doctor.

As I help her to her feet, I can feel how unstable she is and realise she can barely walk so I scoop her up into my arms. She’s so light. She’s lost so much weight. She feels fragile now, not the strong, powerful woman I last held.

Her eyes drop to the bloodied body we’ve both been ignoring this entire time.

“I killed him.” She says. “I had to kill him.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I reply.

She grabs my face, her grip so hard and her eyes suddenly flash. “Yes it does.” She snarls. “It does fucking matter.”

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to respond to that but as she slumps back into my shoulder I guess she’s not looking for any reply.

So I carry her out, past all those onlookers, past every one of my men too. I know Holden has a car already waiting and I’m so relieved once we’re in it. Once we’re speeding away.

Roman

The doctor checks her over.

I want to stay in the room, I want to hold her hand but I can see as every second passes she’s freaking out more.

Her eyes keep darting around like she’s expecting someone to jump out and attack her. She keeps whimpering, rocking, trembling so hard the very bed creaks.

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