Page 75 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
The high priestess and Aradia shut their eyes and incline their heads in acquiescence. He wouldn’t trust the high priestess at her word if he wasn’t certain of her loyalty to Cato as king, and therefore himself.
When Dru whimpers in his arms, he takes her inside, closing the door behind him without another word to the Tredici.
He places her gently on top of his sheets, watching her closely. He’s imagined her in his bed before, but not like this. He brushes the dark, errant hairs away from her sweat-slick face and she groans.Dru. Desperation squeezes his throat, making it difficult to breathe.
I should’ve told those men to fuck off and stayed with her, walked her back to the palace, kissed her goodnight if it meant she avoided all this.
Her eyes flutter, and he thinks about all the things he said to her to get her to leave, to convince the soldiers she meant nothing to him and therefore wasn’t worth keeping around for whatever they had planned. There’s a chance she knew it was a ruse, but after the way he treated her before leaving the Faithless, he wouldn’t blame her for thinking the worst of him.
He takes a steadying breath, focusing on the task before him. What did Ginevra say? Human contact.Otherwise, she won’t make it through the night.
Can he simply hold her hand? Or touch her arm? No. He can’t risk that the smallest of touches won’t be enough.
Climbing into bed, he positions himself carefully around Dru. He slides his arm beneath her neck and curls it around her shoulder, flush to her side. He places her arm over his midsection so he doesn’t disturb any of the ashes, then presses his leg against hers. She trembles again, her body warm and feverish.
She doesn’t stir beyond that.
“You are not allowed to die, Drusilla Valerius,” Marcus murmurs, pushing sweat-slick strands of dark hair back from her forehead with his free hand.
Little time passes before her breaths begin to deepen, enough to know she’s out of immediate danger. All his hope lies with the Tredici, that they healed her before the fire poisoned her heart.
Holding her in his arms, he stares up at the ceiling, wondering if sleep will take him tonight.
Marcus has never felt this tired in all his life.
Morning sun pierces through his eyelids. He groans, stretching out his sore back. A fitful sleep weighs down his body, his muscles aching from the position he managed to find rest in.
Dru.
His own sheets curl beneath his fingers as he feels for her beside him. But when he only grasps silk, his eyes wrench open to see she’s gone.
He scrambles to his feet despite exhaustion threatening to drag him back down, and searches the room—finding her standing on his balcony, her back to him. The dress she wore to the festival is wrinkled from sleeping in it and her dark hair hangs down her back in wild tendrils. He can’t see her arms from here, and he wonders if the ashes healed her like Ginevra said they would.
His stomach clenches from not going to her, from not taking her in his arms simply because she’salivewhen, by all accounts, she shouldn’t be.
She glances at him over her bare shoulder, expressionless, before turning back to the sea.An invitation, he thinks. Hopes.
He takes his place beside her but keeps his distance, unsure how she’ll react after everything that happened the night before. Or what she even remembers of it.
“What happened to me?” she asks as she holds up her hands, voice clear and devoid of sleep.
The ashes remain, making it impossible to tell if the skin has healed or not. But at least the color has returned to her face, and she no longer appears to be in pain.
“You got too close to the dragon’s fire.”
“The Viverna.” The realization dawns on her swiftly. Staring sightlessly, she shakes her head. “I should be in the infirmary right now.”
“If not for the Tredici, you would be.” He swallows. “Or worse.”
She stares down at her hands and arms, flexing her fingers back and forth.
“What is this?”
“A salve made of plumeria ashes.”
“And why were you…” She trails off.
Why was I sleeping next to you? Holding you?But he can’t finish the question for her because he doesn’t want to answer it.
