Page 45 of Whispers Beneath the Deep
“He wasn’t moving, Captain.”
“Not here, Princess,” he whispered. It was the first time I’d ever heard his voice sound like that. Worried. Gentle. Tears poured from my eyes and he pulled me to his chest, keeping my face pressed into his uniform jacket. “Not here, Princess,” he whispered against the top of my head. “Not here.”
I took in a shuddering breath. I pushed away my emotions, inhaling Captain Saber’s scent. It was calming, and the erratic beating of my heart began to still, slowly, until it was a normal pounding. Captain Saber’s heart pounded against my own, and he held me, held me until the emotion eased, and I slowly drifted away from him.
His eyes searched my own, gentle, he looked ever so gentle.
“Come.” He rubbed his thumb across my cheek.
I nodded once, and let Captain Saber pull me into the safety of his arms and take me from this place, now tainted with death and murder, and back to the palace.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tiberius
Icould not let her go. Not when she wanted to fall apart. I was the only thing keeping her together. If I could loan her my strength, I’d give her every last ounce of it, if only to see that look wiped from her face.
Prince Kai was rushed to the palace ahead of us and into his rooms, where royal medics were ushered in to tend to the wound he’d sustained protecting Maisie. An arrow tipped with poison, poison that had been aimed at the back of Maisie’s head.
This was the third attempt on her life. The one behind it all was becoming bolder, or desperate. But why? Why would anyone want Maisie—or Odele—dead? Her life had never been in peril before, not in any obvious way, at least.
And now Prince Kai’s life was in jeopardy because of it.
I ordered guards about the palace, posting them at every entrance and every door. There would not be another attempt on her life. Not while I still drew breath.
I opened the doors to her room and guided her inside, closing it behind me. Guards awaited my orders on the other side of her chambers. Inside, with privacy, Maisie finally crumpled to the floor. Sobs racked her shoulders up and down. She didn’t care that I was there, that I was watching every move she made. She didn’t worry about repercussions, about my judgments, but cried freely in front of me.
“This is my fault!” She dug her nails into the quartz floors, causing them to crack and bleed. “Someone is trying to kill me, and because of me, Kai was hurt. He could d-die!”
I pushed myself away from the door and sank to the floor beside her. There was no hesitation in me as I pulled her into my arms. She went willingly, her body curling onto mine. I held her tightly, rubbing circles across her back.
“No, Maisie.” I tightened my arms around her. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Comforting was unfamiliar, and yet somehow it came so naturally. So many times, I’d wanted to gift this, a shoulder to cry on, a word to lift spirits. There’d been no opportunity. How could there be? Princess Odele pushed me away every time I tried. So I’d given up. I’d hardened my heart, my soul. Until I knew nothing but strength and quiet and anger.
To see Maisie this way was… crippling. It changed me. It hurt.
Yes, I compared them, a habit that was hard to break. I knew what Maisie was, saw all of her faults. Iknewher, and so I knew that she was not weak. Not like Odele was weak. Maisie would never give up. She was righteous, and kind, in a way that had eluded Odele for so long.
It was only in this moment that I realized that what Maisie lacked, she made up for in other things. Stronger things. Like her desire to tear through the barricade of guards to reach Prince Kai. Her unwavering loyalty. The tears she shed for something that wasn’t her fault.
She wept in my arms, and clung to me as if I was the only one able to give her comfort. So I held her just a bit tighter, and murmured just a bit gentler. Until her sobbing ceased, and all she did was shudder against my body. It was then that her mind seemed to clear, and she realized just who was holding her.
She pulled away, prying her body away from mine until there was space between us. She swiped at her eyes, but no amount of scrubbing would hide the puffiness, the evidence of her turmoil. When she looked at me again, it was with a hardened expression.
“That wasn’t very princess-like.” She barked out a bitter laugh and got up from the floor, straightening her clothes. She assumed a straight-backed posture, tilted her head up. The perfect image of royalty. Just as I taught her. She looked down at me. “Thank you, Captain, but I am afraid you must leave.”
I got up slowly. “Maisie…” It was hard to admit that I was worried about her. Worried she would break again, and that she wouldn’t let me pick up the pieces.
“I’m sorry, Captain. I shouldn’t have done that. Rest assured it won’t happen again.”
What if I wanted it to happen again? What if I wanted to hold her and offer a brief comfort from the reality and death that plagued her? I shouldn’t want such liberties, not with her. But the moment I’d seen her cornered by death, something in me shifted.
And things I should have realized sooner were suddenly as clear as crystal in my mind.
“Maisie…”
Her eyes narrowed. “You aredismissed, Captain.”
