Page 30 of Quest for her Knights
“I’m fine. Leave me alone,” she grumbles, trying to roll to her side, but we all reach out to stop her.
“Princess,” Ranger says, drawing her attention. “Tell me what’s wrong.” She shakes her head, and I see more tears forming in her eyes. He narrows his gaze as he presses her. “Princess, do as you’re told and tell me.” She gulps before another quick shake of her head.
Ranger leans forward, so he’s almost right above her face as he speaks. “Come on now, baby. Be a good girl for me and tell me what’s wrong.”
My wide eyes meet Blaze’s. I’ve never heard Ranger speak like that before. He didn’t sound like a knight commanding his charge, he sounded like a man commanding his… woman.
“I’m so tired,” she says as tears slowly stream down her face.Tired?
“You want to take a nap?” I ask, furrowing my brows. That can’t be what this is all about. Ranger stays quiet as he stares down at her, and her back at him.
Finally, he asks, “When’s the last time you slept?” I see her swallow heavily, but she doesn’t answer, making Ranger growl.
“Baby, be a good girl and answer my question. When’s the last time you slept?”
“At the inn, with Draven,” she answers immediately.
“Fuck,” Blaze and I say in unison. That was days ago.
Ranger takes a deep breath and I can hear him trying to control the anger in his voice as he speaks. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t sleeping?”
“I didn’t want you to think I’m weak,” she says with a sniffle.
“Elora…” he groans before sitting down and pulling her into his lap.
Who is this guy, and what has he done to my brother?
“If something’s wrong, you have to tell us. It’s our job to take care of you. You don’t need to suffer.”
“I don’t want to be a job.”
Her words pierce my heart, making me flinch. She isn’t just a job to me, and I know the others feel the same, whether they’ll admit it or not. She’s been unable to sleep, hurting, for days, because she doesn’t want to be a burden to us. How could we not care about her?
“That’s not what I meant. Now tell me why you can’t sleep. Is it because of what happened at the inn? Are you worried? You know there’s always at least one of us awake, keeping watch?” he asks, gently rocking her and stroking her back.
“You won’t tell me what happened to him. I’m worried he’ll come back.”
“I told you we should have told her,” Draven mumbles, causing Ranger to shoot him a glare.
“Tell me what?” she whispers, lifting her chin to look at Draven.
“He’s dead, kitten,” Draven says bluntly.
Kitten? What the fuck is happening right now?
Although I suppose I’m not any better, calling her sweetheart. It’s hard not to use a sweet nickname.
While the original Elora, the Ice Princess of the North, was hard and malicious, this woman is her polar opposite. She’s soft, kind, and full of life.
“Good,” she says in response to Draven’s words, then lets her head rest against Ranger’s chest.
We all watch her quietly for a few minutes before Ranger speaks.
“Let’s stop here for the night. Princess, you can sleep, we’ll all stay up and keep watch so you feel safe, alright?”
She nods silently, and he lays her down while we all move to stand.
Blaze gets to work on the fire while Ranger and Draven pull down some of our bags and set up the area for us. With my bow in hand, I go off to hunt some food. I get lucky finding two rabbits relatively quickly and make short work of skinning and gutting them, far from camp.
