Page 104 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
His fading voice scared me into action. Almost toppling to the side, we both managed to stumble our way toward hiscolossal bed. As Zandyr fell on his back against the golden mattress, I gasped.
Blood.
Coming out of his nose and dripping from his mouth onto his chin. Even the small veins in his eyes turned crimson.
“I’m calling the healers,” I said, already turning.
“No.” He caught my wrist, pulling me back. The simple touch blazed through me. Gods, I’d missed him. “Nobody can know. I’ll heal, just….Give me a moment.”
I spied a damp cloth, probably the one he’d used to dry his skin. Gently, I kneeled on the bed and slowly dabbed it against the sides of his mouth, wiping the blood away. My insides quaked.
My nightmares were becoming a reality right in front of me.
He couldn’t have survived my wedding, a clash with the Serpents, and getting his magic only to bleed out in front of me. I refused to let that happen.
Gods, please, don’t.
“Zandyr, what’s going on?”
Instead of answering, the infuriating man smiled.
“That’s the first time you’ve said my name.” He opened his eyes slowly, as if it took all his strength to look at me. “I like it.”
I gulped. “If you want to hear it again, you can’t die.”
“I’m not dying.” He coughed. More drops of blood spilled past his lips. “Though it feels like it. I was dangerously close to breaking the oath. This is its revenge.”
That damn oath. Allie had said oaths were a matter of life and death, but I hadn’t imagined even a hint of information about it could lead to one of the strongest men on the entire continent oozing blood and not being able to stand.
I desperately wanted answers–but I would not risk Zandyr’s life to get them.
“If I discover the truth on my own…that doesn’t affect you, does it?” I asked.
“No. Only when I or the other person who took it tell you the truth included in the oath.”
The other person.
My thoughts scrambled. The oath was obviously attached to the advisors. Zandyr’s partner in this deadly promise was someone he trusted. Someone tied to Banu and Valuta.
I narrowed my eyes on him. Even with a bloody face, he still looked bloody gorgeous. “What are you and Kaya up to?”
His smile grew; it looked like it pained him.
“I love that you’re so smart,” he mumbled, dozing off. The energy it must have taken to heal himself was draining all of him.
“Too smart for my own good, my mother used to say.”
“Never. Smart. Very smart.”
I finished wiping his face. He looked so peaceful, nothing like the menacing Dragon who’d threatened my entire Clan at the wedding. I had the sudden urge to run my fingers through his hair.
I got up and placed the cloth on the nearest surface. His grip on my wrist increased.
“Stay,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Stay with me.”
I opened my mouth to say no. Instead, I curled up next to him, the man I’d been taught to fear my entire life. “I’m staying.”
Chapter
