Page 55 of Villains and Vengeance
He gestures to Jules who’s still sitting on the floor looking listless, and I stare at him blankly. He facepalms.
‘Put her in your lap and soothe her,’ he whispers.
‘I don’t think she wants that.’
‘Trust me,’ Jayce says. ‘She’s been in the Mountain for a long time by herself with just an arania for company and a girl in her line of work doesn’t have many friends at the best of times on the outside either. She’s lonely. Don’t listen to her bravado.Lookat her.’
I do and I don’t like the fragility that I can see. But I especially don’t like that it was always there, I just didn’t notice it before.
‘You should do it,’ I say, trying to give him the hot kettle back. ‘You didn’t do what I did.’
Jayce shakes his head. ‘It needs to be youbecauseof what you did. Help her to understand that you won’t hurt her again.’
I look down, self-loathing slamming through me. ‘What if I do?’
‘Then I’ll consider you a rogue and I’ll slit your throat,’ Jayce says casually, but I know he’s deadly serious.
There’s something in his eyes that I’ve only ever seen when one of the clan is hurt or in trouble. Hewillkill me or anyone who even looks at her wrong, clan or no. The thing is, I’m feeling the same way.
‘What is going on with us?’ I ask.
He shrugs. ‘Fucked if I know, but I need her safe. And I don’t want her anywhere near Maddox and the others until we know what the plan is. Agreed?’
I nod and he pushes me towards Jules who’s now curled up on the floor.
I sit next to her, feeling awkward as hell, but as I pick her up and sit her between my legs, she comes willingly and I see that Jayce is right. She’s feeling alone. She needs comfort.
‘What are you doing?’ she asks, her wide eyes staring through me.
She’s wary, scared I want more from her. The truth is, I do. But not now.
‘Relax,’ I say, looking up to see that Jayce has left.
I pour the hot water into the towel and spread her legs a little. She stiffens against me and I hush her, not holding her, not keeping her prisoner. She can leave if she wants, but she doesn’t and I carefully wash all the traces of me and what I’ve taken from her skin. I put the washcloth to the apex of her thighs and she startles, wincing.
I curse silently at myself and gentle my movements, using more warm water from the kettle to soothe the pain away.
‘I thought this was what you went to the river for,’ I say, wondering what she was doing all that time.
She shrugs. ‘Too cold. I was working up to it. Plus there was an arania lurking. I didn’t want to get bit while I was trying to wash my coochie out. What a dumb way to die.’
I chuckle in spite of myself.
‘Is this okay?’ I ask.
She nods and settles her head on my shoulder. When I next look at her, her eyes are closed and her breathing is even.
Jayce returns and gives me a nod, taking one of her blankets and putting it over her.
‘Did you feel like this two years ago? When Daemon brought her to us, I mean?’
I know what he’s talking about and I nod.
‘Me too.’
That’s news to me and I give him a questioning look.
Jayce shrugs. ‘Krase as well. It cut him up, what she did.’ He looks down at the woman in my lap, regret on his face. ‘What are we going to do?’
