Page 108 of The Beast King's Bride

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ASH

A healer arrives as the guards carry Talen into his study, not wanting to move him through half the palace to his rooms.

For so long I wondered why he’d choose rooms in the empty wing of the palace, but now I know that it’s so that nobody would witness him exiting his room in beast form, a secret he guarded for a hundred years—before the Empress made him shift in front of everyone, giving the secret away to destroy his people’s trust in him.

Still, it means that now we’re scrambling to make a makeshift bed for him on the bearskin where he made love to me for the first time, and the memory makes my eyes blur with tears.

I don’t let them fall. I help Auria and Zylphia to spread sheets and covers and place pillows so that when he is finally laid on top of it, he’s comfortable.

He’s laid on his back, arms at his sides, face still, mouth slack and soft. All that tension, that energy he has about him that makes him seem like a giant, filling up any room he enters, is now gone from his frame, his face. He feels smaller and yet denser, like a gem, he seems… like just a man.

A man I love.

“Leave the room,” the healer says. “You, maid,” he turns to Auria, “bring hot water and bandages. Is that dragon contained or will it disturb us?”

“I don’t know, your grace,” Auria whispers and hurries out of the room. I hadn’t even seen her arrive as I kneel by Talen’s side, my eyes full of flames and blood.

Then I turn around, finally focusing on the healer—and realize with a start that it’s the White Sage.

“The dragon has been killed,” one of the guards says with a stiff bow, “but we are still battling the second one.”

“I’m not leaving the king’s side,” I say, in case the White Sage tries to chase me out, too. “How can I help? Will you use magic?”

“You can clean the wounds when the hot water comes,” he says and just stands there, looking thoughtful and useless.

“How is he? How bad are these wounds?”

He glances at me, as if surprised I’m still here. “The curse is worsening,” he says, ignoring my question. “Do you know what this means, girl?”

“No.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“Don’t talk down to me like this. Explain what it means.”

His white brows go up. “Spoken like a queen.”

“A queen would have had your head by now. I speak as someone who cares for Talen.”

“Ah.” He nods. “He stayed to defend you. Got injured because of you.”

My breath shudders out of me. The ring on my finger feels too tight all of a sudden. “The dragon came out of nowhere. There was no time—”

“You lingered. He protected you. His instincts as a protector are strong. He cares for you.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Guilt is a sick feeling in my stomach. “Maybe you’re right. I put Talen in danger. But I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“No. It’s in the nature of things.”

Oh, great. More riddles. “Is he going to be all right? That’s what I want to know.”

“He will live. For now.”

Gods below. I may kill this annoying Fae yet.

I’m grateful when Auria and Zylphia walk back inside, carrying a bowl of steaming water and clean strips of white cloth. I direct them to set them down beside us and I set to work, dipping the cloth in the water and cleaning the gashes in Talen’s side as gently as I can. The two maids prepare to kneel beside me, to help, but the sage demands that they leave.

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