Page 23 of Broken Princess

My family.

And it looks like we’ve just found our latest stray, and she has phenomenal taste in movies. So that’s a win right there.

“You know,” she says, not taking her eyes off of the screen, “your vacant stare is getting creepy, Nico. Do I have something on my face?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Benny.”

“You were staring at me and thinking about someone else. Gee—way to make a girl feel special there.”

“I was thinking about how he’s no longer the baby of the crew. You’re one of us now.”

“First, I’m two years older than him—baby, my ass. And second, if you lick me to stake your claim, I will dick-kick you so hard.”

“I’m not a child. That’s not the way a grown-ass man stakes his claim. But I make no promises that I’ll never lick you.” Wait what? Tell me I did not just flirt with her? What the hell is wrong with me?

An alarm goes off on the monitor, and her eyes dart to the readouts. “This fucking thing is really beginning to piss me off now,” she says, wincing at the noise.

“It’s just the timer for your painkillers. Pause the film a minute.” I get up, reset the alarm and head over to the variety of drugs I need to sift through. After finding what I need, I head back to her and hand her the pills and a glass of water. Then, returning with a fresh fluids bag, I hook that up too and inject the antibiotics.

“How is it you all seem to know what you’re doing with all this?” she asks with a hint of meekness that doesn’t feel right coming from her.

“Doc Em showed Zo, and he spent a ridiculous amount of time explaining everything. Multiple times. Although, you understand that we have this room for a reason. We know how to use it. The guys get injured and with what I do for the crew, sometimes we actually need it.”

“Of course, I get that. I’m not stupid.” Rolling her eyes at my faux condescension. “I understand the need for medical supplies and the knowledge of first aid. I just meant that you guys make pretty decent nurses. I didn’t expect it. You’re looking after me when I expected to be down here on my own.”

“We may be murderous cunts, but we’re not assholes, Aurora. We look after our own.”

She considers my words. “It’s been a long time since anyone has taken the time or cared enough to help me, Nico. It’s a little overwhelming,” she whispers, lowering her eyes. The swelling on the right side of her face is going down, allowing me to see the glistening at the corners of both her eyes.

I lift her chin and hold her gaze. “Listen here. Helping you is not a chore, it’s a privilege.” I pause, not sure how to express myself. “We are so sorry we let this happen to you. There is no excuse.” I can’t maintain eye contact as I drop my chin to my chest and start fiddling with the rings on my fingers, straightening them one by one.

“You talk like you have an obligation to me. You don’t.” Then, lowering her voice further adds, “I had the obligation to marry him—to stay with him.” My head whips back up, my eyes meeting hers with a renewed intensity.

I growl and raise my voice. “Bullshit. I’ve seen the scars. Nothing is worth that sacrifice. Nothing.” Seething, my breathing becomes more harsh. “We will kill him. No one does this to Aurora Bianchi and gets away with it.”

Her eyes go wide as the force of my words wash over her.

“Also, don’t expect me to maintain this angelic behaviour forever. Always remember, I’m the psychotic murderer of the group. I can only rein myself in for so long.”

She looks at me with confusion in her eyes and in a voice so muted I can barely hear, she says, “I know a monster when I see one. You are not one.”

Stooping down, I bring my lips to her ear and my hand to her throat, gripping with the barest pressure. “Let me make myself perfectly clear, Aurora. I’m despicable, depraved, demanding and debauched. I’m ruthless, merciless, and remorseless. I am truly a monster. But now… I’m your monster.”

I have no idea where those words came from—but I feel them to my core. A deep sense of possessiveness overtakes me, and I flex my fingers. Aurora lets a small gasp betray her and I catch the subtle flare of her pupils dilating. It tells me how much that thought pleases her. She bites her lip, a look of awe on her face as she appears to reflect on my words. After a long pause she says, “Understood, Nico.”

I uncoil my grasp, leaving me free to pick up the remote. I press play and we return to Simon Pegg battering a zombie to the tune of Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen. “We’re watching the next one after this, right?”

Any tension present a moment ago evaporates into the ether. She flicks her gaze away from me and gets consumed by the screen.

“Of course, we are. Don’t ask stupid questions.”

We’re half-way through Hot Fuzz and I notice Aurora drifting into a fitful sleep. I get up to check on her and as I approach the bed, I see her brows draw and her lips are moving. She’s saying something, but I can’t make it out.

From behind me I hear a cough and Sin says, “If you sing to her, she settles down.”

“Erm, that is definitely not happening, old man.”

He shrugs and eyes up the changes I’ve made to the room. “Good thinking, although whose TV did you steal?”

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