Page 85 of Somber Prince

“Yes, Your Highness.” With a bow, Sigid left.

Dawn rolled her head on the pillow, meeting my eyes. “You’ve been so sweet to me that I often forget how ruthless you can be.”

“I don’t punish without a reason. But if someone harms what’s mine, they’ll pay dearly for it.” I stroked the side of her face. “You’ll feel better soon, my sweet treasure. The hag’s brew has eased the pain of many gruesome wounds.”

She looked at me as if I indeed were a babe. “I’m not wounded, Rha.”

“But you’re bleeding.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but I stopped her with a kiss.

I rarely kissed her first. It felt far more exhilarating when she initiated it, then it often led to us both panting in the heat of her climax. But I didn’t kiss her to feel her pleasure this time. I did it to comfort her.

She broke the kiss but didn’t move away, resting her head on my shoulder as we lay side by side.

“You’re so cuddly today.” She fidgeted with one of my braids. “Does it bother you so much that I’m in pain?”

It did. I’d much rather endure it for her if it were possible.

“I wish I knew a spell that would release you from all pain, my treasure, for as long as you should live.”

“That’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Her smile was warm and enticing. My tendrils itched to connect to her again, to taste the feeling that had caused it. But I remembered the excruciating pain when I’d last connected to her.

I considered myself a brave man. I’d survived many bloody battles and endured pain from deep wounds and gruesome injuries. But I would never again willingly subject myself to the pain of a human woman’s “period.” That was not caused by a wound, apparently. It couldn’t be healed, just endured. It made no sense, but the thought of Dawn suffering wrecked me.

“Come with me.” I scooped her from her bed and into my arms.

“Where?” She wrapped her arms around my neck.

“To my bedroom.”

“Oh.” She exhaled a soft giggle. “For Netflix and chill?”

“What?”

“It means sex, Rha. In my world, when a man invites a woman to his bedroom, he probably hopes to have sex with her.”

“Will having sex alleviate your pain?”

“Not likely.” She sighed. “Also, I’m not in the mood for it right now.”

“Then no, we won’t have sex. I have a few things to do, and I just want you close when I’m doing them. My bedroom is bigger than yours.”

“Then, can I grab that warm water bag Sigid brought for me, please? It does help.”

I bent over the bed for her to grab the water bag. She clutched it to her belly like her life depended on it.

“We’ll eat in my room,” I said, carrying her to the bridge across the stream. “What would you like to have for your midnight meal? Tell me, and I’ll churn the sands of the desert to source it for you.”

She giggled, burying her face in the place between my neck and shoulder. “No need to be that dramatic, Your Highness. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I just feel like something soft, warm, and sweet. Rice pudding, maybe? With raisins and cinnamon. Is there rice pudding in Teneris?”

“I’m sure the head chef can make it.”

The head chef came to Teneris from Kalmena, where he’d learned to make dishes favored by humans. He’d arrived with a thick book of detailed notes and recipes obtained from the queen’s Joy Vessels, and he’d been adding to it ever since.

“You will get your rice pudding, my treasure.”

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