Page 11 of Their Queen

“For scaring the shit out of me. For not letting me get us out of there sooner. For being a stubborn, pig-headed, b…”

I cut her off. “You can stop now. I get the gist.” I forced a smile on my face.

“Seriously, though. You almost died, Rhowyn. Maybe we should get the guys?” Her eyes watered at the thought of losing me.

“No.” I shut that line of thought down quickly but made a mental note that I needed to reach out to them and let them know that I was still alive. “How long was I out?”

“Honestly, not as long as I thought you would be,” she said. When I raised an eyebrow at her, she huffed, “It’s just after lunch, so maybe nine or ten hours.”

I nodded, drinking the water quickly. Goddess, it tasted like mana. After I finished, I looked down at my body, noting the plain white gown I was wearing. I should probably get dressed. The sooner I could figure out why Avalonia had wanted me here, alone, the sooner we could leave. And right now, I desperately wanted to be back with my men. “Where are my clothes?”

“Yeah, about that,” she started. “They weren’t salvageable. Between the blood and holes, I told them to just burn them.”

“So, what am I supposed to wear?” I asked, more annoyed than I should be, but I was blaming that on the fact that I almost died a few hours ago, and I totally had the right to be a bitch about it.

Cyerra stood then, moving to a wooden chair across the room that had some clothes folded and stacked. She brought them over to me. “These should do. I tried to get something similar, but way out here, our options were limited.” She grimaced.

“Anything’s better than this gown,” I admitted, plucking at the lacy front of it and scowling. “As long as there are pants that I can move in, I’ll be fine. What about my weapons?”

She turned and gestured to the table. “Over there.” Indeed, my rope and knives stood out in the light that was shining in from the window, reflecting back at me. She’d cleaned them up while I was out, and I was grateful she’d pushed me to bring her along. I’d probably be dead if she hadn’t been there, and then where would we all be.

I pushed up from my reclining position on the headboard, my muscles groaning and protesting the movement, but I wanted out of here as soon as possible. Swinging my legs to the side of the bed, I bit back a few choice curse words, not wanting to let them fly in a church. The least I could do was respect the holy house.

“You need any help?” Cyerra asked me, hovering nervously.

“I’m good,” I told her as I went to stand, but my legs protested the sudden exertion, collapsing and sending me back to the bed. “Shit.” Well, at least I’d tried, I thought. Intentions and all that junk, right?

She laughed at me. “Sure you are.” When I went to try again, she stopped me. “Stop being so stubborn, and let me help you. You do realize it’s okay to ask for help, right?”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’m used to having to do everything on my own, so this whole needing other people thing isn’t sitting too well with me,” I explained as I stripped the gown from me, keeping my seat on the side of the bed.

“Really? You could have fooled me,” she said, her sarcasm shining through as she smiled to take the sting out of her words.

“Har, har,” I mocked back, and she just smiled. Twisting to grab the bra and shirt, I held the gown to my chest, my long green hair falling forward as I did so. A gasp sounded from her lips. I froze in place, closing my eyes and dreading the questions that were bound to follow. When none did, I slowly moved back to my previous position and met her gaze. There were the questions, I thought as I watched them swirl in her dark eyes.

She didn’t ask them though, and I finally sighed in relief, deciding to at least give her something. Even my guys hadn’t said anything about the scars that littered my back, and I knew there was no way they’d missed them. It wasn’t exactly my favorite memory. “You remember me telling you about my shitty childhood?” I asked her. When she nodded, I continued, “Yeah, let’s just say, I learned the hard way that the only person who could save me was me.”

“I’m sorry, Rho,” she said, her eyes watering at the thought of the abuse I had been subjected to.

I shrugged. “Eh. It was a long time ago. If anything, it made me stronger.” There was no way I could give my words more weight. If I did, I’d be inundated with the memories as they assaulted me.

“Still, you shouldn’t have had to grow up like that.” She sat down next to me and took my hand in hers. She didn’t say anything more, didn’t dig for more information. Instead, she just squeezed my hand as the memories did their damnedest to swallow me despite my efforts to keep my mood dismissive and nonchalant.

Taking a deep breath, I shoved all of that down, pulling my hand from hers to wipe my eyes. “Thanks,” I told her.

“You don’t have to thank me. That’s what friends do,” she said simply.

“Well, I’m glad that I found you then. I don’t know how I would have gotten through last night without you. You’re risking everything for me, and I have nothing but more danger to offer you.”

She grinned broadly at me. “Damn straight. You’re lucky a badass bitch like me is tagging along.”

I laughed at her; her teasing broke the tension of the moment. I shrugged into my bra and a loose tunic, growing tired already from the slight exertion. “I won’t argue with that,” I agreed with a wink.

She laughed back, taking the pants from me and helping me slide them on when bending over proved too much for my recent wound to tolerate. She pulled my boots into place and then tugged me up to standing, supporting me as I regained my bearings. I walked over to the table slowly and strapped a couple of knives to me, clipping the rope back into place. My figurative armor back in place, I felt ready to find out what was beyond this door. My instincts told me I was right where Avalonia wanted me to be.

“Come on, pokey, I’ll take you to the healer first and have her do some more healing on you. I take it your magic is still bottomed out?” she asked, teasing my slow speed. I’d take anything but her pity.

“Yeah,” I told her. “I guess everything I’ve been through hasn’t exactly given me a chance to recover as quickly as I should have.”

---