Page 70 of Dark Reign

I felt my brow tense as confusion set in further.

“And you didn’t let him dispose of me?” I uttered quietly, letting the pieces settle into place. “You chose to keep me anyway?”

There had been so many opportunities for Julian to rid himself of me, but he hadn’t taken any of them. Starting with the Sentinels at the gala, again after the doctor revealed my condition, and I got the feeling he’d rescued me again tonight despite my lack of memory.

“I don’t … I don’t know what to say,” I breathed.

“You don’t have to say anything.”

There was a long stretch of silence while the full weight of his actions settled with me. It was only now that I realized something.

Something I may have known all along, but denied because accepting it would have made me question everything I held true.

It was possible that, despite all IbelievedI knew about this prince that … I was wrong.

At least in some ways.

“Do you feel okay?” he asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

Guilt racked me because I’d thought so many terrible things about him, too blinded by my own pride to realize he’d been genuine all along. The evidence of this was the fact that he left me breathing.

I swallowed hard, nodding. “I’m fine.”

Between statements, I did a quick self-evaluation before saying more.

“Actually, I feelmorethan fine.”

Julian blinked a few times as if this revelation struck a chord, and then my gaze slipped to his lips when he wet them.

“Listen, Corina, there’s something I need to share about today,” he started, and that dreadful look came over him again. “I found you in the alley after you ran off, but … you weren’t in good shape.”

That stiffness returned to my posture, and I couldn’t help but to wonder what he meant.

“Your shoe was stuck in the fence, so I gathered that you attempted to climb it, but—”

“Wait, I—”

The words ceased in my throat as more details came back to me. I remembered being beside the dumpster, and then thinking I stood a better chance of getting further away if, maybe …

“You fell,” Julian revealed. “And it was bad. You were cold and pale, and there was blood.Everywhere. So much it took a while to figure out where it was coming from. I did everything I could to get you to a medical house, but Elle’s scan revealed that we didn’t have that kind of time.”

Glancing down at my limbs, I frowned and pressed a hand to my abdomen, then the back of my head. And that was all it took to jar my memory. He was right. The chain-link fence was slick from the rain and I’d lost my footing.

Julian’s eyes were wild when he dared to look into mine, which had begun filling with tears.

“What are you saying? W-what did you do?” I stammered.

The sympathy in his gaze made me nauseous, with the dose of reality that came with it.

“I did what I thought was best,” he confessed. “I did what I had to do to save you.”

My chest felt tight and I pulled the cover away from my legs, swinging one over to rush from the bed, no destination in mind. All I knew was I needed to go, needed to run from whatever this nightmare was because, if I understood, it ended with him doing‘whatever it took to save me.’

I’d been bitten.

A massive arm reminiscent of a tree trunk caught me around my waist, and I meant to fight him off; however, shock left my limbs weak and my thoughts scattered.

“I know this was the last thing you wanted, and I know you don’t understand, but … please,” he begged, “you have to know turning you was a last resort.”

---