Page 66 of Cruel Crown

I kneeled on the bed, my hand touching her busted cheek. “Baby, who did this to you?”

My voice was more controlled, sounding less lethal, but she knew I was barely holding it together.

“Please, go away,” she begged as she closed her eyes.

“Fuck that!”

“Please, I don’t want you to see me like this,” she pleaded.

My knees buckled a bit. I sat at the edge of the bed, gently forcing her to look up at me. Her eyes were wide with pain.

“See you like what?” I asked lowly, my throat burning as I got the words out.

“Weak,” she hissed as she turned away.

Was she crazy? She thought I would think she was weak?

“Petal,” I called out as I brought my face to hers, my thumb wiping the blood that was on her cheek. I hated seeing her skin torn, imagining a hundred different ways of how they’d manage to rip it open.

“Fuck, Petal, tell me you don’t mean that.”

When she didn’t answer me, I knew she did. And that made a part of me ache. The moment I got up from the bed, I saw her take a relieved breath. Instead of walking out, I went to her bathroom and then cursed this fucking place because I couldn’t get hot fucking water in this room. I grabbed a towel and soaked it in water. I then walked to the fireplace and stuck the wet towel close enough for it to get warm.

I ignored the heat in my hands. I would pay for the burn later. Right now, that took a back seat.

Coming back to the bed, I sat beside her and her eyes sprang open.

“Weak is not even a word that’s in my vocabulary when it comes to you,” I said as I gently wiped the smeared blood. When I had cleaned her face, I brought my mouth to her cheek, and I licked the wound, then gave it a soft kiss.

She whimpered in pain, but while we got her medical supplies, the enzymes from my saliva would act as a barrier against infections.

“Please, go away,” she repeated.

“No, and don’t fucking ask me again. Do you know how much it’s killing me right now to see you like this? My every instinct is telling me to make rivers of blood flow through this castle. The only thing holding me back is because you need me. I always imagined this day—the day you needed me—but never like this.”

I scooped her in my arms and gently turned her body so I could look at her ribs. I lifted her shirt, and she whimpered in pain but was trying so hard to hold it together.

“Who did this?” I demanded in a harsh voice, starting to get angry.

“Just go away.”

“I’m not leaving you alone,” I barked.

She glared at me, her silver eyes shining brightly. “Then send Bas, but leave.”

Something metallic hit my taste buds, and it took me a second to realize that it was my own blood from where I’d bitten the inside of my cheeks. If she wasn’t in the condition she was, I would throttle her.

I got on the bed and leaned above her, making sure I didn’t put any of my weight on her body. Our foreheads touched, but that was about it.

“Fuck you,” I hissed. “I’m not going to send that fucking rich prick to take care of my woman when I’m right here.” My chest rose and fell faster when she didn’t look at me. “Because that’s what you are—mine.”

“Then don’t look at me when I’m like this…not when I’m weak.” She said the words out of breath and in pain, but all she achieved was for them to carve themselves into my heart.

“Fucking hell, Petal,” I said, trying to force her to look at me.

She didn’t listen; she tried to push me away, gathering her strength to throw me off the bed—maddening woman.

“I see it every time I look into Bas’s eyes. I can’t help but remember him weak and broken.”

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