Page 16 of Close Protection

‘You all right?’ I ask, walking into the snug where Amelia told me I would find Daphne. She’s sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, covered in a white fluffy blanket, clutching a hot chocolate.

‘Miss Green?’ I prompt when she doesn’t respond.

‘Huh? Oh yeah, sorry.’ It comes out rushed. ‘I’m okay, thank you.’ She looks up at me with a weak smile.

I go to sit beside her and we both stay quiet for a moment, watching the flames dance in front of us.

‘I just don’t get it,’ she says softly after a beat, wrapping herself a little tighter. ‘Why was he here? How did he even get in? Why did he have to hurt me?’ A single tear rolls down her face and it’s the most heart-achingly beautiful image I’ve ever seen. She even cries with poise.

Cupping her cheek, I turn her face to look at me and wipe the tear away with my thumb. ‘Don’t cry over him. Once he’s conscious again we’ll get the answers we need. Okay?’

‘Yeah, okay.’ She nods.

‘Good.’ I wipe away the last of her tears and draw back my hand, turning to face the fire again, needing some distance from her.

People cry all the time, so why am I so affected by her tears?

‘That knife thing you did was pretty cool,’ Daphne says, a small smile creeping across her face.

‘Oh yeah?’

‘Mm hmm.’ She nods, biting her lip.

‘Want me to teach it to you?’What the hell am I saying?

‘What?’

‘I can teach you, if you’d like.’

‘You’d teach me how to throw knives?’ She looks at me, her big brown eyes filled with scepticism.

‘That, and maybe how to protect yourself… If that’s something you’d want?’What am I doing?

She contemplates for a moment. ‘I never want to be in that situation again, but if I am, I want to be able to protect myself.’

‘All right, good.’

‘You’ll really train me?’ She looks at me like I’ve just hung the moon, and boy, if it doesn’t make me want to do everything in my power to protect her, task force be damned.

‘Yeah.’

‘Milosh?’ Henry calls, as he opens the door.

‘Uh-huh?’

‘Stefan’s awake,’ he says, voice cold. He looks over to Daphne, concern and guilt enveloping his face. ‘Daph, how you doing, sweetie?’ I can tell he feels guilty and somewhat responsible because he wasn’t there to stop all of this, but Daphne’s been trying to reassure him it was fine. She’s told both him and Amelia at least twice already that they don’t live to serve her and they deserve a date night once in a while. It just so happened that their date night coincided with tonight’s attack.

‘I’m fine, Henry, thank you for checking up on me.’ She smiles sincerely.

‘Okay,’ he responds, clearly not convinced. ‘Call me if you need anything, I’m gonna get Meelie to keep you company.’ He closes the door behind him, leaving me and Daphne alone again.

‘Tomorrow,’ I tell Daphne as I get up and head for the door. ‘We’ll start tomorrow.’

‘Milosh?’ she whispers. I stop short of the door and turn around when I hear my name, hating how good it sounds when it rolls off her tongue.

‘Yeah?’

‘Thank you.’

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