Page 120 of The Prince's Captive

Gavril opened his mouth and then closed it. His hands fell away from the clasp. He just stared down at his hands.

Why was he asking? Did he…

She slowly reached forward and wrapped her hands around his. He looked up at her. She said, “Do you… want to pray with me?”

He nodded. “If that is what you do for a miracle, yes.”

Of all the miracles Marcella had imagined might occur, an Inimicus praying to Asentai had never once crossed her mind.

It just might be the greatest one she would ever witness.

Marcella arranged their hands so his were clasped and hers were clasped around them. She didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t really even know why she was doing it. But she could not deny him. He bowed his head low over her lap where their hands rested.

Was this just to get his trust in the hopes she’d be able to capture him?

No. This would be too far if she was. She had not once been thinking of deception and winning his trust throughout this encounter. She could not stain her faith with false prayers and deception.

So the only option was to be real.

She did not want to be an illusion.

She bowed her head, her chin brushing the top of his head. She spoke softly, slowly, and started with High Priestess Hagne’s Prayer Two. A prayer of asking for blessing in regards to safety.

When she finished, she continued with Hagne’s Prayer Five. A prayer for success against insurmountable odds.

As she continued moving through her prayers, she felt Gavril’s head bow lower until it rested against their clasped hands. Her own head lowered with it as well, so she could keep speaking lowly. She ended up half curled around him.

She just kept going, through any prayer she could think of that was relevant. Her throat dried out, but she kept going. At some point, she rested her head on his shoulder, and she could feel his hands loosen as his breathing deepened.

She wasn’t offended. She’d been spending the last two minutes trying to think of another prayer. She started to pull her hands away, but instead of the motion waking him up, he just sank deeper into her lap.

She just kept her head resting on his shoulder.

The bags under his eyes had been deep. He clearly needed rest, and while she knew she should wake him up and send him back to his room to get proper rest, she didn’t want to get up either. Her limbs were too heavy. She just stayed where she was, his cloak around her shoulders spilling down and covering them both.

“Asentai…” she whispered. “Please… I do not know what miracle I need anymore. But I need one.”

She didn’t even think about the fact that every time she woke up it was screaming from a nightmare until she didn’t. The next thing she was aware of was being lifted into the air and carried. She started to blink her eyes open, but then she was already being set down on the cot. A hand brushed over her head and hair, then adjusted the cloak on her, pulling it around her. His left hand found hers and curled around it. She knew it was his left because she could feel the leather band and metal against her skin.

Then in a halting, soft voice—Gavril’s voice—he said Hagne’s Prayer Two. Then Hagne’s Prayer Five. Then…

He was whispering something in his tongue. But she heard the name ‘Asentai.’ He was praying in his own tongue.

Then she heard her name. Still pronouncing it with a ‘ch’ and emphasizing the ‘l’s, and she could not pretend to hate the way he said her name anymore, especially as he was saying it in a prayer.

She drifted off again despite the words trying to reach her lips. She couldn’t quite form them.

“Don’t go.”

They didn’t make it out of her mouth.

When she woke up, she was alone.

Chapter38

MARCELLA

Marcella half thought she’d imagined the whole interaction with Gavril, but then she would brush her hand over the clasp and focus on the feeling of the cloak around her shoulders and she knew she hadn’t.

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