Page 31 of King Among the Dead

Beck exhaled on a ragged groan that he audibly bit back with a grunt.

Rose wanted to protest again, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. She slipped her hand around so she gripped his ribs, well above his wound. “Lean on me,” she whispered, though her knees were shaking. “I can take it.”

She thought he tried to laugh, but it was mostly a wheeze.

Step, step, step…

The hallway.

The bedroom door.

She could feel his pulse in both her hands, on his side, and in his wrist; swore she felt it where their sides were pressed together.

“Jesus Christ,” Kay gasped when they reached the bed, at last. “Holy shit, you big ox. I’m not lifting you up into that giant-ass bed. You’re on your own.”

A glance proved that he was smiling – well, grimacing, actually. He was wracked with fine tremors. Rose could feel them where they touched, and see them in the way his hair danced across his forehead – save where sweat had glued it to his temples and neck. “I think I’ve embarrassed myself – quite enough – for one afternoon. Bed I can manage.”

“Let’s see it, then,” Kay muttered. She stepped out from under his arm and leaned heavily against a bedpost, catching her breath.

Rose stayed beneath his arm. Squeezed his wrist. “I’ll help you.”

“That’s very kind–” he started to protest, even as he sweated, and shook, and curled up tighter and tighter on himself.

“Beck.” Soft but firm.

He turned to her, and she was grateful for the regular, leonine glow of his eyes – a thought she dashed, because she could see the pain there, too, far more than he was letting on.

“Come on,” she urged. “I’ve got you.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “Yes, you do, don’t you?” he murmured. Then faced forward and took a steadying breath. “Alright, then. It’s only a bed. Babies climb into them all the time.”

It was a clumsy business. When Beck landed on his back, finally, with a grimace and a hiss, Rose was kneeling on the mattress beside him sayingsorry, sorryover and over.

“Its…fine.” He opened his eyes and stared up at the canopy a moment, letting out a slow breath through pursed lips. His muscles twitched all over, veins standing visible from the strain. “Kay, I think I’ll take that morphine, now.”

“That’s what I thought.” She left to retrieve it, muttering under her breath.

Rose started to climb off the bed…

And his hand closed around her wrist. Loosely, weakly, but it held her as fast as a manacle. She froze, watching as he turned his head on the pillow and faced her.

“I’m sorry I frightened you,” he said. “I didn’t realize I was in such bad shape until I got here. And then…” When he paused for breath, pain tweaked her features, pressed a furrow between his brows.

“I was scared,” she admitted, “but only for you.”

A frown tugged at his mouth. “I imagine it was a shock, me stumbling in the back door in the dark like that.”

“It was a shock because you were hurt, and I was worried.”

She didn’t realize how firm her voice had been until his frown morphed into a faint smile. “Listen to you. Fierce little thing.”

She felt her face heat. The words were condescending – but his tone was anything but. His tone was…something shiver-inducing she didn’t want to examine too closely for fear she had it wrong.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, even softer, sliding his hand up and then down her arm, a gentle caress. “And thank you. Rosie.”

Rosie.

It hit her like a slap. She froze.

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