Page 22 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
“No healing him until you reach the dragonsguard’s wing.” Luther grinned. The blood on his face—Kieran’s blood—made him look monstrous. Luther tossed the whip onto the ground. “One of you will clean this. Kieran can return it to me by the end of the week.” Luther offered a hand to Aurelia. “Training’s over for today. Let’s put an end to these little tantrums, shall we? I do hate to inflict punishments.” The two flew back to the castle on his dragon without another word.
Only once they were a safe distance away did Gareth move. He carefully picked Kieran up with Ben’s help. The two of them stumbled toward Ben’s horse.
“Wouldn’t a dragon be faster?” I blurted. Not to mention less bumpy. Horseback would be torture for him.
“We can’t take a dragon,” Nimue murmured, watching Gareth and Ben help Kieran atop her horse with a pinched expression. “The height alone makes it impossible with his wounds. And Kieran can’t use hisshadows while he’s this out of it.”
“Royal ass,” Kieran croaked. His tawny brown skin looked impossibly pale, and beads of sweat dripped down his brow. He grimaced as Gareth and Ben maneuvered him onto the horse. “Apologies for being heavy,” Kieran said between pants, resting his pallid face against the horse’s mane. “You lot can take tomorrow off as a token of my thanks.”
“Just stop talking,” Gareth said and climbed atop my horse. “You don’t have to play hero. We all know you’re in pain.”
“Me? Never.” Kieran grinned but a second later, closed his eyes. His shoulders trembled.
“That’s a lie,” Nimue said. “Don’t be a moron.”
Kieran peeked open an eye and met my gaze. “Don’t think this changes anything. You’re still deadweight, little thief, and a problem for us all.”
And there went my sympathy. “Don’t think I’ll forgive your general assholery. I won’t thank you.”
“You should.” He gritted his teeth when his horse began to move in a gentle gait. Even the lightest of movements jostled his body. Ben hovered on his other side, his hands twitching every other second. “You’d… be dead… if it wasn’t because… of me.”
“Just shut up!” Gareth snapped, glaring at Kieran and then at me. “Not now.”
I felt like a small child as I nodded. Even though Nimue and I could have flown on her dragon, neither of us had any desire to leave. It felt… wrong. As much as I detested the man and wanted answers, he suffered because of me.
Kieran’s punishment continued once we reached the castle. It hadn’t occurred to me until we stepped inside that we had to take the stairs. Kieran was a good sport about it, biting his teeth to stop himself from crying out. He took one tortuous step after the other. Only once we were in the dragonsguard wing did he allow himself to fully lean on Gareth, who seemed to gain renewed strength as he hauled Kieran to his room. Ben helped Kieran lay on his stomach, and Gareth got to work right away.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away as Gareth’s hands hovered over Kieran. Golden light emitted from his palms. One by one, the ugly gashes healed until not even a scar remained.Amazing.I’d underestimated Gareth. He didn’t just heal Kieran. It was like he’d completely overwritten the injury. No wonder Luther hadn’t been afraid to beat him. Because he knew the damage would be undone. But then, if Gareth could heal like that, just how far would Luther go if truly angered?
“Why?” I whispered. Why would he save me?
Gareth looked up, exhaustion lining his face as he stepped out of the room and closed the door. “Not tonight.”
I swirled on my heel and headed straight to Aurelia’s room. I didn’t knock, just threw the door open. She sat on her bed reading a book. “We’ve been home for an hour, and you haven’t once checked on Kieran.” My hands clenched at my sides.
Her brow arched delicately. “Why do you thinkI’d care about the life of a bastard? He’ll heal just fine. Really, it’s a shame Luther was so merciful. He should’ve made him wait a week. Let the punishment actually sink in.”
I saw red. Everything about this was bullshit. I hated Kieran, but to be that cruel… that callous…This was the woman who tried to murder me.Even with everything on the line, I wasn’t able to control the sheerrageflowing through my veins.
I lunged forward, balled my left hand into a fist, and punched her straight in the nose. Her head whipped to the side with a satisfyingcrack.
Time stood still. My hand ached. Aurelia inhaled before letting loose a stream of curses as she clutched her gushing nose. My heart hammered in my chest.Fuck. What the hell did I just do?I wished I could say it was for my murder attempt, and a part of it was, but… but for her to just brush off Kieran’s pain…
Furious brown eyes stared me down. “You littlebitch.You’ll pay for that.” Her nose continued to gush, trailing down her hand and staining her pretty silver dress. Aurelia jumped to her feet and shouldered past me.
I stared at my bruised hand, unable to move.What did I just do? Clara…
I was still standing there when a handful of guards entered. When they grabbed my arms and yanked them behind my back, I still hadn’t moved. My brain went fuzzy as they hauled me down to the dungeon, to the very cell I’d only recently escaped.
I fucked up. Again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I’m such a dumbass.Yes, it’d felt great to punch Aurelia in her stupidly smug face, but the brief win might just cost me everything. I closed my eyes. A headache pounded at my temples. The dull throb, along with the tightness in my chest, was a constant companion through the night.
“We were all disappointed when Gareth healed Aurelia right away,” Nimue said. I opened my eyes to see her and Gareth standing on the other side of the cell.
“It had to be done.” Gareth folded his arms. “What were you thinking? Of all people to attack—King Luther’sfiancé?Besides the king himself, she’s the most protected person in the kingdom.”
