Page 70 of Bloom
“I don’t want to.” All he could imagine was Olivier and Gautier talking in secret later and laughing at him. More humiliation. It didn’t matter if he wouldn’t be around to hear the words.
“He can’t kill you by healing your nose. That’s not something he can use to harm you. Is it broken? Considering the blood and the force, I bet it is.”
It hurt like a bitch, and the handkerchief was growing sodden. “I think so.”
Jaime took his elbow as they continued up the stairs. “Fuck Zacharie. He knew that would infuriate you. The little shit has a dead parent, and he’d be in a rage if you called-”
“It’s my fault.”
“I can’t deny you shouldn’t have reacted, but he started all of this crap. I bet Lord Gautier told him what to say. He also knew you wouldn’t apologize either.”
Aleric couldn’t deny it. Zacharie had never said anything against his Mother before. Aleric had called him a bastard, but he hadn’t said a word against his dead Dad. Insulting dead parents was a bit far for either of them. Or so he thought. Gautier had likely told him to jab right where it would hurt the most because of the card incident, and calling Aleric a whore had been nothing compared to hearing that about Pearl.
It figured Gautier would know where to hit, and he’d had no reason to restrict his violence to a place where it wouldn’t be visible. If they’d been alone, Gautier wouldn’t have stopped there.
All because Aleric had been young enough to fall for lies, dumb to let another man get him under his control, and stupid for never saying anything.
“I’m sorry.” Jaime led Aleric down the hall on Olivier’s floor.
Why should he be sorry? It wasn’t his fault.
Olivier looked quite shocked to see Aleric with blood all over his face. He likely hadn’t known to expect anything. Even though it’s pretty much impossible to mess up a healing, Jaime hovered close as Olivier took away the bloody cloth and lifted a glowing hand.
“What happened? Did you fall?”
“No,” Aleric said shortly. “Just heal it.”
Thank Elira a broken nose didn’t mean the physician had to stick his fingers anywhere since it wasn’t like a deep wound. As soon as Olivier finished, Aleric stalked out.
“Wait.” Olivier cast a look around for a cloth to wipe his hand since a little blood hadn’t gotten on him.
“What?” Aleric paused in the doorway with Jaime.
“Did you swallow blood?”
A little may have drained down the back of his throat from his nasal passages. “A bit? I don’t know.”
“You should take something.”
Fuck him. “I’m not taking anything for maybe a spoonful or two of blood.”
“It’s not good in the stomach.”
Like it would kill him. “No thanks.”
Jaime slammed the door and made a faint noise that might have been part anger. “It figures he’d push whatever on you. Where are we going?”
“I’m going to my room. I’m not heading back downstairs. Everyone’s going to be talking about me and staring at the High Table while trying to pretend they’re not. I’m not dealing with it.”
Jaime hesitated. “Do you want me to get you a plate?”
“No.”
Aleric didn’t feel like eating. The slug to the face had hurt his pride more than he wanted to admit, and not because he’d ended up with a busted nose or because Zacharie had insulted his Mother.
“You can go grab your plate and eat if you want.” He vaguely waved a hand without looking behind him.
“I’ll wait until you’re locked in the bedroom.”
