Page 97 of Vicious Princess
I yank my hand away, and he lets go without a fight. Panting, I lick my dry lips and taste copper. I bring my hand to my lip.
It’s split.
“Apologies, Ezkai Daegel,” Kata says sweetly. “We got carried away, since the fight was so good.”
The look Daegel gives her terrifies me. It’s the first time I see such darkness pass over his features.
“I don’t want either of you bleeding on my floor,” he says, jaw tight. “Roman, Bloom,” he barks. The fae appear next to us immediately. “Take your friends to the mender’s office. Make sure they don’t stab each other on the way.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“You’ll kill each other if you keep going at it,” Roman says.
I sit in the middle of the bed in the mender’s office, with Roman in the chair next to me. The only thing offering us privacy is the white curtain drawn around us. I swing my legs, biting the inside of my cheek while I wait for the healer to come check on me.
“I would have stabbed her in the neck if Ezkai Daegel hadn’t stepped in when he did,” I say without looking at Roman. “Why do you even care?”
Both of his eyebrows rise, but he remains silent.
I sigh.
After a pause, I say, a little gentler, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a bitch to you. You’ve been nothing but sweet and kind to me all this time, when others have not. I’m touched that you…care.”
Roman pats my thigh, the good one. “That’s much better, princess. Keep that attitude for Nightingale.”
I roll my eyes. “What is her fucking issue? I don’t get it. Did you know she tried to drown me in a fountain on one of my first nights here?”
Roman doesn’t look surprised. I would be lying if I said I’m not disappointed.
“You know all about it, huh? Did you know about it before she did it?”
Roman opens his mouth to speak, then closes it.
I wave my hand. “You know what, forget what I said earlier. Fuck you, too.”
The curtain opens, and an elderly fae with a long beard appears. He’s dressed in Ezkai leathers, and despite the lines of age that mark his face, he looks robust and healthy.
“Ah, a human,” he says, eyes wide as he appraises me. “I haven’t had my hands on a human in four decades! What a treat.”
I bristle. “I’m not a fucking treat.”
His gaze snaps to my face, and he smiles. “Don’t worry. Despite what some old fables may claim, fae don’t eat humans. Not since the Great Continent Separation, anyway.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking.
But Roman bursts into laughter. “The look on your face! Oh, if you could see yourself.”
I throw him a glare, but say nothing.
“I see a split lip,” the old fae says, closing the curtain behind his back. “Ah, you’re bleeding onto my white sheets.”
I look down at my lap where my injured arm rests, right next to a bleeding thigh. Slowly, I blink.
How did I manage to completely forget the slash across my forearm and the wound in my thigh that have been bleeding heavily all this time?
“Oh, right,” I murmur. Slowly, I start to shrug out of my leather jacket. Pausing, I glance at Roman. “You should go.”
He shakes his head. “Ezkai Daegel told me to keep an eye on you, and that’s what I intend on doing.”
