Page 36 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
Maybe it was my magic being more volatile than normal and corrupting my senses. Or it could have just been reflexes that IknewI had. Either way, one second I was clutching my head, and the next I was twisting Sterling by the wrist, a sickening crack met with a pained shout.
The doors burst open, Nicola racing forward with wide eyes. “Sterling!”
“I am fine, it was an accident,” he said through clenched teeth. He was not fine though, I could feel the way his agony crashed through his body in waves.
“We need Tish to heal this, there is no way that was a clean break.” Nicola’s calm words broke through the haze of my panic,and I found myself far more aware of my own sanity—or lack thereof—than ever before.
“I am so sorry, Sterling. I thought…well, I do not know what I thought.” Shaking my head, I leaned forward and inspected the odd twist of his wrist and the limpness of his hand. Gods, I could not believe what I had done. Nicola was to my left, standing beside the bed with a vacant and distant look in her eye. Was she scared of me?
“No need to worry, the only thing I used it for was pleasuring myself anyways.” Sterling’s joke forced an incredulous laugh out of me. How could he jest like that when the female he thought was his wife had snapped his wrist?
“Well then, I guess I was really doing you a favor.” My voice shook, the pitch higher than my normal tone.
“How is that?”
“Now you have an excuse to train the other.” His smile was bright despite the scrunch of his eyes and clench of his jaw that betrayed the pain he felt. The kindness he offered me made my chest tighten. I did not deserve it. Perhaps I really was losing my mind.
“Asher,” Nicola finally spoke. I looked over to her, watching her beautiful features contort into an almost pained expression. “This will lead to something quite nasty, but we are on the right track. You must call for Mia, not Tish. Get back to your chambers and change your clothing. When Mia asks what happened, you say that the two of you were getting intimate and Sterling fell off the bed.”
“Why would we lie?” Sterling asked, furrowing his brow.
“Do you want your husband to live?” Nicola asked, cutting off Sterling. She stared at me with those haunting and distant eyes, so different than the bright and joyous way they used to shine. So we would all be changed by this war. If any of us survived, we would never be the same.
I spiraled through the possibilities of what she could mean, but really only one thought made it past my lips.
“He is not my husband,” I muttered. Sterling scoffed at my side, still sprawled on the bed and clutching his broken wrist to his chest.
“Asher, do you want him to live?” Her gaze zeroed in on me, the veil of her power momentarily dropping.
Against my will, my eyes darted to the boy. That was what he was, in truth. Just a boy. Young even by mortal standards. He had so much life to live. His wit and curiosity and pure joy reminded me of what Bellamy never got to be. What I never got to be.
“Yes, I want him to live.”
“Then get him to your rooms, mess your hair, and call the Queen.”
With that, she turned and left. I did what I had once done best, what I had forgotten how to do until this moment. I followed orders.
“Do I at least get to kiss you to make it realistic?” Sterling asked as I began pulling him up.
“Did no one tell you? Fae females have tongues like razors.” My words were paired with Sterling’s hiss as I wrapped his uninjured arm around my shoulders and tugged him to the door. The pain was clearly making him dizzy. Incoherent too.
“All the more reason to take me for a ride.”
“Unfortunately for you, I am spoken for.”
“Yes, by me, your husband,” he clipped, his tone betraying his annoyance at my refusal to believe in our sham marriage.
“Currently, the only thing you are to me is a problem,” I spoke, a grunt nearly cutting off my sentence when my foot caught the edge of the gold carpet that ran the length of the hallway.
“So, no to the kiss?”
“You learn so quickly. Perhaps we can find you a far better female to kiss. Maybe even fuck.”
I released him for a second to reach into his pocket and grab the keys. As expected, Sterling mumbled something about me fondling him and my false disinterest in his cock. I ignored him, choosing to focus on getting the door open. There were five keys and three locks, so he was forced to direct me.
“It does not fit!” I hissed, trying and failing to get the final key into the lock.
“Not the first time I have heard that,” he responded.
