Page 70 of What Fury Brings
Well, he might. He still wasn’t sure about that. It depended on his mood. Right now, taking in her injuries and wrapped bandages, he couldn’t muster the proper anger.
“Yes,” Olerra answered.
There was an awkward silence. Sanos began to wonder why he’d thought this was a good idea. He’d just wanted to see her with his own eyes. Make sure she wasn’t dying.
He should leave now. She was clearly healing.
Just turn around and leave.
“Thank you,” he spat out instead.
It was unclear if he or Olerra were more surprised by the words.
She recovered first. “You’re welcome.”
Sanos tried to pretend Ydra wasn’t there. “Why did you do it? Why not let me die? And don’t tell me taking a new husband wouldn’t have been easier.”
“It would have been much easier,” Olerra said, and she stifled a groan as she moved in a way that must have hurt her injuries.
“Then…?”
Olerra looked him dead-on. “You are mine,and no one takes what’s mine. Especially my fucking cousin.”
Sanos accepted that answer.
Obviously it didn’t have anything to do with her feelings about him or her character. It came down to one simple thing: her hatred of Glenaerys.
He let himself out.
Olerra stared at his retreating back. That was twice that he’d thanked her. First, for sending the letter to his mother. Then again for saving his life.
The Brute didn’t want his mother to worry, and he was concerned for Olerra’s health.
It was hidden, but Olerra felt like she’d finally found that gentler side to Andrastus that the rumors had hinted at. He must have buried it to protect himself upon being stolen away to Amarra.
She liked seeing that gentleness.
Olerra was glad she’d allowed the audience. At first, she hadn’t wanted him to see her weak and beaten a second time. It was bad enough that the entire nobility had been present to witness Glen’s victory. She didn’t want the man who would be hers to ever have cause to think of her that way again.
“You lied to him,” Ydra said when it was just the two of them. “I know you saved him because you feel honor bound to do so.”
“He thinks me a villain. I gave him an answer he would believe.”
“He is such a bastard. He’s not good enough for you.”
Olerra smiled at her friend’s protectiveness. “You’re just upset because I took a beating.”
“A beating,” Ydra repeated. “No, ten lashes is a beating. What you took was just short of a death sentence.”
“It could be nothing less to save him.”
“Nobody would have blinked if you’d let him die. Now the whole of Amarra knows you hold him in higher regard than your cousin.”
Olerra agreed. “We will need to do something to fix this once I’m healed.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. You could challenge your cousin. Give her a taste of her own medicine.”
“She would refuse.” Olerra would relish the opportunity for a fairfight between the two of them, but there was no such thing. Olerra was the more skilled fighter. She would always win. “And then she would turn it around somehow to make it seem as though I were the bully and she the harmless victim.”
