Page 79 of Once Upon a Crown
Before the needle could pierce my skin, there was a knock on the door, and I jumped up from where I’d been sitting on the bed. I hurried over to the door and braced myself before opening it.
Cai stood there with his hair dishevelled, and his pupils still dilated, but he was no longer covered in Thatcher’s blood.
“I was just on my way to see you,” I said, leaving the door open so that he could step inside. “I just wanted to put on some clean clothes and get all this blood off me.” I shuddered again at the memory of stabbing the Argonian soldier.
Cai’s eyes travelled to the red gash on my arm. “How’s your wound?”
“It’s just a scratch.” I shrugged it off, picking up the threaded needle once more.
“Shouldn’t we call for a physician of some kind? I’m sure one has already been sent for to look after all the men who sustained injuries.”
I gave him a look that suggested he should know me better by now.
Cai took a seat next to me on the bed. “Would you let me help you at least?”
Reluctantly I handed him the needle and turned so that he could easily reach the cut on my upper arm.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I muttered under my breath before clenching my jaw as the needle broke through my skin. I’d forgotten how much I disliked this.
“Of course I do. We’ve done this before, remember?” I did remember. Back at Fairfrith camp after we’d escaped Lance at Woodsbrook I’d had a nasty cut on my leg, which Cai did an impressive job of stitching up.
“I could really use a strong drink right about now,” I said, not looking for any particular kind of answer.
“Me too,” he said under his breath.
“Are you okay?” I asked carefully, trying not to look as he made the stitches.
“I’m still alive,” Cai said without much emotion. “I’m more worried about you.”
“I’m fine.” Which we both knew was only half the truth. I probably would have been dead had Cai not shown up to save me. Despite my hours of training and sparring with Rhen, my only comparison to this event was the day of the rebellion. I didn’t have the kind of training and experience that all the other soldiers and Cai had.
Cai finished stitching the wound and broke off the remaining thread.
“Are you sure you’re all right, though? It got pretty intense back there.”
“I suppose so, yes.” He stood up and looked around the room until he found a piece of bedlinen. I watched him rip the linen into a long bandage before taking a seat next to me again.
“To witness and be part of so much death can have an effect on a person, you know? It’s perfectly understandable to be having a hard time right now.”
He started to wrap the bandage carefully around my arm.
“Thatcher betrayed you in the worst way possible. I can’t imagine what that must have felt like.” I suddenly felt like crying and I wasn’t even sure why. All the events of the day must have taken their toll on me.
“I’m sorry you had to see it.”
True, Cai didn’t merely drive a sword through Thatcher but beat him to death and continued beating him after he was no longer alive. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t gruesome to watch. But I was more afraid that this would somehow break Cai beyond repair and that I would never get him back.
I placed my hand on his arm. “Cai, I don’t care about what happened in the throne room. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
He didn’t reply, merely looked at the floor, which was answer enough. I slipped my hand into the pocket of my breeches and pulled out Cai’s mother’s ring.
“I believe this is yours,” I said softly, opening his hand so that I could place the ring inside.
Cai looked at the ring in his palm and his eyes slowly started to water. I knew he was seeing her in his mind. The kind and soft-spoken woman who raised him to be the man he was today. Her memory would haunt him for the rest of his life, and I knew he blamed himself for her death. I just wished there was something I could say to him to make him realise that it wasn’t his fault.
“It was her wedding ring,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. “She loved this ring that my father gave her.” He held it up between his fingers. “She never took it off.” A single tear rolled down his cheek. “She used to joke that if someone wanted that ring, they would have to pry it off her cold, dead hand.”
A sob escaped him, and my heart felt like it was shattering. I used my thumb to wipe the tear from his cheek and pulled him into my embrace. Cai held on to me tightly, and in that moment, I would have done anything if it meant he would stop hurting.
