Page 102 of Kiss of Ice

“I ought to get up. We still have the wedding reception to do.”

“You’re not going anywhere until the healer has taken a look at you so you may as well rest.”

“But it doesn’t hurt anymore, and there are so many people waiting…”

“Then let them wait. Lie down.”

Ren let herself fall back into the pillows. Theywerevery comfortable, she had to admit.

“Kam’s going to kill me,” she muttered. “I ruined the wedding plan.”

“I don’t think that’s what he’s worried about. Let me bring him in so you can talk to him.”

“No! Make him stay outside!”

Ruth gave her a pitying look.

“Child, he’s pacing around like a wounded manticore. He’s not going to stay out there forever. He’s worried about you.”

“I doubt it.”

“I don’t. He’s the one who insisted on the healer.”

“Ruth, please…”

“He’s the Emperor. And he ordered me to tell him when you were awake. I’m sorry, your Majesty.”

Ruth got up and went to the door. Ren heard low voices speaking, then footsteps. She closed her eyes as Kam approached the bed. Tears pricked at her eyelids.

She hated him seeing her like this. Hurt and vulnerable. It was bad enough that he already saw her as a tiresome duty. Now he would think she was weak too. She curled her hands around the pillows and wished she could disappear into them altogether.

For a moment, Kam couldn’t speak. He looked down at the snowy skin of her back which shaded into ugly purple and green on one side, the bruise blooming like a malignancy. A welt cut across her ribs, the edges of it pink and swollen.

A dark rage gathered within him. She was wounded. Someone had hurt her. His rage churned and writhed, threatening to spill out and consume everything in its path.

“Who. Did. This?”

His voice was thick with raw fury. Ren flinched.

“Kam, I don’t want to talk about it.”

He bent close and his soft growl sent tremors through her limbs.

“I will ask one more time. Who did this to you?”

She forced herself to look at him. Her breath stuttered. His rage had made him a stranger to her, his eyes an alien green and bright with anger. For a moment, she saw the monster in him. Her mouth went dry and she licked her lips.

“It was an accident, Kam. Do you hear me? He didn’t mean to do this. He would never intentionally hurt me.”

It was the wrong thing to say. His upper lip lifted into a snarl.

“Salaq.”

And he was gone.

“Ruth!” Ren screamed as loud as she could. “Ruth! I need you!”

The wiccan came hurrying in with the healer in tow, a stout little dwarven with a beard that reached nearly to his knees. She put a calming hand on Ren’s shoulder.

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