Page 102 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“Hey,” I said after a moment of tense silence.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like I got into an epic bitch fight and then stabbed. You?” I said with a dry tone, hoping to make him laugh to break this tension that was more agonizing than my injuries.

Rune smirked. “Like my girlfriend broke a promise to me hours after making it. Then went and saved the day without me.”

“Which of those are you more upset about?”

“The you almost dying in my arms part.”

“Don’t be dramatic. I didn’t almost die.”

“You flatlined. Twice.”

“Oh.” I was a lot closer to death than I’d thought. What the fuck was I supposed to say to that? Was he expecting me to apologize? Did I owe him an apology? I wasn’t sure.

We sat in silence for another moment before I added, “Are you waiting for an apology or something?”

“You don’t think I am owed an apology?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. His tone wasn’t angry or accusatory.

I didn’t know what he was looking for, so I spoke my truth. “No.”

“You don’t think breaking your promise to me hours after you made it warrants an apology?” he asked.

“No, I did what I needed to do to save Vivi. I won’t apologize for that. Ever.”

“Yeah. Okay.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I saw the fight. You were amazing.”

“Yousawit?”

“Yeah, there were a few security cameras. That place looked like a dump, but every inch was wired. We have good security tapeswith sound.”

The way he said ‘with sound’ made it seem like there was something important he’d heard. What the fuck had I said during that fight?

“I don’t think I have ever seen fights with so much talking,” he mused.

“I wasn’t trying to fight them. I knew I was outmatched.”

“Then what were you doing?”

I took a deep breath, making my ribs ache. “I was trying to stall them. I knew you would come for me. You were on your way. I just needed to give you time to get there.” I reached out for his hand.

“Had you given me a heads-up, I would have handled this a lot faster, and you wouldn’t be in a hospital bed,” he snapped, moving his hand out of my reach and running it through his thick hair again.

“If I let you handle it, Vivi would be dead. Sif said she would know if you left the castle. I thought she might have a tracker on your phone. If you left, she would have shot Vivi before you ever got close. I won’t apologize for putting my sister before a man I have known less than a week.”

“And you shouldn’t. But offering to ghost me seems rather harsh,” he said, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “Did you mean it?”

“In the moment? Yes.” It hurt to admit that, but I had already broken a promise. I didn’t want to lie to him too. “If it helps, I would have thought about you every day. I would have wondered what we could have been.” I took another sip of my drink, pushing down the lump in my throat. “If I didn’t and something happened to Vivi, I would never have forgiven myself.”

Rune looked at me for a long moment. I hoped what I had said was sinking in.

“Okay,” he said, finally breaking the tension. “I get it, but I don’t like it. But I’d do anything to get Rachel back, and she and I weren’t nearly as close as you and Vivi. I don’t like it, but I understand it.”

“Who is Rachel?”

“My younger sister, she died in the bombing, Murmur lost a few sisters too.”

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