Page 63 of Rescued

DAVRIK

There was something wrong with Sonya. Davrik didn’t know what it was, but she was different somehow. Her laughter had a brittle edge to it and the wide smile she gave him didn’t reach her eyes. She laughed too hard at his jokes and she kept her arms wrapped tightly around herself, as though she was trying to hold herself together through sheer force of will alone.

There were marks on her face and the top of her chest as though she’d scrubbed herself raw in the extra-long shower he’d heard her taking. But when he asked about them, Sonya quickly changed the subject.

“What’s wrong?” he wanted to ask her. “What did that fucking Xeba-shla do to you?” but he didn’t want to make her even more upset. He wanted her to tell him what had happened on her own without having to pry it out of her. But so far, that didn’t seem likely, since she kept on smiling and laughing and putting on an act, pretending everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t.

It was obvious to Davrik she’d been traumatized somehow, but unless she told him the details, he felt unable to help her.

He blamed himself. He knew he shouldn’t have let her be taken from him. He should have fought harder, refused to let her go. But he’d been afraid that the fucking Sluggorn would take her away entirely and refuse to let him have her back. And while he would fight to the death to keep her, he couldn’t overcome the entire security staff of The House of a Thousand Flowers.

So he had let her go for what he thought was a harmless couple of hours…but something or someone had clearly harmed her. The very thought made him curl his fists in impotent rage.

All through the evening, Sonya kept up a light, casual banter, which was clearly meant to mask her turbulent emotions. Davrik knew exactly what she was doing—his own Sonya had acted the same way before she trusted him enough to tell him what was bothering her. He also knew there was nothing he could do until she finally broke down and told him. So he hung on to his patience as they got ready for bed.

“Should I pick you a nightgown and help you put it on, baby girl?” he asked, nodding at her closet unit.

Sonya jumped up quickly.

“Oh, not tonight,” she chirped, giving him that smile that didn’t reach her eyes again. “If you don’t mind, I’ll get my own. Thank you, Sir Davrik!”

Davrik said nothing as she walked quickly towards the closet. She moved as though something was hurting her—she had a slight limp that she hadn’t had before. It was all he could do to keep from asking her about it—but he didn’t want to make her lie and it was clear she was afraid to tell him the truth.

Sonya changed quickly into a long blue gown that hid much of her body. Then she hobbled back to bed and slipped under the covers beside him—keeping to her own side of the bed, Davrik noticed. He turned over to face her, propping his head in one hand as he looked down at her. The strain she was under was apparent in her big, brown eyes.

“Do you want to talk?” he asked softly. “About anything? Anything at all?”

“Oh, uh, no—not really,” she said quickly. “I’m actually really tired. Do you mind if we just get some sleep? Or did you want me to…to service you in some way? Maybe give you a blow job?”

Davrik frowned.

“Baby girl, you know I don’t want you doing anything like that until you know me better and you actually want to do it. I just thought you might want to tell me something.”

Her eyes widened and her breath hitched in obvious fear.

“No, uh—there’s really nothing to tell,” she said, forcing a laugh.

“So nothing happened to you on your ‘date’ with the other client?” Davrik pressed.

She shook her head rapidly.

“No—unless you count me singing myself almost hoarse.”

“Singing yourself hoarse? So that’s all that happened? He didn’t hurt you in any way? He just wanted you to sing to him?” Davrik asked skeptically.

She shrugged and looked away, her eyes not meeting his.

“What can I say? He really liked my voice.”

“You have a beautiful voice, baby girl,” Davrik acknowledged. “But you can tell me if he hurt you. I won’t be mad—nothing that happens here is your fault. You’re here against your will.”

For a moment, he almost thought she would talk to him. Her eyes widened again and she opened her mouth…and then closed it again.

“I’m just really tired,” she said in a low voice. “Please, Sir Davrik, if you don’t want a blow job or a hand job or anything else like that, could we please just go to sleep?”

“Of course we can, baby girl.” Davrik sighed. This Sonya still didn’t know him well enough to trust him. His heart ached with that knowledge. His own Sonya would have been in his arms in a heartbeat, pouring out her fears and sorrows so he could comfort her. But he reminded himself that he still had a long way to go with this new version of his fated mate—he needed to be patient with her, as he had been when he was wooing his own Sonya so many years ago.

He turned out the overhead glows with a word and settled onto his side of the bed. Sonya settled on her own side, curled in a tight little ball. Davrik ached to gather her into his arms and hold her. He wanted to heal whatever was hurting her—to make her feel better somehow. But he couldn’t do that—not yet. Not until she trusted him. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep…

---