Something twisted in her chest at the look of sheer terror on his face, his eyes
squeezed tightly shut. His hands balled into fists.
She dropped the rag and wrapped her arms around his body. “I’m sorry! I’m so
sorry! These w-words will never be enough; it will erase nothing, but I’m so sorry!”
she sobbed. She whispered the words to him, rubbing her hand up and down his chest.
Her own chest tightened in pain. He started calming slowly, and she continued
rubbing his body and whispering the words until he calmed completely. His body
went still again.
But for only a few seconds.
Suddenly, he sprang up from the bed, and his hands caught her tight, then he rolled
over and pinned her under him. One minute, she was resting her head and upper body
on his chest, whispering and soothing him. The next minute, his gigantic body was
pinning hers in the space he occupied before.
She gasped, her breath erratic. She looked up into his dazed eyes with fear and
surprise.
King Lucien, in his confusion, was sure that the guards were here again, and they
were touching him again to torture him. He wasn’t going down without a fight! They
killed Declan! They would not kill him without a fight!
Danika saw the savage hate in his eyes. When he raised his fisted hand to punch
her, it took Danika a moment to realize that the hate wasn’t directed at her.
“No! M-Master, please!” she cried, panicked. He’d kill her with that punch. He had
the strength and agility of so many men-even in a sickbed.
Her voice sounded far away, distant. He didn’t hear her words, nor did he see her
face. And his fisted hand remained in the air.
A very soft body was beneath him. A familiar body, but not Vetta’s. That was the
only thing his head registered. A body that felt good. A guard’s body was repellent; it
didn’t feel good.
That was when he started coming into his surroundings. His eyes stared into her
face, and he swallowed. “Danika”
At the hoarse groan, she whispered, “Yes, Master, it’s me.”She waited for the blow
to land then, while she maintained eye contact with him. Danika was the daughter of
King Cone. Danika was the woman he hated so much.
“My Danika,” he whispered, tenderly this time. Then his body lost all rigidity and
his eyes closed. He collapsed on top of her.
“Oh!”she gasped as he pressed her deeper to the bed, knocking the breath out of
her body. For a full moment, she remained still under him.
My Danika? Oh, when did she dream this way? When did she hear words that were
never said? Because she was very sure that the king could never make such a
statement as she just she heard. It was her mind playing jokes on her.
She reveled in the feeling of the full weight of him on top of her, and even though
he was so heavy, he was suffocating her;it didn’t matter.
Unbidden, her mind went back to the night he took sexual pleasure from her in this
very position. Her body went hot all over at the memory. But she was still suffocating.
She used all her strength and pushed the unconscious king away from her body.
She got up, gasping for breath as though she had run miles. Minutes later, she was
back in her seat in front of him, staring at him as he slept peacefully.
My Danika, the words whispered in her mind again.
Ahh, but what a good hallucination that would have been if it were true-if it
wasn’t a figment of her mind. She was determined to watch over him until morning.
She watched him until her eyes became heavy.
Danika fell asleep with her head resting on his chest.
It was the wee hours of the morning, the windows still dark with the black of night,
when the king’s eyes opened.
.
He turned his head to find Danika sleeping soundly with her head on his chest. He
stared at her blond head laying on his body, watching the rise and fall of her breathing
as she slept peacefully.
The events of the day before filled his head. He remembered vividly when the
arrow struck his chest-and her scream of horror.
Now, he just watched her. He didn’t know how long had passed.
He distinctly remembered the soft sound of weeping and words he’d heard while
he was unconscious. He could still remember hearing her voice, but he couldn’t
remember the words she spoke. But whatever they were, they were soothing. And
they calmed the beasts raging in his subconscious there to devour him at that state.
She had put her arms around him, hugging him tight, while she whispered those
words as his mind trapped him on the very day they killed Declan.
Now she was sleeping beside him. He allowed himself to watch her unabashedly.
She was so beautiful, so angelic-even in sleep. He wasn’t supposed to notice this,
but he did. He marveled that Cone fathered this woman. This woman that spent the
night alone in his bedroom when he was down and at her mercy, and hadn’t harmed
him –
She stirred, and her eyes opened. Their eyes met. Her mind was sluggish, and so
they stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds.
Then her eyes widened, and she whipped her head from his chest. “Master, you’re
awake!”
“I am. Why? You want me dead?” he said, but the usual hate and coldness was
absent from his eyes.
“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “No, Master. I don’t want you dead.”
He said nothing. Instead, his eyes watched her with that unreadable expression that
had become a second cloak to him. Finally, he averted his eyes. “Who left me in your
care?”
“It was… Madam Baski.”
“Baski seems to have taken a gamble with my life, leaving me all night alone in the
care of Cone’s daughter.” His lips thinned.
Danika’s eyes widened. She pushed down the hurt that spread through her body on
his judgment of her and bowed her head to him. “I would never do anything that
would cause you harm,” she whispered.