Chapter 202

“Come on,” Caleb says. As he stands, he gently takes my hands and helps me up from the chair. “You’ve been in here too long already.”

I pause for a moment, still processing all his words and what’s happening here. “You aren’t angry.”

“I am angry,” he says. “But not at you. No one told me where you were. I heard only that Jason and a servant killed my mother. I searched for you but I couldn’t find you. It took me far too long to understand the guards would not recognize you in these clothes.”

Caleb growls under his breath. “If Tristan were here, he would have had this entire thing under control in ten minutes. I am permanently inhibited without my right hand.”

My heart ached for Caleb’s loss, as well as for the thought of Tristan locked away somewhere. I could only hope that he wasn’t being tortured. If he could hold out until the spies located him, Caleb would see him rescued. And so would I.

We move out into the hallway. I recognize this floor as the one above the dungeons. As terrible as it was to sit in that chair under those fluorescent lights, I am glad I was not kept in the dank dark pit of the dungeons instead. At least, up here, I can see.

The guards at the door seem surprised to see me loose. Caleb turns to them. Gesturing to me, he says, “This is my favored consort, Harper. Learn her face.”

The guards pale slightly, then look at me. I see them each inspect me closely as if committing my face to memory.

Caleb makes no verbal threat. He doesn’t have to. His intent is clear: If Harper ends up in these rooms again, you will be in the one right beside hers.

“Sir,” says one of the guards guarding the room across the hallway. “This one refuses to say anything.”

“That’s not Jason,” I gasp. “Caleb, he saved me.”

Caleb straightens. “Open the door,” he tells the guard. To me, he says, “Harper. Stay here.”

“I will not!” I say at once.

The door opens, and I rush inside. Caleb, sighing, follows closely behind me.

Jason is chained to a chair, same as I was, though his interrogator seems much less friendly than Caleb was to me. The interrogator looms over Jason, anger and malice in his gaze. On a table behind him, a series of sharp looking instruments are laid out. Fortunately, none of the tools have blood on them yet.

At first, seeing me, the interrogator growls, “Who let this wench in here?” But then, seeing Caleb behind me, he immediately straightens and cools. “My King. Apologies. I did not know she was with you.”

“You all must learn the face of my consort,” Caleb says shortly. “Else I will start losing my temper.”

The interrogator visibly swallowed, nervous. “Yes, my King.”

Caleb pointed at Jason. “Let him go.”

Confusion crosses the interrogator’s face.

“He is only guilty of saving my consort,” Caleb says. “My mother started the fight with the intent on killing Harper. Jason intervened before she could succeed. Release him.”

The interrogator straightens. “Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir.” Moving quickly, he moves toward Jason and releases him from his shackles.

Jason takes his time standing, likely as sore as I feel, having been bound to the chair for so long. He doesn’t appear otherwise hurt, thank the gods.

When Jason does finally stand, Caleb steps toward him. Jason looks at him with that unnerving stare of his. Caleb seems unbothered, staring straight back.

“Thank you,” Caleb says then. “Your quick action saved the life of the person most special to me. I will not forget this.”

Jason’s eyes widen marginally, as if in surprise. He seems to need a moment to recover, and then he nods.

“You are free to go,” Caleb says. He doesn’t wait for Jason to move. Instead, he turns to me, takes my hand, and leads me back through the door. I’m relieved to see Jason following us back to the stairwell. There, Caleb and I wait while Jason slips by us into the stair.

That night, in the room I share with Caleb, he holds me with incredibly tenderness. We’ve not made love yet, though there is a hint of promise lingering in the air. There’s something else too, though. Under the passion and the desire, a warm core of affection glistens.

In the dark, it’s easier for us both to acknowledge, and if I happen to snuggle a little closer to Caleb, I trust he won’t call me out on it.

Listening to Caleb’s heartbeat and the rise and fall of his chest, I notice something slightly labored about his breathing.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

“Tired,” he says, but that doesn’t feel like all there is. He is a professional at holding back all emotions but rage, and in this moment, I can practically feel the struggle in the tension in his arms as he holds me. The tightness in the fingers that grip at my shoulder and hip.

“You can talk to me, Caleb,” I tell him, in case he has forgotten. “Whatever you tell me will not leave this room. Not just this room, this bed.”

He hums and kisses my temple lightly.

“If I told you everything that troubled me, we would be here for days,” Caleb says.

“Then let’s be here for days,” I say.

He laughs lightly, a rare sound, and it warms my heart like a flame. If only I could hear that calm, gentle laugh every day. With the pressure Caleb is constantly under, even hearing it at all feels like a blessing.

As he laughter fades, the seriousness returns to the moment. I know Caleb is mulling over my offer, as he continues to hold me in the exact same way.

“Sometimes I tire of all this,” Caleb says. “I was born to be King, and take pride in it. But all of the fighting, it wears on me. And with my illness…”

My stomach twists, thinking of how much he suffers regularly without his true mate. Though I love him, I would give him up if it meant he would be without pain. Maybe because of that love I feel for him, I would want him to be happy.

“Soon, I will face a violent end,” he says.

“Caleb!” I gasp. Pulling out of his embrace, I push myself up to my elbows. “Don’t talk like that.”

“It’s true, though, Harper, and you need to be ready for it.” In the dim light, I can see the exhaustion in his gaze, as well as the sincerity. He fully believes that he is telling the truth.

“I will never be ready for that.”

“I’ve lived a violent life. I’m slowly losing my mind and the sharks creep closer in the water all the time,” he says. “I wish it were different, but this is how I’ve always lived. Someday, it will overwhelm me. I’m not so arrogant to not see that.”

I shake my head. “That’s not true –”

He presses a finger to my lips, silencing me.

“It never bothered me before. If you live by violence, you know you will die by it too. But now… I have something I don’t want to lose. Someone.”

His gaze looking at me deeply, he says, “I won’t give up, Harper, but you might have to put me back together from time to time.”

“Caleb,” I whisper in reply. “I will never let you face any of this alone.”

Then, in the dark, he rolls me onto my back and kisses me.