Chapter 7: Stay Human

They rode back with the sun going down behind them, and neither of them said a word until the gate.

Her light was empty, her hands were scraped raw, and every bone in her body wanted a bed.

He lifted her out of the saddle in the courtyard and did not put her down right away.

"The arrow," he said.

"The Prince's. Or someone who answers to him."

"Aldric Verenhall." His mouth thinned. "He wants the northern silver, and he wants a reason to cross the bridge."

"We can show the council tomorrow."

"We can."

He set her on her feet, and his hands stayed on her shoulders.

The sky over the keep was orange.

The seal on her back had begun to prickle.

She could see the same thing happening to him, in the faint tightening at the corners of his eyes.

"Dusk," he said. "Nerei's put your supper in your room."

"And you'll go to the yard."

"I'll go to the yard."

"For four hours."

"Until midnight. It passes."

"Kaedan," Shiori said. "Don't."

He went still.

"I told you I'm choosing, and you said I couldn't tell."

She lifted her chin.

"I healed thirty-one people today. I'm so tired I can hardly stand. I still know exactly what I want."

She took a breath.

"I want you to stay human tonight. In a bed. With me."

His hands tightened on her shoulders.

"I could hurt you."

"You carried people out of that village all day."

"Shiori..."

"You're thirty-one years old and I'm twenty-two. We're both adults, and I'm asking."

For a long moment the only sound was the evening wind on the walls.

Then he bent and picked her up.

He carried her up the tower stair, past a startled maid who dropped a basket of linen and ran.

His room was bigger than hers and nearly bare, with a wide bed, a desk heaped with reports, and a window facing west.

He shut the door with his foot.

He set her down on the edge of the bed and knelt in front of her, his eyes level with hers.

"If the wolf rises at dusk, hold my mark."

"I'll hold it."

"I've wanted my hands on you since the bridge."

"Good. Put them on me now."

He gave a short shaken laugh.

"Then I'm not letting you go until morning."

His hands came up to the buttons of her tunic, slowly, and she covered them with her own and helped.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Dismissed Saint Became the Beast King's Healer from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.