Her wounded vulnerability—it was a scourge that raked underneath his skin, scoring him deep inside in places he hadn’t even known existed. His hand fisted in the hair at the back of her head.
The vengeful warlord in him longed to destroy Geril, except the Dark Fae male was already dead. Tiago wanted to cause somebody major structural damage, but there was no one to fight. The lack bewildered him. He had all this fury and nowhere to vent it. Heaven help any fool who might try another assassination attempt. Tiago would come down on them with all the force of the frustrated cataclysm he had pent up inside.
She was too exhausted to cry for long, as the fever continued to rack her with shivers. Tiago sat back on his heels when he felt her tremble. He took a knife from the leg pocket of his fatigues and cut the T-shirt off her body. Underneath, the little camo shirt with spaghetti straps was also the worse for wear, the area under her breasts spotted with blood. He cut that away too, leaving her in the sports bra and those ludicrous shorts.
Then he carried her into the shadowed bedroom, tucked her into the large bed and hung the IV bag on the handle of the bedside lamp. He sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the hair off her forehead as she lay shivering under the covers, those large dark gray eyes glittering jewel-like under half-closed eyelids.
He called for the doctor, who came at once into the room to cast the cleansing spell. For several moments her body was filled with a strange tingling energy. It faded soon enough and left a bone-deep lethargy in its wake. It would take her body a little while to catch up to the fact that there was no more infection to fight off. The doctor left a couple of bottles of water on the bedside table and promised that he would check on her after she awakened. When he stepped out of the room, he left the bedroom door open a few inches, which threw a band of light across the foot of the bed.
Tiago stretched out on the covers beside her, the ever-present Glock near at hand on the table alongside the bottled water. “I’ll stay until you’re asleep,” he said, turning on his side so that he faced her.
For a panicked moment her overtired brain thought he meant he would actually leave when she was asleep, but it was too soon for him to go. She wasn’t ready to survive on her own yet. Then sanity caught up with her as he folded her hand in his. She nodded and let her eyes drift shut.
Tiago asked quietly, “Why are you doing this? Why did you insist on coming here earlier when I said I was taking you back to New York? It’s admirable you’re working to keep someone like Urien from taking the Dark Fae throne, but you’ve made it clear that you don’t really want to be Queen.”
She was silent for a long moment until he thought she had already fallen asleep. Then she said, “I don’t know if I can put it into words in the right way. I appreciate what you said outside, that Niniane didn’t die, she just went into hiding, and in a way you’re right. But in a way, I’m right too. Urien killed that teenage girl just as surely as he killed her family. Going back and claiming the throne is the only way I can get justice for her, and for her parents and brothers.”
He took a breath and squeezed her fingers tight. “Justice,” he murmured. He could understand that. “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”
She whispered, “I remember what happened like it was yesterday. That night hasn’t ended for me. I just learned to live around it.” She turned her head and looked into his dark eyes. “I have to put them all to rest. I have to bring to justice any of the Dark Fae who worked with my uncle, and help those he victimized like he victimized me. I don’t even want to do it, but I have to go back. I have to find peace or die trying.”
His Power mantled and covered her, a swift, invisible storm of protective Wyr male energy. He cupped her chin, a quick hard hold, his hawkish face turning blade sharp. “I don’t want to hear another word like that. You will wipe that from your mind and your vocabulary right now.”
His personality was too forceful, too much. It beat against her hypersensitive skin. She murmured, “Tiago.” That was all, just his name. She closed her eyes.
After a moment the angry force of his Power eased and became soothing. Hard fingers stroked her cheek, and his mouth covered hers in a brief warm caress. “Poor tired faerie. Sleep now,” he whispered. “Don’t worry about a thing. Just sleep.”
She had no other choice. She fell off a cliff into darkness.
As soon as Niniane had been settled in bed with some degree of comfort, Tiago shifted into high gear. He yanked out his cell phone and punched in a call.
Rune picked up on the first ring. “What do you need?”
“We got a shitload of trouble postmarked for our address,” Tiago told him. “If it hasn’t hit the fan yet, it will soon.”
“You guys safe?”
“Yeah.” He told the other sentinel their room number. “We’re good.”