Page 156 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

I shook my head, feeling hysterical.

“Lyr. Lyr. Ani janam ra.”

I stared into Rhyan’s eyes, my breath slowing. “I know you.”

Rhyan nodded encouragingly. “I know you. And I love you. You are good. You did what you had to do to survive today. You didn’t do anything wrong. You saved yourself. You saved me. You had no choice. Okay? I see you. I see exactly who you are. Nothing today has changed how I feel—and nothing has changed who you are, or who I see in front of me.”

“And who am I?” I asked.

He stroked my cheek. “My partner,” he said gently. “My heart. My Lyr. My love. My—” His throat worked. “Everything.”

I sniffled and nodded, and for the first time since we’d left Vrukshire, Rhyan looked relieved.

“Good. Take a deep breath for me, okay?”

I did, slowly inhaling and exhaling, using his breaths as a guide.

“Good, Lyr. You’re doing so good, I promise. You’re in control. I’m going to tell you everything I’m doing. If you say stop, I stop. You want me to leave, I’ll leave. Whatever you want to do here. You have the power.”

I nodded again, feeling just the slightest bit of tension leave me.

“We’re going to get you all cleaned up in the shower, then bandaged, and dressed in anything you want to wear. And then I’m going to get you food—whatever you want to eat, I don’t care, I will find it. And then you’re going to climb into bed and rest. Let your leg heal. And I’m going to watch over you.”

“The stone was blue all day. Did you hear everything?” I asked.

Rhyan nodded slowly. “Everything.”

“You were with me the whole time.”

“The whole time. I was fighting every second of this entire day to get back to you. To find you. I was always going to come for you. You know that.” He leaned forward, kissing my forehead. “I would have killed every wolf in Lumeria to get you back. Burned the Empire to the ground to reach you. Nothing was going to stop me. I just wish I’d been faster.”

I exhaled again, staring into his eyes, finding comfort in them. “I’m ready.”

Rhyan smiled and got to work, adding more soap to the washcloth and scrubbing off all the blood, using the towel around me to get my middle and backside. He got onto his knees to get the bottoms of my feet, careful around the cut Brockton had made on my leg, and even shampooed my hair, massaging my scalp and carefully brushing out the tangles with his fingers, and adding oil.

We climbed out of the tub, and Rhyan switched out my soaking towel for a dry one, all while keeping his eyes on my face. He patted me down and led me to the bed where he went to work applying sunleaves to all my cuts and bruises and then covering everything in bandages, wrapping the last one tight around my calf.

“Do you want your own pajamas tonight? Or mine?” he asked.

“Yours.”

He smiled. “As you wish.”

“I’m sorry…about the shower.”

He shook his head. “No apologies. I told you, whatever you want tonight, you get.”

A few minutes later, I was tucked into bed wearing his gray knit-pants and swimming in one of his soft sleep shirts.

“Food?” he asked, throwing on a long-sleeved tunic and boots before promising to return with hot soup and bread. It was all I wanted—something simple, something warm.

I scrunched up beneath the blankets, hugging the pillow to my chest, trying to take deep breaths as I waited for Rhyan to return. I’d never had a problem being alone before. But now…my heart was hammering, and it didn’t stop until he stepped back inside the room. He was carrying two large silver trays and a pastry box. As he set down everything on the bench before the bed, I slowly climbed out from under the blankets, inhaling the spices and watching the steam rise when he released the covers.

We ate in silence, me sitting on the edge of the bed, my feet propped up on the bench, while Rhyan sat cross-legged on the floor. When I’d cleaned my bowl and inhaled my last piece of bread, he handed me the pastry box with a shy smile.

“What’s this?” I asked. It wasn’t from the kitchens at the inn.

“I made a short trip into the city while our soups were cooking. Had to try three different bakeries, but I found it.”