Chapter Twenty

 

 

When I awake, Heggal’s pale face is the first thing I see. He’s leaning over me and holding my hand. A dark bruise covers his left cheek, and both of his eyes are slightly swollen. I gasp and try to wrench my hand from his, but he smiles kindly and speaks in my mind.

Be calm, child. All is well.

I stop trying to remove my hand from his, but I don’t dare speak. I don’t want another beating. As I shift in the bed, I don’t understand why my back doesn’t hurt.

Memories return in fragments, and I slowly place them in order. I only recall Kenan striking me once with the crop, then I must have blacked out, either from pain or from fear.

I peer beyond the bed and catch a dark purple gaze.

“No!” I yell, this time successfully tearing my hand from Heggal’s. Pulling the covers up to my neck, I stare at Kenan as he approaches. But rather than confident strides, his steps are slow, and he looks wary and strangely vulnerable. When he reaches the bedside, panic swells in my chest. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“Laylah,” Kenan says in a pained voice. “Please, let Heggal touch you. He has something to show you.”

I shudder. “But it’s against the rules.” I shake my head. What if Kenan is fucking with me to see if I’ll disobey him again? I can’t take that chance. I look to the ceiling where the manacles had hung, but they’re now gone. Retracted back into the ceiling, I suppose. That doesn’t mean Kenan can’t make them reappear and fetch his crop again.

Kenan grabs Heggal’s hand and places it on mine. The first image flashes immediately.

I’m in the manacles, and Kenan delivers the first strike across my back. I scream, and it leaves an angry red mark, but my skin doesn’t break. As soon as he finishes delivering that first strike, Kenan lowers his head, as if ashamed, and tosses the crop on the floor. I pass out at this exact moment.

“Laylah!” Kenan immediately takes me out of the manacles. He carries me to the bed and inspects my back before turning me over and tucking me under the covers.

He strides to a hidden panel on the wall and types in a code. From Heggal’s version of the vision, I sense he’s summoned a doctor. Sure enough, the doctor enters the bedroom not long after, carrying a small bag. After a quick examination, the doctor assures Kenan I’ll be fine. The mark on my back, which the doctor applied a healing salve onto, will fade overnight, possibly even sooner. He says I have no internal injuries. I simply passed out from fear.

At the doctor’s proclamation, Kenan looks anguished as he stares down at me. He caresses my cheek for a moment, before straightening and ordering the doctor to examine Heggal in the servants’ quarters, give him any medical care he might require, and then scan his memory for signs of treachery against the Kleaxians.

Heggal speaks in my mind.

The doctor concluded I have no ill intentions toward you or my master, Laylah, and that is why I’ve been allowed here. Prince Kenan was rough with me as he dragged me to the servants’ quarters earlier, and, yes, he hit me a few times, but he didn’t cause any lasting harm and he sent the doctor to treat my injuries, Heggal informs me of his condition between flashes of images. I’m not in any pain now, and, with the doctor’s treatment, these bruises will fade by this evening.

In the vision, Kenan cradles me in his arms, and a single tear rolls down his face. “Laylah, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I swear on my life I’ll never take a crop or a belt to you again. I was wrong to think you needed that much fear of me.”

Eventually, the doctor sticks his head in the room to give the report about Heggal being innocent, other than breaking the rules and communicating with me. Kenan nods and, after the doctor departs, his look of anguish deepens. Another tear carves a path down his cheek.

He holds me and kisses my forehead, uttering apology after apology.

“I love you, Laylah, my sweet little human princess. I love you with all that I am, and I’m sorry I hurt you, and sorry I scared you so terribly.”

He gives me one last kiss and lays me on the pillow, then arranges the covers over me with deliberate care, tucking them up to my neck.

The vision fades and I blink, suddenly back in the present.

Heggal squeezes my hand and speaks in my mind once more.

Prince Kenan let me touch him and read his memories, so I might show you. He’s not going to hurt you, Laylah. I’ve felt his emotions and read his thoughts to know how remorseful he is for what he did. He truly does love you, and, my child, I know you love him. We’ll talk again soon.

He smiles, drops my hand, and departs the room, leaving me alone with Kenan, who is standing a few paces from the bed.

I exhale the long breath I didn’t realize I’ve been holding. When I meet Kenan’s eyes, he starts walking to me, only to pause mid-step. I sense the turmoil in him, and I think it must mirror my own.

Where do we go from here?

“If it’s all right with you, Laylah, I would like very much to touch you right now. To hold you,” he says gently. “Can-can I please touch you?”

I’m stunned. He’s never asked permission for anything. Hope rises in my chest. I swallow past the burning in my throat and nod. “Yes, Kenan.”

A relieved sigh leaves him, and he moves to sit next to me. First his hand closes over mine, and he brings it to his lips and places a soft kiss on my hand. His warm lips are a balm to my aching soul. I sniffle, trying to keep my tears at bay, but it’s no use. The hot flow of quietly shed tears roll down my cheeks.

Kenan wipes them away with his thumbs. “I know this might not make it better, but I don’t think I could’ve hit you hard enough to make you bleed, Laylah. It shames me to admit this, but I wanted you to think I might. The crop is a horrible implement, though, and I know that one strike hurt badly. I promise to hurl the crop to the bottom of the Carmuit Lake.” He swallows hard. “Are you in any pain?”

“No, I’m just very tired. I-I thought all we had was lost.”

He shakes his head. “If anything’s been lost, little human, we will find it again. Together.” He gathers me to his chest, and the steady beating of his heart thumps against my ear like a hopeful lullaby.

“Kenan…”

“No, I have more to say. Please, listen. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but please listen.”

“All right,” I murmur against his chest. Despite all that’s happened today, his arms are the sweetest refuge. Odd that I’m not recoiling from him in fear. I suppose it’s because of the images Heggal showed me. Thank God for that. If not for those images, I would probably be cowering and begging Kenan not to touch me.

“Human women are not like Kleaxian woman. I should not have expected you to mold yourself completely to our ways, especially given I am half-human. Tomorrow I will issue a royal edict for the Dennian Mountain towns and declare it illegal for Kleaxians to beat their human females severely, mates as well as slaves. I will pass this edict along to the rest of the royal family on other mountains and continents and recommend they adopt the same laws. The worst a human female can expect is a spanking, or perhaps a few strikes with a belt. No bruises, no blood drawn, and certainly no beatings with fists.”

Again, I’m stunned. I peer into his eyes, my heart overflowing with relief. To think all the human women I’ve been agonizing about no longer need worry about enduring a severe punishment, is more than I could have ever hoped for. I smile at Kenan through my tears.

“That’s wonderful news. Thank you.”

“Kleaxians who are caught breaking this law will be banished from Dennian Mountain, and their mates will be placed as servants, also to be treated kindly, in a law-abiding Kleaxian’s home. I doubt a single Kleaxian will defy the edict, as the mating bond is strong and no sane male wants to be without his mate.”

The shattered pieces of my heart reassemble at the bottom of the canyon. I cup his face and press a kiss to his warm lips. “Thank you, Kenan.” I might not be able to send anyone back to Earth, but at least the other taken human women will not have to fear horrible beatings from their mates and masters. No more bruises, no more broken skin.

“I’ve postponed tonight’s dinner.” He tucks my hair behind my ears. “You need your rest, my love.”

I swallow hard. “Do you really love me?”

He looks surprised. “Yes, Laylah. With my whole heart.”

I fall quiet for a while, then eventually say, “I haven’t told you this yet, but…I love you, too.”

Confusion spreads over his face, and he withdraws from me slightly. “How can you say that?”

“It’s true. I realized it some time ago.”

“But after what I did to you…”

Grasping his hand, I kiss it in the same fashion he kissed mine only minutes ago. “I’ve already forgiven you.” I kiss his hand again. “I do love you, Kenan. With my whole heart.”

He’s not the monster I thought he was. He wouldn’t have carried out the full punishment he’d promised me, even if I hadn’t swooned in fright. He’d tossed the crop down before he even realized I’d passed out, unable to administer any further blows.

“Turn over; let me check your back.”

I move onto my stomach, and he lowers the covers. His fingers trail over my back and I feel the tension draining from his limbs.

“The salve has worked quickly. Your back is completely unblemished.”

He then proceeds to tenderly kiss every inch of my back. Goosebumps prickle across my flesh and my body hums at his nearness. After he finishes, he lifts me onto his lap and cradles me in his arms.

I love sitting on his lap, and in this moment, I know without a doubt we will heal from this rift in our relationship and come out ten times stronger.

My mended heart rises out of the canyon, as if carried on a cloud.

“We will have a wedding,” he says.

“What?”

“A human wedding. In the town square. A week from today, you will don a beautiful white gown and we’ll say human wedding vows before hundreds of Kleaxians.”

“That’s a lovely idea, Kenan.” I cup his face and smile up at him. “My husband.”

He holds me tighter. “My wife.”