Chapter 11 Thorn in the Heart
Amarien’s POV
The silence in the air was palpable. Daevir's cold gaze blazed on Velmira. The evening breeze blew through his hair, making him look even more dangerous and angry.
“Your high…”
Velmira couldn't make the rest of her words when a quick flash hit her cheeks. She stumbled on the ground. Prince Daevir had slapped her.
She fell on her knees, her face bowed to the ground before Daevir. “Forgive me, your highness!” Velmira cried, her reddened cheeks in her hands.
Daevir, ignoring her plea, stepped forward to me, his gaze bearing down on me.
He came back!
Quickly, but painfully, I got the rose I had protected out of its hiding place and stretched it out to him, my bloodied hands shaking.
I thought I still had much strength in me, but I had reached my limits. The last thing I saw was Daevir’s face with the full moon orb circling his head like a halo.
He looked majestic.
He was beautiful.
He was…
Fade out.
Who would have thought silence had a sound? It felt strange walking into that strange silence that enveloped you. That silence that feels hollow and consuming.
My eyes stirred to consciousness, and he was the first person I saw.
Daevir. My Prince Daevir. My friend.
He was seated next to me on the bed. My bed, in my room.
Daevir wasn't looking at me. He rested his chin on both his palms, looking contemplative and broody.
Being awake brought back the pains. My whole body was covered in warm bandages to stop the bleeding. Yet, I felt the whole of my body ache so much I moaned.
My voice stirred him back to me. Seeing I'm awake, he turned to me. His gaze was still dark and broody. I'm glad to see she isn't a werewolf. My gaze darted to the window, the full moon still hung over the clouds, watching us both carefully.
I felt my fist clenched against something that pricked my skin. Ah, it's the rose.
I still had it.
Slowly but steadily, I raised my hand with the rose, higher and just a little higher to Daevir.
The rose glittered under the moon orb. Daevir's eyes lowered to the rose and then back to me.
I smiled. I was happy to see him.
But he didn't smile back.
He grabbed the rose from his bandaged hand. I let it go into his palm, his warm palm brushing against mine.
In a flash, he flung the rose petal out the window.
I lay there shocked.
“What did you think you were doing?!” His growl reverberated through the room. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was shifting.
“I wanted to help.”
“Help with what?! What do you think you can help me with?”
I tried to smile.
“Your Highness… I brought the rose. You… you’re safe now.”
His jaw flexed. Not with gratitude.
With disgust.
“Safe?” His voice was soft, but edged like a blade. “Do you have any idea what you nearly did, Amarien?”
My lips parted. “I...I just wanted to help. You were going to shift at any moment. And no one else...”
“No one else was stupid enough,” he snapped.
The word pierced deeper than the thorns ever could.
“You?” He stepped closer, eyes storm-dark. “A concubine? A girl barely old enough to understand what true danger is? What possessed you to run into the imperial courts alone?”
My heart twisted. “You were dying, Your Highness. I couldn’t stand...”
“That was not your place,” he hissed.
I blinked, breath catching. “But… I saved your life.”
“You almost lost yours!” He slammed his fist on the post of her bed. I flinched instinctively, and something cold flickered in his expression, but it vanished, replaced by hard steel.
“You think your pitiful sacrifice means something to me?” Daevir continued. “You are a concubine of the palace. Not a warrior. Not a healer. Certainly not someone whose life I asked for.”
My throat burned.
I looked down at my bandaged hands, the hands that held the rose that fought through a nest of thorns for him. Shame flooded me, hot and choking.
“I only wanted to protect you,” I whispered.
“I don’t need your protection.” His voice was ice. “I don’t want it. I never asked for it.”
My vision blurred.
Not from pain, but from the realisation that I had given everything…for someone who saw nothing.
Daevir stepped back, expression tightening with something like repulsion.
“You should have died in the Imperial Court,” he muttered. “It would have saved us all this trouble.”
The room spun.
My lungs collapsed inward.
And still he was not done.
“Listen to me, Amarien,” he said, leaning in until I could feel his breath on my face, warm but mercilessly cold in meaning. “Do not ever come near me again. Whatever misguided devotion you think you owe me...bury it.”
My chest trembled.
“I… I didn’t think I was a burden to you,” I said, voice cracking. Tears rolled down.
He laughed once...short, dry, cruel.
“A burden? Amarien, you are a liability. A foolish, reckless girl who cannot even defend herself from Velmira without crying.”
The mention of that name made my stomach drop.
Daevir’s eyes flickered.
“Yes, Amarien. Even Velmira knows your place more than you do.”
He straightened.
“And if you ever disobey again, Amarien… it won’t be Velmira teaching you a lesson.”
My breath stopped.
His meaning sank in like poison.
“It will be me!”
Silence swallowed the room.
My heartbeat drummed painfully in her ears. In that moment, I realised something devastating:
The thorns had only torn my skin.
His words tore everything else.
He turned away without a final glance.
I watched his back as he walked out, calm, composed, unshaken.
As if I had not crawled bleeding through the dark to save his life.
As if I had not risked everything for the smallest smile from him.
The door shut quietly behind him.
And I finally let myself break.