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“Frey—” she began.
“Not now, my wee wife,” Frey said gently, his arm going around her waist but his eyes went to Franka. “I’ll explain all later.”
Noc just went to Franka.
She was out. Her eyes closed. Her breaths even. Her beautiful face peaceful. And he saw strips of gauze with some kind of milky gunk laid across her back.
He lifted his gaze to a man who was bending over a leather case sitting on one of the chairs by the fire.
“How is she?” he asked.
The man raised his head and caught Noc’s gaze.
“Mutilated,” he bit out and turned his attention to Frey. “I hope, sir, that whoever perpetrated this outrage has been detained.”
“He has,” Frey told him.
“What’s this stuff on her back?” Noc asked, and the guy who was obviously the doctor looked back to him.
“Willow salt,” he stated. “I’ve left a jar and clean dressings,” he went on.
He dipped his chin to a variety of shit that was sitting on the table beside the chair.
Then he closed his case with a pissed-off snap and lifted it, ordering, “In the morning, if you can get her to eat, do so. But I’ve also left some willow tea to assist with the pain. It needs to be seeped until it’s dark. And the dressings need to be changed as well. On the morrow, mix these jars.” He pointed to the jars on table. “As the bleeding will be staunched, willow salt will no longer be needed. Simply mix the lavender oil with the honey salve and the willow paste.” He glanced at Franka. “There’s nothing to be done with stitches, considering the extensive scar tissue she already has. But even if that were not the case, there’s little skin left to stitch. But the salve will be soothing and hasten healing.”
He started marching to the door but stopped and looked up at Frey.
“I’ll return late morning to check on her,” he announced.
“That would be appreciated,” Frey replied.
The doctor gave Frey a short nod, didn’t look at anybody and stomped out the door.
“Can you do more, Valentine?” Finnie asked, she and Frey moving closer to the bed where Valentine was standing opposite it from Noc.
“I’m not a healer, my goddess of love,” she stated, her gaze directed at Franka. She looked to Finnie. “I know some, but they would not be able to do much more than the doctor did. Even if we brought her to our world, outside of managing the pain, I’m not even certain a cosmetic surgeon could find results. Unfortunately, the damage has long been done.”
Finnie looked up at Frey. “The elves?”
Frey nodded. “I’ll call to Nillen.”
“I caution you, my chéries, do not act in haste without Franka’s input. Your kindness might not be considered the same to her,” Valentine warned.
“I mean no offense, Valentine, but that’s daft,” Frey returned, jerking his head toward the bed. “I know her state has far from escaped you.”
“There are many of us who find strength and even honor in our scars, those within,” she dipped her head to Franka, “and those without.”
“Begging all your pardons,” a timid voice came at them and Noc turned his head in its direction to see that the girl who had woken him to tell him Franka was in danger was coming out of the shadows by the windows and toward the bed, “but Lady Franka should continue to rest and I fear, the lights on, conversation happening…” she trailed off but they all got her gist.
“I’m staying,” Noc said, turning to the lamp by the bed and twisting it so the flame within died. “You all go.”
“I can stay with my lady,” the girl offered.
“You have a name, honey?” he asked.
“Josette.”
“Right, Josette, you’ll need to have it together to take care of her when she’s up. So you should probably get some shuteye.”
She bit her lip, looked to Franka, made her decision and nodded.
But she didn’t leave. She started moving around, turning out the lamps.
Frey, Finnie and Valentine did move to leave.
“You need anything, you call,” Finnie said as she paused at the door. “We’re three rooms down, other side.”
“Right, babe. Thanks,” Noc muttered, gave her a smile, gave Frey a look and they moved out.
Valentine didn’t say anything. She just smiled that small, weird smile of hers that he didn’t know if it was cute, smirky or sexy, but taking it in it was all three.
Noc went to the fire, threw a couple of logs on and settled in a chair.
“Goodnight, Lord Noctorno,” Josette said quietly as she made her way to the side door.
“I’m not a lord, Josette, and everyone calls me Noc.”
She made a shy, self-conscious noise, avoided his eyes and disappeared behind the door.
The room was dark, except for the fire.
But thank fuck, the chair was comfortable.
So Noc stretched out, stared at the fire, didn’t think he’d get a wink of sleep, but was unconscious in minutes.
* * * * *
Franka
I barely woke before I heard Josette’s hushed, “I think she’s awake.”
I opened my eyes and tilted them up to see Noc and Josette standing by the bed, Josette looking anxious, Noc looking gentle.
Bloody hell.
“Yep, she’s awake,” Noc murmured and started grinning. “How you doin’, Frannie?”
I began to push up to my forearms, surprised that the pain in my back was dull rather than sharp, doing this snapping, “I’ll be excellent, when you cease calling me this crude name.”
Noc’s grin got bigger but he did it bending closer.
“Move another inch, sugarlips, and I’ll sit on you.”
I was groggy from the sleeping draught but I was also Franka Drakkar.
Therefore I was relatively certain the glare I sent his way was scorching.
Apparently I was wrong, for the glare had no effect except to make him stop grinning and start smiling.
He had excellent teeth.
Oh, but the goddess Adele did not like me.
Our eyes locked in a battle of wills I was physically incapable of winning, though mentally I could best him (perhaps), but movement made the dull pain sharpen and thus I decided (for my own sake, of course) to settle back down to my front.
Noc nodded like he was pleased and straightened, turning to Josette. “Can you make her some of that tea?”
“Right away,” Josette whispered and scurried away.
“Kristian?” I said my brother’s name as a question.
Noc looked back down at me. “Your brother’s good, babe. His wife, kid, they’re all good. Valentine got to them in time.”
Thank the goddess.
“My father?” I asked.
“Your dad and mom are both currently sitting in a jail somewhere, on a variety of charges.”
That was…
It was…
I couldn’t even decide what it was before Noc continued speaking.
“And Valentine stripped your mother of her magic. Frey’s pissed, babe. I mean seriously. They’re not gonna hurt you anymore. They’re not gonna hurt your brother anymore. They’re not gonna hurt anyone anymore.”
My mother was stripped of her magic?
I couldn’t help it, I felt my mouth curve into a gleeful, malicious smile.
“I know,” Noc stated, and I focused again on him for I had no idea why he said this. “Wish you’d been there, sweetheart. Valentine magicked out your dad’s tongue at one point so he’d shut the fuck up. If I wasn’t so pissed, I would have bust a gut laughing.”
I couldn’t fight my eyes going wide.
“She magicked out his tongue?”
“You shoulda seen his face, Frannie. It was creepy as all get out, but still, I’ll never forget it…in a good way.”
I thought of the other punishments that my father had given me, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, none of which involved a whip. But t
hey did involve the verbal lashings of his tongue.
Yes, I too wish I’d been there.
“She gave it back but only ’cause Frey made her,” Noc shared.
In speaking, he regained my attention and I made an immediate decision.
Kristian well. My parents neutralized.
Onward.
“You need to leave,” I declared.
His brows drew together a moment before his expression showed clearly that comprehension had dawned.
Sadly, comprehension might have dawned but he didn’t leave.
He crouched by the bed and offered in a soft voice, “You need me to carry you to the other room so you can have a bit of privacy?”
Dear goddess.
He thought I needed a chamber pot.
But…
What was happening to my face?
Dear goddess!
The heat I felt in my cheeks could be nothing other than me blushing.
I didn’t blush. I’d never blushed. Not even when I’d set about seducing my first lover at age sixteen.
I needed to be quit of this man as soon as possible.
“No…I…do…not,” I bit out.
“Sure?” he asked kindly.
“I need you to leave, Noctorno,” I used his full name in an effort to irritate, something that worked if the flare in his eyes was any indication, “so Josette can prepare me. We’re away to Kristian’s this morning.”
Another drawing of his brows before he asked, “What?”
“After my toilette, Josette and I are to my sleigh so we can begin our journey to my brother’s home.”
His eyes got bigger as his mouth inquired peculiarly, “Are you high?”
“No,” I answered his ridiculous question unnecessarily, “Indeed, I’m low. As you can see since I’m lying abed.”
For a second he just stared at me.
Then he threw his head back and burst into loud, deep, beautiful laughter.
I wanted to throw something at him.
Unfortunately, in my current position, this was not an option open to me.
“I fail to see what’s amusing,” I noted.
He controlled his mirth only to mutter, “I’ll explain it later.” He went on more distinctly, “Frannie, you’re not goin’ to your brother’s today. Or tomorrow. Or until you’re fit. Then, maybe Valentine will spirit you there, or whatever the fuck that’s called. But for the foreseeable future, your ass is in that bed and you’re resting so you can heal.”
Well!
Who did he think he was, telling me what I would or would not do?
“As you’ve determined,” I began, “this is not the first time I’ve been in this condition so I do believe that I know best what I’m capable of and…”
I stopped speaking because he came slightly out of his crouch so he could put his face into my face and he was no longer looking mirthful.
He was looking angry.
Very angry.
“That was when you had no one lookin’ out for you but that’s not the case anymore. So this is how it’s gonna be,” he announced.
He then, to my shock, irritation and outrage, announced how it was going to be.
Like he had the right to tell me how it was going to be!
“First, like I said, you’re gonna hang tight, rest and heal. Second, once you start feelin’ better, then we’ll discuss what’s gonna happen after that. And the last is the most important, baby, so listen up. You’re gonna take care not to remind me your mom and dad are such motherfucking assholes because I got a few solid shots to his face last night but I let Frey’s boys pull me off before I did the damage I intended to do. You keep remindin’ me, I’m gonna find those two monsters and do somethin’ that’ll mean my time here won’t be about discovering a parallel universe but memorizing every inch of a jail cell.”
There were a large number of things to discuss regarding his announcement. So many, on the fly, I couldn’t decide a priority so I said the first that came to mind.
“You struck my father?” I asked.
“Repeatedly,” Noc answered. “But not repeatedly enough.”
Oh my.
Warmth was filling my belly.
I decided to focus on the second thing that needed to be discussed and not on that feeling.
“I think it’s important to note that I barely know you, thus you’re nothing to me. Although I appreciate your efforts last night, you have no say in what I do or where I go. And even if I were to wish to stay in the Winter Palace for a day or two in an effort to be in better condition to make the journey I fully intend to make, that will be my decision and what happens after that will not be discussed with you.”
“Think that, babe,” he said, moving out of my face and back into his crouch by the bed, “but we’ll see, and I’ll just say what we’ll be seein’ is your ass is not leaving that bed.”
“I can’t believe I need to remind you that I’m hardly welcome to remain at the palace,” I pointed out.
“Figure that’s changed, Frannie.”
I ignored him calling me that dreadful name and said in a scoffing voice, “You would think wrong.”
“Babe, had to have a chat with Frey last night, he was kickin’ his own ass, thinkin’ shit about you that wasn’t the way it was. But more, the man is so far not about what went down with you last night, what you and your brother been dealin’ with for years, probably thought if he read it right, he coulda done something about it.”
“That’s preposterous,” I retorted.
“That’s the thinking of a good guy who’s loyal to his men, loves his wife beyond measure and feels the same about the kid they made.” Noc smiled a gentle smile. “Know you’re not used to that kinda shit, but stick with me, sugarlips, you’ll learn.”
I felt a skip in my heart at this offer. At his smile. At his words and knowing they likely not only described Frey Drakkar, but also Noctorno Hawthorne of the other world (when he had a woman to love that was).
I decided to end this conversation at once.
“I’ve no desire to discuss this further with you, Noctorno—”
He interrupted me with, “Noc.”
I disregarded his interruption and carried on, “But I’ve asked you to leave. Please do so that I can go about my business.”
“Frannie, baby, you are not gettin’ this,” he stated, leaning into me, but thankfully not so close his face was in mine this time. “I’m not goin’ anywhere. If I gotta go somewhere, someone else will be here to make sure you don’t go anywhere. You are resting. You are healing. And that’s just the way it’s gonna be.”
“Perhaps I’ll pull the cord, ask a servant to request that Queen Aurora attend me and we’ll see what she has to say about your plans for me.”
He directly straightened and reached to the cord, tugging it.
I stared at his actions and continued staring when he cast his gaze down at me.
“Yeah, good call. We’ll request Aurora shows and see what she has to say,” he agreed.
Hmm.
He seemed more certain than I about the outcome of said engagement.
Truthfully, without Josette’s help (or his) I actually could go nowhere and do nothing. Not simply because I was in pain, and movement without assistance I knew would be agony (even with assistance, it would be agony), but also because I was naked.
Not that I had any qualms with that, just that it was me who made the decision about who saw me and he’d seen enough without my making that decision already.
In other words, I was stuck.
And this was maddening.
Therefore I did the only thing I could.
I glared at him again.
He grinned at me again.
The gall!
“Now we got that straight, you sure you don’t want me to carry you to the other room?” he asked.
In truth, at that juncture I could have used the chamber pot.
Of course, this was not what I shared.
>
I said, “Absolutely not.”
“Gonna be right here, you need me,” he stated.
“To my everlasting distress,” I murmured, right then doing the only other thing I could do, pathetic as it was.
I turned my head away from him.
He did not let that happen unnoted.
Oh no.
He chuckled.
Insufferably rude.
I ignored that and stared at heavy curtains that hid the dull wood that covered the blasted-out windows.
The good news was, my parents incarcerated, my mother’s magic stripped so she couldn’t use it to foil any efforts of castigation or to rain further misfortune on my brother and me, Lunwyn was safe for me again.
And Kristian.
The bad news was, my back was a mess, my secret had been revealed (both of them!), and I seemed to be at the mercy of a dictatorial member of an other-world city guard, of all outlandishness.
I could not allow this to concern me.
I would ignore him in the short term and deal with whatever befell me in the long term.
Because I had no choice.
And such was my life.
Drat.
* * * * *
“You can hardly hold me at the Palace against my will,” I asserted.
“I can’t?” Queen Aurora asked with a raised brow.
It was undignified in the extreme that I was lying abed, staring up at my queen, having any conversation, much less this one.
Even so, one could say there was a single answer to her question.
She could.
“This is not to be born,” I groused.
Yes!
Me!
Franka Drakkar reduced to grousing.
The mortification of it all!
She glanced to my back and I could not merit (but there it was, right in her expression) the slight softening of her features before she looked again at me.
“A week, I think,” she murmured pensively. “And then we’ll see what the physician says.”
“With respect, your grace, I’m aware of what I’m capable of in this condition or any,” I stated, avoiding Noc’s eyes.
A Noc, I will note, who was leaning negligently against the wall beyond the nightstand, arms crossed on his chest, foot crossed at the ankle, regarding this like it was an enthralling melodrama.