carried across 70

 

70 Only One I trust 

Sera 

The heavy bear pelt was suffocatingly warm. 

I opened my eyes. The ceiling of the den was made of thick, dark wooden beams. The light in the room was entirely wrong. It wasn’t the pale, grey light of morning. It was the deep, muted amber of late 

afternoon. 

I took a slow breath. My chest tightened, but the sharp, stabbing agony in my ribs was completely gone. I brought my hand up from under the furs and touched my face. My nose was perfectly straight. The skin along my cheekbone was tender and slightly raised, but the split flesh was fused shut. The forced healing had worked. 

I turned my head. 

The heavy oak chair in the corner of the room was empty. 

I stared at it. Fenris had sat down in that chair last night. He pulled the pelt over my bare shoulders and told me he would be right here. He lied. 

The door latch clicked. The heavy wood swung inward. 

Mina slipped into the room. She carried a stack of folded dark clothes and a pair of clean leather boots. She kicked the door shut behind her. She turned around, saw my open eyes, and let out a loud, relieved 

exhale. 

“Finally,” Mina said. She walked over to the foot of the bed and dropped the clothes onto the wooden trunk. “I was starting to think I needed to fetch the healer again.” 

I pushed myself up onto my elbows. My muscles ached with a deep, hollow fatigue, the kind that settled right into the bone marrow. My stomach let out a loud, aggressive growl. 

“How long was I asleep?” I asked. My voice was thick and dry. 

“Almost a full day,” Mina said. She walked to the small table near the hearth, picked up an iron pitcher, and poured water into a cup. She brought it over to me. “It is getting close to dinner time. Drink this.” 

I sat up, keeping the heavy pelt pulled up over my chest. I took the cup and drank the water in three long, desperate gulps. It was freezing cold and tasted like metal, but it was exactly what I needed. 

“Were you waiting outside the door?” I asked, handing the empty cup back to her. 

“I have been checking on you every hour,” Mina said, a bright, genuine smile stretching across her face.” You slept like a stone. I didn’t want to wake you. Your body needed the rest after what you pulled in that dirt ring.” 

She set the cup down and put her hands on her hips. 

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“Your mother has been going absolutely crazy,” Mina said, a note of deep satisfaction in her voice. “She has been pacing the lower corridors, demanding answers from every guard she sees. She tried to order Torin to tear the keep apart looking for you.” 

I frowned slightly. “Where did she think I went?” 

“She didn’t know,” Mina laughed. It was a sharp, cheeky sound. “She cornered me near the kitchens two hours ago. She grabbed my arm and demanded to know where they hid her daughter.” 

“What did you tell her?” 

Mina’s grin widened. “I looked her right in the eye and told her I hadn’t seen you since the healers carried Taya away. I told her the Alpha dragged you off, and no one was allowed to ask where. She looked like she was going to have a stroke right there on the stone floor.” 

I let out a short, dry laugh. It pulled at the bruised muscles in my stomach, but it felt good. 

“Come on,” Mina said, stepping back from the bed. “You smell. There is a copper tub in the adjoining washroom. I brought up hot water an hour ago. It should still be warm enough.” 

I threw the heavy bear pelt back. I was still wearing the thin, black cotton underwear. My chest and legs were completely exposed. I swung my legs over the edge of the mattress and stood up. The floorboards were cold. My left thigh throbbed where Taya had kicked it, blooming with a massive, dark purple bruise, but it held my weight. 

I walked across the den to the arched doorway that led to the Alpha’s private washroom. Mina followed right behind me. 

The washroom was made of smooth, dark stone. A large, deep copper tub sat in the center. It was already filled with steaming water. A block of hard soap and a rough linen cloth sat on a wooden stool nearby. 

I reached down and hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my underwear. I slid the cotton down my legs, stepped out of it, and tossed it into the corner. 

I stood completely naked in the center of the room. I didn’t cross my arms over my breasts. I didn’t try to hide the dark bruising across my ribs. 

Mina watched me step into the tub and sink down into the hot water. The heat instantly sank into my aching joints. I let out a long, heavy sigh, resting my head against the curved copper rim. 

Mina picked up the soap and the cloth. She knelt beside the tub. 

“Turn around,” Mina said, dipping the cloth into the water. “Let me scrub your back. You still have dirt crusted between your shoulder blades.” 

I leaned forward, exposing my back to her. 

She worked the hard soap into a lather against the rough linen. She started scrubbing my shoulders, her hands moving with quick, efficient pressure. 

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“Remember your first day here?” Mina asked quietly. The sound of the water sloshing filled the small 

stone room. 

“I remember,” I said. 

“You wouldn’t even let me look at you,” she said, dragging the soapy cloth down my spine. “You sent me out. Now, you stand in the middle of the Alpha’s room without a second thought.” 

“I was a hostage on my first day,” I said, looking down at the water. “I didn’t know you.” 

“And now?” 

“Now you are the only person in this entire fortress I actually trust,” I told her. It was the absolute truth. 

Mina paused for a fraction of a second. She didn’t say anything, but the pressure of her hands softened slightly as she moved the cloth over the bruised skin of my lower back. 

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