“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!