SARGIS POV
I stood there helplessly as the royal physician and his team tried to coax her into letting them examine her.
But she refused.
She curled in on herself, pressing her small palms tightly over her ears, rocking back and forth as if she could block out the world itself. The sight of it shattered something inside me. What had she been through to react this way? What kind of hell had she survived to flinch from kindness, to see even gentle hands as threats? What crime had she committed, if any that warranted such cruelty?
I dragged my fingers through my hair in frustration, and a heavy sigh escaped my lips.
If only I hadn't dismissed searching downtown... If only I hadn't stubbornly assumed she'd be anywhere but there... Would I have found her sooner? Would she have been spared
