My Dear Savior

Episode 5

I hadn’t realized that I’d been leaning closer towards him until his large hands ever so gently touched my shoulders. Startled, I huffed out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and leaned back on my heels, pulling away from him as I did so that his hands dropped heavily by his sides again.

“Your people may agree with a mercy killing,” I said still enraptured by his hot stare. I sheathed his blade in my belt. “But not when it is a member of our royal house killing a prince of theirs.” He sighed heavily and closed those jewel eyes, breaking the connection. It was easier to think straight without those eyes on me- I was almost pained with relief.

I took off my cloak and ripped off the bottom hem of my shirt into a long strip of cloth. I gritted my teeth as the cold air caressed my belly, hating the feel of its icy fingers. I wrapped the strip around his tense body, watching his face for signs of distress as I worked. He only made a faint grunting noise when I tied off the cloth snugly around his torso over the wound. I wrapped my cloak around his frame in a fairly pathetic attempt to keep him warm since he was so much taller than me and his feet were sticking out of the bottom.

“I will be right back.” I promised, turning away and running back towards the house.

As soon as I entered the main room, I threw a few more logs on the fire to get a fuller blaze going and moved the kitchen table closer to it. In my haste, I was glad I remembered to lay down one of the tarps my mother liked to use to catch any blood before it soaked into the wood- I would have had trouble explaining the red blood stains when she got back if I had forgotten it.

Since I knew exactly what I was looking for, it only took a matter of minutes for me to find the stretcher my mother and I used to carry people from the town to our home nestled in the back of a closet behind other bulky supplies. I only had a moment of reservation about the likelihood of being able to carry him alone- I had always had help before- but I shook my head and began dragging it behind me back in the direction of the prince.

Luckily, he was undisturbed and still in the place I left him. Although, at the sight of his impossibly paler face, I had a spike of fear pierce through me. I dropped the stretcher next to him and felt for his pulse. It was thready but still present. A small sigh of relief passed my lips and then I felt a curious prickle on the back of my neck. My eyes immediately flew to the prince’s face and found him staring at me with pain-filled eyes.

I pushed through the spell his gaze cast over me and somehow managed to find my tongue. “It will be okay. My mother is a healer, so I am going to take you to our house. This is only a minor wound,” I lied. “So she should have you patched up in no time.”