The Devastation (Unexpected Circumstances 7)

Edith found Alexandra a clean dress and a fresh blanket for the tiny prince. She held our son while I helped Alexandra change into the new clothes. Once Edith let Greysen know it was now “safe” to return, Parnell and Rylan came back into the room along with him, and Alexandra looked up at him and smiled.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice nearly reverent.

Greysen bowed slightly, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I looked between them both and wondered just what had transpired in the dark cell at the bottom level of Sterling Castle.

Alexandra must have noticed my tension, for she moved slightly closer to me and placed her hand on my arm. I moved my gaze back to her and raised a brow, questioning.

“If it had not been for him…” Her voice trailed off, and I felt my body tense again as I imagined everything that could have happened to her.

“Did Remy touch you?” I asked. I did not want to know, but I needed to know.

“Remy?” Alexandra’s eyes tightened in confusion. “Sir Remy? I have not seen him. Why did you ask that of me?”

“Never mind,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and brought her against my chest. “It does not matter now.”

She touched the side of my face.

“You are hurt.” She traced her fingers just outside the cut near my temple.

“I am fine,” I told her.

“Remy?” she asked again, and I wondered how she could be so intuitive.

I shrugged and glanced off to the side.

“He will not have the opportunity to say such things again,” I said simply. “I am only glad the words he spoke were false.”

Alexandra tilted her head up and looked to my side to where Greysen and Parnell stood near the door.

“If it were not for Greysen, I do not know what would have happened,” she said softly. I nodded, imagining in my mind how Mother’s cousin must have placed himself between my wife and danger.

Then Alexandra began to speak again.

“When he hit me…”

For a moment, my mind went blank with fury. I heard nothing else she said, for the vision that had been in my head had just changed drastically. I turned to Greysen, my eyes narrowed and deadly.

“You laid a hand on my wife?” I growled through clenched teeth. I gripped the hilt of my sword as I turned and started to step toward him.

Greysen lowered his head and began to speak quickly.

“I had to do something, sire. They would have harmed her, and I could not give away my position and keep her safe! I did not harm her, I swear.”

“Silence!” I yelled. “I asked you a simple question. Did you or did you not lay a hand on my wife?”

“Branford…” I felt Alexandra’s warm hand against my cheek and immediately felt myself soften to her. “He had to…to save me.”

Our eyes met, and I felt once again the overwhelming sensations flow through my body. She was here with me again—really, truly here. I had not lost her, and through placing Greysen in Hadebrand as my spy, I did manage to protect her, even if it was not how I had originally imagined.

Greysen took another step back, and I saw Parnell move to stand between us, but his back was to me. I heard Alexandra’s plea again—that he only touched her in order to save her. I swallowed hard and gave in to the pressure from my wife’s hand as she turned me to face her.

“He saved me.” Her tone was definitive and final.

I nodded in response. Now that my focus was back on her, my thoughts followed, and Greysen was forgotten for now.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” she said quietly.