~29~

Jose has just fallen asleep in bed when there's a light knock on the wall. I whistle to let them in. Zargis enters, his mate behind him. "How is she?"

I smooth Jose's hair away from her face. "After a week of nothing but nightmares and months of being fearful, I think it could be worse."

Thelia got onto the bed on Jose's other side. "Is she still worried about Gideon?"

"I don't know," I say. "She does always look around, eyes wide. I don't know what to think. Jose isn't the same."

Thelia's head came up, eyes staring at me. "You say that as if you expected her to be the same after what we went through!"

I sigh. "I don't expect anything!" I hiss. "But she isn't the same from when I first found her, nor after Switch attacked her. She's terrified of even Nallu!"

"She's had to navigate in a world that is cruel, crueler than even her masters," Zargis explains. "The fact that she is recognizing you and Thelia should be a good start to her recovery."

I look at my king with wide eyes, vulnerable as Jose. "I need help!"

"And I will help," he vows. "I will help you, just like I will help her, and any other dragon or slave who needs it."

A whimper makes me rush to the bed, cup Jose's face. "I'm here," I whisper.

She calms, burrowing into the blankets more.

"I will give you both time to heal from the wounds the past few months have left. We all must heal."

With those words, the king and queen left. I lay beside Jose, holding her close, as afraid of losing her as she was of me.

The next day, I help Jose walk down the stairs to go outside. She clings to me, holding tighter at the sight of so many people around. "I won't let you go," I say softly. "Just walk with me."

"Hurt," she said and I turn to her. "What hurts?"

She turns fearful, steps back.

"Jose?" I say, fearing I knew where the pain was.

"Kesar. Jose hurt."

I lead her to a chair and kneel in front of her. She turns more fearful. "Jose, I know what he did to you." She begins to shake. I cup her face. "I do not blame you. I will not hurt you. He hurt you and you were weak. Thelia killed him for it."

"Jose no move," she breathed. "Jose try. Jose no move, no help, no louder. Jose hurt."

"Were you awake?" She nodded slowly. I sighed, closing my eyes to keep calm. When I open them, she wide-eyed, terror on her face. "Jose?"

Before she could answer, I felt someone at my back. I stay still. "Move away from her!" Switch growled. Jose cried as I let her go to stand.

"It's okay, Jose. I'm not going anywhere," I say to assure her, but she still cries. My dragon cannot take it anymore. My wings come out and shove Switch into the wall behind me.

I turn, flaring my wings to hide Jose from sight as I let my dragon take control. Switch stands, flares his wings. Zargis and Otreg run in, but I growl at them. While Zargis was king, he understood this was my fight, for Jose. "She's going to die for her crimes!" Switch yelled.

"What did she do?" My dragon demanded, voice gravelly and deep.

"Made a fool of me!"

He charged. Without much strength, I swatted him aside, feeling Jose's arms around me, her face pressed into my back. "Let go," I say, not my dragon.

"No go!"

"Let me end this. Let me kill him!"

This seems to get her attention like nothing else, and she slowly lets go. I turn to her, gently cup her face. She is crying. "Kesar!"

"Go to Zargis. Wait for me. Do not look until you hear your name."

Crying harder, she stumbles to the king. He holds her, letting her hide her face in his shirt.

"Do not follow," I tell him. He nods, his hold tightening on Jose. "I will return." I grab Switch by the hair and drag him down to the dungeons.

Two hours later, I'm showered after the killing of Switch. I find Zargis still holding Jose in his and Thelia's chambers. It seems she hasn't taken her face from his shirt.

"She's asleep," he said, handing her to me gently. "Cried herself to exhaustion."

I sit in another chair with her cradled in my lap. I look to Thelia. "She was awake the whole time."

For a moment, she's confused, then she gasps, hides her own face in Zargis's shirt. He scowled. "What was that for?"

I told him what I was talking about and why his mate was crying. Then his scowl deepened. "Raped?"

I nod. "It still hurts her."

"Go get her looked at, Kesar. She needs to know nothing is wrong."

"I was going to, but Switched appeared!"

"Why not have it done while there?"

"I couldn't!" I look away, swallowed the lump in my throat. "I couldn't have it done. It was hard enough she was violated once. I can't see her feeling that again."

Zargis leaned forward, an arm around Thelia. "It will get worse before better if you don't."

I nod.