Royal Pain (Rewritten)

Chapter 61

Deva woke with a dry sickening rawness in her upper throat that burned with each movement she took. Her eyelids felt like steel plates holding her vision captive. She clinched her teeth to keep the pain of her aching muscles at bay as she forced herself up.

The weight of the shackles were no longer on her wrists and ankles and the door was wide open. She expected Adamarius to be near but he wasn't in the room.

Fighting through the struggle Deva rose to her feet noticing she wasn't wear pants anymore, only her ripped up shirt.

Deva leaned on the walls for support as she made her way up the stairs. There was no way Adamarius would abandon her.

She needed to find him.

The house was large and moderately empty. It was staged. There was nothing personal hanging on the walls, no photos, no specific decor.

She heard movement in one of the bedrooms and frowned when she did not see him. The windows were open letting in the brightness of the sun and a breeze of crisp air.

The bathroom.

Deva wasn't prepared to see his bruised and scarred face. There were rough marks running from his forehead to chin. Impulse made her want to touch his wounds but Adamarius turned away. He was shirtless and she saw more claw marks spiraled down his back.

“Did I do this to you?” She was ashamed.

“Yes.”

“Why aren’t you healing?”

He put on a brave face. "During the curse it's harder for us to heal. I believe we’re meant to feel the pain as we slowly creep to our deaths. It's easier to kill a lycan under the Relic Moon."

"What happened?" Her throbbing headache was blocking her mental capability to recall anything from the night before.

"You blacked out. Sometimes the pain is too much. You might consider it a blessing." The sound of his voice scared her.

Deva straightened her back against the cold tile wall. She couldn't believe she lost that much control. Now she was extremely grateful she was nowhere near her husband and child. She didn't want to imagine what she would have woken up to if she had.

The dark circles under his eyes made her feel guilty.

"How'd you sleep?"

He grinned with a slight wince. "Like a baby. Can't you tell?"

She tried giggling. “It hurts too much to laugh.”

Deva took a small towel off the rack and soaked it in water before placing it on Adamarius' bloody face.

“Marius your face is butchered.”

“Yes I know.” He placed his hands over hers in order to stop her shaking yet somewhat helpful hands.

“I’ll heal in a few hours.”

She gently dabbed at his torn skin. The grinding of his teeth kept him from screaming bloody murder.

“You look like hell.” She hated being the source of his pain.

A chunk of skin from his jaw was hanging off.

"Then you should look in a mirror."

She couldn’t even attempt to laugh at his misery. “Do you have a needle and thread? I think you’d heal faster if your skin was actually attached to your face.”

“You have a point.” Adamarius began digging into some drawers.

“It looks like I wanted to eat you.” His pants were viciously carved, ripped to shreds and stained with splotches of blood.