Tears, hot and fast, welled up in her dark eyes.
"I don't hurt," she whispered, her lower lip trembling violently. She reached her small hands up and cupped his cheeks, feeling the rough stubble against her palms. "I'm okay, Papa. The burning is gone. I'm sorry I woke up and left the room. I just wanted to let you sleep. You look so tired."
Kaelus closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against hers.
A long, shuddering exhale ripped through his chest, carrying with it seventy-two hours of absolute, paralyzing dread.
"Do not ever," Kaelus whispered fiercely, his voice vibrating against her skull, "apologize for my exhaustion. If the journey is too much to bear, I'll carry you back to the North myself."
At that moment, he wanted to say, 'Your life is the only thing in this Empire that matters to me. The journey is irrelevant. If you require a year to recover, we will stay here for a year. If this estate harms you again, I will tear it down stone by stone.'
But he couldn't.
