CHAPTER 432: SOMETHING BROKEN IN HER

DAEMON’S POV

In a few minutes than was supposed to be possible, the carriage stopped at the backdoor secret entrance of the Lunar Den. And Daemon barely wasted a second before he was alighting from the carriage, Zina in his arms.

Malik Zorch scrambled to his side with wide eyes that threatened to pop out of their sockets from surprise. It was rather evident that she too could hear the weak heartbeat of Zina. Zelkov followed closely, the man silent ever since with only his ominous presence lingering around.

"Alpha Kairos is taking care of transporting the captives back to the North to Beta Yaren." Maik Zorch was saying although he wasn’t particularly listening to her, "He asks that you should not worry that he will take care of the matter."

Of course that was certainly worrying. Should anything happen to Rowan and his Master before he could properly face and repay them for all their evil deeds, he might just be threatened to rain down hell and gale storm on the Western Lands.

Caressing Zina’s silky hair, he went through the tunnel that led to the Lunar Den, and Lord Modred met him halfway, having already been informed of their coming.

"Congratulations your majesty on this victory," he said hurriedly, "I heard." He added, glancing at Zina who laid pallidly in his arms.

"Are the Healers ready?"

"They are. I had the very best waiting for you." He finished, leading the way to one of the elite rooms in the Den.

It was well lit, and well furnished. Inside, three women and two men were already waiting.

Daemon laid Zina on the bed, still holding her hands and refusing to leave her side as he commanded them. "Examine her!"

The first woman knelt shakily, opening her tool box and taking out item after item. She stared at him with fear-filled eyes, but she soon realized that fear wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

So she shook it off, and then approached Zina on her knees. "Your Majesty, I shall now examine her pulse." She announced.

He said nothing to that, both conveyed with his eyes that any attempt at foul play would instantly end up with her head rolling on the ground. A fact that she saw through for she gulped, and then took Zina’s wrist in her hands.

"Her pulse is a bit weak," she announced, "but it is getting steadier. I believe everything is fine with her breathing and blood circulation so she is generally fine although I have to make further examinations."

Her fingers crept up to Zina’s shut eyes, prying it open as she used candlelight to examine it. Then she searched Zina’s scalp for any signs of bruising or trauma. took a few minutes, but she then bowed to him and said, "Brain activity is fine as well. It appears she has only lost consciousness and will soon wake up." She finished the examination in a steady voice.

It was very good news, very good news in fact. It confirmed that this was not a nightmare, but a reality that he would have paid the world to have. Yet he insisted that all the Healers would examine her individually.

Temporary unconsciousness or not, he was more than determined to have her awake. No matter what it would take or cost. Seeing her looking lifeless like this reminded him too much of an hour ago when she had been just that.

Lifeless.

But just as the second healer was about to examine her, her eyes fluttered open. "Daemon...?" She gasped in a dry voice that had him instantly reaching for water.

She attempted to seat up, but he wouldn’t let her as his hands darted out to support her. He put the glass of water over her lips, and she gulped everything in one go.

Malik fetched another, still standing guard alongside Zelkov and Lord Modred.

"Are you okay?" He kept on asking while his palm massaged her back. She drank from the second glass of water, but was a half-glass short of finishing the whole thing.

She smiled a weak smile. "I’m fine." She said, but she sounded anything but.

"The Healers are here," he pressed on in a panicked voice, "if there’s any place that hurts, you must tell me now so they attend you—"

"Daemon," she cut him off in a weak voice, "I am healthier than I have ever been so do not worry."

Then she glanced at their audience. "Can you leave us for now?" She asked them.

Without another word, Zelkov and Malik led them out until it was just the both of them in the room.

That was when he realized that she had been seeing all the while. So he touched her eyelids, caressing the corners.

"You can see?" He said, not like it really mattered to him. All that mattered was the fact that she was healthy and breathing—but he did remember she said she couldn’t see anything when she laid dying in his hands.

She reached for his hands, and removed them from her in a manner that almost hurt. And then she shifted back as if to make some space between them.

"How is everything? The Deformed?"

He stiffened for just a millisecond, but then shrugged off the feeling. "Marcus reports that the once petrified bodies have been disintegrating into thin air like ashes. This started happening minutes after... after you stopped breathing for a second."

She nodded. "I suppose my mother was right. Her sacrifice was not in vain."

Then he remembered it. Ameneris’ words—’no matter would allow their child to die before them.’

"Zina...."

"Where’s her body?"

"With Zelkov. I am truly sorry for your loss."

She looked up at him with the most hurt eyes. "I know. I know you are."

He gripped her by the shoulders. "But I would have done everything myself to make sure you live. Even if it means giving up my own life." He said solemnly, hoping she could pick up the raw and utter desperation to his words.

"I know. Because I too would have done the same as well. But you know what, Daemon? I lost my mother. I thought what is dead can never die again. All my childhood I believed my mother was an ingrate who abandoned her own child in the woods. But today, Daemon, my mother gave her life up for me. And now she is gone."

He hugged her tightly. Because as she spelt those teary words, he could feel her slipping away from him. It was strange, but it was happening.

"You didn’t lose her, Zina. She gave you a piece of herself."

She didn’t return the hug, merely laid limp against him. "I carry so much death. How can you not hate me? My mother died because of me. And I lost our child! How... just how can you not hate me?!" She screamed, wailing and crying over him.

And that was when he realized that while she had come back to him, something had broken in her. And if he didn’t do anything about it—like remind her of how much she meant to him and his world, and how so beautiful she would ever be—then that crack would only widen.

Not if he had anything to do about it.