*Kaine's POV*
We arrived at Malvolion a couple days later and my worry for Cora has not lessened.
She has not spoken a word in the past few days it took to travel back.
She just sits down staring at the fire, out into the woods, the sky.
She has not spoken to me.
I try to get her to talk, but she ignores me.
I respect her and I've given her the space she needs but I can't let her suffer alone.
I'm not only her friend, but I'm her mate.
I need to find a way to make sure she's okay but I don't know how.
Derek and Finn greeted us at the landing pad as soon as we landed and when I greeted them back, Cora stayed silent. She didn't even look in their direction.
I shook my head slightly telling the not to press the subject and put my hand on the small of her back leading her to her chambers.
She walked fast enough to keep up with me but through the bond I can feel her slowly crumble.
She's going to break down any second.
I stop walking grabbing her wrist gently and turning her around to face me.
Placing my hand on her cheek brushing my thumb against her face, I capture her eyes with mine hoping they show that she can trust me.
"Do you trust me?" I ask her.
She nods her head slightly.
I pick her up bridal style and start walking to her chambers.
She's hesitant at first but it didn't take long for her to fall into my embrace and place her head against my chest.
I look down and see she has her eyes closed.
She's beautiful.
I open the door to her chambers and kick it softly shut behind me.
I walk to her bedroom and place her gently onto her bed.
Placing the covers on top of her and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead, I head to her kitchen.
I help myself to a glass of water and let myself think for a second.
Was it all my fault?
Had I stop her from killing those two men.
Had I stopped her from setting her home on fire.
Had I come back sooner so she could see her gramps.
Had I never taken her in the first place.
Could it have been all my fault?
My thoughts get interrupted by the sound of soft barefoot feet walking across the wooden floor, coming in my direction.
I spin around and see Cora.
She's small. I'm taller than her by a couple inches.
Her hair is out of its usual braid, flowing down her back slightly covering her face.
She hasn't changed out of clothes.
"Cora? Why are you awake? You need rest." I whisper gently.
"I cant sleep." She says shaking her head.
I nod my head in understanding.
She hasn't broken down yet. She's still in shock.
I need to be there when it happens to help her.
Until then, I'm not leaving.
"Did you want to go for a walk?" I ask her.
Maybe it'll clear her mind. Help her get through it.
She nods her head.
I walk to her, grab her hand softly and lead her out of her chambers.
We walked around all of Malvolion for about two hours.
The entire walk she didn't speak a word but I was okay with that.
The silence was not uncomfortable or awkward. It was peaceful.
When I sensed she was getting sleepy, I headed back to her chambers.
I walked with her to her bedroom.
"Hey Cora? You should probably get changed and bathe before.." I say to her.
I didn't want her to relive what had happened but she needed to get out of that shirt.
She has been wearing the same bloody shirt then entire trip back.
She looks down at her clothes and I see her hands start shaking.
"Kaine.. I- I killed them.." she says whispering.
I nod my head.
"It's okay princess. They got what they deserved." I tell her.
I hope she isn't feeling guilty but she is a very selfless and kind person.
She feels for everyone. Even those who have done her wrong.
"Kaine I killed them." She says as tears start flowing down her cheeks.
Not saying a word, I quickly grab her and give her a hug.
It's a tight but soft hug. Just enough to tell her that I'm here.
She starts sobbing and more and more tears fall.
She crumbles into my arms and falls to the ground.
I fall with her and keep her in my embrace.
She grips my shirt tightly letting out the most painful cries I have ever heard.
It hurts my heart to hear my soulmate cry.
"He's gone." She whispers.
I run my hand against her hair softly hoping to give her any kind of comfort possible but there's nothing I can do.
Nothing I will do can bring her gramps back.
"He's gone!" She cries out.
I don't shush her or try and tell her to calm down.
She deserves to let it all out.
Let out the anger, the sadness, the pain.
When her cries die down and turn into small whimpers, I pick her up and bring her to her bathroom.
I place her onto the counter and look her in the eyes.
"Are you going to be okay alone?" I ask.
I did not want to invade her privacy but I'm not going to leave her if she's still unstable.
I do not want her to hurt herself.
She nods her head softly.
I nod my head in agreement and leave the bathroom closing the door behind me.
I head to her closet and pick out her pyjamas for her.
She has so much on her mind, she's mentally drained. It's the least I could do.
Grabbing some soft grey pyjama shorts with a white tank top, I place them on the edge of the bed.
I sit on the bed and think.
I hope she's going to be okay.
A loss like that is not easy. Trust me, I would know.
I'm going to be there for her though.
An hour later, I still have not left the bed, I hear the bathroom door open.
I see her walk out in a fluffy white towel and look up in surprise when she sees me.
"You're still here?" She asks.
I nod my head.
"Here, I picked out some pyjamas for you." I say handing her the clothes.
She thanks me and returns into the bathroom.
She walks back out dressed and her hair is combed.
Not braided though.
As if knowing I'm thinking about her hair, she mentions it.
"I'm to tired to braid it." She tells me.
"Did you want me to?" I ask her.
"You know how to braid hair?" She asks me.
I nod my head and motion her to sit on her bed.
She sits down and hands me a hair tie.
I start braiding when I explain how I learnt how.
"My mom taught me to braid hair before she passed away. She always told me that one day, a woman would come into my life, and I would need to be prepared to do anything and everything for her." I explain.
She nods her head.
"Your mother was a very wise woman." She tells me.
I let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah she was." I whisper.
"I'm sorry that you lost her." She says.
"As am I" I answer just finishing the braid.
She looks back at me with small tears on her face.
Of course she was still sad but the worst of it was over.
"I'll go get you some water. Want anything to eat?" I ask.
She shakes her head and I head out to the kitchen.
Grabbing a glass and filling it with water, I head back to her room.
Instead of being in the sitting position she was when I left, she's laying down wrapped up in her covers.
I place it on her nightstand.
"Goodnight Cora. Sweet dreams." I say heading for the door.
Just as I'm about to leave she speaks up.
"Wait! Can you stay?" She says hesitantly.
I nod my head and slip under the covers beside her.
Her queen size bed has plenty of space for me to fall asleep and still give her room.
Cora has been having nightmares for as long as I've known her but it seems as if when I'm around, she can sleep peacefully.
I will do anything to bring her mind at ease.
She turns to face me and looks up at me.
"Thank you." She whispers.
"Of course." I answer.
And with that, she fell asleep.
I close my eyes and take slow deep breaths before soon entering the state of sleep as well.
*Cora's POV*
I wake up once again embraced in Kaine's arms.
A smile up at him.
He helped me so much during these past few days even if he doesn't even know it.
He's my rock.
Without him, I would have broken down much earlier and I would not have survived it.
He's the reason I'm alive right now.
My gramps..
My gramps is dead.
My only father figure. My only family. The only one who has been there for me my entire life, is gone.
I killed William and Jeffrey.
Don't get me wrong, they've abused me my entire life. They deserved it. But that does not lessen the guilt I'm feeling.
I've never killed before, other than the animals I killed to survive.
His blood.
My shirt.
Oh my god it was covered.
I was covered in their blood.
Last night, when I was sitting in the bath, I scrubbed myself roughly three times before leaving.
No matter how many times I'm going to wash myself, their blood is going to stay.
Their blood is on my hands.
I hear Kaine let out a little grumble as he shifts positions just slightly enough to remember there's another person in the bed.
He opens his eyes slightly to look at me and closes them right after.
"Good morning princess." He mumbles.
"Morning." I say softly.
He tightens his hold on me and brings me closer to him.
"How you feeling?" He asks.
Truth is, I don't know how I'm feeling.
"Good." I say.
It was a lie. Hopefully not an obvious one, but a lie none the less.
"Tell me the truth." He says.
Damn.
It must have been the mate bond.
It's like there's a rope connecting us together. Any and every emotion or feeling I get he will know.
"Terrible." I whisper.
He doesn't press on the subject. He only gives me a soft kiss on the top of my head and hugs me.
We stayed like that for a while before he spoke.
"There's another council meeting today to inform us on what we've missed while we were gone. I'm sure there's nothing bad but I need to attend either way. You're welcome to join us but I understand if you'd rather stay here." He says.
No matter how much I wanted to stay in bed wrapped up in my blankets and stay there for the rest of my life, I have responsibilities.
"No. I have to come. It's my job. Plus, like you said. The second we come back we need to have my ascension." I say.
He shakes his head.
"Cora I understand if you want to push back the ascension. You lost your gramps. You becoming the queen can wait." He says.
It was turn to shake my head.
He grabs my cheeks and brings my head up so he can look my directly in the eyes.
He's searching for any sign of doubt. Any lie in what I had said, but he would not find any.
I believe in everything I have said.
The fae need a queen just as much as I need them.
He nods his head hesitantly but nods it.
He gets up, stretches and head to the closet.
He pauses, remembering this isn't his chambers and turns around slowly.
I laugh at him.
"Stop laughing. I'm tired and I forgot." He says playfully.
His voice showing his embrassement only made me laugh harder. Soon enough, he joined in realizing how stupid he must have looked.
After we calmed down, I walked up to him, but then right past him into the closet.
Him, clearly expecting a hug, had his arms out ready to accept the embrace.
Once realizing I walked right past him, he dropped his arms and looked at me with a puppy dog face.
This made me laugh hysterically.
I dropped down onto the floor and laughed clutching my stomach.
He's too cute.
Once I calmed down for the second time, I stood up and walked to him.
Giving him the hug I dodged earlier, he wrapped me into his arms, into his warmth.
I pulled back and walked back into my closet.
Grabbing a pair of leggings, I reached for a shirt but couldn't decide which to wear.
None of them were what I wanted to wear.
I felt a cloth being thrown onto my head covering my vision.
I slipped it off my head and looked at Kaine to see him shirtless.
Only then, did I realize the piece of cloth was his shirt.
"Put that on for now. We're heading to my chambers." He said.
Nodding my head, I closed the closet door and got changed.
Then Kaine and I went to his chambers and I followed him to his closet.
He walked in, grabbed a red hoodie and threw it in my direction.
"You looked like you couldn't find something comfy enough in your closet. Wear this." He said.
I thank him before heading to the bathroom.
I take off the t-shirt he gave me and slip on the hoodie.
It's way too big for me.
The sleeves pass my hands and the end the hoodie reaches the middle of my thighs.
I walk back out to see him fully dressed and I hand him his shirt.
He looks at me confused but takes it anyways.
How is he confused?
I mean come on, who wears a shirt underneath a hoodie.
Placing it on his bed not bothering to put it away or put it in a bin so it could be washed, he grabs my hand and leads me out of his bedroom.
"Did you want breakfast?" He asks me.
I shake my head.
Ever since the incident in Devlan I haven't had much of an appetite.
Kaine clearly understood because he only nodded his head and directed me out of his chambers.
"Are you sure you're up for this? I don't want to put too much pressure onto you." He asks.
"Yes." I say.
"Okay.. council here we come." He replies.
And with that we headed to the meeting room.