Staying Together

"Augustus!" Rhea cried as she threw herself into his waiting arms, her face nuzzling into the thin hospital gown covering his chest.

"You came," Augustus whispered into her hair, his voice light with delight and slightly hoarse from his ordeal.

"I did," Rhea answered with a small sniffle as she pulled back, carefully so as not to upset his injured body or the IV line connected to his hand.

He looked worse for wear, tiny red cuts littering the left side of his face and a particularly nasty cut at the edge of his left ear where his hairline began, held close with tiny stitches.

Unconsciously, slim fingers traced the cut, a heavy frown on its owner's face as she tried to reconcile the strong untouchable man who had effortlessly saved her and pinned Lonan to the ground with the injured man resting in the small bed.

"In all the ways you could leave me, I never thought death would be one of them," she confessed, her eyes distant like she was seeing through him.

She pulled her fingers away from his wound.

Augustus caught her hand before it could fully retreat, snapping her attention back to him, and he placed a kiss on the centre of her palm.

Warmth spread from the area to the rest of her body, causing a shiver to go through her, and a smile to bloom on his lips.

"If I could conquer the heart of the great Countess Rhea Montgomery, what's death in comparison?" he teased, his smile widening when a blush grew on her cheeks.

"Conquer," she squeaked, all efforts to hide her embarrassment going out the window when all she could focus on was the feeling of his exhales caressing her palm and inner wrist, areas she had never thought could be erogenous zones.

"What makes you so sure you have... conquered my heart?"

"You came to see me," he answered simply, letting go of her hand to rest against his stacked pillows.

"I have seen enough of you to know you would never put yourself in situations that would taint the public's image of you. And yet, here you are, having done just that. For me." He marvelled.

Rhea looked away, her eyes resting on the dark wood of the closed door that stuck out like a sore thumb against the light pastel colours of the modern room.

The ravenette thought of Lonan, who was sure to be making an appearance soon, and when she realised that her relief that Augustus was relatively well overshadowed her fear of what Lonan would do to her, a smile stretched her cheeks.

Rhea turned back to Augustus, and in a move that shocked both, she draped herself over him and pressed a kiss to his lips, her eyes sliding shut.

Augustus froze but quickly snapped out of his shock as he wrapped his right arm around her waist brought her closer, his lips slowly moving against hers, and guiding her into less than innocent territory.

His hand crept up to the small of her back, his fingers trembling against her from exertion. That was enough to drag her back down to earth.

"We shouldn't," The young Countess protested as she pulled back, an amused smile dancing on her lips.

Augustus looked disappointed, his tongue darted out to lick at his lipstick stained lips, as if to retain the taste of her.

"Because of your Lord-husband?" He sighed, his head flopping down on his pillows.

"Because you just escaped an assassination attempt and you are in recovery," she corrected, refusing to allow Lonan to influence her relations with Augustus or what could or could not happen between them.

Not this time.

"And," she continued, staring guiltily at the exhaustion in his eyes that had not been there the last time she had been so close to them, "because I do not deserve your... affections."

Dark brows raised in confusion as he rose from his recline to face her properly.

Rhea allowed her face to be raised to his by his hand beneath her chin, ignoring the protesting burn of her bruised neck.

"Why would you think such a thing?" He demanded, grey eyes, intense and heavy with a silent plea for something she could not know, holding her eyes.

"Augustus, I am so sorry," Rhea began, forging on when his breath hitched and horror eclipsed his features. "I should have done you the honour of saying something, but I was too much of a coward and I allowed my fears and Lonan to talk me out of giving you a proper goodbye...."

"Goodbye?" He repeated with a chuckle, the haunted hardening of his eyes giving way to an amused glow.

He looked relieved, like he had been told clouds were indeed white after being tricked to believe they are purple.

"Is that what you think makes you unworthy of my love?" He teased, tickling her in the side, and forcing a small smile from her as she restrained her laughter.

"I know we have known each other for so little time, but nothing short of death from betrayal could take my love away or make the woman I love unworthy of said love."

There it was, his smooth words that had a way of lovingly repairing her anxieties like a seamstress mending a well-loved dress.

"And, to be honest, I am glad you did not come to say goodbye to me that fateful morning."

Rhea's brows furrowed in confusion. "You are?"

He nodded, pressing a small kiss to her hand before responding. "I would have dragged you into my car and driven off with you kicking and screaming, while Lonan chased after us, cursing me in the tongue of his ancestors, long forgotten."

Rhea could not stop the chuckles that erupted from her mouth at the image he painted. Injured lips curved into a proud smile that he had made her laugh but it quickly grew sad.

"But then you would have ended up in a bed as I have or worse, thrown against the pavement like dolls, your blood drawing a map of everything I could have done to save you."

Gently, Rhea placed a hand on his cheek and caressed the skin, slightly rough from growing stubble.

Unsure if she was allowed to ask, considering his station and the sensitivity of such information, Rhea hesitated before speaking.

"Do you have any idea who would do this and why?"

Augustus gave her a look, confirming her worries, but responded nonetheless.

"I have enough enemies to make it difficult to pin the attack on one person. And we have no leads because all four assassins died in the attack. One when their vehicle rammed into mine and caused the collisions, two in the shootout that followed after the crash, and the last man having killed himself when he realised his companions had fallen and he was beaten."

Chilling dread swept through Rhea as Augustus recounted the events, unable to imagine how much fear she would have felt if she had been in the shoes.

"For a man to take his own life... Whoever is behind this..."

"Is either powerful enough to scare him to suicide or manipulative enough to earn that kind of mindless loyalty," he interrupted, suddenly restless as he pushed aside the covers and planted his feet on the ground, with much effort.

"Which means I am either dealing with someone strong enough to go after the life of a Grand Duke, or a cult-like group with an agenda that my existence is getting in the way of."

"Either way, there will be no peace until I am dead."

Overwhelmed by realisation, Rhea looked away to collect herself, her face pinched and hands worrying the skirt of her dress.

"I have never dealt with a situation like this, so I find myself at a loss of how to fix this or save you," she confessed, her heart heavy with the feeling of inadequacy, despite logically knowing there was nothing she could do to stop another attempt on his life.

"And I do not expect you to, My Lady," he answered, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his side.

Rhea went easily, her head resting gently against his chest even as both their battered bodies ached in protest.

"It pains me to admit but the safest place for you is as far away as possible from me and my business."

She looked up at him with a small pout on her lips, and he glanced down at her with a smile and sadness gleaming in his eyes.

"At least until we find out who is behind this and end them," he whispered, an apology lingering at the edge of each word.

"So I will stay with Lonan for as long as you need...."

"No," he rejected immediately, the thought of her residing in the same residence as her Lord-husband causing his face to scrunch like he had smelled something rotten.

"I will have you reside in one of my manors in Filherm...."

"A whole country away from you? Absolutely not," Rhea argued with three taps of his belly, that was as muscled as she remembered.

"Rhea…"

"Leaving my Lord-husband to be with you will be the death of my social life, Augustus." She stared into his eyes as she continued, in the hopes it would reflect the strength of her words. "If I can risk everything I have worked so hard to build for a handsome stranger, then what is death in comparison if it means I get to die in his arms rather than in some manor a sea away from him."

"Oh, Rhea," he whispered, and pressed a short, sweet kiss to her lips, "I never took you for a romantic."

"You bring out the foolishness in me," she responded with a bashful shrug.

"And I find myself getting used to it which means we have to stay together and face whatever comes, hand in hand."

The dark-haired man hesitated, as if to argue, but quickly gave in under the might of her stubbornness, with a sigh and a kiss to the side of her head. "We stay together."