Unbroken (Unarmed Trilogy #2) (9 page)

"Why would I want a cold one?" Will asked gruffly as he rolled quickly out of bed, stupidly believing it would minimize the pain. It felt like his skin had tore open, but it was just the burn. He walked slowly towards the other room, enjoying the feel of the cool floor beneath his feet. He wished he could feel this feeling all over his skin. When the other girls saw him, they exchanged looks, and some look like they wanted to say something.

"Prince Thomas ordered this bath?" the girl asked as she tentatively reached out to touch his skin, but stopped.

"He did," Will responded as he dipped his foot into the large tub, without removing his breeches. "He said this helps with my skin."

"Your Highness, I'm not sure..." one girl began, but another stopped her before they curtsied and quickly scurried from the room. Will sighed as he gripped the edge of the tub and slowly slipped into the warm water. He cried out from the pain of it but continued to submerge his body into the water. "This will help?" Will questioned no one as he settled into the water as he felt the tears in his eyes. He hadn't cried since he was a child and his father let him know that boys did not cry. Will had felt excruciating pain since them, both mentally and physically, but he had not cried. Today was a different day.

Will wanted to believe that he was a tough man, but he lasted only a few minutes in the tub before he tore himself out, nearly screeching on the way out. He saw the towel resting on the hook in the wall, but he couldn't imagine patting his sensitive skin down with that rough material. His soaked breeches dripped onto the floor and the wet material felt uncomfortable, so Will stripped out of them. He was thankful that the candles had been lit to illuminate his way and the fact that the door was shut. The heat mostly dried his skin before he made it to the bed, but he knew he would probably ruin the sheets as he laid down.

He didn't care. He didn't think it was possible for him to be in this much pain as he laid down on the bed. Will bit his lip so hard that he tasted the copper of his blood and tried not to cry out. The pain felt like his skin was being torn off by large chunks from a blunt object. Will took deep breaths and felt himself fall into a slumber.

~~~

Tamzin continued to glower as she left the Throne Room and climbed up the stairs. She thought for sure that Will would have come and begged for her forgiveness, but she ate dinner without him and hadn't seen him for the rest of the day. She enjoyed her hours spent with Jacque as he showed her the medicinal plants that kept growing in his absence and their properties. However, it wasn't enough to hold her attention completely.

She was wondering where Will was when she opened the door to her room and she heard the labored breathing. Nervously, she peered in from the door, where she saw Will lying completely naked on the bed. She stomped into the room with the intention of yelling at him when she noticed the blisters on his torso and the fact that he was shivering.

"Will?" Tamzin whispered as she gently touched his skin. It was hot to the touch and it jolted him out of his fitful sleep, where he groaned.

"I know you're angry with me, but I am in a lot of pain," Will said as his eyes began to water again. He watched Tamzin's face morph into one of compassion as she very lightly pressed a cool hand to his arm. "Please do something. Please," he cried as he tilted his head back to try and hide his tears.

"I will order you a bath..." Tamzin said as she tried to stand but Will grabbed her wrist roughly.

"No, no! Not another one!" Will cried again as Tamzin looked on with concern. "It hurt so much."

"A cool bath with a bit of lavender doesn't hurt, Will," Tamzin said as she gently touched a blister on his chest. "You took a hot bath? Who told you to?"

"Thom saw me and he said he would order a warm bath for me. My skin was very red and when he slapped my shoulder, it hurt..."

"Did the servant girls see your skin and still offered you a warm bath?" Tamzin interrupted as she left the bed and walked to her vanity where she grabbed a vial. Will watched as she dabbed some on her hands and returned, where she gently ran her hands over his burned arms. "This is lavender. It will help with your burn, stop the scarring, and it will help you sleep. A cool water bath will make your skin feel better and the drops of lavender will help you."

"I really don't want another bath," Will cried like a child and Tamzin felt her heart ache.

"Do you trust me?" Tamzin asked. "Do you trust that I am not your enemy?"

"Yes, yes, you're not my enemy. Please help me," Will sobbed as he recoiled from her gentle touch. Tamzin nodded and tried to smile, despite his pain, if only to soothe him.

"I will be right back, I promise," Tamzin whispered to him before she walked back out into the hallway. "If a servant girl does not bring my husband a cool bath very soon, do not think I will let you get away with it." Then she walked across the hall to Thom's chambers, where she opened the door without knocking.

Her brother was sitting as his desk, where she walked over to him and grabbed him by the tunic.

"Hey!" Thom yelled before Tamzin dropped him to the floor. "Why did you do that?"

"Will has blisters and is in agony because you had to play a prank!" Tamzin yelled at him before she swiped the contents of his desk onto the floor.

"I'm going to tell Father!" Thom called out as he watched Tamzin stalk out of his bedroom.

"Do it! I dare you to. After you finish that, tell him what you did to Will, and I expect you to apologize to him after I stop his skin from bubbling," Tamzin said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Father could die tomorrow and that means you will be King. You cannot commit malicious acts like you did to Will. He thinks, with the exception of me, that our family is his enemy. You making his skin blister from a burn is not acting like a family."

"He treated you awful! You may have forgiven him but I haven't. Will Thurston is a bully and he deserved what happened," Thom said with the same fire in Tamzin's eyes. "He and I may be brothers by marriage now, but that doesn't mean I have to like him."

"That is true, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve your respect. Let me make something abundantly clear, and feel free to pass on this information to our father, but he married me to Will for a reason. Will's army may be the only difference between the Johansson's invading Roth or not. With Thurston burned to the ground, Douglas Johansson views it as a victory and he will become bolder. Do you want to chase away the one man that can defend our territory?" Tamzin asked as she turned to walk out of the room.

As she walked out into the hallway, she saw the servant girls come out of her chambers, all of them carrying buckets.

"You gave my husband a hot bath and allowed him to take it, knowing full well he had probably never had a burn from the sun before. I am not the softhearted Princess I once was and I will not let you get away with this," Tamzin warned as she reached out and shoved them aside.

"Your Highness! We're sorry, but your brother ordered the bath. What were we to do?" the first girl named Holly asked.

"Preferably not assist in my brother literally burning my husband," Tamzin said as she looked to the three girls. "When Will is no longer in excruciating pain, I will allow you to ask for his forgiveness. You best hope my husband is in a forgiving mood," Tamzin warned as she walked into her chambers and shut the door behind her. Will was still on her bed and perked his head when he saw her.

"Those girls saw me naked," he said as he kept his hands over his nakedness.

"It's okay," Tamzin said as she approached him and gently helped him out of bed. She made sure not to touch his skin with her nails as Will allowed his weight to be supported by her.

"I'm supposed to be taking care of you," Will said softly. "You're having my baby."

"Having a baby does not make me an invalid, Will," Tamzin smiled as they entered the bathroom. "Right now, just relax and let me help you." She watched as Will stepped into the tub and sighed from the temperature.

"This is much cooler," he said as he slowly sank into the water. Tamzin could already smell the lavender in the water and Will sighed gratefully as the water submerged him. "I'm sorry I was ever an idiot to you. This had to have been punishment for every stupid thing I have ever done."

"No," Tamzin said as she gently pushed the water against his face. With her wet hand, she ran it over his face. "My brother just acts his age sometimes. The lavender and the water will help decrease the temperature of your burns and the lavender will also help you sleep. When you're tired, I will bring you to bed."

"Does this mean I can never go out into the sunlight in Roth?" Will asked as he leaned his head against the rim of the tub.

"No, it just means that you have to wear a tunic or let me put something on your skin beforehand to protect it from burning," Tamzin replied as she reached for the vial that rested on the table with the towels. She dabbed the lavender on her fingertips and ran them across the bridge of his nose. "While you sleep, I'm going to elevate your arms and wrap up your torso a bit after I break those blisters."

"Will it hurt?" he asked as he kept his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of her taking care of him.

"No," Tamzin said as she continued to put the moisturizing serum on his face. "I will burn a sewing needle and just pop it. The sac will stay intact, but I don't want to risk infection from the small needle point," Tamzin explained. She got down on her knees and gently brushed his hair away. "This isn't the best beginning of your holiday."

"I'm with you," Will said as his words started to slur from sleepiness. "Everyday feels like a holiday when I'm with you."

"How can you be simultaneously fantastic and terrible with words?" Tamzin murmured as she brushed his sweaty hair off his forehead. "Are you ready for bed?"

"Yes," Will said as he put his hand on the rim and struggled to stand. "My skin doesn't hurt as much," he said as Tamzin wrapped an arm around his shoulders gently.

"It will feel better soon, but you need to relax for the next few days," Tamzin said as she held him against her and they waddled together back to her room. "You've ruined my sheets and now my dress," she teased.

"Your brother helped burn me. I think we are even," Will responded as she slowly deposited him on the bed. Will sighed as the cool sheets touched his burns and he sank into the bed.

"I will be right back. I need to go retrieve a needle and some bandages from Jacque," Tamzin said before she pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You best be asleep when I come back."

"Yes, Your Highness," Will slurred as he turned his head and took a deep breath. "One day, I will stop saying stupid things and only tell you how much I love you."

"Well, this keeps our relationship fresh. It's normal for people to fight, but what's important is that we realize our faults and come back together. You don't trust anyone and I trust too much. Our child should be perfectly in the middle," Tamzin smiled again before she began to walk away. As she walked out into the hallway, she came across her mother, who was leaving Thom's room.

"I understand you're upset, but he is only a boy..." Gemma said as she pulled her crown off her head and held it uselessly at her side.

"I'm a little over five years older and I'm about to become a mother. No one is calling me just a girl," Tamzin replied as she turned to go up the staircase at the end of the hallway.

"It's different for girls," Gemma said as she came to walk alongside her daughter. "One day, he will be a King, so he should be a child now."

"Spare me, will you?" Tamzin interrupted with anger laced in her tone. "The point is that Thom can do what he wants because he is a boy. What he did was a terrible thing, but it will somehow be manipulated to show how loyal he is to his country and was defending his sister. If I burned the girl Thom loved, I am a traitor and jealous and probably someone would spin that I would be an attempted usurper. The point is that you cut him slack because he is a boy."

"I know you think I treat you differently because you are technically not my daughter," Gemma said as she touched Tamzin's arm to stop her from going up the stairs. "I begged your father not to send you to Thurston. I wanted you to stay here and marry a noble here. Maybe Rolf?"

"I never would have been happy with Rolf, no matter how high he set me on a pedestal," Tamzin said before she pulled her arm away. "Will knows his mother is dead, but I constantly wonder if mine will ever be able to truly recognize me as her flesh and blood."

"That's not fair!" Gemma exclaimed. "You and Thom are different people, which is why you are treated differently. When you were twelve, you were the perfect little lady and at nearly thirteen, Thom does have growing up to do."

"So let him! All I asked he do is apologize to Will when he is feeling better. Let him at least do that. Don't let him get away with it," Tamzin yelled as she looked her mother in the eye. "Will has blisters all over his chest and some on his back. I need to break them and wrap him. If you will please excuse me..."

Tamzin ended their conversation and walked up the flight of stairs as quickly as her belly allowed. Her child thumped in her womb and it took all Tamzin had not to giggle.

"Don't worry, little one," she said as she touched her stomach as she walked up the final flight. "I won't let your father treat you differently if you're a girl. I think he will love you more if you're a girl." She said the words as she came to Jacque's study, where she knocked promptly.

Jacque opened, where she saw he still appeared haggard from the events in Thurston. He was recovering, albeit slowly, and Tamzin hoped he would be healed enough when it came time to travel to Bradford. He was the only person she wanted to deliver her child.

"Princess!" I wasn't expecting you back so soon! Is everything okay?" Jacque asked as he adjusted the glasses on his face. He only wore them when he was reading or inspecting something.

"Will has sun blisters," Tamzin explained with a frown. "I need a sterile needle to pop them and wraps to cover them."