“Probably.”
The way he said it made her think he was telling the truth. Too bad she couldn’t afford to do the same.
She swallowed back the urge to tell him everything. “I don’t want you to be hurt because of me.” Merely looking at the rip in his coat, she felt as if the tear went through her own chest.
He must have heard the sincerity in her tone because his gaze softened. “I won’t let anyone—or anything—touch you.” He went to the couch and patted the seat beside him. “Was that imp after you?”
She wanted to stand on her own, but his big body with the strong crook of his arm across the back of the couch was too tempting. She joined him and curled into his chest. “I don’t know what it wanted. But nothing good.”
“Yeah, I got that part. So what next?”
“No one will come looking for it until tomorrow night. They prefer to avoid daylight when they might encounter humans who might see what they are.” She broke off.
Josh sighed. “Humans. Right. Like me. Which you are not.” He rubbed his forehead as if he could force the new reality into his skull. “And who is ‘they’?”
“The ones who hurt me. I’m here because of them.” She tried to stay with the truth, or at least such truth as could be had from the phaedrealii. “Our Queen accused me of treason and wanted me dead. I’m trying to avoid that fate.”
He brushed back her hair. “I’m with you on that. On everything.”
She smiled, though her throat tightened. No one else in a court of phae who had supposedly loved her had been with her. Not a one of them had spoken on her behalf. Maybe there was a downside not knowing anyone’s true name; there was no one to call out to and no one who need answer.
She touched his chest through the rip in his coat and murmured in distress when her fingers encountered long scratches. “You took more damage than Wolly. Let’s get you cleaned up.”