#Chapter 452 – Fallout
Ella
I spin around to face my mate, my hands on my hips, ready to defend myself. But he closes the distance in an instant, taking my face in his hands.
“Are you all right?” he growls, looking down into my face, his eyes quickly moving over my features. My mouth falls open a bit and I blink in surprise. “I’m fine, Dominic.”
“Thank god,” he breathes, wrapping his arms around me and gathering me to him in a tight hug. “I mean, I’m mad as hell, Ella I can’t believe you did that, but -”
“Dominic!” I protest, pulling back a little and frowning up at him. “How could I not have done that!?”
“Are you seriously asking me how you could have not jumped out of the window and attacked a man under the explicit protection of a nation about to take us to war? How you could have just let the palace guards that we hired to protect our people handle it, like they were about to do?”
I narrow my eyes at him, but…well. I also see his point.
Still. I stand by it – every moment of it.
“His life was mine to take,” I say, my voice more of a growl than I intended it to be. “Mine, Dominic. And no – I didn’t do it for vengeance, but he crossed a line tonight, trying to take Sarah and Jessica like he did. Would you have let him live, after he did that?”
Sinclair’s mouth tightens into a thin line. “No,” he says, answering honestly. “I’d have had the guards shoot him, take the shot as soon as they safely could.”
“His death was mine,” I repeat. “If someone was going to take it, I wanted the blood on my hands. And you, of all people, know why.”
Sinclair steps back from me a second, looking down at the man’s blood quite literally all over me. And then he sighs, and shakes his head, and surprises me by starting to tug at my shirt.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“What, would you like to sleep in your blood-soaked clothing, Ella?” He asks, glaring at me a little. “You need a shower, and to get changed.”
“Oh,” I reply, realizing that he’s helping me. And so I take a step back, raising my hands and letting my mate pull my shirt over my head.
“It’s not that I disagree with any of the things you did,” Sinclair says softly as he helps me strip. He pauses and glares at me when he sees the long cut along my side, but I roll my eyes before closing them and accessing my gift. It just takes a second – it’s a scratch, honestly and when I open my eyes I’m all healed up.
I twist so Sinclair can see the skin again smooth and healed. Satisfied, he nods and then moves to the shower, turning the water on so it’s nice and steamy, just how I like it.
“Like I was saying,” he picks up, turning to me again. “I’m not sad to see him go, just…”
“I know,” I say, sighing and stepping into the shower as Sinclair strips his own tuxedo, now likewise stained with my uncle’s blood. “I’m…Queen now. I should have let someone else do it. Should not have…gotten my hands dirty, as it were.”
Quickly, I soap myself down, doing best to keep my hair dry as Sinclair ducks into the closet to grab us both a fresh set of clothes. When he comes back, I’m nearly finished. I rinse myself off as I look at my mate a little guiltily.
“People got pictures, Dominic,” I say quietly, my voice apologetic. “There may have been…press.”
“I’m aware,” he says on a sigh as I turn off the water and step out of the shower. He hands me a towel, looking at me with a blank face. “It will…be what it is. Wolves won’t care about the violence – I think, when the details come out, they’ll understand. Humans, though…”
“I know,” I sigh, glancing at the door as I towel off. “All the good press will we bought with Cora’s wedding…”
He steps close to me then, wrapping an arm around my naked waist and again pulling me flush against him. ” We’ll handle it, Ella,” he murmurs, brushing his knuckles down the length of my cheek, and I smile a little up at him.
“You think it’s fixable?”
“I think you’re the Queen,” he says, shaking his head with a little shrug. ” No going back now.”
I laugh a little, looking up at him. ” That’s not what I asked.”
Gently, Sinclair lowers his face, pressing his lips to mine. “We’ll figure it out,” he murmurs when he pulls away, just an inch. “Now,” he raises his head more and swats me on the ass, maybe a little harder than necessary, but it just makes me grin. “Get dressed. Let’s go…see what the hell our family thinks.”
I stand on my toes and kiss him again, grateful that he’s on my side. I know that he’s madder than he’s letting on, and that this really is a big deal, but…
Well, it’s good to know that he’s got my back.
I hurriedly get dressed in the soft clothing Sinclair brought in for me, twisting my hair up into a quick bun before stepping into some slippers. When I’m ready, I nod, and Sinclair and I together walk back into our bedroom.
Cora sits on the couch with Jessica by her side, a tablet in her hands. Roger stands next to her, Rafe asleep in his arms. Henry turns his chair towards us as we cross the room.
“Well?” Sinclar asks, nodding down at the tablet. “What’s the verdict?”
Cora looks wide-eyed at both of us. ” It’s…not good,” Cora says softly, shaking her head as she concentrates on me. “The press is getting wind, and social media is already going crazy.
Ella, are you – are you all right? Did -”
“I’m fine,” I say, stepping to Roger’s side and reaching for my baby. “But forget about the news. Where is Sarah?”
“Infirmary, downstairs.” Henry reports, smiling kindly at Jessica, who looks around at all of us, worried and confused. “We’ve been getting reports, and the aids are desperate to come in and start making plans for how to handle this but…” he glances up at Roger. “We wanted a moment, to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
“Which is?” Sinclair says, crossing his arms and looking around.
“Full support,” Roger says in an instant. “You did the right thing, Ella,” he says, locking eyes with me and nodding. “I mean, I personally wouldn’t have leapt from the window to do it?” He cocks his head to the side a little here, a smirk pulling at his lips. ”
But Xander crossed the line – he was going to get taken out. It was just a question of who did it.”
“And are we all agreed?” I ask, looking particularly at Cora now.
She blinks up at me. “Wait, why am I being singled out?” she asks.
“Because,” I say, shrugging a little. ” You’re…”
“Human?” she says, raising an eyebrow.
And none of us say anything, because honestly, that’s what we’re all thinking.
“Ella,” Cora says, shaking her head at me. “Just because I’m human doesn’t mean a little bit of me isn’t pleased to see that man meet his end. Did I wish that that responsibility fell on your shoulders? Probably not. But still,” she shrugs, meeting my gaze steadily. “I am on your side, with everyone else.
And I’ll defend you to the ends of it.”
“Good,” I say, looking around. And then I sigh and look at my mate. ” Ready?”
“I’ll let the aids in,” he says, moving towards the door with a nod. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“Have Sarah sent up too,” I call to him, and I wait to see him nod again before I kneel before Jessica, taking her hands. “We’re going to bring her here, and I’m going to heal her up, okay? And then the two of you can go back to your rooms, if you’d like.”
“Okay,” she says, her voice soft and still a little scared.
“Okay, sweetheart,” I say, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. As I smile at her, I access my gift a little bit and let it sweep through her, healing the few places on her scalp where Xander hurt her, as well as a few bruises on her body. It isn’t much, but I’m glad to help her feel even a little better.
When I move to stand up, though, Jessica tightens her hand. She looks anxiously at Cora, Roger, and Henry, and then quirks her finger at me, asking me to come closer so she can tell me a secret.
I lean in, turning my ear to the little girl.
“Ella, I know I’m supposed to be nice but…”
I nod, encouraging her.
“I hated the Master, Ella. He was always so mean, and we were scared of him always. I’m…I’m glad he’s dead. I’m glad you did it.”
I breathe out a deep breath and then move a way a little, locking eyes with the little girl and nodding deeply. “Me too, Jess,” I say, squeezing her hand tight and giving her a big smile. “It wasn’t nice but…well,” I shrug and let my shoulders fall with a sigh. ” Sometimes, when people aren’t good to us? We don’t have the choice but to stop being nice.”
And she gives me a little smile, and I return it tenfold.
And then I get to my feet, ready to face whatever consequences come for me. Because that approval, from this little girl who has suffered under Xander far more than I have?
It’s more than I need.
I will stand by the actions that I took tonight and never, not once, publicly apologize for them. I did it for me, but I did it for Jessica too, and all the little girls like her.
And even if the press tears me to shreds, I know in my heart: I’m fighting for the girls who have never had someone to fight for them.
Girls like Jessica, and Sarah, and Cora and me, when we were small.
And I’ll do it all again in a heartbeat.
