369: KISSES

KISSES

"My dagger…" Iris muttered, she stared at the door and stretched out her hand. "My dagger…"

Cane nuzzled her head with his nose, as he spoke to her gently. "I will get it for you. The dagger needs to be cleaned first." 

Iris absolutely missed Cane's answer, but she didn't say anything anymore and closed her eyes. Probably she only mentioned it thoughtlessly. 

Cane took Iris to their bedroom and went straight to the bathroom, as he put her down on the side of the tub and ran the water. 

While waiting for the tub to be full, Cane helped Iris to take off his cloak from her body, but Iris resisted and he needed to coax her. She was no longer crying, but her eyes looked so empty, as if there was no life inside of her anymore and somehow the sight was unsettling for him. 

"We need to clean the blood from your body." Cane knelt down in front of her, as he held both of her hand, he squeezed them gently, to get her attention. "We need to take off the cloak and dress, okay?"

Iris shook her head, but Cane was extremely patient with her. He waited until she was less tensed and stopped the running water when it reached the brim of the tub. 

"Let's take a bath, okay?" Cane stretched out his hand and caressed her cheek lightly. Iris flinched and he stopped his movement. "Do you want me to call a maidservant to help you?"

In response, Iris held his hand tightly, as if she was afraid Cane would go after saying that. She shook her head slowly, but then, after some time, Iris took off the cloak on her own. She gritted her teeth, holding herself back from crying. Her eyes were so red, but there was no tear. 

On the other hand, Cane didn't do anything, he only added more Flame Stone into the water, so the water would feel warm, he let her taking off the dress on her own and before she went to dip her body, he poured a bucket of warm water to get rid some of the blood from her skin and hair. 

Iris lowered her head and stared at her bare feet, she said nothing and didn't make any noise, only occasionally flinched when Cane touched her, but she didn't back away. She let him took care of her. It was a sign how much she put her trust on him when she was in vulnerable state. 

More so, this was not the first time Cane took care of her when she was not capable to tend to herself, as a lot of things had happened to Iris and she had gone through so much within this couple of months. 

Once the blood had been cleaned, Iris went to dip herself into the tub and rested her head on the side, as Cane washed her hair. 

Iris raised her hand and stared blankly at her fingers. 

"I stabbed him…" Iris said absentmindedly. "His blood splayed on me… there are a lot of blood… he looked in so much pain… but, I don't feel sorry for him…" Iris shook her head, she kept mumbling some more. 

Meanwhile, Cane didn't utter a single word, as he washed her long and thick hair, making sure there was no more blood stuck on her, while listening to what she said. 

In this moment, it was not necessary for Iris to get any words back from Cane because that was not what she needed, she only wanted to vent what was in her mind, because everything jumbled up inside her. 

She mumbled about what alpha Gill had done to her and how she felt weird for not feeling sorry for stabbing him to the moment when Masson tortured her and hurt her, she also talked about prince Kellan. 

At this point, Iris looked more like she talked to herself, trying to understand the situation and discerned it by talking about it and Cane would listen to her attentively, there were a few questions he wanted to ask, yet he knew very well, she didn't need the interruption, this was not the right time for question. 

Once Iris was cleaned, Cane dried her body and put on a clean dress. He sat her down on the edge of the bed and dried her hair, so she could rest and not become sick because of her wet hair, that was the last thing, they needed. 

When everything was done and Iris finally laid down, the party had started, from afar Cane could hear the sound of music and boisterous laughter, as those alphas indulged themselves in the arms of their women, or between their legs. 

However, it was so still and silence in this room, as Cane coaxed Iris to sleep. He needed to make sure she slept first before he took care of alpha Gill and the other four alphas. 

"Sleep," Cane said gently, as he cradled Iris in his arms and circled her back absentmindedly in soothing motion. 

Iris lifted her head and looked at Cane, her blue eyes were still the same, they were not as lively as before. It would take time for Iris to be like her usual self, or probably… she wouldn't. 

"He kissed me here…" Iris said with small and trembling voice, as she pointed her forefinger at her lips, she gritted her teeth, holding back her tears and emotions. 

Hearing that, Cane was still for a moment, but then he leaned over and covered her lips with his. It was not really a kiss, as it only lasted for five seconds before he pulled away and looked at her, gauging her reaction, worried his action would set her off. 

But, Iris didn't seem to be bothered with that brief kiss from him. 

"Where else did he kiss you?" Cane asked when she stared at him. 

"Here…" Iris pointed her cheeks and kissed them. 

"Where else?"

Iris pointed her neck, her shoulders, her ears and Cane kissed them all gently. His eyes slightly darker when she pointed his mark on the soft spot of her neck, he kissed her a little bit longer there.  2

But, when Iris pointed her chest, she stopped Cane from kissing her there.

"I want a hug…" Iris said and that was what she got. 

Cane held her close to him, hugging her until she fell asleep and her breathing became even, he peppered kissed on her forehead and hair. 

Only when she had fallen asleep Cane slowly loosened up his arms around her and got off the bed. He tucked her and kissed her nose. He stared for a while before he walked out of the room, where Jace had been waiting for him. 

"The party had started and the alphas asked for you and alpha Gill," Jace reported to Cane. "All the royal warriors that stationed at the border of every pack territory had arrived half an hour ago. There are two thousand of them."

"I will see Gill first. Tell someone to lead those royal warriors as per the plan." Cane said darkly. "You stay here and put more our people around this room. No one will disturb her until everything was done."

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