#Chapter 6 I won’t ever let you leave me--

Daphne's POV

“…Daphne? Daphne!”

I struggled to breathe. The air gurgled and bubbled in my chest and I turned, coughing to get the water out of my lungs. It gushed hot and desperate out of me as my stomach trembled and I struggled to breathe.

“Thank the goddess,” a voice said softly. Warm hands pat my back and pulled me close.

I hissed in pain as the person gripped my arm. Then, I recognized the voice. I couldn’t remember exactly why. Everything was fuzzy and blurry. Had I hit my head?

Warmth embraced me, “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up. Are you okay?”

Arthur. I remembered the wolves in the forest and the crazy idea to tie us to a tree trunk and go over the waterfall to escape. I coughed, looking nearby and seeing a piece of the trunk on the bank nearby. I let out an incredulous laugh. We’d actually survived the waterfall?

Apparently, the idea had been crazy but successful. I couldn’t hear the roar of the fall. How far down the river had we been carried? A wind blew, cold and making me shiver and wrap my arms around myself. Arthur’s arms tightened around me,  pressing me into his warmth.

My arm was bruised. I looked up at Arthur a bit dazed, but my gaze stopped at the mangled mess of his arm. Blood oozed from between the open gashes around his wrist and the skin around it was dark with bruises.

Why was his arm so much worse? Had he protected me during the fall somehow? I remembered him pulling me close before we fell but nothing more than that.

“I’m okay,” I coughed. “How about you?”

Arthur smiled at me, charming and boyish, “We’ve escaped alive. I couldn't be better. ”

I sat up gingerly and looked around. The river was flowing past us, snaking into the dense forest we had seen from above, but it was still too dark to try traversing the forest, especially with Arthur injured.

“We should rest for now,” I said with a shudder. “Then maybe… head into the forest closer to daybreak.”

Arthur nodded, “You’re right. Stay here and I’ll get firewood.”

I nodded, shivering as he tucked my soaking wet cloak tighter around me. He hurried off towards the edge of the riverbank into the forest, but not so far that I couldn’t still see him.

He came back a while later carrying some fallen wood, a shirt, and dressed in a pair of trousers that were ragged and a bit too tight for him.

“Look what I found!” Arthur said, kneeling beside me and starting to build the fire. Soon, Arthur got the wood to light and coaxed the fire to a decent size. In the light, I could see how deep the lacerations in his arm were.

“Let me heal you…”

Arthur shook his head, “You’re too weak from the fall.”

I took his hand and met his gaze, “If they come again… you’ll be our only hope.”

Arthur hesitated but nodded stiffly, “Just enough to close them, okay?”

I nodded and collected some blood from a thin cut on my leg to rub into his wounds. His blood sparked with light and the skin closed leaving just the bruises behind.

“Here,” Arthur said, offering me the large shirt he carried. His face was red. “Change into it so we can dry your clothes…”

I flushed as he turned his back, “I-I promise not to peek.”

I worried my lip but found it adorable how embarrassed he seemed. Quickly, I peeled off my gown and undergarments until I was naked and put on the shirt. It hung to my mid-thigh. I pulled off my shoes and let him help me hang my clothes and shoes near the fire to dry.

Arthur seemed more than eager to help me, to care for me, and near obsessed with my well-being, like a puppy eager to be with his owner. It almost made me forget how fierce and dangerous he was.

I shuddered and curled up by the fire, “I’m… going to try and get some rest.”

Arthur nodded, “Sweet dreams, Daphne.”

I smiled and closed my eyes, exhausted from the day. The sound of the river lulled me into a peaceful sleep as I decided not to worry about anything more until the next day.

Light burned through my eyelids, pulling me from the darkness of sleep. I was much warmer than I expected as I opened my eyes and found the fire had burned down to a handful of embers. I shifted and felt something tighten around me and screamed, trying to fight against the arm around me.

The arm released me and I rolled away, throwing whatever I could grab at the person.

“Stay away!”

“Daphne!”

I opened my eyes to see Arthur just as the rock sailed, almost comically, over his head. Arthur had his hands up.

“Daphne, it’s just me… I… You were shivering so…”

I shook my head, “No. No… It’s fine. I just… panicked. Sorry.”

Arthur nodded, looking a bit admonished.

“Thank you for looking after me.”

He smiled and I sighed, before rolling to my feet. I went to check my clothes and found them all dry.

“C-Could you turn your back?”I asked.

Arthur turned around stiffly and without hesitation. I got dressed quickly before tapping his shoulder and offering him the shirt back.

“Thanks again.”

Arthur nodded and took the shirt back before slipping it on with a low growl that shocked me.

His face flushed, “Sorry… It… It smells like you now. I like it a lot.”

My face burned with embarrassment, “Don’t say that. It’s improper!”

Arthur flinched.“I’m sorry…”

"It’s fine." I hesitated a bit and continued, “…I was wondering what I should do next ... Now that we are safe, I think I should go and find a human village to hide in, and you would be safer in a pack, right?”

Arthur froze, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought being the forest would be safer, but if we stay out in the open, they’ll find us again. If we’re together, you’ll just get hurt more, so--“

The confusion vanished, morphing into a fierce face that made my blood grow cold as his eyes began to turn red and his body tensed as if he was going to leap on me.

“You want to leave me?” He growled. “You are leaving me for your fiance?”

The change in Arthur's expression was even more frightening than when he turned into a wolf. He looked insane and I could hear the wolf’s words echoing in my mind.

Murderer.

“No!” Arthur yelled, lunging at me. I screamed as he grabbed me. His fingers digging into my shoulders hard enough to ache, “I won’t ever let you leave me--”