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Despite her fatigue, Mari managed to stay awake for the next hour.  The beautiful boy kept bleeding through his bandage.  Honestly, he was scaring her.  But he was breathing deeply and steadily.  Every so often, she put her head over his heart to make sure it was beating strongly.   

Finally, she returned to applying pressure to the wound.  After a few minutes, it stopped seeping blood.  She bound his head with clean cloths and washed her hands before returning to lie down next to him.  She was thoroughly exhausted now.  Too tired to seek out another place to rest.  Besides, he was clearly blind to her charms.  If he awoke, he’d probably stumble from her chamber without a backward glance.

—

He never got the chance.  They were both awoken four hours later by a woman’s scream.  Mari sat straight up in bed.  As did Taehyung.  Instantly, he grabbed his throbbing head.

“Someone has attacked Mari!” yelled the woman who had opened her chamber door.

Mari groaned.  “Areumi!  Do be quiet!  You’re going to wake the palace!  And ruin my reputation.”

“He,” the woman pointed her index finger at Taehyung, “ruined your reputation!”

“No, he didn’t.  He was nearly mortally wounded.  I brought him here to nurse him back to health.”

She quirked a dark brow at Mari.  “And invited him into your bed, I see.”

Mari’s eyebrows flew skyward.  “No!  I – I…”

Just then, half the household, including several guards, all appeared in the hallway outside her room.  Several heads peeked through the doorway.  Their eyes widened.  Mari groaned.  Her reputation was toast now.  She would always be seen as a fallen woman from this point forward.  All because she’d saved a man’s life last night.

Taehyung looked up at their onlookers.  He sighed.  He glanced at the girl in whose bed he’d spent the night.  Why was he here?  Why was his head on fire?

Then, suddenly, he remembered.

“Where is Jungkook?” he gasped.

“Guarding the king’s door.”

Taehyung stood up.  And swayed to the right.  Then to the left.  Mari eyed him.  The man was going to end up face down on her floor if he kept this up.   

She jumped off her bed and circled around to him.  

“If you’re going to stubbornly insist on leaving this bed, at least let me assist you.”  She slipped her arm around his waist.  He leaned into her gratefully.  He had been about to crumple to the ground in front of an audience.

“Look at how familiar she is with him!” one of their onlookers exclaimed.

“Well, they did pass the night in the same bed,” another gossiped loudly.

Taehyung’s eyes slid her way, so he saw the crestfallen expression spread across her face a moment later when someone outright insulted her.

“Everyone knows Mari is easy.  This isn’t the first time a man has been found in her bed.”

Tae watched in consternation as her eyes filled with tears.  She blinked and one slid down her cheek.  She brushed it ruthlessly away as she kept her eyes sealed shut.  A moment later, she sniffed and asked, “Where to, royal guard?”

She didn’t even know his name.  He’d shared her bed last night.  And her air.  But she had no idea what to call him.  

He leaned towards her and whispered into her ear.  “The king’s chambers, milady.”

She blushed at the address.  A moment later, her eyes met his.  “In the eastern wing?” she breathed.

His breath had stolen hers.  It had slipped across her neck, tickling her ear and her fondest dreams.  The man was breathtaking.  Too bad…

He nodded.  “I need to find Jungkook.  I must go to the king’s chambers.”

“All right,” she sighed.  

She had nothing to lose now.  Her reputation was in tatters.  It would never survive two sightings of a man in her bed.  She hung her head as they shuffled across her bedroom floor.  She would receive a royal reprimand now.  Would she be beaten?  

At least, she didn’t have to deal with the old king.  He probably would have issued an invitation – a command – that she join him in his bed.  She shuddered.  So what would she face with the new king in charge?  She had no idea.  King Yoongi was a much more difficult man to read than his brother had been.

Taehyung rebuked the crowd.  “Get back to work!  Nothing to see here!  Go on!”  He threw his hand out at them all as though he could brush them away.  But then his head began to swim again.

She could feel him slowing.  She stopped.  He glanced down at her as he too ceased moving forward.

“Are you all right?”

“No,” he gasped.  “But I must speak with Jungkook.”

She nodded.  They plodded on.  The eyes of the entire palace were upon them.  Mari was dying from embarrassment.  All those people thought she’d slept with this man.  The gossip had already spread like wildfire.  She could tell.  She sighed.  Her reputation was in tatters.

Taehyung glanced at her.  He could feel her distress.  Last night had begun to come back to him.  She had treated his wound and bandaged his head.  She had taken care of him, and now she was paying an awful price.

He knew that being beaten in the royal courtyard in front of the entire palace was the usual punishment for a woman found in the bed of a man not her husband.  King Yoongi had yet to enforce such a penalty, but Taehyung had no reason to believe that the king would break with tradition.  Unless Taehyung himself put a stop to it.

He sighed.  What did he have to lose?  The girl he loved was lost to him.  He inhaled sharply as another pang erupted from his throbbing head.  The scent of apple blossoms wafted around his head again.  

Mari stopped.  They had finally reached the king’s door.

“Jungkook!” Taehyung called to his friend.  “Is the king within his chamber?”

Jungkook glanced around before looking at Taehyung.  He shook his head then spoke sotto voce, “He never returned last night.”

Taehyung inhaled a very sharp breath.  “No!  No.  No!  Where on earth could they be?”  He put his hand to his head.  “And why does my head hurt so much?”

Just then the captain of the guard appeared rounding the corner.  He made a beeline for Mari.  He glanced at Taehyung.

“Let go of the young woman.  I’m here to arrest her.”