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Tae awoke to so much pain that he wished someone would knock him out again.  He was lying on his stomach.  Which hurt.  But not as badly as his back did.  Or his head.  His eyes slid upward.  He stared at the ceiling.  This room was unfamiliar.  His gaze traveled around the room.  

No, it wasn’t.  This was where all the trouble had started.  This was her room.  Mari.  The girl who smelled like his grandpa’s apple orchard.  

His fiancé.

He must have gone temporarily insane today.  Was it still today?  To have claimed as his fiancé a girl he didn’t even know.  And then to have endured an endless beating for her.  One hundred lashes.  Except…he hadn’t received more than twenty-two.  

Suddenly, he remembered her lying on his back.  He hadn’t been sure he could endure any more when suddenly a heavy weight had descended upon him shielding him from the next blow.  It might not have hit his body, but he had felt it strike his heart when she had screamed.  She was so tiny.  And she had thrown her little body across his back to spare him from the next blow.  

He felt a tear sliding down his cheek as he recalled her brave action.  

Her scream resounded in his ear again, and he felt that odd yet burning desire to cover her return to him.  What was it about his apple girl that made him want to draw her into his heart and close its doors forever?  Just to spare her any further pain.

He moved his head to look at the other side of the bed.  A groan escaped him.  But all the breath left his body in the next instant when he saw her.  She was lying next to him in the bed.  Her bed.  Again.  Her long, raven hair had spilled out in a curtain around her.

He felt anger rising within him.  Why were they in the same compromising position that had cost them both so dearly just a few hours ago?  But his ire died a quick death as she suddenly moaned in her sleep and rolled towards him.  His eyes traced the beautiful outline of her lovely face.  She was breathtaking.  

In the next moment, though, a spasm of pain crossed her countenance, and he felt that odd desire spark in his heart again.  To defend her.  At all costs.  To wipe the pain from her face.  And the agony from her muscles.  

He knew, better than anyone else, how much she must be hurting right now.  He wanted to draw her close and cradle her against his chest.  Except that he was in so much pain himself right now.  Everything ached.  Or throbbed.

Suddenly, as his eyes were sliding over her captivating countenance, her own opened to collide with his.  For a few breathless moments, they simply stared at each other.  Then a shy smile lifted her face, and a few stunning words escaped her lips.

“Good morning, husband.”

Husband?!!!

He sat straight up as his arms caused him to practically fly off the bed.

“What?!”

A spasm of anxiety rippled across her countenance as pain ripped through his entire abdomen all the way through to his back.  

In a tiny whisper, she responded, “We married yesterday.  You woke up briefly.  The king had a priest waiting.  We spoke our vows.  It was a very quick ceremony.  Then you lost consciousness again.”

She looked very nervous.  

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “I’m sorry I landed you in this trouble.  I’m sorry I stole your choice from you.”

Horrified, he watched as a tear slid down her cheek.

“But the king insisted we marry,” she finished in a tiny voice.

Her eyes fled from his to hide behind her eyelids.  A moment later, he realized she was trembling.  His heart melted.

“Hey,” he reached out and ran his finger down her cheek lightly.  “It’s all right.  I won’t be that bad a husband.”

Her eyes flew open.  Did he know he was branding her with that fingertip?

“You’ll make a wonderful husband,” she breathed.

He felt his heart swell at her words.  No woman had ever put such faith in him.

“I’m just sorry for you that you got stuck with me.  I recognize that I would be no man’s first choice.”

He felt anger spiraling through him.  “Hey!  Don’t say such a thing!  Why would you think that?”

“No man has ever wanted me,” she whispered, her eyes sliding away.

“That is not true,” he muttered.

Her gaze met his again.  She was having trouble breathing.

Then, he winced.  Her face fell.

“What?  What is it?  What hurts?”

“Everything,” he moaned.  He closed his eyes.

She blinked.  More tears slid down her cheeks.  “I am so sorry.  If I had just been more careful.  If I just hadn’t…”

“Saved my life,” he uttered as his eyes opened again.  

That’s when he noticed her tears.  His hand lifted again.  This time he picked a tear up with his fingertip.  He stared at it.

“I wouldn’t be holding your tear in my hand if you’d let me die.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off his beautiful face.  He was so gorgeous.  His raven hair was falling in long locks that mostly hid his eyes from view.  But it was those eyes that grabbed her every time.  They were so intense.  And a deep chocolate brown.  She gazed into them, and for one fleeting moment thought of Moonflower and felt a spasm of compassion for her that she couldn’t gaze into the eyes of her own beloved.  

Beloved!

Tae wasn’t her beloved!  Was he?  Her eyes strayed back to his captivating countenance.  She could gaze upon him for a thousand years and never grow bored.  She’d just fall a little bit deeper into those amazing eyes every moment.

His eyes left the tiny globe on his finger to meet hers, and then he smiled.  And her breath fled.  Had she ever seen him smile before?  His face was transformed into a thing of such ethereal beauty that she felt as if she’d died and entered Heaven.  She didn’t even want to blink.  She didn’t want to miss one millisecond of his beautiful expression.

His eyes traced her lovely countenance.  She had a tiny nose and a perfect rosebud for a mouth.  It was a subtle shade of pink.  When her lips stretched into a wide smile a moment later, her well-defined Cupid’s bow appeared.  That grin lit her eyes too.  Two gleaming, obsidian gems fitly set in her face.  She was quite simply…beautiful.

His smile faded.  “You are lovely,” he breathed.

Her grin fled.  She blinked.  A most vulnerable expression rippled across her countenance.  

“I am?” she croaked in a minuscule voice.

He nodded his head.  Once.  Then he groaned and shut his eyes.  

“Will the room ever stop spinning?”

“Please.  Lie down again.  Rest.”

“It all hurts.  My stomach.  My back.  I can’t find a comfortable position.”

“My fault again.  He wouldn’t have hit your stomach if I hadn’t…” her voice faded away.

His eyes met hers.  “I didn’t want you to feel one moment of pain.  But you didn’t let me save you from even that.”

Her expression melted.  “Tae, you saved me from twenty-two lashes.  You’re the one suffering so now.  I’ll be all right.  I am all right.”  She glanced at his torso.  “Can I see your abdomen?”

He rolled onto his side and lifted his shirt to reveal the bright blue bruise.  She hissed as she saw the tubular contusion.  An impulse struck her.  She went with it.  She scooted up next to him and bent her head to press her lips lightly against the very center of that bruise.

Tae inhaled sharply as her soft lips brushed his belly.  Heat spiraled through him.  But then he felt something wet hit his stomach.  Was she watering him with her tears? 

He gazed down at her bent head.  And her gleaming, luxuriant locks.  He reached out and ran his hand down her waterfall of raven tresses.  As his hand caressed her head, he spoke.

“The bruises will fade.  The soreness will flee.  I’ll be fine.”

She was loving his touch right now.  She closed her eyes to soak in the feel of his hand on her head.  She was so thankful he’d survived.  And that he was now hers.  At least, in name.

Tae’s eyes lingered on her lovely face.  She belonged to him now.  No other man could touch her.  He had achieved his goal.  He’d protected the woman who had saved his life.  Now what was he going to do with her?

How odd to have no recollection of his wedding ceremony.  He could recall the night he’d awoken in the garden to find her bending over him.  He could still see her efficient movements that had quickly accomplished her goal of secreting him in her room and gathering the necessary supplies to tend to his wound.  He could still feel her gentle touch as she’d ministered to the gash on the back of his head.

His lips twisted wryly as he remembered her sitting on him to prevent him from leaving her bed that night.   He had been so furious with her.  But clearly, she had saved him from cracking his head open on her hard floor when he passed out.  He grinned lopsidedly as he continued to slide his hand down her long locks.

“Your hair is beautiful,” he murmured.

She lifted her eyes then.  He felt like a bomb had just exploded on the inside of him as her eyes struck his.  The vulnerable expression on her lovely face made him want to draw her near.  And bend his head.  And…

Suddenly, his back began to spasm.  A ripple of pure agony flashed across his countenance.  She sat up hurriedly, fear flying across her face.

“What is it?”

“My back,” he gasped.  

“Here.  Remove your shirt.  Lie down on your tummy.  I’ll get the cream.  Moonflower used it on my back, and it helped immensely.”

She rolled off her bed and tried to ignore her own soreness.  She grabbed the jar of cream and sat down on the edge of the bed near him.  He was flopping on his stomach, but she could tell he was in so much agony.  

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed as she began to wipe the cream over the length of his bruised back.  

Her eyes lovingly traced the muscles that rippled as he adjusted his posture.  Beautiful man.  She swallowed.  Under different circumstances she would have been uncomfortable sitting alone on this bed with a strange man.  But right now, all her concern was bent on robbing him of at least some of his pain.

“Stop apologizing, Mari.  You saved my life.  You have nothing to be sorry for.  Unless it’s that you got stuck with me for life.”

“Taehyung!” she gasped.  “I did not get stuck with you.  Don’t you know you’re every woman’s dream?”

“Not Moonflower’s,” he muttered without thinking.

Mari felt an arrow pierce her heart.  “Are you in love with Moonflower?” she whispered.

His eyes flew open.  “What?  No.  I…”

Should he pretend that he’d just lost consciousness again?