Russel looked at her, that anger and unpleasant look still on his face but when he saw the hesitation, the fear, in Lola, he visibly relaxed.

“You both may go,” he said and waved them off with a gesture. “But before you do, know this. Do not ever put hands on Lola again unless you are doing so to protect her from a threat. Understood?”

They both nodded at the same time and then looked at Lola. They did something curious then. Both of them put their fists to their chests and then rotated them in a circular motion a few times. After that, they turned and walked out of the throne room.

Lola looked at Russel with a questioning look. He seemed to know what she was thinking.

“It is a language developed in our kingdom that allows people to talk with their hands. The deaf and the mute use it. We call it sign language. That was the sign for ‘sorry,’” he said. “Neither one can speak because when they were boys, my father had their tongues cut out of their heads. It was to make them more obedient servants.”

“That’s horrible,” Lola said.

“He was…not a good man,” Russel said, looking down at the corpse.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Despite his father being cruel and essentially beating Russel to near death, she still saw tears in his eyes. He was sad at what he’d had to do to save them both.

“No,” he said in a hushed tone. Then he looked at her and tried to smile reassuringly. It was a grotesque-looking thing with his still-healing face but she appreciated the gesture. “But I will be, in time. All we can do now is move forward. And, speaking of which, we shall now move forward to my new rooms. Let’s get away from all of this.” He jerked his head at the corpse of his father, all the blood, the broken columns, and everything else.

Lola nodded, more than happy to get away from all the reminders of Russel’s fight with his father.

He got up from the throne and when Lola tried to help him up, he gently told her no.

“No matter how badly I am hurt or how injured I am, I can never accept that kind of help from someone else. It will make me look weak and that could be dangerous,” he explained.

“That feels like a foolish custom but given what I’ve seen of werewolf life, I guess I can understand that. I’ll keep that in mind for the future,” she told him.

With that, they left the throne room and Russel easily guided them through the castle to a secluded section that didn’t see much in the way of foot traffic. Guards were posted as well for extra security. These were grim-faced soldiers that gave them respectful nods of their heads as they passed.

Eventually, they came to a door and Russel opened it. He let Lola go inside first. Once they did, Russel closed the door behind him but not before instructing the guards outside to only let the servant delivering food and clothing through.

The fireplace was going inside and there were a few torches along the walls guttering with fire. It gave his new room a comfortable and warm look to it. He immediately went into the bathroom and found that a bath had already been drawn for him.

“I am going to go wash all this off,” Russel told Lola. He gestured at all the blood and grime covering most of his body. “You should rest. You’ve been through a lot too.”

Lola didn’t say anything to him. Instead, she grabbed his hand and gently pulled him toward the bath. She guided him to it and once inside, he gladly slid under the water. She grabbed one of the washrags, dipped it into the water, and started to gently scrub his skin. The perfumed and milky water started to turn pink almost immediately.

“Just relax,” Lola told him, her voice soothing.

Russel leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the water soothe his battered and abused body.

“Lola?” he asked, still with his eyes closed. He felt his heart start beating a little quicker. He knew he had to ask his next question but he wasn’t sure how she would react. He also wasn’t sure what her answer would be and if he would like it.

“Yes?”

His eyes opened and he looked up at her. She was still washing the blood off him but she was crying now at seeing just how badly he’d been hurt because of her. She also hated him a little for scaring her so badly.

He reached up and gently wiped her tears away. She leaned into his hand as he did.

“Why did my father want you dead? And why did Drake?”