Royal Jester

34. Mason

Ana threw herself into Mason's arms at his words and his entire body sagged from the feel of her. She was safe. She was cold against him, and so fucking scared, but she was more or less okay. 

My poor girl. 

He lifted a hand to rub her back, praying to all hell that it was giving her some sort of comfort. "What happened to you baby?" He made sure to speak softly, not wanting to scare her any more than she already was. "Why were you in there, my girl?"

Jesus christ; how long had she been in there? 

Mason had been looking for her for three hours. Had she been locked inside the entire time?

Shit. He squeezed his eyes shut as the burning intensified. Fuck; now was not the time to cry, she needed him. 

"Someo-," she was interrupted by a hiccup and he instinctively tightened his arms around her at the noise. "Someone pushed me in." 

His eyes flew back open, muscles tensing as he processed what Ana had just told him. 

Some asshole piece of shit had shoved her in? On purpose? 

He forced himself to calm down enough to speak, "Who did, baby? Who locked you in there?"

"I don't know." Her crying had somehow gotten worse and his chest ached at how completely terrified she sounded. 

Mason blinked and only then noticed something on the door in front of him. He squinted slightly to read what the small sip of paper said, his jaw clenching as he realized what it was. 

Stay away from Mason. Being royal doesn't make you invincible. 

~~~

Mason had carried Ana all the way back to the dorm, and she hadn't even tried to argue when he picked her up. That's what made him the most worried. 

She was still faintly crying when he set her down on the couch, tears coating her lashes and trickling down her face every now and then. Her eyes were red and irritated, her skin equally so as she rubbed the tears off. 

"Let's get your knee all fixed up, okay baby?" He had noticed the blood on the way back home, and to say he had been furious would be a total fucking understatement. 

"Okay," she whispered back with a nod. 

She was so sweet. And so undeserving of this. 

Mason sighed as he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip; it too was swollen and red, and he wondered how much she had to have bitten it for it to reach this point. It was a terrible habit of hers. "You look really pretty," he whispered to her with a small smile. 

It was true of course - she always looked absolutely fucking breathtaking - but he had mostly said it to cheer her up. 

Ana smiled for what seemed like the first time in years and it made Mason grin. "There's my girl," he muttered before leaning down further to gently rub his nose on hers. She giggled then and he knew - without a single doubt -  that she would be okay. 

It only took a few minutes to bandage her knee and, right as Mason was finishing up, Josh returned from his own lecture. 

He pressed a light kiss to Ana's thigh, just above the injury, before sitting down beside her. "Don't you both have a class right now," Josh questioned as he glanced at his phone. 

Mason sighed, resting his head on Ana's shoulder and letting his eyes fall closed. "Today's been a long fucking day." It was the only explanation he could offer.