Of Vinegar and Honey, Part II: "Darkest Before Dawn‪"‬

Part II of the Of Vinegar and Honey romance series:

This time, however, he didn’t laugh.
He saw she was in real physical pain. There were even tears in her eyes even though she fought to hide them from him. He felt something twist in his chest and a genuine sense of remorse in his heart for having laughed at her before.
“Are you all right?” he asked with an unusually soft tone. But neither his tone nor the fact that he seemed genuinely concerned about her seemed to sink through with her.
“I’m fine, Sir,” she said softly as she carefully rose to her feet, trying not to give in to the overwhelming urge to rub the sting from her butt-cheek.
“You need to be more careful,” he said.
“I-I will, Sir. I didn’t choose to fall, but thank you.” She looked curiously at him now, finally catching the tone in his voice.
When he saw it, he cleared his throat as a troubled frown appeared on his brow. He lowered his gaze so he wouldn’t have to look at golden-amber eyes shimmering with unshed tears of pain.
“I’m saying that because,” he paused a moment. “I’m saying that because if it had been serious . . . I’m not . . . I’m not in any condition to help you.”