His eyes tightened a fraction at the memory of lurching awake, urgency howling in his veins, his ring tugging him to Apparate beneath the balcony and he'd done so without wondering why until he'd seen her figure hurtling down. He reacted on instinct—the scream that had left him, he wasn't aware of. He'd loosed magic to slow her descent and had caught her. His knees had buckled and he'd sank to the ground in relief, in confusion as to what and how it had happened. How had he not felt her creep away? How had she got past his lock? There had still been blood between her legs—how had she even managed to walk? The only thing that mattered was that she was still alive.