“Well, look who’s finally awake.”
The doctor’s voice immediately jolted me into wakefulness. Ivetta was awake. After three days, she was awake. I sat up on the sofa, just as she sat bolt upright in the bed. She cried out in pain, the sound piercing my heart. I was on my feet and crossing the room in an instant. The doctor put a gentle hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down onto the bed.
“It’s okay, no need to be afraid,” he said kindly, but she was still struggling feebly against him.
I came around the bed opposite the doctor to look down into her frightened green eyes, eyes that I’d feared I’d never see again.
“Ivetta.”
She immediately stopped fighting, her eyes locked on mine as she panted for breath. Her bruised, swollen face was still unrecognizable, but it was scrubbed free from blood, and her black, silky hair had fallen in front of her eyes. I reached out and gently brushed it back from her face. She was still confused, but the fear was already fading as she looked up at me.
“This is the doctor, Ivetta. We’re back at the palace. You’re safe here.”
I held her gaze, watching her relax with each soft word. The doctor got back to work again on her other side, and she flinched violently away from him, but she didn’t struggle as before.
“Don’t mind me, Miss Ivetta. All I’m doing is changing your bandages,” he said reassuringly. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal. You’ve suffered a concussion, several broken bones, excessive blood loss, bumps, bruises, cuts, the works. I’m going to have to insist that you stay in bed and rest until you are fully recovered.”
I’d heard it all before, in much greater detail than what he’d told her. It was my request that he not go into the specifics with her. She would live, and that was all that mattered. She didn’t need to know that if we hadn’t found her, or if we’d delayed until morning, she wouldn’t have made it through the night. That it was uncertain for the first twenty-four hours whether she would even pull through.
She closed her eyes again. I sat on the bed next to her and took her hand. Heavy duty soft bandages wrapped around the deep cuts in her wrists, cuts that she had made when she tried to free herself from her manacles, still fighting with everything she had until her strength had run out. She had a lot of such bandages, though the rest covered injuries not of her making. There were too many areas needing frequent bandage changes for casting to be practical, so her numerous fractures were stabilized by thick layers of the cloth to prevent any movement.
“There, all done. How’s your pain?” the doctor asked as he finished.
She opened her eyes again and looked up at him. “Bad,” she said quietly.
Worse than that, for her to make such an admission. Given her injuries, it was probably unbearable. But her soft voice was music to my ears, regardless of the words.
“Well, now that you’re awake, I can give you something for it. Are you feeling up to eating?” the doctor continued cheerfully.
“Not right now.”
He smiled down at her, his wrinkled face creasing further. “That’s okay. I’ll be right back with the pain medicine. It’ll take an hour or so for that to take effect, but then you’ll start feeling much better.”
“Thank you. And…sorry.”
Back in her right mind, and worrying about others again. Somehow, this hadn’t changed her. Nothing she’d been through seemed to be able to do that.
“Don’t worry about it. I know my face isn’t the nicest thing to wake up to.” He winked and left the room.
The door closed, and she looked back at me. I’d missed seeing those beautiful green eyes, still full of pain, but also full of life.
“Thank you, Prince Chevalier,” she said softly.
For what? Getting her beaten within an inch of her life?
“There is no reason for you to thank me. It was your association with me that made you a target,” I said quietly.
“It’s not your fault.” Her earnest tone, matching the intensity in her eyes, told me that she really believed that. But I knew better, and she needed to know, too.
“Those who sent the assassin were the same that took you. I already knew they had an informant in the palace, and I’d recently identified the culprit. If I had been more proactive, this wouldn’t have happened,” I explained bitterly.
“It was my choice to stay.”
I gazed at her silently, my thumb gently rubbing the back of her hand. She really hadn’t changed.
The door opened again, and the doctor returned. “Here we are. These will help,” he said cheerfully, setting a few pills and a glass of water on the nightstand. “Now, you’ll have to sit up enough to drink a little water. It’s going to hurt, but only for a little. Okay?”
She nodded, and I moved up to sit by her shoulder.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
She looked back at me, surprised. “Y-yes,” she stammered nervously.
I slipped an arm gently under her back, carefully lifting her, but she still gasped from the pain.
“That should be enough,” the doctor said, and I held her steady. “Now open up. And if you can, drink the whole glass.”
She needed to drink the whole glass. For the past three days, her only hydration had come from a damp cloth, carefully wrung out to dribble water in her parched mouth. Every hour on the hour. Not nearly enough in the long-term, but enough to sustain her until she could start drinking on her own. It was a relief to see her swallow the pills and drain the glass without complaint, though I could tell she was embarrassed, and the tension in her body betrayed her pain. The doctor set the glass on the nightstand and wiped her chin.
“Alright. I’ll leave you two alone, but I won’t be far if you need me.” He gave her a friendly smile and left.
She was struggling to breathe after just this short time of sitting upright. I carefully lowered her back down to the bed, and I lay down on my side next to her, my arm still wrapped securely around her. Her breathing gradually eased, but her eyes were shyly nervous as they met mine. Beautiful green eyes, even in her beaten face. I reached across her with my free hand to remove my glove, suddenly needing to feel her skin against my bare fingers. A few silky black strands of hair had fallen across her eyes, and I brushed them away, lightly tracing my finger down her cheek. She was still beautiful, regardless of her appearance, even more so because of the innocent confusion my touch was clearly causing her.
“You stayed with me,” she said softly, wonderingly.
“You asked me not to leave,” I replied. Although she didn’t have to ask.
“How…how long was I asleep?”
“Three days.” I couldn’t keep from smirking as a tease crept into my voice, brought on by the relief of hearing her voice again, feeling her in my arms again. “There are better ways to get your rest, little dove.”
“You need your rest, too,” she said shyly, either ignoring my tease or too weak to banter. “I’ll be fine if you want to go.”
“I would like to stay here,” I said quietly.
Her eyes widened in shock. “U-um, I-I…” she stammered as she stared at me, too stunned by my confession to even form words.
I sighed. “But you’re not going to be able to relax until I leave, are you?”
Although I would never forgive myself if I didn’t finally kiss her. I leaned in and brushed my lips lightly against hers, painfully aware of her swollen, split lips, afraid of hurting her, but craving just a taste. Her eyes were even wider when I pulled away.
“I’ll be back later,” I added, tucking her in, and then I left.
Maybe it was my imagination, but when I licked my lips as I walked down the hall, I could have sworn I tasted just a hint of sweetness.
She was really going to make it. The relief flooded through me, draining the tension from my muscles and sapping me of energy, but the day had only just begun. For three days, I’d lived on that sofa in her room, refusing to leave until she regained consciousness. I had a lot of work to catch up on.
“Hey, look who’s here!” Leon’s booming voice called as I walked into the round table room for breakfast.
“Is Ivetta finally awake?” Belle asked excitedly.
I wasn’t surprised to see her. There wasn’t much point in continuing to try to hide her from the foreign princes. It was a risk to admit we were without a king, but only the king of Rhodolite could sign the treaty on our behalf, and it seemed very unlikely at this point for any of the foreign princes to return to their home countries and turn around and attack us. Not when Ivetta was still so vulnerable.
She was quite an effective insurance policy.
“Yes,” I confirmed quietly as I took my seat.
“When can we see her?” Belle was practically bouncing in her seat. She seemed to have settled into the palace quickly. She was at least much more comfortable with all of us, probably thanks to Ivetta’s coaching.
“That will be up to the doctor, but probably not for a few days.”
“A few days?” Belle exclaimed, her big brown eyes wide with surprise.
“She nearly died, Belle,” Jin reminded her gently. “It’s going to take her a while to recover from this.”
Jin’s words tempered Belle’s enthusiasm, but she wasn’t giving up yet. “I can’t just say hi? For a minute?”
“No,” I said firmly. “She was already exhausted after only a few minutes.”
“She’s been out for three days,” Silvio complained. “You don’t really expect us to believe she’s still tired? I’m starting to think you’re just trying to keep her to yourself.”
“Seriously?” Yves asked, annoyed. “If you’re so sick of waiting, you can always leave.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Silvio replied, smirking.
“How’s she doing, Chev?” Clavis asked.
“She’s in a lot of pain. The doctor gave her medicine for it, but that will take time to have an effect.”
“Poor kid,” Jin said, wincing.
“How did she seem…you know, mentally? She got hit in the head a lot.” Luke’s fumbled question was reflected in the eyes of many of the others as they waited nervously for my response. I had a similar concern, but those few minutes spent with her had belayed those fears.
“She’s the same,” I reassured them, and then I chuckled softly. “She woke up fighting, and then she apologized for her behavior.”
Multiple sighs of relief sounded around the table, followed by more chuckling and occasional laughter.
“That sounds like her,” Licht commented.
“Maybe we should be asking if the doctor’s okay,” Nokto said, smirking.
“She’s a tough little thing, that’s for sure,” Leon said, grinning broadly.
“It took two men to capture her, and she still didn’t go easily,” Luke added.
“She must’ve been really scared when she woke up,” Yves said, one of the few unsmiling faces around the table. “Are you sure she’s okay to be left alone? That it won’t happen again?”
“He wouldn’t have left her if he didn’t think she’d be fine,” Keith said quietly.
“Once she knew where she was, she settled down. And the doctor is no longer an unfamiliar face,” I replied calmly.
Gilbert was unusually silent throughout breakfast. He followed me out into the hallway when I finished eating, walking silently beside me until we came to my office.
“You love her,” he said quietly after the door closed behind us.
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation as I took my seat at the desk. There was no point in denying it.
“And you intend to pursue her, even though she’s a commoner,” he continued. His expression was unusually serious.
“There will be difficulties, but they no longer concern me,” I confirmed.
He was silent for a moment, and then he said, “I don’t suppose there were any unusual items among her personal effects?”
My eyes narrowed as I studied him. “She left a bag by her door containing the things she was bringing with her to the palace, but I haven’t searched it.”
“I’d like to see it.” He sat down in the chair across from my desk, his blood red eye thoughtful.
“I cannot make that decision. They are her belongings, not mine,” I said firmly. “What is it that you know, or think you know, about her?”
He shrugged, and his usual charming smile returned to his face. “I only have suspicions, so I’d rather not divulge that information until I’ve done a bit more research. Suffice it to say, if I am correct, a great many of your difficulties will disappear.”
“I see.” I sat back in my chair, watching him carefully. “Your help was invaluable in locating her, and for that, I am grateful, but I still don’t trust you.”
“Nor should you,” he said, his eye gleaming. “But we share one common interest in Ivetta, don’t we? Where she is concerned, you can be assured that I will do whatever is necessary to ensure her safety. To that end, we should finalize the treaty.”
“I’ll review it, but it can’t be officially finalized until Belle makes her decision.”
He chuckled. “You will be king, Chevalier. If she doesn’t select you, then I fear for Rhodolite’s future.”
I spent the rest of the day catching up on the work that had piled up in my absence. Clavis, Nokto, and Luke had handled most of it, but there were a few things I needed to review, such as Nokto’s final report on my knights. And, of course, there was the matter of the anti-war faction. Leon had already started an investigation into their affairs, and while the faction was legal and most of its members completely loyal to Rhodolite, there were a few who remained with connections to Baron Flandre. These had to be rooted out and dealt with immediately.
The doctor kept me updated throughout the day. Ivetta slept for most of it, but her pain was improving whenever she woke up. That night, for the first time since her capture, I slept in my own bed, and I slept soundly.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyCkQrCl35
