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Persephone murmurs and I step close to her, taking her hand once more. But my eyes remain fixed on the doorway that Magda just vacated.
Chapter9
Persephone
Before I’m even fully awake, I’m conscious of Hades carrying on a whispered argument with someone else. His voice is tense and on edge.
Why isn’t she awake yet?
An answer comes, the voice female. But it is quieter… and straining to hear it makes me so very tired.
Hades whispers again. I can practically envision his clenched teeth and stony glare.
Ye said Penny would be awake by now. Ye lied to me.
If there is an answer to his accusation, I miss it. I’m pulled down again, my sleep growing deeper. His voice invades my dreams, though. It makes me restless. I want to be awake. I want to see his face, touch his cheek, comfort him.
But my body is so tired, my limbs so heavy. I submit to the darkness, allowing it to swallow me. What else am I to do?
When I finally surface, my eyes fluttering open, I find myself lying under a thin blanket on a cot. Hades is draped across my body, with the bulk of his frame sitting on the floor. I try to lift my arm and accidentally tug an IV that is plastered to my left hand.
“What the fuck?” I say.
The slight noise is more than enough to wake Hades from his light doze. His head pops up and relief pools across his expression like the tide rushing in.
“Yer awake!” he grunts. Hades puts a hand to my forehead. “How do ye feel?”
I can feel that my hair has matted just above the place his fingers touch and I reach up, slowly piecing together the clues.
“I’ve been sick, I guess.” I wince, my throat scratchy. “Where are we?”
“Sula’s medical clinic. It’s a catch-all for everything from the surrounding areas that isn’t urgent enough for being air-lifted to an actual hospital.”
My head pounds faintly and I rub at my temple. “Oh. Well… what’s my diagnosis?”
A woman’s voice answers as the woman in question pushes the door open. She’s a dark haired woman of fifty, a bit on the thin side and wearing a matching pair of deep under-eye shadows.
“You must be Persephone.” She enters the room, all but ignoring Hades. She warms her hands up by rubbing them together and pulls on a pair of latex gloves. “I’m Magda. And ye have been here for about ten hours with one of the worst cases of food poisoning that I’ve ever seen.”
My hands trail under my blanket, over my stomach. “Oh god. Is… is my baby okay?”
“It should be fine. If yer worried, I would ask yer regular OB to do a full checkup.”
I can feel my cheeks stain a bright red. “I don’t have one here yet. We only just arrived. And to be completely honest, we’re not sure how long we are planning to stay.”
Hades slides his hand around my shoulders. I glance up at him, but he’s giving Magda his stoniest glare.
“Sorry, am I missing something?” I ask, feeling out of sorts.
Magda gives me a cool smile. “No. Yer fine. And it is fine if ye don’t have a regular doctor in Scandinavia. I’m a midwife. So is Sigrid, the young lady who works at the front desk.”
Hades grimaces. “I’ll have a specialist brought in.”
Sliding him an odd look, I frown. “Surely that won’t be necessary.”
He stares at me with a fiery expression for a moment, but then ends up shrugging.
“As ye wish.”
