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“And do you …” My eyes darted to our audience, and I stopped my question. I didn’t want to ask him that with everyone here.
“Do I what, Ember?” he asked as he continued to rub my arms.
“Do you think you can help me eat?” I asked. Raising my shaking arm again, I showed that I wasn’t yet able to use the fork.
He smiled, one of his blindingly charming, handsome smiles, and said, “Anything for you, my queen.”
The statement, so full of love and caring, broke me. Throwing myself out of the chair and against his chest, I sobbed so loudly I worried I might break his eardrums.
He caught me and lifted me easily into his arms. “Riddick, grab her food. Nana, do you need to check her again or can we take her upstairs?”
“You can take her. She needs warmth and emotional support now.”
“I know, Nana. We all do,” Caleb said and nuzzled my ear. “I’ve got you, Emmy.”
With my head rested on his shoulder, I drew in deep breaths of his scent, letting it fill my lungs.
“We’ve been so worried,” he whispered in my ear. “Nana thought you would wake up just a few hours after the curse broke. We’ve been anxiously waiting for you to wake up.”
“How do you feel?” I asked. “They said you were despondent.”
“We were terrified we were going to lose you, Emmy. Of course we were.” His hold on me tightened. “I can’t imagine how painful that was for you to go through four times. Just once almost destroyed each of us. I got into a fight with both Papa Dan and Emrys. Auntie Leona had to put us all to sleep.”
“How does it feel?” I asked. “Are you …”
“Empty?” he asked and nodded. “Yes.”
“Cold,” Riddick said behind us.
“Worried,” Triston said from the bedroom doorway. He smiled and tears built in his eyes. “Hello, sleepy girl. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“She’s awake?” Branson shouted from the room and came thundering towards us.
“Shush, you’re too loud,” Caleb chastised him.
“Sorry,” Branson whispered and smiled at me. “Hello, beautiful.”
Caleb sat down with his back against the headboard of my bed, set me between his legs, and wrapped the blanket tighter around me, with his arms around me on top of the blanket.
Riddick sat in front of me, stabbed some eggs onto the fork, and held it out for me to eat. “Come on, you’ve got to eat.”
Caleb whispered in my ear in a deep, husky voice, “Be a good girl and eat.”
A bit of warmth blossomed within me, but I was still too weak, too numb and cold to do more than open my mouth and obey.
“Good girl.” The words were a soft growl that raised the hair on my arms.
They were acting like nothing had happened. Like our bonds weren’t gone, destroyed, never to be reformed.
Riddick continued to feed me and I continued to eat.
When I started crying, no one asked me what was wrong or complained. They just continued to feed me and Caleb continued to hold me.
As soon as I finished the last piece, Branson took me from Caleb, letting the blanket fall, and carried me to the bathroom where a steaming tub full of water waited for me.
He set me on the sink counter, pulled my shirt off over my head, helped me stand, keeping an arm around my waist, and Triston pulled the pajama pants I was wearing off.
Immediately, I started shaking and my teeth started chattering together.
