Page 100 of Wicked Queen

She didn’t seem capable of that kind of decision but I didn’t know what else to do. The certainty that had overtaken me earlier had abandoned me now and I was left with only doubt.

We moved toward Sarah, approaching her like she was a wild animal and completely unpredictable.

“Sarah,” I asked softly. “They’re taking her to the hospital. We can go there or we can go home.”

“Home,” she said with a broken voice.

I nodded and checked to see that Norris heard me. It was the most I could give her tonight.

The Range Rover pulled into the side lot and Norris helped her inside. Closing the door behind her, he circled around to speak with me before I could follow.

“I’ve let Alexander know. He wants me to come with you. Georgia is going to stay here.”

I didn’t know if this was because she was still mad at me or something more. If she couldn’t get over her anger in a moment of panic, then we needed to have a serious conversation.

Norris reached for the door handle, his eyes tightening for a moment on something behind him.

“What?” I asked, peering over my shoulder to look. “There’s nothing...”

I turned back to find him white-faced, still staring at the spot. His mouth opened and one word spilled from his mouth. “Blue.”

Followed by a lot of blood.

Blood that was red like the handkerchief that closed over my mouth. Blood that was red like the back of my eyelids the moment before they faded to…

Chapter 29

Alexander

The only thing to distract me was a stack of bloody magazines a few weeks old, most of which purported to have the secret details of my own life. Hospitals were my own personal hell. I paced the room, earning a reproachful look from my brother, who apparently found reading about his own life quite amusing. David had fallen asleep in the chair next to him. Henry was wearing a similar path across the room as my own.

Tuxedo jackets, vests, and ties were strewn about—all of us eventually divesting ourselves of everything but our shirts and pants. They sat in stark contrast to the blank white walls and sickly yellow chairs. I hated everything about this place, especially its memories.

I’d been brought here on my wedding day. I’d come here after the car accident. My mother had died behind these walls. The only good thing that had ever happened here was Elizabeth’s birth, but one life hardly seemed to balance all the death.

The door burst open, but it was only Georgia. She looked around the room. “Where’s Clara?”

“Norris took her home with Sarah,” I told her. It was best for them both to be away from this. My grandmother had been nothing but cruel to Clara, so I couldn’t ask her to be here, even if part of me selfishly wanted her to be. But it was more important for her to be with Sarah.

“It’s just like my grandmother to die on someone’s birthday,” I muttered.

“She’s not dead yet,” Henry said sharply.

It was cold of me to feel that way. I suspected he was as dependent on her as she was on him. He’d lived alone for so long, always the spare child until my father’s death. But he’d had too little time with his mother—just like me.

The doctor came in before I could apologize and it was obvious from his tired expression. It had been obvious to me when I’d tried to revive her at the museum. There could have been a miracle of course, but they were rare in these parts.

“I’m sorry,” he said, cutting to the chase. He paused and allowed Henry a moment to process this.

My uncle looked stricken himself and David jumped up to help him over to a chair.

“What happened?” I asked.

“A heart attack. There was nothing to be done. It was too much. We couldn’t reset the sinus rhythm. From the looks of it, she may have been suffering smaller attacks for several days.”

That was why she’d been acting so strangely. Guilt washed over me when I realized she’d been trying to tell me at the party, but why come to me?

“She seemed confused,” I said.