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“Yes, we can dispense with the formalities. The king can’t make it right away, but you remember Freddie?”
“Miss Kroft,” Logan’s friend is beside Reggie. He was with Logan the night they found me.
“Did I do something wrong?” I can only see their shapes, looming over me in the hazy kitchen.
“No,” Reggie says. He pauses as if choosing his words, “We don’t’ want to alarm you, but it seems you might have been exposed to a peculiar strain o
f virus while you were in Miami. The news has been filled with precautions about it, and considering your close proximity to the queen—”
“A virus?” Of all the things these men could have said, that was not what I expected.
“It’s a nasty thing. Attacking babies,” Reggie continues. “However, we’ve been able to get our hands on the vaccine for it. Would you mind if Freddie here gives you a quick inoculation? It should only take a second, and you’ll be all set.”
My head is spinning. I want to leave, and he’s talking about me being sick? Babies? “Is Ava pregnant?” I can’t help frowning.
“Not that I’m aware, but all women of childbearing age…” Reggie is holding my arm. “It will protect you as well.”
“I’m not planning to get pregnant,” I say, my lapse in birth control drifting through my mind. It’s followed closely by the only person I ever want touching me that way… and the painful idea I’ve lost him forever. If I even had him at all.
“You can never be too careful.” Reggie grasps my upper arm.
Instinctively, I try to pull away from him. “Will it hurt?”
“It shouldn’t,” Freddie says, touching my shoulder. The grand duke releases my arm, and my anxiety eases. Freddie is somehow gentler. “It needs to go in your hip.”
“I’ll stay out here,” Reggie says.
I don’t like this. I feel like I’m being ambushed, but I don’t know how to escape it. I don’t want to make Ava sick. “We can go in my room.”
Freddie follows me inside, and I stop in front of the narrow cot. I don’t know why the small space is comforting to me. Perhaps with the world so large and virtually unknowable, having a tiny area where everything is familiar gives me peace.
“Feel this,” Freddie says, taking my hand. He places my fingers on a cool, metal gunlike device. “It will be quick and hopefully painless. Okay?”
“Okay.” I appreciate his kindness, and I unfasten the button of my jeans, sliding the side down a bit.
The cold metal presses against my skin, and my insides squeeze. My heart beats a little faster and I hold my breath. No matter how brave I am, nothing is worse than the half-second before a shot.
A flush of air and a pinch at my side. “Ow!” I cry out of surprise… or habit.
Freddie’s dark head pops into my peripheral vision. “Did that hurt?” He’s scrutinizing my expression.
I give him an embarrassed smile. “Not really. I’m sorry.”
“Good.” He leans down and seems to be examining the site. “I can’t see a thing,” he says as if to himself. He takes a moment and I’m pretty sure he’s doing something with his phone. “Yes…” he mutters.
“So, no Band-Aid, no sucker?” My voice is a little more sarcastic than I intend. All of this has me feeling like a lab rat, and I’m still miserable about Logan.
He only laughs. “Sorry. Fresh out.”
My pants are fastened, and I straighten my shirt when hear him start for the door. I make a quick decision to stop him.
“Freddie?” He pauses, and I can tell he’s facing me. “Can I ask you… Am I allowed to leave?”
He’s quiet several seconds, and I hold my breath. I’m Blix’s accomplice. They’re not going to let that go. Bracing myself, I’m ready for him to laugh in my face. Instead, his voice is thoughtful.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’d like to return to my apartment. Can I do that?”
