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Hakim’s expression didn’t change. “A helicopter is standing by.”
He rode with Phoebe without speaking. Until he knew that she would be okay, he could hardly talk.
The sight of her in such pain robbed him of his usual control, and he felt like he would go ballistic at anyone who so much as stepped in their path. The hospital had, according to procedure, cleared a whole level of the building, and a team of doctors was standing by.
And despite his position, Hakim was held at the door. “I’m sorry, your highness. Until we have ascertained the extent of the Sheikha’s injuries, we must limit the room to medical personnel.”
Hakim stared down at the man, a look of powerful scorn in his face. “She is my wife. I am staying with her.”
“Sir…” But the young doctor was in no way equipped to go up against a man such as Hakim. He conceded with a nod of his head. “Certainly, your highness. Perhaps you will be most comfortable on these chairs.” He opened the door and pointed to a set of hospital waiting room chairs against the far wall.
Hakim responded with a stony look and then stalked over to Phoebe. She was afraid. Terrified. He wanted to take her in his arms.
He settled for putting a hand reassuringly on the top of her head.
A female doctor entered the room with a solicitous smile. Her English was excellent, though accented in a similar fashion to Hakim’s. “Your highnesses. My name is Anja; I’m the Chief Surgeon. I understand you have been doing a tango with a snake and a horse,” she said, a smile on her lips.
Phoebe nodded, her skin pale.
The doctor took the proffered chart and scanned the information. “The lab is running blood tests now. We’ll have results shortly, then we will need to perform some x-rays to check where exactly the breaks are, and how best to mend them.”
“What blood tests?”
“The medic took them, while I was in the desert.”
Hakim frowned. “For a fall?”
The female doctor smiled apologetically. “It is protocol. I do not mean to be indelicate, but we cannot perform x-rays if there might be a pregnancy.”
Phoebe felt a lurch of emotion. She hadn’t even thought of that. Despite Hakim’s anger, about how her horse riding might negatively affect a possible pregnancy, she’d continued to ride, faster and further. She closed her eyes and prayed. Prayed to be pregnant, and for the baby to be safe. Prayed to be not pregnant, and for no baby to have been harmed or lost because of her actions.
They waited in silence. Hakim’s presence was both comforting and over-awing. She opened her mouth to speak but she had no idea what to say.
With a squeak of shoes on linoleum, the doctor returned. “No baby,” she said. Simply. Quickly. As though she wasn’t striking a blade into Phoebe’s chest.
“Oh.” She said, nodding jerkily.
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nbsp; Hakim didn’t respond. Not because he didn’t feel, but because he felt too much. In front of Phoebe, he had no problems showing the full gamut of his emotions. But in front of a host of doctors, nurses and technicians, he remained resolute and untouched.
“What next?” His tone was cold.
“We will wheel her highness to be scanned. And this time, sir, you will not be able to stay with her.”
He nodded. “I will be just outside.” His eyes flashed to Phoebe, and he repeated, with a tight smile, “I will be just outside.”
She nodded again, wincing from pain, and Hakim felt a sharp stab of anger.
He spun around and looked at the doctor accusingly. “Can you give her something for the pain now?”
She shook her head with an apologetic frown. “As soon as we can, we will make her highness more comfortable. We will know what we are dealing with very soon. If we have to go into surgery, though, we cannot have various pain killers in her system.”
“Surgery?” He asked, his face set in a mask of stone.
The doctor waved a hand blithely through the air, attempting to minimize the anxiety the royal couple might be feeling. “It is unlikely, but in accidents such as this, there is a risk of internal bleeding which isn’t, at first, easy to detect.”
The words hit Hakim like tiny, but perfectly aimed, grenades. He felt like his head had been split in two. “You’ll be fine,” he said to Phoebe, a muscle working overtime in his jaw.
