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It was only when she was gone that I was able to breathe and open my eyes again. When I did, I saw the things she’d brought. She even put them in a gift basket. So much for us keeping it all a secret. Then again, I knew there was gossip with my mad dashes to bathrooms…plus my new desire for oversized sweaters.
Won’t be needing those…
I lifted the pillow over my head, hoping to snuff out my thoughts. I lay there, watching the time pass by on the cellphone she’d brought.
1:20 p.m.
1:47 p.m.
2:12 p.m.
2:22 p.m.
I felt like I had closed my eyes for only a second, but when I opened them again, it was nearly six…and instead of being alone, there were two tiny dogs curled on the bed beside me.
“Who brought you two in here?” I whispered, tapping Achilles’s dark nose. He whimpered and came up to my face. “No licking. I don’t like that.”
He ignored me and kept trying even as I moved my face from side to side. The more I moved, the more excited he got until he fell off the bed with a yelp. I gasped, leaning over the edge to see if he was okay. Meanwhile, Andromeda just stayed still. Eliza said she was training them, but I was still surprised by how calm they were. Lifting Achilles back onto the bed, I lay there petting him slowly…thinking about getting up. But still, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to know anything.
Knock.
Knock.
“Please…please…leave me alone,” I begged, my voice sore as I tried to speak loud enough.
I guess they didn’t hear me because the doorknob moved. Sinking back down, I closed my eyes again, trying to hide from whoever it was. But instead of saying what they wanted to say or dropping off what they wanted to drop off, they sat down beside me.
“I’m sorry that I’m so late.”
His voice made my shoulders rise, and my lip quake. He was the last person I wanted to see!
“Bevilën.” He kissed the side of my head through the sheet. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t do anything wrong. He had nothing to apologize for. But hearing him say it made me sit up and reach out for him. He hugged me to him, kissing the side of my face over and over again, saying sorry.
Here came the stupid tears again.
The moment Balduin had told me, I wanted to run to her. I ordered the jet immediately and was about to tell my mother I’d send for them. But she told me to calm down and allow them to finish checking over the plane first and that we should all go together. I fought her right on that. How could she suggest it? She then told me…that was exactly how it had happened with Arty. That was the only thing that gave me pause. Made me wait. I kept checking for updates from the palace, but it was all the same. She wouldn’t let anyone in. She didn’t want to see the doctors.
“Bevilën, please…please let the doctors in now,” I whispered, cupping the side of her face. “We need to check if you are all right.”
She shook her head. “Gale…I…I don’t want to know.”
“And I don’t want you to get ill. Please,” I begged, kissing her forehead. “If you don’t want to know, I’ll tell them not to say anything. They will just talk to me. But we need to make sure you are okay.”
She gripped me tightly.
It felt like forever before she finally nodded.
Thank God.
Reaching for my phone, I texted Balduin a simple message before helping her back onto the pillows. She held my hands.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered to her. “You are going to be okay.”
Knock.
Knock.
