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Corais different.
I jab a hand at her too-still body on the couch. “Examine her.Now.”
Dr. Popov jolts at the authority in my voice. He bends his already-hunched back over her and begins his examination.
Cora stirred a few times in the car. Her eyes would roll in my direction or her lips would form around nonsense sounds, almost like she was trying to speak to me. Once, I even thought I saw her smile. But she hasn’t so much as batted an eyelash in the last fifteen minutes.
She doesn’t look quite as waxy pale as she did when I found her on the floor of the bakery’s bathroom. The fluorescents in there were harsh, giving her a deathly pallor. But the near-permanent blush she usually sports is missing from her cheeks.
Dr. Popov presses against the pulse point in her neck and checks her blood pressure. He draws blood from the delicate blue vein on the inside of her arm.
Through all of it, Cora doesn’t move an inch.
It’s bizarre, watching him work on her when, in every conceivable way, she looks perfect. Her pointed chin is tucked against her chest. Long lashes brush the tops of her cheeks. Her lips are slightly parted, as if in exhale.
I have the sudden urge to lean down and kiss her. Like we might be living in a storybook and one kiss could awaken her.
But this is no fairytale. I’m no Prince Charming.
“You think she was drugged, correct?” Dr. Popov asks.
I nod. “It’s the only explanation. She was fine, but when I checked on her a few minutes later, she was on the floor.”
My fist clenches at my side. Hard enough I think my knuckles will burst through the skin. Rage boils inside of me until I’m sure I’ll breathe fire.
Prince Charming doesn’t seek vengeance.
Prince Charming doesn’t sit by the princess’s bedside and plot all the ways he will maim and torture the villain responsible.
In this fairytale, I’m no hero. I’m the monster.
And when I find out who is responsible for this, I will rain death on all of them.
55
IVAN
“Again.”
With a sigh, Dr. Popov repeats himself for the third time. “The blood test showed signs of a common sedative. She received a high dosage, but it will wear off in a few hours. She will be fine.”
“How did it get in her system?” Yasha growls. He sounds almost as angry as I am.
It was his job to make sure the bakery was secure. It was his job to watch the two of us, make sure nothing happened. This is as much a violation to him as it is to me.
“I was watching them both the entire fucking time.” He looks to me, pleading with me to believe him. “When our phone call dropped and I lost service, I saw someone in all black running down the street. I followed them. I—I thought it was the right call.”
I clap a hand on his shoulder. “It was a distraction. You made the right call with the information you had.”
Dr. Popov clears his throat. “As far as the sedative, it could have been in something she drank. Something she ate.”
“She didn’t touch the cake. Well, just one bite.” My stomach tightens, remembering her mouth wrapped around my finger.
Yasha curses under his breath. “The water. She had a water bottle. I made sure the cakes were clean, but I didn’t—The water bottles were sealed. I didn’t think they would be an issue.Fuck.”He rakes a furious hand through his hair. “It must mean they were planning to move her to a secondary location. The only reason they tried to shoot her instead was because—”
“I interrupted.”
My stomach twists at the thought that Cora could be in enemy hands right now. I look down at her on the couch, still asleep, her chest rising and falling in slow, even movements. The fact thatthisis the best possible outcome is un-fucking-acceptable.
