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"Where's the medic?" Luther yelled as the world swam around me. Then, lowering his voice, he swept a strand of hair from my face. "What's the penalty for harming the royal womb?"
"Impalement and left for the carrion to eat… alive." My voice seemed to carry no weight to it. Luther lifted me into his arms just as everything went black.
ChapterEight
"You were lucky, Princess. Just one centimeter higher, and he would have got an artery," Medic Ellery stated frankly as he tended my wound. Slumped over the arm of the lounge chair while the medic cleaned the area, I gritted my teeth as ice-cold gel forced its way into my injured shoulder.
"This synthetic healing gel will seal and hasten the healing process. It'll take a full day—thirty hours—before that wound will have knitted enough to take this bandage off. Nothing strenuous until then." Ellery's fingers brushed over a bruise of Luther's hand on my upper arm to make a point.
"By all means, you tell your newly joined Prince he has to sleep on the lounge tonight," I mumbled.
"Does he hurt you?"
Sitting up, I slipped my arm back through my right sleeve. When the medic came, I didn't allow him to remove the dress entirely, just unfastened it. Then I slid it from my right shoulder, so he could tend the wound. Grimacing with pain moving my right arm, I pushed through it and pressed the closure.
"I'm not prying for personal reasons, Princess. It's my job to ensure a healthy throne, but your species is quite frail compared to ours, and it would be easy for him to forget his strength with you."
"The princess pushed the prince out of the way to save him from an assassin. Then she proceeded to take that assassin out, Ellery," Hartwin announced his presence, having come through the door without us hearing him.
I'd demanded privacy while being tended to, not wanting everyone to see me cringe. "I think it's safe to say the princess is nowhere near as fragile as she looks." Hartwin held up a big steaming bowl of delicious smelling stew. "You need to eat, Princess."
Placing the bowl down on the table, Hartwin started ladling some into the dishes already set. Ellery grumbled under his breath. He couldn’t ask me about Luther’s treatment of me in front of the elite; he knew I wouldn’t be honest if I was being mistreated in front of them.
“The Prince wants you to report to him when you finish up here.” Hartwin didn’t look up, but I caught the tightness in his cheeks that indicated fighting a smile. “You can tell him he needs to sleep on the lounge tonight while you’re there.”
Ellery packed up his supplies while Hartwin sat at his bowl without waiting and started eating. “I’ll come back and check on you in the morning, Princess.” He helped me stand before leaving the room.
“Thank you, Medic Ellery.” Once the door closed behind him, Hartwin came to my side, guiding me to the table to eat. Since I still felt relatively weak, I didn’t argue. For once, I felt as frail as I looked.
“I think Luther is even more in awe of you now than he’s ever been.” When I didn’t look up, Hartwin reached across the table and put his hand over mine. “You saved his life, Zira. We are all in awe of you.”
Meeting his eyes, there was too much floating in them. Withdrawing my hand from his, I placed it in my lap. “If he dies, the Barbarian gets me. I was telling the truth in there. I’ll take death over letting that savage lay a finger on me ever again.”
Picking up my spoon, I started eating. Hartwin watched me for a few minutes quietly. When the door opened, he returned to eating his lunch.
Padget entered with more garment bags over her arm and another bag from Chalvey’s over her other.
“Princess, Master Fabrice has sent over some more dresses in the style you prefer, and I collected the personal items on your usual order for you.” Walking through the room, Padget didn’t even spare us a sideways glance. “I’ll just put everything away for you.”
Following Padget, Jervaise brought småfranska and a carafe of apelsinjuice. “Sorry about the delay; I got held up,” he excused himself way too enthusiastically.
“The Princess should come first.”
“Well, I’m sure Prince Saboa does his best to achieve that, but even the best of us lose control, Hartwin,” Jervaise replied, full of mirth.
Body heating before I could help it, I stopped eating and watched Jervaise with curiosity as he poured us all drinks. Glancing at Hartwin, I watched how he smirked and shook his head. Nudging Hartwin’s leg under the table, when his eyes flicked up, I tilted my head towards Jervaise questioningly. Raised his eyebrows, Hartwin simply returned to eating his stew.
Breaking off a piece of bread to hide my amusement, I was glad everyone didn’t feel the need to be formal around me. My staff at the estate was always relaxed and open around me. It made it feel more like a family that way. Thinking about my home caused me to miss it desperately, and I dropped my spoon with instant heartache.
Jervaise and Hartwin both stopped to watch me.
"I'm sorry. I was just thinking of home."
Hartwin nodded. He knew how much I'd loved the estate. I'd chosen to live there full time while my parents only came out on weekends.
Coming back into the room, Padget stopped to assess my sudden change in mood. She went to leave without saying anything, but Hartwin saw her. "Padg?" She stopped, blushing before he said anything. "I get it, but the princess isn't like us. Going without food for extended periods weakens her. If I find out you put him before her again, the Prince will hear of it. Understood?"
Padget bit her lip, looked at Jervaise before back to Hartwin, and bowed her head. "Of course, Elite Hartwin." Hartwin returned to his food. Padget left embarrassed. Jervaise said nothing, but the look Hartwin gave him indicated they would discuss it later.
