Page 89 of Reign

The person—Eden—cracks an eye open, then shoots awake and rushes to my side.

“You’re okay,” I mumble. “I thought Sabine…”

Eden rolls her eyes as she grabs my hand. “Willow and Violet make awful bodyguards, and even worse at researching their victims. They shoved us into this basement room in the lake house that Emma is all-too-familiar with. She showed me the key she’d hidden away when she was … stuck there … to sneak out.”

While relief sinks wonderfully into my bones at the news that Emma’s okay, too, my short-term memory warps into a nightmare, and my heart picks up an erratic, panicked beat.

“Where…?” I succumb to another fit of coughs.

A plastic cup with a straw appears in front of me. “Drink this. But slowly.”

Grateful, I clutch at the cup and bring it to my lips but pause after the first sip.

Tubes hang out of my left hand, and I stare at them in confusion.

“You’re in the hospital,” Eden explains. “EMTs found you and Chase at the boathouse docks unconscious. You were severely hypothermic. Any longer and…” Eden drags her gaze from mine. “Anyway, you’re gonna be okay. You just need to rest.”

Eden’s explanation brings vivid snapshots of Chase lying at the end of the dock, blood pooling at his middle. Of me, bending over him, screaming.

I lift my hands, looking for his blood on my fingers, dried into my cuticles, but there’s none. “What—is he—is Chase—?” I can’t say it. I can’t.

“He’s here.” But Eden chews on her lower lip and doesn’t elaborate.

I push the water cup at Eden, then fumble for my sheets.

“Nope. No way, Callie. You’re staying here.” She presses a hand against my shoulder, keeping me down.

“I need to see him.”

“I know, but you can’t.”

“I’m going to see him.” My voice scratches against the vowels, but I want to be by Chase’s side more than I want water.

“You can’t, Callie.”

“I will.”

“They won’t let you!” Eden cries, using both hands to pin me down. Her face is inches from mine. “Emma said she’d come up to see you as soon as you were awake. I’ll go get her. You can ask her about Chase.”

“But—”

“I mean it, Callie. Keep your ass in that bed or else I’ll explain your hysterics to the nurses and have you restrained.”

My eyes widen.

“I’m sorry,” Eden says, softer. “But it’s for your own good. You can’t be with him.”

Eden steps back from the bed, her form fading as she moves to the door, but I don’t think it’s from distance. My blinks are heavier, the periods of blindness longer, and soon, I succumb to a medically induced sleep.

* * *

“Callie? Can you wake up for me?”

I stir at the soft, masculine tone, turning my head toward the sound. Ahmar’s kind brown eyes flicker through my slitted vision.

“Hey, kiddo. Nice to see you,” he says, slipping his hand under mine and squeezing.

I smack my lips together, trying to speak.

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