Page 45 of Roaming Holiday

“Take her to a safe location,” Jack demands as I’m already leading her away.

Everyone bustles around in a panic. Up ahead, Maia rushes to meet us. Mason is but a foot away from her, and I assume she refused to leave without Nina.

“Nina!” Maia exclaims, a look of horror and fear on her face. “Oh my god. What happened? Your neck…” She extends a hand, stopping midway.

Nina shuts her eyes, overwhelmed. She curls her hands against her chest. Even if I wanted to step back, I couldn’t. She leans into me.

“Someone attacked her,” I say. “He’s in custody, but we need to get her to the hospital.”

Her voice comes out in a single, rasped sound. “No.”

“You need to be examined.”

“No hospital,” she insists. Amidst the chaos around us, she stares at me, defiant.

“There’s an on-call doctor for tonight,” Mason suggests. “What if we bring him here?”

Nina lowers her gaze from me and nods. Mason and I stand on either side of the sisters as we lead them to the designated safe room in the palace’s Jolie wing. Palace employees bustle around, and I soon find Jack trailing behind us.

“Have the on-call doctor meet us,” I tell him.

“What? She needs to go to the hospital.”

I lift my shoulders. “She refuses.”

My boss sighs before taking out his phone. When we reach the room, Nina sits on the leather couch with Maia. Her hands haven’t stopped trembling. I step to the mini bar and pour a bottle of water into a glass. Mason appears at my side with a bowl of ice, and I drop a couple into the water.

“It’s for your hand,” he says, and I walk away without a reply. I can’t begin to think of myself until Nina calms down.

I hold out the glass to her. As she accepts it, her gaze lingers on my shredded knuckles. The doctor arrives only a short time after. She flinches away every time he tries to examine her, and remains adamant that he only looks at her neck. I notice that Maia and I are the only ones she allows to touch her.

“You will be okay,” the doctor says, his Maldanian accent so thick he’s difficult to understand. “You have the, uh”—he gestures around his neck—“the bruise, but it heal soon. You should get scan of head to be safe.”

Nina attempts a smile, whispering, “Okay. Gracea,” as he packs his things and leaves.

Jack steps toward her with a solemn face. His voice has an unusual gentleness to it. “I can show you to a room you can stay tonight.” At her confused look, he adds, “Here, on palace grounds.”

She shakes her head. “No. I want—I want to go back to the hotel.”

My chest constricts. We don’t know who attacked her and how he got access. Chances are, he has a group of people who, at the very least, know he was planning this. He could have a back-up plan.

“Your Highness, it is safest if you stay here,” Jack says.

“No.” Like before, she speaks definitively. My boss gives me a look. Part of me almost demands that she stays here, but I can imagine what she’s going through. She’s feeling destabilized. I clench my jaw and nod to Jack.

“Okay, then. Our security is still securing the perimeter of the grounds. Once it is secure, you may go.” He gestures for Mason and me to gather in a corner of the room. We speak in Maldanian. “Do you think Maia will agree to stay here?”

“Absolutely not,” Mason says in a grave tone. “The only reason I did not take her to a secure location right away is because she screamed at the top of her lungs when I grabbed her arm.”

It’s a scene I can picture.

Jack sputters. “Oh—okay, then. Have Gregory and Silas sweep the hotel before you arrive. I’ll send back-up in a few hours so you can have a break and call me the moment they’re settled so we can debrief.”

As the minutes tick on, I realize how slow time has moved since the incident. A few crazed, violent seconds changed the whole trajectory of the night when I’ve moved on quicker from even bloodier fights before. It reminds me that civilians aren’t used to this, but I’m strangely shaken tonight.

I flex my bruised, swollen hand that’s still stained with blood. Every safe room has a medical kit, so I hastily clean and scrub my wounds.

“Can someone turn off the radio?” Nina asks in the silence. She holds her hands on either side of her head.

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