Page 20 of Six Types of Apology

“Your highness are you all right?” Morgan sounded concerned. “Pull him up, pull him up.”

“Let me down, let me down,” Vincent managed to call out, but of course the men had already started to pull him up which was a huge jerk on his spine, and then they let him down again, and Vincent clung to the rope, sure he was going to fall to his certain death. “Carefully,” he yelled at the ceiling.

All of this meant that by the time Vincent’s boots finally hit the ground, he was ready for his hero act to be over. Turns out, it had only just begun. For one thing, Vincent had to catch his breath and rub the bruises he was sure were forming around his middle where the rope was tied.

Then there was the little matter of Orion, who did not miraculously recover from his mere presence and indeed didn’t seem capable of getting up at all. He wasn’t even conscious. Scrabbling over the fallen debris to where he’d seen his husband’s leg, Vincent’s stomach churned as he realized an entire rock shelf had fallen on his husband’s back and Orion’s face was smushed into the dust.

Crouching down, Vincent would love to say he’d simply gripped the shelf in both hands and casually tossed it aside. But the truth of it was the shelf was heavy and Vincent struggled to get enough of a grip on it to move it.

“Your highness.” Morgan was yelling at him again. “What’s the hold up? Do you need assistance? Is the consort still breathing?”

I probably should’ve checked that first.Vincent wasn’t sure how he’d be able to tell. It wasn’t like he could put his face next to his husband’s and feel the breath, and nor could he see if Orion’s chest was rising because of that damn rock. Finally heremembered seeing someone putting their hand on the side of a person’s neck, to feel their pulse. Vincent wasn’t sure what a pulse felt like either, but he felt a flutter under his fingers when he touched Orion’s neck and the skin was warm.

“He’s breathing.” And that’s when the impact of his words hit Vincent like a punch to the gut. “He’s alive,” and he felt as if that had to be said because in that moment, Vincent realized Orion could just as well have died from the impact of that rock slab. “I just have to get him free,” he added, hearing the cheers of the men on the ground above him.

Nothing worth having is ever easy.Vincent remembered his late father saying something like that years before. But as his life had always been easy, the words hadn’t made sense. Grunting under the weight of the slab, making sure he wasn’t leveraging the rock onto yet another part of Orion’s body, Vincent strained every muscle he had, moving the rock inch by inch, holding it off Orion’s body as best he could. When he finally got it so that it was tipping on one end, Vincent threw the full force of his weight behind forcing it the other way. It toppled with a crash, causing even more dust, but at least Orion’s body was no longer covered with it.

“It really would help if you woke up right now,” Vincent muttered under his breath. He couldn’t see any blood. There didn’t seem to be any bones visibly broken. Orion had dirt on his face and a bruise over his eye, and as Vincent ran his hands over Orion’s head he could feel an egg shaped lump. The most sensible decision would be to order some planks sent down, make up a form of stretcher and have Orion lifted out that way.

But that wasn’t possible. Any stretcher wide enough to fit Orion comfortably wasn’t going to fit through the hole. Vincent had to do some serious scrunching to get himself through the hole in the first place.

“Morgan,” he called up to the ceiling. “Have you got any healing crystals on standby?”

There was a moment’s hesitation and then Morgan called back, “We should have enough to stabilize your husband once he’s free from the cave, your highness. Is he badly hurt?”

“I have no idea, but staying down here is not an option.” Glancing over to where the rocks had covered the doorway to the cave, Vincent discounted that as an option, too. The rocks were likely several feet deep and moving them by hand so Orion could be carried out on a stretcher would take far too long. “I’m bringing him up. Stand by.”

That wasn’t easy either. Orion was lying on his front which meant he had to be rolled before Vincent could support his head and neck, as well as his lower half. Vincent did his best, but he was sure they would both be wearing new bruises before the mission ended. Once he had Orion securely in his arms, Vincent staggered back to where he was directly under the hole in the ceiling. “Pull us up and do it carefully.”

Vincent’s heart lurched as his body was jolted off the ground once more, but as they slowly ascended, Vincent did something he’d never done before. He prayed to any deity that would listen for Orion to be all right.

Chapter Nineteen

Orion woke with a groan, the ache in his head feeling as though he’d been hit by a hammer. Still half asleep, Orion reached for his head, only to find his arm wouldn’t move. His eyes flying open, they landed on a man he didn’t know and his heart began to pound.

“Do I know you?” Now his eyes were open Orion could see he was lying in a bed, in a room he wasn’t familiar with, completely restrained.

“I’m Mortrin, the head royal healer from the Monce Court, your highness,” the man said gently. “I’ll remove these restraints now you’re finally awake. You’ll have to forgive their use. Your body was subject to numerous injuries when Crown Prince Vincent called us in, and we couldn’t risk you moving involuntarily while you were unconscious and interrupting the healing process.”

“I must’ve misheard. Did you say Crown Prince Vincent?” Orion rubbed the faint marks around his wrist as soon as they were free. Mortrin clearly knew his way around restraints as he was free of them in less than a minute. “Are you sure I’m not still asleep, or unconscious, or whatever that was?”

“I’ll call in your valet, John. He can explain things to you better than me. I insisted that he rest these past few hours. He’s been through a great deal of stress, so that rest was necessary. But he can explain how you came to be in our care. Please try not to get too agitated, your healing has still got a long way to go.” Bowing deeply, Mortrin appeared to glide as he left the room and seconds later, John came rushing in, brushing down his unruly hair with his hand.

“Oh, your highness, thank goodness you’re awake.” John collapsed to his knees by the bed, taking his hand, his face streaked with tears. “We’ve all been so worried.”

“John, please.” Orion had never seen his staunch aide ever be that upset. “Get up and take a proper seat. You’ll have me thinking I’m dying or something equally as dire. What happened? Where are we and how did we get here?” Orion was still struggling to remember, but his brain felt foggy from the pain he was in.

“There was an earth tremor at the mine. Do you remember that?” John at least did get up and perched on the edge of the chair that was situated next to the bed.

“Vaguely. Ryan had gone to get some ramps so we could check out a possible seam, I think.” Orion had a horrible thought. “Is Ryan all right? The other workers at the mine? Were they caught in the rockfall?”

“No, your highness. You were the only one trapped. The men were digging you out. The entranceway to the cave you were in was completely filled with debris and as you can imagine they were frantic, not knowing if you were alive or dead.”

“Knocked out, I think.” Orion rubbed his head again. “I got hit by a rock, on my head…and fell…and then…I think I rolled under the seat I was on, and that broke away from the rock wall, too? At least I think it did.”

“Your husband found you under that rock slab. It was him that got you out. Ryan found another way into the cave from the topside of the mountain, but it was Crown Prince Vincent who insisted on being lowered down to pull you out.”

“Vincent?” Orion said faintly. “John, what was he even doing at the mine? Did someone call him? Was he handy at the time, or…” There was no reality Orion could see where his husband would be the one to come and save him.

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