Page 72 of Vengeful Princess

I watched while Landon plugged in the heat pad and then pulled out an ice pack. He passed it over. It was already cold, so I pressed it to my cheek, hissing at the chill.

Next, he poured some chicken broth from a thermos flask. “Drink,” he instructed. “Florrie made this for you. She swears by it. Reckons it has extra special healing properties.”

“Did you go all the way home to pick up chicken soup?”

He smirked. “Of course. Florrie’s chicken soup is legendary. It helped me get better when I had the flu last year.”

“It’s good,” I admitted after swallowing down the soup in record time. Florrie was an angel. Landon had no clue how lucky he was.

“See! Told you!” He took the cup from me and put the thermos to one side. “And now for the bed bath.”

I glared at him, but the annoying dickhead just laughed. “Only joking!” His smile faded. “You need to get some rest, but first, have you taken your pain meds?” I shook my head.

The heat pad felt amazing, easing the pain in my ribs, but the pills were more than necessary, so I stretched my hand out.

Just as Landon dropped two pills into my palm, there was another knock at the door. Who the fuck was it this time? I swear, if it was Kyril again, he could go off himself. I was not in the mood for another interrogation. Landon looked at me with one eyebrow raised and I shrugged.

Maybe it wasn’t Kyril. If it was, Landon would know.

Before I could protest about not needing another visitor, he was on his feet and opening my door.

There was a sharp gasp from the other side. “Landon? What are…youdoing here?”

“Oh hey, Eden.” I noticed how Landon made sure the door stayed mostly shut, so Eden wouldn’t see how battered my face was. “Visiting Thea.”

“Um, OK? Is she there?”

“She’s asleep.”

I could picture Eden’s face. Knowing her, she was desperate to find out what was going on. I was amazed she hadn’t forced herway in already, but also relieved she hadn’t. While we’d become friends, I wasn’t ready to admit what I got up to in my spare time.

“Hmm, well, when she wakes up, ask her to call me, yeah?”

“Sure.” Landon closed the door, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Eden would no doubt want to know what he was doing in my room, but I’d deal with that in a few days, when I was feeling more alive.

“You know she thinks we’re fucking, right?” He smirked as he sauntered back over to my bed. “I’ll have to stay for a bit or she’ll think I’m a fuckboy.”

“Why would she think that?” My voice dripped with sarcasm.

“I’ve clearly screwed you senseless if you’re so exhausted you’ve fallen asleep. It wouldn’t be very nice of me to leave while you’re in a sex coma, now would it?” He sank down into my desk chair and rested his feet on the end of the bed, ignoring my glare.

“Or maybe I was so bored I fell asleep waiting for you to finish?” I sniped.

He gasped with mock outrage. “Sweetheart, I can assure you that would not happen! No woman ever leaves my bed unsatisfied.”

I had a strong suspicion he was right, but his ego didn’t need to know that.

“Whatever. Thanks for…” I reached out for the pills he’d dropped on the bed and swallowed them dry. They tasted gross, but compared to the pain I was currently in, it hardly counted. “…everything. I have no problem if people think you’ve treated me like a random hookup you can’t wait to get rid of, so no need to hang around on my account.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly. “Get some sleep. I’ll watch over you while I work on my essay.” He reached down into his bag and pulled out a paper-thin laptop.

I was about to argue, then decided I didn’t have the energy. If he wanted to hang around while I slept, then fine. I trusted him not to molest me in my sleep, which was odd because I usually trusted no one.

It took a while to get comfortable, but with the aid of the heat pad, I eventually fell back to sleep. And for once, none of my usual nightmares caused me to wake up screaming.

When I next prised my eyelids apart, Landon had gone, replaced by Milo. I half-opened my mouth to protest about the near constant presence of annoying men in my room, then decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

“What happened to fuckboy?”

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