Page 11 of Incurably Cupid

King Draven kissed her nose, and I could see the tension in his body relax. Then he focused his intense gaze on me, which was a very different expression than the one he’d just given his wife. I nearly winced at the tremendous force of will behind that look. “As for you, Mia and I know that you won’t take the proper time to heal from your injuries with us still here in Moonhaven, so we’ve decided to go on vacation for two weeks. Sebastian Solace assures me he has the perfect cruise for us.”

Many protests sprang to my lips, but King Draven silenced them with a single lift of his eyebrow that dared me to contradict him. I valued living, so I kept my mouth shut. “Fortunately, gargoyles have accelerated healing. It was the only thing that saved you. Your doctor wants to keep you for another 24 hours; then he’ll release you into Miss Valentine’s tender care.”

Here, Indie snorted, and I fought back a smile.

King Draven ignored her. “She will do her best to ensure you stay down for 48 hours after that, and then in the following week, you will be confined to a fae wheelchair for getting around. After two weeks, you can walk around some, but not much. Youwill likely have a full recovery time of six to eight weeks until your doctor lifts all your restrictions.”

I understood his point; I really did, but I was needed at the villa to spearhead the investigation, and I couldn't abandon my post. I could read the investigation reports and direct my security daily from my bed. That’s what technology was for.

“Respectfully, my liege, I would like to remain at the villa and work from my bed.”

“You will not,” King Draven growled. “If you stay, you won’t rest.” He gently set his wife onto her feet and leaned over until his face was directly above mine. His eyes turned blood red, practically singeing my skin. “And if you think that I’m going to lose a man closer to me than a brother because of his own stubbornness, I would ask you to reflect again on who I am and the power I have at my disposal.”

Brother.

I swallowed the emotion clogging my throat and nodded, letting him know I felt the same.

Right. Moving on. “How long will I be in the ether with Indie?”

“Two weeks, and then you can come home, where you will be placed on light duty from your bed if you choose, but only for a few hours a day.”

I nodded, disappointed. I loved my work, and secretly, even though the rest of my team were all professionals and excellent at their jobs, I felt that I was the best at protecting the king and consort. What if something went horribly wrong and I wasn’t there to protect them? Despite my fears, I needed to accept that this was happening because King Draven would not yield. I recognized that expression on his face well.

King Draven’s eyes reverted to their normal brown, and he sat again, pulling his wife back onto his lap. “I’m only forcing this on you for two weeks because I know that if I leave you in theether beyond that, you will escape and somehow find your way to the middle of the ocean and infiltrate my nice, happy cruise.” His raised eyebrows dared me to disagree, but I had no rebuttal. I would find a way. I had hundreds of resources across the globe that I could call on at a moment’s notice.

Consort Mia lifted a duffel bag high enough for me to see from my prone position. “I raided your home and packed some things for you.” She wrinkled her nose and made a face. “I think you need to add some color to your wardrobe. Everything you have is black.”

“Black makes sense, given my job and my duties,” I said, gently disagreeing with her. Truly, she looked terrible. I wondered if I could suggest she see a medical professional sooner rather than later. She was mostly human. What if something serious was happening to her frail, human body?

Consort Mia made a face of disagreement, then she and King Draven turned to each other and seemed to have a conversation that nobody else in the room could hear. Over the last several months, I’d noticed that their soul bond had solidified. I didn’t think they could communicate mind to mind as shifters could, but with Consort Mia being an empath and their strong connection through the bond, they seemed to come very close to that.

King Draven nodded at Consort Mia, then turned back to me. “We’ll have our own personal security, and Sebastian has promised us some of his security as well. Your second-in-command is in charge of the villa and the investigation into the assassin.”

He sounded weary of being shot at, and I didn’t blame him. It was an unfortunate side effect of his rise to power. We’d thwarted more assassins in the last several months than in my entire career combined.

“Dante will do a good job, Your Highness,” I assured him reluctantly. There was a very good reason he was my second-in-command. He was as sharp as a sword and had excellent instincts.

Consort Mia hissed, rubbing her temples, an obvious migraine building. Her husband rubbed her back and looked ready to demand she lie in a hospital bed next to me but managed to remain silent.

“I have told you countless times to call me Mia. And Draven has asked you to call him by his name as well. If you do not call me by my name the next time you speak to me, I will find new and inventive ways to torture you,” she snarled at me, still rubbing her temples vigorously. When she opened her eyes, she glared at me.

Indie chuckled. She was looking out the hospital window, trying to give us at least the appearance of privacy. “Stubborn,” she said to absolutely no one. “Called it.”

A nurse came in to check on me, taking my vitals, and everyone stopped speaking, allowing her to do her job. “Looks good,” she said. “We’re glad to see you awake.” She checked something else and noted it on a computer attached to a rolling cart loaded with supplies. She then checked the bandages on my chest, first having me roll onto my side so she could examine my back. My chest was bare except for the white medical gauze and tape. Gargoyles had no hair on their chests, so at least they hadn’t had to shave me before surgery, which I considered a blessing.

She lingered for several long minutes, particularly inspecting my chest wounds, her fingers pulling up the gauze, lingering, then re-taping. After she was done, her fingers kept lightly stroking my chest as she gazed down at me, and I began to feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly, the nurse’s arm was seized in an iron grip and yanked away from my chest. “If you touch him one more time in a non-medical way like that, without his express permission, I will make you regret it,” Indie snarled.

The nurse’s face turned crimson, and she backed away from me and Indie, then hurried off, dragging her rolling cart behind her.

Indie was suddenly hovering over me, fire shooting from her blue eyes. “Why does it not occur to you that they are flirting with you and taking advantage of your niceness?” Her voice rose to a near growl-yell. “No one can be this oblivious!”

Consort Mia snickered, and King Draven suspiciously cleared his throat.

But my cupid was apparently not finished. She moved in closer to my face, and I wanted to back away but could go no further because of the confines of my pillows and the hard hospital bed.“Don’tlet people touch you without your permission.”

I nodded immediately, my eyes wide. Agreement seemed the healthiest option for me at the moment.

---