Page 55 of A True King

He motions to someone, and a nurse appears.

“Hello, Mia. I’m Gillian, your nurse. I have some ice water here. Take little sips, OK?” she says handing me a cup with a bendy straw and pushing a button, so my head elevates on the bed. Christian grabs it before I take it and he holds it for me as I sip the cool liquid. I’m thirsty but mostly from the scratchiness in my throat. I glance around and see that I’m hooked up to an IV. That explains why I’m not dehydrated. After a few sips, I lean back against the bed. My head feels heavy. All of me feels heavy as though I might not ever have the energy to lift my body again.

“What happened?” I ask as I examine myself. I wriggle my toes and fingers. My abdomen. It hurts. I look down at it.

“You were shot,” Christian says as he takes a seat on the edge of my bed and holds my hand.

I try to remember. Everything seems so unreal, so dream-like. King Ivan. Jack in the helicopter. The palace was on fire. Christian was inside. We got out through the passages and then Pete. Pete shot Vince. And then…it slowly comes back to me. Turning the corner, walking along the garage. I saw the movement. The glint of the gun. Pete’s face in the trees. I jumped in front of Christian, grabbed the gun, aimed, and fired. Did Pete die? Did Vince die?

I look to Christian. “Pete?”

He looks down at our joined hands. “He’s dead.” His eyes follow the length of my arm to my shoulder and neck and then my face before looking me in the eye. “You saved my life.”

I lift my hand from his and touch his face. He’s not shaven in a few days. The stubble on his face feels scratchy against my fingers.

“I’d save your life every day, if I had to,” I say. He grabs my hand and kisses my fingers before placing it back in his lap.

“Pete managed to fire one shot before the bullet you fired killed him. It hit your abdomen. It nicked an artery. You almost bled out.” I touch my stomach with my other hand. “You have some stitches and quite the incision. They had to make sure you weren’t bleeding anywhere else,” he explains.

“Vince?” I ask.

Christian looks away and I know the answer before he says anything.

“I’m sorry,” I say, squeezing his hand.

“He died protecting me. I couldn’t have asked for a better guard,” Christian states.

“Your family? My family?” I ask.

“Dad’s in the ICU in Germany. They don’t know if he’ll make it. There was an engine malfunction. It appears from initial black box data that someone tampered with his plane. I didn’t want to leave to see him until I made sure you were alright.” He places his other hand over mine. “Auggie and Anna are fine. They are with our father. Your parents are fine too. Jack has them on a plane that should land here this afternoon.”

He pauses.

“What?”

“The media is…well, it’s public knowledge now that Gilbert and Jasper are not rightful heirs. But it’s not common knowledge about you and your family. You’ll need to decide what to do. If you want that marriage certificate to stay sealed, then I’ll respect your decision,” Christian says. “Talk with your father when he arrives and Jack will take care of things, either way.”

I nod. “I’m sorry about your father. I hope he’ll be alright.”

“Me too,” he says as he looks away for a moment. I can see tears threaten his eyes. Seeing him like this breaks my heart. I want to wrap him in my arms, kiss away his pain, but I can scarcely move, let alone sit up and hug him.

I watch him as he turns to face me. Neither of us says anything for a few minutes. There’s so much that’s happened.

“There’s so much we need to talk about,” I say.

“There is, but we have all the time in the world,” he replies as he reaches out and caresses my cheek. “Rest now. We can talk later.”

My eyelids flutter closed as though my body physically responded to his command. It’s not the first time, and I hope not the last.

The final thing that registers in my mind as I start to fall asleep is Christian. He places soft kisses on my hand. His fingers running back and forth over mine.

“Sleep, my queen. I love you so very much, Mia. You’re safe now. I won’t let anything happen to you again.” His lips press to mine.

“Don’t leave me,” I whisper.

“Never.” And with that single word, my body relaxes as though it knows the truth of it better than my head does. If I’m his queen, then he’s my one true king.

Epilogue

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