Page 67 of Crown of Hearts
With my hands still clutching his, I tried to hold myself together, refusing to believe that this was the end of the line.
“Listen to me, Cai. You’re not going to die on me. Do you hear me? I won’t allow you to abandon me.”
I shifted my position to sit next to him on the bed, one hand holding his and the other on his cheek. He was hot with fever.
“You still have a long life ahead of you. Your kingdom needs you to be their king. Your family needs you.” I sucked in a breath. “I need you.”
The doors burst open and the physician rushed in with a small bottle in his hand.
“How long until it takes effect?” I asked while he administered the antidote.
“There is no telling, as I can’t guarantee its success.”
“All right, you can leave us.”
He bowed before exiting the room.
So I sat and I waited.
I waited into the long hours of the night.
And when Cai’s fever got higher, I called for a pitcher of cold water and a cloth that I could hold against his skin when I wasn’t holding his hand.
His mother sat there for a few hours too and then went to check on Jack’s progress identifying the assassin and then back to pacing in the hall. Still too weak to wait up the entire night, she told me she would get a few hours of rest and then return to check on Cai again.
My dress began to grow uncomfortable, and as I shifted the skirts, Cai’s birthday present fell out of the pocket. I felt bettercarrying it by my side but had forgotten about it with the events of the night.
I picked the dagger up from the floor and delicately turned it in my hands.
“This dagger got us into so much trouble, didn’t it?” I couldn’t help but let a smile form at the memories. My thumb brushed over the new jewel that had been embedded in the hilt. There was no denying it looked exactly like the jewels in the necklace. It was a beautiful gift.
I placed the dagger in his hand, covering it with my own. “Do you remember the night in the tavern when you insisted on sharing the room and I was so infuriated?” I managed a small grin. “It was the night I found out you were a prince.” I rubbed my thumb over his hand.
“Come back to me,” I whispered into the deathly quiet room. “Please come back.” A single, rogue tear ran down my cheek. Every memory of Cai flashed through my mind. Every smile he’d given me, every caress, every kind word. My heart ached at the thought of never experiencing any of it again.
I sat for hours with our hands linked like that. Every second seemed to go by slower than the last. The candles in the room burned out, one by one, and I didn’t call for a servant to relight them. I sat until my head started to grow heavy, and I eventually fell asleep, half draped over the bed, next to Cai.
Dawn approached with its light and birdsong when something woke me. Not something: movement.
I held my breath as I watched and waited.
And it happened again.
Cai’s hand moved in mine. I swallowed hard.
“Cai?”
The world stood still in that moment in Cai’s room where I held on to him as if I was holding on to dear life itself.
His grip tightened slightly.
And then his eyes opened. His movements were slow and uncertain, and I had to keep myself from crying out in relief. His forehead still gleamed with a little sweat, but although the colour had yet to return to his cheeks, his breathing wasn’t as laboured as before.
“Elara?” he croaked, and I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around him.
“You’re okay,” I promised, though I had no form of confirmation. “You’re going to be okay.”
Chapter 18
