Time Again

Chapter 19: All Hail the King

He cleared his throat, "Grace made some lunch if you want something."

"Not right now, maybe later."

Roan nodded, "I'm going to go get the doctor and let him know you're awake." He stood.

    Once he left I turned my attention to Adelle. Sighing, I tucked her hair behind her ear and moved closer to her.

"Please wake up," I whispered. She didn't move. Dropping my head to her shoulder I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on our bond. I felt along the tether of our hearts and was relieved to find that it was still strong. It was thrumming, pulsing with every heartbeat.

    My body ached and my head throbbed. I felt like crap, like I was recovering from the flu. I closed my eyes again, leaning my head back against the pillows. Moving very slowly I slipped my arm beneath Adelle's shoulders and gently tucked her under my arm. She sighed and her eyes moved beneath her eyelids but that was it.

    I stared up at the ceiling, too tired to even attempt to think of what was supposed to come next. Or how we would have to wage war against the Cumacht. My eyes kept dipping, my chin nodding down to my chest. I had just dozed off when the door opened again. Lifting my head to greet the person I was surprised to see my old pediatrician accompanied by our old maid. I didn't even think of them remaining with the estate after my parent's funeral, I kind of just left everything in a grief stricken haze.

"Weston! You're awake, finally!" Dr. Byre smiled warmly and moved to stand beside the bed, placing his bag on the bedside table. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," I replied honestly.

He laughed, "Yeah, I expect you'll be sore for the next couple of days. But I have some pain pills that will help with that."

He adjusted a knob on the IV stand then carefully untaped the IV in my arm and slid it out, taping a piece of gauze over the puncture wound. Dr. Byre took a stethoscope out of his bag and leaning close he ran it over my chest and had me take a couple deep breaths. I winced every time my chest expanded.

    Dr. Byre helped me into sitting position and asked me to take off my shirt so he could take a look at the bruising. I was surprised to see the amount of bruising that colored my chest. It looked like I had quite literally been ran over by a truck.

"It's looking better," he commented and helped me put my shirt back on.

"That's better?" I asked incredulously.

He nodded his head and walked over to Adelle. My exhaustion from before drained away and my attention was focused solely on Adelle.

    The doctor fiddled with some dials on a small machine sitting low to the ground that I hadn't noticed until now.

"What is that?"

"It measures her heart rate and blood pressure," He said and showed me the wires that ran from the machine and onto Adelle's chest. Another wire clipped onto her finger.

    I grew anxious again as he ran the stethoscope across her chest. I had unconsciously moved closer and my heart clenched painfully when he moved her shirt aside and I saw the dark violet bruising over the right side of her chest. Dr. Byre shook his head sadly and made a note in his small journal.

"What?" I demanded.

"Her internal bleeding was worse than yours. Her heart stopped beating twice while yours only stopped once. We've had to keep a closer eye on her, checking her vitals every few hours."

It was like his words were a fist that kept punching into my gut. I found it hard to breathe and reached out a trembling hand to caress her cheek.