Royale (Book #1 Royale Series) {Under Revision}

Chapter 42: Aftermath

Juliana's POV

To say that drifting in and out of consciousness was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I wanted to get up and exercise my limbs, but it seemed my body was incapacitated.

But eventually, I blinked my eyes open and they stayed open. Distorted faces and muffled voices were replaced by a clear view of my surroundings. The only sound that could be heard was the beeping of a monitor by my bedside. I looked down at the IV stuck to the vein in my wrist.

So this is what has been keeping me unconscious, more or less.

I looked down. My torso was wrapped in bandages just tight enough to be uncomfortable. My head pounded furiously so I laid back down on the pillow, though it did nothing to assuage the pain. I pulled on the bandages that seemed like they'd been wrapped in an effort to squeeze both my temples together.

At that moment, the door swung open and I instinctively jumped. My heart lurched when Aspen entered. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. His hair was tousled too perfectly to be an accident, but I was sure it was. In fact, he seemed terribly oblivious to how handsome he was. And I'd never seen him make much an effort to be.

His lips were upturned in what was almost a smirk.

"I'm gone for five minutes and you're already planning an escape?"

I dropped my hands from my bandages. If a smile didn't feel like my whole face was going to split open, I would have given him one.

"Well, I was, unless you can find a way to convince me to stay." My voice was scratchy and uneven, but I knew Aspen well enough by now to know that he couldn't be bothered with something as trivial as that.

The playful glint in his eye did not go unnoticed by me.

"What would you have me do? Fall to my knees and beg you?"

The thought of Aspen falling to his knees before me was too much of an intriguing thought to handle with my body in such a fragile state.

He sat in an arm chair beside the bed, obviously misplaced as it looked awkward sitting in this particular area of the immaculate room.

He took my hand in the both of his, warming it to the bone. His expression shifted from one of dry humor to sadness.

"I, um-" he stopped, his grip tightening on mine.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Aspen? What's wrong?"

His blue-gray gaze turned stormy and I could tell that he was wrestling with his emotions, sending cracks through my heart.

"Aspen," I shifted in the bed sending pain rippling throughout my body.

I cried out in response, spiking an immediate reaction from Aspen.

"Jules," he rushed out of the arm chair and positioned himself on the edge of the bed. He took my face in his hands, gently laying his fingers across my cheeks. "Jules, are you all right?"

I laid my head against the pillow, waiting for the searing pain to subside.

And once it finally did, I felt tears leaking onto my cheeks. I wanted to stop crying. I couldn't remember a day that I'd spent in the last few weeks where I haven't cried.

Aspen seemed alarmed by my sudden display of emotion, but it was quickly replaced with a hurt of his own.

"Jules, talk to me. What can I do?"

My lips quivered as I spoke.

"I-I thought I'd never see you again. I thought you were going to die and I just-" I stopped, too many tears that couldn't come out fast enough were lodged into my throat.