Saving the Stranger Prince (The Stranger Prince Series #2)

Chapter 13: Welcome Back.

"What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way. What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you."
- Chris Isaak, Wicked Games.

♚

Adela lay there so very still. No signs of any movement. There was life, yes. Her body was full of all the colors of life, but it was as if it was caged. Caged inside her, and Lydia was afraid that the cage couldn't be opened.

She was afraid of even imagining that.

She was just looking inside the room from the slightly open door, just to see if there had been...

There had to be something. Some change. Anything at all.

She closed her eyes tightly. Maybe it was all a mistake, maybe it wasn't even Black Magic. Maybe they had reacted way too fast.

But nothing could be done now as she lay there, unconscious. Lydia was about to leave, but then she stopped.

Something was... off.

She looked inside the room, and everything was normal. But she took a step inside, just to make sure. The room was flooded by the orange glow coming through the windows.

It had been exactly 30 hours since she had given Adela the cure. And Lydia had lost count of how many times she had come to check on her after Edgar had left the room.

Something about all of this had made her snap. She had suddenly poured out every single thing she had kept caged inside herself. Her insecurities. Her flaws. Her weaknesses.

Everything. And Edgar had listened.

Lydia came to stand beside Adela, looking down at her face. Nothing was unusual around her. Lydia was just being paranoid, she thought.

But then her heart skipped several beats. Several beats as her senses peaked and she was way too aware of the silence around her. And then her eyes dropped down.

A burst of emotions. It was as if her head was going to explode. But through the pain, she strained to see one thing that was something not less than a miracle.

She saw Adela's hand move.

♚

Adela was too aware of the blood flowing through her veins. Like it had stopped, and her body was not used to it anymore. She became aware of herself, her body. Her fingers itched as she moved them, slowly as her muscles started to feel like they could move.

Her eyelids opened, slowly as she struggled to move. She saw the white ceiling right above her, and then she breathed out. The feeling felt foreign.

It felt as if she hadn't been doing all these things for a long time. But maybe...

Her eyes widened as realisation hit her hard. She looked to her side, and blinked several times to clear her vision.

Lydia stood there, pressing her head with her hands as if it was hurting but her eyes were wide as she stared at her. And it wasn't hard to notice that she was shaking.

"Adela...?" She barely whispered.

She removed her hands from her forehead and came forward to touch Adela's face. As if to make sure she was real.