The walk back to my room was a blur. All I know is that I ended up back in my room, where I finished a book, and somehow was able to fall asleep. You'd think, after doing nothing but sleeping for days, I would stop being tired.
When I woke up, I had forgotten everything. That was, until I got up and stubbed my toe on the bedside table, and an "ouch!" came out of my mouth. Then I remembered.
The sun was shining brightly through the windows now, and my phone told me it was around noon. The doctor would come in to do his routine checkup soon, and just like every time, I was dreading his arrival.
It's not that he wasn't a good doctor. Doctor Millard was very good at what he did. And he was nice to me when I got here. But then, I knocked him out, and oddly he hasn't been as nice since.
I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, turning the water to the hottest setting. It was a nice relief, after having only frigid cold water for so long. When I finished, I stepped out and wrapped one of the fluffy blue towels around me.
I heard a knock on the bedroom door and groaned, and almost jumped when I heard my voice. Stupid stupid stupid. I had to keep my mouth shut. Nobody could know I got my voice back. At least, not for now.
Hurriedly, I dried myself off and slipped on the robe hanging next to the door. It was so soft, I got slightly distracted, until I heard more impatient knocking on the door.
"Luna, I'm about to open the door. Hurry up." Rolling my eyes, I made my way to the door and opened it. In Doctor Millard stepped, narrowing his eyes at me.
"You shouldn't have gotten up. This is why we have the bell." He motioned towards the silver bell on the bedside table that I never touched.
Again, I rolled my eyes, and then went down and sat on the bed, wrapping the robe tighter around me.
He pulled out his clipboard and clicked the pen three times for good measure. "Are you getting adequate sleep?" His voice was monotone, just like always. I nodded. He scribbled something down.
"Are you eating the food brought to you?" Once again, I nodded. His pen zoomed across the paper.
"How is your back feeling?" I held up three fingers, as this was what he expected. Since I couldn't speak–to his knowledge–he had instructed me to answer like this. He wrote more.
"Are the pain medications working?" Nod. Scribble.
"And the other cuts? They are healing?" Nod. Scribble.
I slumped back against the bed in annoyance. Doctor Millard's visits bored me to no end.
"What about the burns? Are those feeling better?"
With a silent sigh, I nodded again. I heard his pen move on the paper.
With more questions came more nods and scribbles, until finally Doctor clicked his pen three more times. He always did this. I don't know why he simply didn't click it once, but I didn't care enough to ask.
"Well, Luna Princess, I will have someone send up some clothes for you. It seems that you are healing quite well, given your circumstance and conditions." I almost growled. Say it, I thought. Say that I'm basically a human.
He continued: "I'm sure the prince would be rather pleased to hear this news, but you still aren't well enough. Bedrest and physical therapy, along with a lot of medication will have to do." My eyes shut in anger at this. I didn't want to stay locked up here like some weakling. I had spent far too long locked up, and I couldn't stand another minute being told what to do.
Doctor Millard turned around abruptly and opened the door, revealing a nurse holding clothes. He took them, shut the door, and handed the clothes to me.
"If you could please put these on so I could take a look at your wounds," he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
With a sigh, I got up and changed out of the soft robe quickly. I had been given sweatpants and a t-shirt to wear, and when I was done I opened the door again.
Doc came in and turned me around before lifting up the back of the shirt slightly.
He was quiet for a while. "This looks aggravated and red. Have you been moving around?"
Biting my lip, I responded with silence. My shirt dropped, and I heard the pen clicks. "Doctors orders are not suggestions, Florence." Ah, so he loses formality now. "I've said this time and time again, but your wounds look as bad as they did after I sewed them up."
I rolled my eyes and sat down on the bed again, picking at my nails. I was so focused on not looking at Doctor Millard that I didn't notice him pull out his phone until I heard it go to speaker.
After half a ring, the person picked up. "Hello?"
I stood up immediately and went for the phone. Doctor had called Dante?
"Hello, Prince Dante. I'm calling about Florence. She's listening." I narrowed my eyes at the old man and reached for the phone, but the doctor was listening.
Dante waited a moment. "Is something the matter?"
I paused, waiting to see what the doctor would say. He raised an eyebrow at me, as if daring me to grab for the phone before he could tell Dante.
"Your mate seems to not understand what bedrest is. Her injuries show that she is moving around, and I'm going to presume she's sneaking out of her room as well." My jaw dropped just a little bit and I moved quicker and barely touched the phone before the doctor moved out of my way.
I heard Dante's sigh. "I don't understand why you are calling me about this. Seeing as I'm in Georgia, there's not a whole lot I can do about the situation."
"I'm just asking for permission to put her on another's weeks bedrest." I didn't hesitate to launch myself at him and grab for the phone, and I managed to scratch his arm and get a hold of the phone, before I scrambled to the bathroom and locked the door behind me just as the doctor came reaching for the doorknob.
I panted in the bathroom, trying to keep my noise level as quiet as possible. My back aches from the simple actions, and I was tired again. Gah! It was my back that controlled my never ending sleep.
"Florence," Dante's voice was quiet, and I knew he knew what I had just done. "Why don't you care about yourself enough to listen to Millard? I know you hate being on bedrest, and I hate forcing you to. But you have to get better."
I leaned against the wall, staring up at the white ceiling.
"What am I supposed to tell the doctor now? He's right, and you know that. You aren't healing, and bedrest will be the best way to do that. But if I tell him you should get more bedrest, you won't be happy. You have to be happy, too. Happy and healthy. And you're making it impossible to have both."
My stomach flipped, and I stared at the phone as if I were staring into his green-blue eyes.
"I'm trying to help you here, but there's only so much I can do. I'm coming back late tomorrow, so you might not even see me until you wake up the day after. You need to stay and rest until then, okay? I'll see what I can do after."
A sigh of relief escaped me and I moved forward and slumped against the counter. I almost thanked him, but I kept my mouth shut.
Opening the door, I handed the phone back to the doctor and laid down on the bed. Doctor took the phone off of speaker and continued his conversation with Dante. When he was done, he told me lunch would come soon, and he left.
I reached for my phone on the table and sent a quick text to Dante.
To: Dante (12:31 PM)
Thank you.
Then, much against my will, I passed the time by watching the television. I despised the thing, and I strayed far away from any news channels, but it kept me occupied.
* * *
Time didn't move as quickly as I wished, and dinner arrived along with the twins. They were much more entertaining than the sitcom I had been watching, so I busied myself with their banter.
Triton had been teasing Tristan about his girlfriend for quite some time, which Tristan brushed off and simply reminded Triton that at least one of them had a girlfriend.
"But when I get a girlfriend, she'll be hotter than Klarissa. And with a less bitchy name. Maybe a Vanessa, or a Rebecca."
I smiled at that one. "Klarissa is a beautiful name. And you say you'll get someone hotter, but if you're so sure of that why don't you have a girlfriend now, huh?"
Triton rolled his eyes. They were a dark green shade, resembling his mother's eyes strikingly. Tristan had a medium green color, lighter than his brother and mother's. But they both had the light blonde hair. "Dude, that's because I'm not looking for a ball and chain. You're wasting your time being serious when you're going to have to break up with Klarissa when you find your mate."
Tristan glowered at this. "You love to bring that up in front of Klarissa, too. You're just a rude fucker, you know? Never listened to any of the manner tutors we had, did you."
"What, so I could turn out like a prissy stick-up-my-ass wolf like you and Dante and Sapphire? Sorry, but I've seen my fair share of this royal culture, and I'm not down with it." He hissed to his twin, getting up off the bed and standing away from him.
"You don't have a choice, so deal with it. Dear goddess, you've been whining about being royal forever. When will it end? None of us wanted this, but we're stuck with it."
"Why the hell are you just taking it? We aren't in line for the throne like the others are. Sapphire and Dante would both have to die before we get a chance, and then who gets the throne is down to whoever is the few minutes older."
Tristan pointed his finger at his brother, almost into his chest, and I could only watch their fight with wide eyes. "Which is you, dumb bastard."
Triton motioned to everything around him. "You can gladly take it, because I don't want it."
"You're sounding a hell of a lot like Dante, Triton."
I looked up and raised my eyebrows. Sounding like Dante?
Both boys glanced at me before realizing their mistake.
'Sounding like Dante?' I mouthed.
Triton scratched the back of his head and both boys seemed to have forgotten their fight.
"Um, I didn't mean that." Tristan said, looking just as guilty as Triton did.
'But you said it.' I added, not breaking eye contact.
"Er, it's really nothing, Florence." Triton said, and I narrowed my eyes at this. Finally, after a few moments of my staring, he sighed.
"Dante had gone through a time, a while ago, where he um, didn't want to be in line for the throne?" He looked to his brother nervously.
"Yea, he tried to get mom and dad to pass it on to Sapphire or one of us, because he was under a lot of stress with his schooling and dad trying to train him to be king and then he had just taken over the packs in Georgia. And he got really mad for a while."
They exchanged glances, obviously worried about sharing this information to me. But I was surprised by this. Dante was a natural leader, and he took everything on in stride. How he had once not wanted this, all this great power, to the point where he tried to pass it on, I didn't know what to think of it. I was stunned.
'Tell me more.' I said, looking at them again.
"He really never wanted this, to be honest. He had made it clear for years all he wanted to do was live like a normal wolf. He's always been very private, too, so obviously being such a public figure to wolves wasn't exactly what he wished for." Tristan explained, and I furrowed my brows. Dante wanted to be a normal wolf? I couldn't believe that.
Triton coughed awkwardly. "Actually, he got in a big fight with my parents one time. We were upstairs with Sapphire, but we heard all of it. Dante wanted more time. He knew he would find his mate–you–soon after he turned eighteen, but he wanted more time before he became king. Our parents told him the kingdom needed him to step up when it was time, and that would be when he found you. He flipped, and said he had never asked to be king and that they should pass it down to someone else, and then he left for two years."
Oh my. Dante had just left for two years? He seemed so close with his parents, how could he have been so angry with them?
Tristan nodded. "He went to actual college, not the online stuff he's been doing to finish up. He travelled between Georgia and England the whole time, because he studied at Oxford. Didn't visit once."
"But do you blame him?" Triton commented, and Tristan shook his head.
"Mom was pretty sad, but Dad was angry. He didn't want to see Dante either, which was probably why Dante didn't come back until two years ago. He and dad didn't talk for a good couple of weeks after he returned, but Dante had accepted that he would have to be king, and he shut up about everything." I frowned at this. He just shut up, after being so upset about something? That didn't sound right.
"But I think he's accepted it now. And I know Dad didn't want it at first either, but he didn't have the choice to escape for a while like Dante did. I think that was why he was mad." Triton shrugged. "Who knows. They're all good now, and we don't talk about Dante not wanting to be king." He added, glancing at his brother.
"Please don't tell Dante we told you this. He might not be so happy."
I nodded, mouthing, 'Of course. I won't.'
They sighed in relief, and quickly they changed the topic, before it got late in the night. I had finished my dinner, and my eyelids grew heavy. They left, and I fell asleep soon after, my mind coming up with a million thoughts about Dante and him not wanting to be king.
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Schools out for me so yay imma have more time but I'm actually not because I have sports camps over the summer for my school and two semesters of summer school because I need to get these classes out of the way :/ whatever at least I won't have to do them during the school year.
Hope you're doing well!!!
-Skye (I'm switching it up)