I regained my senses soon after Vlad had laid me on the bed. He was arguing with Katerina, and when I heard their angry voices, I forced myself to follow them back to consciousness. I didn't want them to fight, I had to intervene.
"What is it?" I asked, surprised by how weak my voice sounded.
I was sure that the wound on my neck was only a scratch, I didn't even lose much blood. Still, I was feeling exhausted and sleepy.
Vlad, sitting on the bed next to me, leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, asking, "How are you feeling? You have a fever, but the bite is only superficial..."
"I don't think Radu really wanted to hurt me..." I interrupted him mid sentence. "He is just so very upset..."
"I don't want to hear this. If you hadn't stopped me, I don't know what I would have done to him. Nothing that he would not deserve, certainly." His voice was so hard and cold that it made me shiver.
"When I think that it was him even back then, and I've never guessed! How could I have been so blind?"
He heard the last part of our exchange then... Hopefully, no more than that. There was no point in his finding out now about my suspected pregnancy...
"Why were you and Katerina arguing?" I asked, to distract him.
"It's her!" Vlad exclaimed, diverting his anger at Katerina. "I want to stay with you, to take care of you, but because you lost some blood and your dress is stained with it... She wants me to go away, she thinks I won't handle it! Just how can you still think I would ever harm her, woman! After all this time..." He turned to face Katerina.
My poor love.
"Hush..." I said, lifting myself up slowly and wrapping my arms around him. Even that simple movement felt like a huge effort, and I didn't object when Vlad laid me back down gently.
"It's the effect of the venom. You'll have to take it easy for a few days, but you'll be fine once it wears out." I had never seen him look so frustrated or heard his voice so full of despair before.
I nodded, forcing my lips into an approximation of a reassuring smile, then looked at Katerina. She was standing at the edge of the wooden dais, her chin raised high in the typical sign of defiance.
"Katerina, I love you too. But would you mind leaving us alone now? We won't need your help here. Please," I begged.
It seemed so very important for Vlad to prove to her, me... and even himself that he could manage. But she wasn't moving. I needed to get her busy somehow. Bringing my hand to my neck, I found the wound already dressed. No need to send her for bandages then...
"Katerina, would you get me a clean shirt and some warm water? I want to wash and take this dress off. Once you are done, would you send us some food from the kitchen, we haven't eaten yet."
Vlad raised an eyebrow at me, looking perplexed, but my attempt at distracting the nurse worked. Katerina finally moved down the wooden steps with a silent, "As you wish, my lady."
"Well done," Vlad whispered as we heard her sweeping away the shards of the broken basin, then replacing it with a new one and filling it with water. "I thought she would never leave."
"Are you all right?" I asked him, regretting it straight away. He just turned away from me to hide the boiling anger my question stirred inside of him. Even though I couldn't see it, I could feel it radiate from him.
"What would you like to eat, my lady?" Katerina asked when she returned to us. She put a smaller basin filled with warm water on the chair standing next to the bed, along with a clean white shirt and a couple of towels.
"Anything. I'm just thirsty, really," I said.
She nodded, looked from me to Vlad, and then walked towards the door.
"Thank you, Katerina!" I called behind her before she disappeared in the corridor.
"What can I do for you?" Vlad asked, his voice pained as he helped me to sit up straight. "I'm so sorry Samara, does it hurt?"
"No," I replied truthfully. I did not feel any pain at all from the wound. I was just tired and had a little headache. "Would you help me take this gown off so Katerina can wash it? I really like it, I don't want it to get ruined completely. And I need to tell her to pick up all the buttons..." I started saying the most unimportant things that passed through my mind in an attempt to lighten his mood.
"After all that happened, you are worried about the dress? You can have as many new green dresses as you want," Vlad said as he helped me out of the gown and unlaced the silk undershirt, stained with blood too.
I reached for one of the towels and dipped it in the basin but before I could use it Vlad took it from me and brought it gently to my face, dabbing first at my broken, swollen lip.
I winced slightly when the linen touched it, and Vlad noticed.
"If I ever lay my hands on him again..."
"Please don't. It's nothing," I muttered as he washed my face, then rinsed the towel and continued to clean the nearly dried blood off the side of my neck and, pulling my shirt off my shoulder, wherever it had found its way down, following my collarbone.
"I'm sorry," I added after a while, watching the white linen turn pink among his fingers, wondering how much he was suffering right now.
I was sure that the sight of my blood must be affecting him somehow, but he let nothing on, and I couldn't bring myself to ask. It would only make him feel worse.
"Don't be silly. What would you be sorry for? It's all my fault anyway, I failed to protect you, like before..."
Oh no, not again. I didn't want him to go there.
"Are the knights... all right?" I asked as Vlad helped me remove the used shirt and pulled a clean one over my head. As soon as I had it on, he made me lay down again and pulled a blanket over me.
"They are. It really seems that Radu didn't mean to do much harm. I'm afraid the Council will just let him go in a few months... I wish I could deal with him myself," he muttered.
"Did you find Alina? She had the key to the spiral staircase. And it was she who had set the curtains on fire..."
Vlad nodded, sitting next to me after he put the dirty clothes and towels in a pile on the floor for Katerina to pick them up later.
"Radu told us about the maid. My son and the Guards are looking for her now."
A silent knock interrupted our talk. Vlad went to open and let Katerina in. He disappeared shortly somewhere in the chamber and came back with the small table that usually stood by the window, depositing it next to my bed. Katerina, waiting for his return at the foot of the bed patiently, put the tray with our dinner on it before she picked up my clothes and the used towels. Then she came over to me and touched my forehead.
"She is burning, my lord," she told Vlad, her tone clipped but polite.
"I know. Maria, the healer, Sorina's mother, is coming for the wedding tomorrow. I'll have her look at your lady. Is there anything you want me to do for her right now?"
"I will prepare her some willow bark decoction, but it will take hours to make... shall I leave you some cold water and a towel to put on her forehead during the night?"
I would let them do whatever they wanted to me if it would make them keep the peace.
Once everything was as she wanted it, the nurse kissed me on the cheek and left with a silent, "Good night, my lady, my lord."
"Could I have a drink, please?" I asked Vlad, looking longingly at the small jug of mulled wine Katerina had brought. I felt so cold that I was shivering under the blankets, and I was very thirsty.
Vlad lifted me up slightly and propped me against the pillows, then brought a cup full of the spiced, fragrant liquid to my lips. I sipped it slowly, enjoying its sweetness, letting it warm me up.
"May I have a bit more?" I asked when it was empty.
"Won't you eat something first?" he asked.
"No. I'm too tired to eat." Now that the adrenaline was gone, I was just sleepy. My head was spinning slightly, and it hurt more than before.
After having drunk some more, I was ready to sleep.
"Will you stay with me, please?" I begged. It wasn't late enough for him to come to bed, and there was the Council downstairs...
"Of course I'll stay. Did you think I would leave you alone?" he demanded, undressing.
Vlad lay down next to me, then reached for the damp towel and placed it on my forehead. He wrapped me in his arms and made my head rest on his shoulder, over the cool linen of his shirt.
"That towel only makes me feel colder," I complained, shivering.
"But you need it," he murmured, pulling the covers up to my chin.
Then we just lay quietly for a while, he caressing my hair, lost in thought.
Suddenly, my eyes flooded with tears, which I couldn't hold back at the memory of what had happened. What could have happened...
When I started sobbing, Vlad pulled me closer yet, talking to me in a steady and reassuring voice, as if he had been expecting this reaction all along.
"It's over. He won't come back. We are fine."
"He... he kissed me, and I couldn't stop him..." I sobbed, feeling Vlad's body stiffen slightly. "He said that if he changed me, you wouldn't want me anymore."
Vlad took a deep, calming breath and said, "You know that's not true..."
I didn't let him finish. I had to tell him everything; it was too painful to keep Radu's cruel words inside.
"He said I ruined your life. That it was my fault you didn't win the war and became a vampire, because you chose me over Jusztyna and only married her after I died..."
"Samara, look at me!" he called, raising himself up on his elbow and looking down at me. "It's all nonsense. Radu only said that to hurt you..."
He kissed me carefully on my swollen lips, making me feel slightly better.
"Even if all that part of our lives was to happen again, even knowing with certainty that marrying Jusztyna, or any other woman instead of you, would make me win the battle or the war, I wouldn't do it. I would still want only you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," I whispered, letting him dry my tears with the corner of a sheet before pulling him back down. "I love you," I whispered finally, on the verge of sleep.
"I love you too," he said, making me shiver one more time as he put a new cold towel on my forehead.
I fell asleep as soon as he cradled me in his arms again, lulled by the sound of his erratic heartbeat.