Part 15 (1/2)

He seemed more certain than I about the outcome of said engagement.

Truthfully, without Josette's help (or his) I actually could go nowhere and do nothing. Not simply because I was in pain, and movement without a.s.sistance I knew would be agony (even with a.s.sistance, it would be agony), but also because I was naked.

Not that I had any qualms with that, just that it was me who made the decision about who saw me and he'd seen enough without my making that decision already.

In other words, I was stuck.

And this was maddening.

Therefore I did the only thing I could.

I glared at him again.

He grinned at me again.

The gall!

”Now we got that straight, you sure you don't want me to carry you to the other room?” he asked.

In truth, at that juncture I could have used the chamber pot.

Of course, this was not what I shared.

I said, ”Absolutely not.”

”Gonna be right here, you need me,” he stated.

”To my everlasting distress,” I murmured, right then doing the only other thing I could do, pathetic as it was.

I turned my head away from him.

He did not let that happen unnoted.

Oh no.

He chuckled.

Insufferably rude.

I ignored that and stared at heavy curtains that hid the dull wood that covered the blasted-out windows.

The good news was, my parents incarcerated, my mother's magic stripped so she couldn't use it to foil any efforts of castigation or to rain further misfortune on my brother and me, Lunwyn was safe for me again.

And Kristian.

The bad news was, my back was a mess, my secret had been revealed (both of them!), and I seemed to be at the mercy of a dictatorial member of an other-world city guard, of all outlandishness.

I could not allow this to concern me.

I would ignore him in the short term and deal with whatever befell me in the long term.

Because I had no choice.

And such was my life.

Drat.

”You can hardly hold me at the Palace against my will,” I a.s.serted.

”I can't?” Queen Aurora asked with a raised brow.

It was undignified in the extreme that I was lying abed, staring up at my queen, having any conversation, much less this one.

Even so, one could say there was a single answer to her question.

She could.

”This is not to be born,” I groused.

Yes!

Me!

Franka Drakkar reduced to grousing.

The mortification of it all!

She glanced to my back and I could not merit (but there it was, right in her expression) the slight softening of her features before she looked again at me.

”A week, I think,” she murmured pensively. ”And then we'll see what the physician says.”

”With respect, your grace, I'm aware of what I'm capable of in this condition or any,” I stated, avoiding Noc's eyes.

A Noc, I will note, who was leaning negligently against the wall beyond the nightstand, arms crossed on his chest, foot crossed at the ankle, regarding this like it was an enthralling melodrama.

”I can imagine even you, Franka, would admit that a physician is far more capable of making that judgment than you,” Queen Aurora replied.

I could not argue that.

Therefore, I didn't.

”You've consumed your willow tea?” she asked, like a strict but concerned nanny.

Yes.

The queen speaking to me like a strict but concerned nanny.

Me!