Sleeping Beauty
POV: Lucien
As I walked into the room, the doctor was wiping down his medical instruments with a rag that was stained pink from Alexandra’s blood. He stopped his work, looked up at me, and bowed, “Your Majesty, I’m relieved to see The Befent sent you in first. She was calling out to you not long ago so I felt it would be best to give you the room first.” I turned my head to the left to look at her lying in the bed, beads of sweat had formed on her head and she was porcelain white where her color would have been more olive toned. I looked back at the doctor, “How is she? I would like to know the details and don’t sugarcoat it for me.” The doctor gave me a determined nod, “She isn’t out of the woods, we’ve done everything we can for her at this point. She has to want to live but I have a feeling she’ll fight for the man she loves.” He winked at me and continued, “As for the loss of blood, I’m actually honestly surprised she isn’t dead already. That just goes to show just how much fight she has in her. She’ll need to revert to regain her strength if she allows it. If she doesn’t, her road to recovery will be hard. I suggest a reversion to regain her full strength. She can choose not to and be wheeled around for a very long time.” I looked him in the eye, “How long would that be?” He looked up and tapped his chin, “I’d say…at least a year.” I looked back over at her and her brows were furrowed and she was mumbling in her sleep, “When do you think she’ll wake up?” He sighed, “Hard to say. Could be tonight, could be next week. As I said, it depends on the fight in her. I think I should leave her to you, Your Majesty. I will delay the others and check in on her in an hour. She’ll need constant medical supervision. It will alternate between me and The Befent who has so graciously volunteered to keep medical watch on her.”
With that, he strode past me and closed the door. I could hear him tell the others that she would need the calm reassurance of her friend that she was calling out for before anyone else can visit. Of course, I could hear Blake protesting but the doctor told him that the energy he was giving off at this time would not do well for Alexandra’s recovery. He shut up after that but I could hear cranky inaudible mumbles shortly after. I sat on the bed next to her and as I had gotten closer to her, her mumbles were distinguishable. She was saying over and over again, “Lucien, I’m sorry.” I picked up her hand, stroked her head, and shushed her, “I’m here. You have nothing to apologize for.” She calmed down as I was stroking her head and giving her reassurances. I hated that I couldn’t do more for her but as both Aphrodite and the doctor said her will to live was up to her. I could only let her know that I was by her side and would be waiting for her to wake up. It was not easy being the most powerful man in all of Vellum yet I still couldn’t keep my true love safe or even give her the power to open her eyes and look at me.
True to his word, the doctor came an hour later along with everyone else. He pulled the blanket down away from her body, lifted the black shirt they gave her to cover up, and lifted the dressing to check her wound. It was deep but the doctor smiled then nodded, “She’s fighting harder than I thought she would. I’m wondering if her own Healing Heart is working for her.” He looked up at me and stared at me while I could hear her father behind him, “Is she going to be alright then?” The doctor turned to Reggie, “She might be after all but I think she needs all the love surrounding her that she can get. It appears that those that love her, giving her love will help her.” He looked back at me and Reggie looked over at me and smiled, “I understand. Your Majesty, if you don’t mind we will intrude on you until she wakes up.” I shook my head, “You are welcome as long as is needed. We all only wish for her to heal.” My mother stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder, “I wholeheartedly agree with my son, Reggie. She is a sweet girl who stood watch over Lucien when he was injured. We are happy to provide this service to her as well.” The doctor put everything back in place and rose from his seat next to her, “Right, The Befent will come by in another hour to check on her and apply more potion to her wound. He’s taken the ingredients gathered by Her Highness, Princess Sylphia, and made a healing potion for her. He’s far more proficient in water element magic than I am so I do not doubt that it will be more potent. She’s in good hands.”
After the doctor left the room, I looked around to see Reggie, Talia, Blake, my mother, Sylphia and Nystasia. I looked over at Nystasia, “Where is Derek?” She smirked, “I got him calm enough to think straight. When Jess came he pulled her out of the castle talking about the investigation of the incident which works because that General dude came shortly after that talking about how they needed to do an investigation.” I knew that word had been sent to the General by the castle guards when Derek had brought her in, that was procedure after all. Likely, he would report back to me later on the investigation since Alexandra was a Queen candidate. Word had to also be sent to members of the Queen selection council. Theodore had come by the hour after the doctor had, he applied to medicine. He smiled at her, “She’s a definite fighter. I cannot wait to meet her officially.” I nodded at him, “I’m sure she would love to meet the person who so diligently stepped up to help her out. I certainly will never forget your help here today.” He left not long after checking her and applying her medicine. He told me that we would have to apply the medicine every hour as she had for me when I was injured. We each took turns watching over Alexandra but when I was told to go get rest, I had been too anxious to rest. I wondered if her mind was troubled not hearing my voice or if she was going to wake up while I was away. I didn’t want to leave her and watch over her as she had for me but since I was a King, I wasn’t really allowed to repay her kindness and care.
Shortly after dawn, I took the watch over Alexandra and told Malinus that I would be off for the day to care for her. I would hear no protests about it since I was not able to watch her overnight. I sat by her bedside and read one of her favorite books to her. Her father had brought it to us and gave it to me. He said, “She might like to hear the voice of the man she loves reading Pride and Prejudice to her.” She had lent me a copy before but I had not gotten around to reading it. It was an interesting story that I was enjoying more than I had thought I would. I found that Alexandra was, in many ways, like Lizzy. She had that biting sarcasm, wit, and lovely free spirit that many had admired her for. I found that her sister Jane drew a few parallels to Jess, not exactly like Jess since she was painfully shy, especially around Derek. I had always thought if she was a little more forthcoming with her feelings towards him, they probably would have asked for the engagement by now. Alexandra and I had talked about how she thought it was only a matter of time before he would start the negotiations between Terrin Chalshin and Tomas Kellen. I told Alexandra that I would summon her father to the ball so that Terrin could ask this of me when we did the beginning announcements. We had it planned out for them to be able to start negotiations for their engagements. Alexandra was excited for her best friend and to make Alexandra smile the way that she had at that time was always going to be my goal in life.
I had gotten to a part in the story about how Mr. Darcy was talking about Lizzy’s fine eyes. When I heard from the bed very hoarsely, “I always loved the way he kind of stuck it to Caroline about Lizzy.” I looked up to see that Alexandra was weakly smiling at me. I got up from my seat and hugged her gently. She had her head placed on my chest, “Alexandra, we were all so worried about you. Thank the Gods you are awake!” She sighed, “I said that to you not long ago, we need to stop getting ourselves injured. People are going to think we’re the most dramatic couple in Vellum.” There was that famous wit that I loved and I chuckled softly, “Well people need to stop trying to kill or kidnap you for that to happen.” She grumbled, “Don’t remind me. Jerks.” It dawned on me that Ashton had not shown up during all of this and I had wondered if word had gotten to him. I rose from the bed, placing Alexandra gently on her pillow. She looked up at me confused, “What’s wrong?” I shook my head at her, “I’m just curious what is up with Ashton. I’m going to ask Malinus why your brother never came.” She nodded, “I cannot imagine Ashton wouldn’t come if he knew I was injured. He must have his reasons.” I strode towards the door where Malinus and I bumped into each other, “Pardon me, Your Majesty. I was just coming to check on my cousin for the doctor.” I waved him into the room, “She just woke up.” He looked at me confused, “Then why are you leaving her?” I sighed, “I was going to ask you if you had heard any word about Ashton.” He smiled at her, “He jumped into the investigation right away. He insisted saying how she was in very good hands here at the castle. He has a lot of faith in your care of his sister, Your Majesty.”
He walked over to Alexandra and applied the medicine, “How do you feel Alexandra?” She smiled weakly at him, “I feel like I got run over by a team of horses. It is really hard to move without feeling like I want to sleep again.” He stroked her hair and smiled, “I imagine with the amount of blood you lost. I think you’ll have to make a decision soon.” She frowned, “What decision?” I sighed, “You lost so much blood that you may need to revert or you will be wheelchair bound for a long time.” She clenched her hands but not very hard and she stared down, “How much blood do I need?” He shrugged at her, “I guess that depends on your body and his resilience.” She looked up at him defiantly, “I won’t need much, I will take the damn blood.” I smiled at her lovingly but the peace I felt was interrupted by Derek and Ashton flying through the door. Derek sort of shouted at me, “Your Majesty! We found something!” I looked at him angrily, “Remember where you are CHALSHIN.” I said this so firmly that he shrunk a little, “Sorry.” Ashton sighed, “Don’t disturb my sister’s peace. She’s resting.” He knocked him on the head gently with his fist. Alexandra giggled, “I’m fine brother. Let him speak.” I looked at Derek and nodded, “Go ahead.” He nodded firmly back at me, “We found something that we suspect was dropped by the assassin but we’re not quite sure what it is.”
