Suppliant

  Chapter 40

  I awake in the clinic bed with both Damien and Zeke by my side. My whole body is throbbing. I feel sluggish and am having difficulty breathing. I try to reach for my rib, but I can’t move my arm.

  I look down to see bandages everywhere.

  “Don’t move.” Damien is there, sitting beside the bed. “There was an incident. You’re in the clinic. Do you remember what happened?”

  I try to talk, but my throat is hoarse. My mouth is so dry that trying to talk causes my lips and tongue to crack.

  Damien holds up a water glass to my lips.

  Thanks. I figure it will be best if I let my throat rest. I was accidentally poisoned in class, and I was on my way to the clinic. Out of nowhere they attacked me. Do you think they were working with Nema?

  “I don’t know. Thankfully the professor wrote what you were poisoned with on the slip and they were able to get your system cleared in time. You could have died from the poison. Not to mention the broken rib that punctured your lung. That’s why you were spitting up foamy blood.” Damien looks at me with concern and anger written all over his face.

  “I feel like it was our fault,” Zeke says. “We could feel your struggle and came as soon as we could. When we got here you were already in the clinic. They wouldn’t let us see you. They were purging your system and they were going to take you into surgery to fix your lung when Damien convinced them that we could heal you. Without you conscious, we could only fix your lung. You must be in a lot of pain.” Zeke laid his hand on mine.

  I will be fine, thanks to you guys. I really thought I was a goner.

  “You should rest until your strength is up enough to heal. We will be right here the whole time.” Damien pulls up a chair to sit by me.

  I catch a glimpse out the window and see that it’s already dark out.

  How long was I out?

  “You were put in a deep sleep for them to purge the poison from your system. You have been sleeping since then. You missed the rest of classes and dinner. We could get you something to eat if you’re hungry.” Zeke is sitting on the edge of the bed, still holding my hand.

  I think about my throat and the pain I am having swallowing and decide that a meal is not a good option, despite my rumbling belly.

  Not right now. I just need to sleep for a bit.

  I wake up around lunchtime and have enough strength to help them heal me.

  The nurses are amazed at my recovery, as they were last time. I have enough strength to walk back to the dorm room, where Damien and Zeke go into comfort mode, setting up a bath and bringing me a meal.

  Who is the princess now? I have two hunky men waiting on me hand and foot, and I love every minute of it. Of course I wish I didn’t have to get beaten to a pulp and poisoned for it.

  My throat is feeling better, so I try to speak again. “Who do you think is responsible for the beating? Do you think that Nema’s team got to me?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s a possibility, but thankfully they weren’t able to finish before they were stopped. We made sure that your attack was kept on the down--low for now. We want to catch whoever was behind this,” Zeke says.

  “Can we see the memory of the attack?” Damien asks cautiously.

  I really don’t want to relive it, but I know how important it is for them to try to find my attackers.

  I take hold of their hands. The memory starts from the hallway on my way to the clinic and ends with me passing out from the pain.

  They jerk their hands back simultaneously. Pain is radiating on their faces for a minute. We sit in silence, just thinking about what we saw.

  “That was a lot of pain. I am so sorry that I wasn’t there for you.” A single tear slides down Zeke’s face at the admission.

  “It didn’t look like you got much useful information. This was definitely a planned attack, but I didn’t see any weapons. If they wanted to kill you, they would have had a weapon.” Anger is flaring through Damien again; I can feel it.

  “Unless they wanted to make it look like someone else. If Nema didn’t want it discovered that she sent someone to kill me, then they wouldn’t have made it look like they were trying to kill me,” I say. Who else could it have been? I don’t know anyone else who wants me dead.

  “We will investigate while you get some rest. You should be fully healed tomorrow.” Both Zeke and Damien leave me with only my thoughts.