Chapter 22 - Only A Mistake
The royal physicians rushed into the room and Ismena allowed herself to fall into their expert hands. Even when they checked her eyes, she could hardly see them.
Her thoughts were so far away.
The smell of the different herbs and alcohol filled the air. At this point she was getting used to it.
Her thoughts dragged in her head as they turned her over so they could get full access to her head. She could hear Haron panicking as he paced around. Apologizing profusely. Yet his voice sounded far away.
He did not meant it. She told herself.
He was angry. It was a delicate topic to discuss after all. Her relationship with him was just starting to be what it used to, she should have known better than to test it so quickly.
Her Haron was still in there, he was just…
Her thoughts dragged even more.
She didn't want to sleep. But whatever the physicians had given to her was starting to drag her to the doorstep of unconsciousness.
She fought it though because she knew who she would see if she wreecti fall asleep this way. Where she would find herself again.
Not the prisoner.
Not the thoughts of the enemy.
Not more dreams about the beast.
She would not allow it.
She would think of Haron instead. Of how sorry he was, of how this was a mistake, and how she would have to tell him about Stavan when their relationship became stronger.
Not before.
After.
A time when he would believe her.
She could hear hear the snipping of her hair. A sharp pain jolted through her as the physicians tended to her scalp. She gritted her teeth, tears fogging her sight.
Growls filled her mind from a distance away.
No!
She yanked herself away from sleep, forcing herself to stay away through the pain.
Then her head was wrapped in a piece of white linen.
She could hear the physicians speak to Haron, but she couldn't hear them. Then they left.
Soon enough, her handmaidens rushed in and cleaned her up. There. No need for a bath tonight.
It became harder and harder to fight sleep with each passing moment, but her determination was strong. Her hatred, unshakeable. Her loyalty, firm.
She would not sleep.
Her handmaidens left her in a silk purple robe. Then left the room.
Haron was by her side. Tears were in his eyes.
She could see now.
A determination born from sheer stubbornness.
"I didn't mean it. Forgive me, Ismena. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just… I'm sorry."
Before he would have waited for her to claim the faults, as King he would have done that, but as her Haron, he wasn't doing that.
He was changing.
There was hope for them.
His grip around her hand tightened as he wiped his tears away.
"I was so scared that you were about to accuse Stavan of something. Like before. I acted before I could even stop myself. We are different now, I should know that. You wouldn't lie to me anymore, I should have known that."
She hadn't lied the first time.
But Stavan had crafted it so expertly that he had made her look like a liar.
She should blame him.
Put it all on Stavan.
He was manipulating Haron's love for his last living blood relative.
She just…
Her thoughts slowed.
The herbs.
The growls.
She had to fight it.
No sleeping.
Doing this made her head ache even more but she could endure that. She would do anything to stay away from that prisoner!
As for Haron, she just had to work on their relationship. As she had decided before. That was all.
He pressed a kiss against her hand.
Warm.
Perfect.
"I had been called away by my Captain of the Castle Guards. They finally caught the traitor that poisoned me. A mere errand boy found favour with one of the cooks and had slipped it into my meal when she wasn't looking."
Ismena managed a frown. So it hadn't been the poison in the prisoner's claws like the physicians had suspected?
But a mere errand boy?
What was his motive? How?
A ringing sounded across her ears and she groaned internally.
Sleep.
It felt like an order. Like her body was commanding her. But she disobeyed.
If she fought it enough, maybe it would go away. Maybe the prisoner would finally leave her mind.
"He had been tortured." His voice deepened with anger. "You will not believe who he claimed had sent him."
Ismena's heart skilled a beat and her pulse quickened.
He had said he paid his way to get time alone with her. She had heard the door open, voices and heard it pull shut the first time she passed out after giving recovering from giving Haron her blood. He had been angry when she had woken up. He had asked her why she did it. Tomd her that he would have taken care of her.
Stavan.
Why had she not thought of Stavan?
"He called my own brother's name." Haron's hand tightened around hers and it loosened almost immediately, as if he had caught himself in the act of causing hrt pain for something she didn't even do. He pressed a kiss to her skin but when he spoke, he still sounded angry.
She wanted to ask when he did to the errand boy.
But her lips felt too heavy for her to move them.
Every part of her seemed to have gone to sleep but she was still to stubborn to finally give up.
The growls were distant now. Fading.
Good.
She was winning.
"I know there is a rebellion going on in my castle. I know they believe the best way to bring me down is to rip my brother and I apart, cause a rift between my family and the Knights of Ragma. Everyone must know how dearly I love him. So they are trying to make us fight." He paused.
Ismena listened intensively.
No.
He was wrong.
Stavan was the rebellion.
"I have killed the errand boy and his stupid maid. I have their heads on spikes at the gate to send a message to whosoever is heading this rebellion. When I finally catch him, I will rip his face from ear to ear and give Stavan the honour of taking his last breath however he wants."
Dread washed down her spine. The room was tilting. Her sight was blurring. She was drowning.
"When you said Stavan's name, something foolish whispered in my name that you were one of them."
Her stomach dropped.
"But it is stupid. You are my wife," she felt his fingers moved gently over her forehead, "my Queen. This is our second chance and I failed to remember that. Failed to remember that you will tell me the truth."
She felt him shift on the bed, lay down closer to her then his gaze caught her. "Tell me the truth now, my love. I will listen only to you."