The King's Queen

Chapter 72

A tug pulled at me like a cord of electricity, jolting me from my thoughts. It took a second for me to come to my senses and another for me to be out the door and at Elizabeth's room.

I could feel it. It was faint, but it was there. Elizabeth was awake.

***

My body floated through the abyss as weightless as air. The world was impossibly quiet and unbearably dark. It was ethereal, almost as if I were the only inhabitant. How long had I been here? Where was this place?

I drifted further into the unknown. The iciness clinging to my skin slowly birthed a new warmth that mantled my body.

Then the world exploded into a cacophony of deafening noise. As consciousness clawed its way back into my body, my eyes shot open and were immediately attacked by razor-sharp slivers of light that sliced their way through the drapery and into the room.

I winced, blinking back the overwhelming brightness. The rest of my body remained frozen, disobedient to my command of movement.

"Elizabeth!"

Through the noise that enveloped me, I made out the sound of a name-my name. The warmth climbed up to my arms and I pried my eyes open one at a time, squinting at the angelic face in front of me. The angel heaved a great of relief, as if he'd been carrying the weight of the entire universe on his back.

I tried to move again, and this time my toes wiggled. But the rest of me was as stiff and heavy as lead. My lips parted, but no sound came out. My throat was like sandpaper scratching against itself.

I took a shallow breath. The air was thick, permeated by unfamiliar scents. A dull pain throbbed in my chest, pulsing with each heartbeat. I could hear the frantic melody vibrating in my ears.

My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips, and instinctively, I took another scorching inhale that set my throat and chest ablaze.

The blurriness slowly misted from my eyes after a few minutes of unfocused concentration, and Luca's face came into view. So he was my angel. I didn't have time to process the myriad of emotions swimming in the deep recesses of his eyes as he pulled me into a hug.

The additional warmth felt like I was being coated in liquid sunshine. My fingers twitched as sensation slowly returned to my arms.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Luca's voice was hoarse, strangled by brambles of pain. The heart-rending emotions that spilled from his words dissolved into my heart, infusing it with a note of melancholy.

Luca released me gently, as if I would fade away if he wasn't careful enough. He silently handed me a glass of water.

I didn't drink it. I devoured it. The liquid flowed down my throat in torrents, setting the desert on fire before cooling it down to an oasis. My chest ached with each cavernous gulp, but I welcomed the soothing release it brought my throat. Water had never tasted so good to me before.

Luca, who was still observing me intently, took my hand in his. "How... how do you feel?"

"Like I just came back to life. What happened?" I broached the question that had been buzzing at the back of my mind. "I remember us being at the Spade Kingdom, but my memory is fuzzy..."

The glass fractured in Luca's hand, but his other hand that held mine remained surprisingly gentle. He set the broken cup down on the nightstand with a sigh. "Malekh Luciano betrayed us. I made the unwise decision to ally with him and he tried to kill you. He took your unique ability away."