Cinders [Completed]

Chapter 20: Bleeding and Breaking

I don't see Orion for a week. I fall into an easy habit; someone, usually different and always unrecognizable, brings me my meals. Dr. Kent comes to check on my wounds and look concerned and mutter to herself, and Lucy visits me to keep me sane. But I don't see Orion for a week.

I tell myself it's for the best. He got the message when I left him in the hospital wing. But I wonder if he is hurt; I wonder if he hates me.

I wonder if he should.

I'm so in the habit of not seeing him that the sound of his voice outside my bedroom makes me freeze with a forkful of mashed potatoes halfway to my mouth.

". . . If you're sure, Your Highness?" A shaky, nervous voice is saying. It's only a few feet away from my door.

"It's not my decision to make."

It's him. Ohhhhh Goddess.

"Her body. Her call," he continues, his voice clear despite the wall between us.

I make a noise like a small rodent being chased into a corner. I look around, panicked - the room is clean, the bedsheet is pulled tight, military style, just like I was taught. I comb through my hair and scrub a hand across my face, placing the half-eaten meal on the table next to me. My hand is erupting in miniature spasms.

"Of - Of course, Prince Orion," the other voice replies, right outside my door. A knock sounds on my door.

"Lee?" Orion says, soft and non-intrusive. "Can we come in? I'm with a new doctor."

Panic temporarily silences me. I straighten my shirt - actually my shirt, not Orion's - and clear my throat. "Come in?"

I wince at my own awkwardness as Prince Orion slowly opens the door.

"Good morning," I say formally, swallowing another wince.

Orion walks in with the careful tread of an atheist in a temple, two figures following after him. One of them is a tall, gangly man with a neat beard and blue eyes that I dimly recognize. The other is a smaller, slightly older man in a white lab coat.

"Lee," Orion begins, just as formal as me, "this is Jackson Cooper, my Beta. I don't believe you two have formally met."

The Beta smiles. I hide my hands further under the bedcovers and try to smile back, bowing my head as a sign or respect. "Nice to see you again," he says brightly.

"Again?" My voice is shakier than I mean it to be.

"We ran into each other at the ball," he answers with the same unaffected cheeriness. I glance at Orion. Nothing changed openly, but I swear his expression tightened when Beta Cooper mentioned the ball. I shift, uncomfortable.

"I - I remember, now," I swivel my gaze back to the Beta, desperate to conceal the embarrassment flooding my body. I think I do remember - I had basically tripped into him and he had said that he thought he recognized me.

"This is Dr. Harold," Orion continues, something forced in his polite tone, "Dr. Kent was discussing your situation with Harold, and he believes there may be a way to speed the healing process."

The doctor steps forward, playing with his hands nervously. He's strangely young, for a doctor, probably only a few years older than Orion. Still, his jitteriness actually relaxes me a bit. It reminds me of myself and makes him seem far less terrifying.