Page 28 of The Prince of New York

“Excellent. Terry might want to send you over to your place anyway, but we’ll see. It depends on if Melody has finally gotten your brain to cooperate. Apparently, handsome princes are challenging.”

I raised a brow at that. “Why are you calling me handsome, Rachel?”

“Because you are, and it riles Ethan up. He’s glaring at me. Ethan, do I have to call you an idiot, too? He’s my brother. He’s handsome by default. All my brothers are handsome.”

I wondered if the pain of our broken family would ever heal. “They’re also assholes,” I reminded her in a mutter.

“Oh, but they’re beautiful assholes, and we all know it, Ian. Ethan, I’m allowed to call my brother handsome all I want. If you don’t like it, I’m going to call Mackenzie, and we’re going to look through binders of handsome princes so we can plan visits! Maybe we’ll go to Italy and leave you asshole kings behind.”

Uh oh. Ethan must have done something to get on my sister’s last nerve. “My most beautiful sister, what heinous crimes must I make my best friend pay for now?”

“He keeps telling me it’s not my fault you got hurt.”

I raised my hand, rubbed my temple, and sighed. “I’m pretty sure that you were an equal participant in my injury. After I talk with Melody and Dr. Stanton, I’ll talk to him about it, all right? It’s okay to accept equal responsibility for my concussion. It’s not okay to wallow about having equal responsibility for my concussion. Actually, is Terry there?”

“He is.”

“Could you put him on, please?”

“Sure.” A moment later, my sister said, “Ian wants to talk to you, Terry. Also, he told me I am his most beautiful sister, and I didn’t protest it. I feel I deserve a chocolate milkshake for second breakfast.”

The RPS agent chuckled, and a moment later, he said, “Are you comfortable with your current situation, Ian?”

“Outside of a moment of worry I’d used my talent on some RPS agents, it’s all right.”

“I can confirm you did not engage in any inappropriate talent usage. Melody and Dr. Stanton will be there shortly, as they were following at a distance to make sure they could reach you in case you required assistance. Madelyn is with them, and I feel you should be aware that she’s particularly alarmed over the situation.”

Odd. “Why is she alarmed?”

“Well, you were fevered enough to forget how doors work. We made the mistake of discussing that where she could hear it. Do not be surprised if she hovers, as she has reached the limit of her tolerance. She actually got into Dr. Stanton’s face about the whole thing, demanding to know how you could have possibly gotten to this point.”

Uh oh. I foresaw a great deal of trouble brewing between the women. “How did Dr. Stanton handle that?”

“With admirable grace. She calmed Madelyn down, went over your medical record with her again, and indicated that you should be over the worst of it. They’ll do some work on you today, and you’ll be sedated tonight to make sure you don’t go on another wander now that they won’t be using any of the other drugs on you.”

That was something. I could handle some guaranteed sleep. “I appreciate the warning. I’m not sure why she got upset. I mean, this is a thing I do.”

“Normal people do not forget how doors work, Ian.”

In the background, my sister lost her shit and broke down into hysterical laughter.

“My sister’s reaction is more in line with my expectations,” I replied.

“We are going to have to educate Madelyn on finding the humor in situations like this, especially with your known history when fevered. However, we have made a note in your file that you might be convinced to wander to the kitchen if promised food safe for you to eat.”

If every problem involving a royal could be solved with luring them to a kitchen for food, the world would a better place for everyone. “The only person who would be upset with this is the poor chef.”

“I believe I will be having a chef teach your team of agents how to cook so you can watch. Rachel is fascinated by the preparation process of her meals, especially when they have to modify recipes to remove the alcohol. I suspect most royals will be easily contained with such a method.”

Terry’s amused tone went a long way towards convincing me everything would work out one way or another.

I forced myself to relax and adopt an approachable pose, something I’d learned early on helped when dealing with anyone who wasn’t also of royal rank. While I didn’t particularly care if the RPS agents were at ease, I wanted to convey the illusion I was completely unbothered by my evening stroll. Until Madelyn understood and accepted fevers removed my ability to comprehend general reality, tricking her into being comfortable with the situation served me best.

The doctors, a handful of RPS agents, and the woman I admired didn’t leave me waiting for long, and Melody led the charge, clucking her tongue at me in open disapproval. “I can’t leave you alone for ten minutes, can I?”

“You really can’t, Melody. You should know this by now. If there is any sign of fever on the forecast, I will eventually go on a walk, and I won’t remember anything about it afterwards. I hear I fell prey to honeyed salmon again.”

The woman burst into laughter, shook her head, and placed the back of her hand against my forehead. “In good news, the fever has broken. Considering you haven’t had any medications since late last night, maybe it’ll stay broken this time.”

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