Page 130 of Devil's Bride

Yet it only grew stronger.

Day by day.

“Ahem,” a voice said from the other side of the room.

Jago didn’t react right away, but when he finally broke the kiss, he was wearing a mischievous grin. We both turned our heads toward the interruption.

“Emiliano,” I breathed.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you’d like to know Antonio is out of surgery. The doctor said he’ll be just fine.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” Jago said for both of us.

Emiliano grinned. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Stifling a giggle, I pushed my hands against Jago’s chest. “Oops.”

“We’ll have a lot of those.”

He acted as if he didn’t want to let me go. “I want to go see Antonio tomorrow. Is that possible?”

“My wife is now asking me? I might have a heart attack.”

I smacked him. “I’m serious.”

He allowed me to sit up and sighed, his brow furrowing. “Fine. I’ll take you. But you will be careful and no shopping afterwards.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

How many hospitals would I be forced to visit during my life?

The answer was sadly easy.

Way too many.

They reminded me of death and I wasn’t certain if there was anything that could change that. At least Jago had kept his promise, now walking with me as we moved along the corridor. I’d seen people rushing, a code blue announced, and nurses scurrying around with one emergency or another.

They were all just forceful reminders of how precious life truly was.

Maybe I’d taken it for granted for most of my life.

No longer.

I planned on living every day to its fullest.

As long as I could be released into the wild every once in a while.

The sights.

The smells.

The look on people’s faces. As I walked through, I shuddered every few seconds.

I’d taken Emiliano as well as four soldiers Jago had appointed and we’d had a conversation with a dozen or so of my father’s soldiers.

Correction. My soldiers. I’d explained to them everything that had happened, daring them to defy me or to challenge my decision in aligning with Jago. None had, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t occur in the future. I’d done my best to be a drill sergeant once again, laying out all the horrible things that would happen if they tried to undermine me.

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