Page 14 of Kingdom of Tomorrow
The more I battled, the more my nerve endings sizzled.
Don’t fight the pain.Shiloh’s voice boomed through my head.
Don’t fight.
So badly I wanted to heed him. How easy it would be to let go and drift off. But experience had taught me better. Trust no one. Sleep alone. Always alone. I was currently in public. But the pain! The heat.
Sweat poured over me, and muscles jerked. My lungs flattened, the ability to breathe gone. At last I tumbled into an endless abyss ...
“—dead within a month, tops.”
“She might surprise us. I hear she fought the toxin longer than the beefed-up brute whose dad served with honors.”
“A by-product of fear, exactly what will get her killed. I’ve been here eight years and examined countless lords and ladies. Those with panic disorders never last long.”
The casualness of the conversation lured me from a deep sleep. I tried to make sense of the words, but my brain wasn’t fully online yet.
“She wakes,” the man muttered.
Finally I managed to hold my eyes open for several seconds. I groaned. The world was spinning.Inhale. Exhale.As the momentum slowed, memories invaded. The bus ride. Fort Bala Royal Academy. The competition and prize. Pain.
Stiffening, I took stock of my surroundings. I reclined on a medical gurney, inside a small sterile room cordoned off by a curtain. I still wore my running clothes. On the counter, my bag gaped open, the contents spilling out. Clearly someone had rooted through my stuff.
Tension snatched me in its jaws and held on with a vise grip. An unfamiliar young man and a thirtysomething woman in medical scrubs stood beside the gurney, a wheeled tray between them. The man plunged a needle into a vial, filled the belly of a syringe with gray liquid, and turned to stick me in the arm.
The sharp prick startled me from my malaise, and I yelped.
He didn’t react in the slightest.
“Who are you?” I demanded, gathering what remained of my strength. Yes! I collected enough to pull myself into an upright position. “What did you inject in me?”
“I’m Dr. Korey.” The woman extended her hand to the medic. He placed a second syringe in her palm. “You’re receiving vitamins, vaccinations, and anything else I think you need to survive interrealm travel and keep you and your teammates safe.”
Translation:Shut up and acquiesce.
A tide of frustration rushed through my veins. All my life, others had dictated what I could and could not do. From what building I lived in to where I worked to what I deserved to be paid. I rarely had a say in even the smallest details. If I’d dared to ask questions, I’d been rebuked without receiving a straight answer. But always I’d rolled with the punches. All before one.
With so much new being tossed at me, I was tempted to do something foolish and protest. A mistake I couldn’t afford. Just like I’d done every time before, I gathered and dumped the frustration into an ever-growing cauldron, letting it simmer in the shadows of my mind.
My fate rested in the hands ofCured. Considering I now contended for the title of top lady, I should do nothing to jeopardize my chances of victory. Imustwin that prize.
Saying nothing else, the doctor jabbed me with the second needle. I cringed as icy cold spread through my arm. I, too, held my silence.
From outside the room, a knight gripped the curtain and shoved the material aside. I looked beyond him, seeing a hallway loaded with other exam rooms, some open. Mykal sprawled on a gurney across from me, appearing as traumatized as I felt. Shiloh stood beside her. The sight of him served as an anchor to calm.
Our gazes met, and his beautiful features twisted with concern. I offered him a tentative smile, trying to tell him I was fine. Then High Prince Cyrus Dolion marched into my field of vision and hijacked my thoughts.
He stalked into my room, and my heart attempted to pound through my ribs. Stopping near my gurney, he claimed a file from the table. As he read, never speaking a word, he and his intensity dominated the space. Controlled power formed an almost tangible shield around him. But that was expected. What wasn’t? The incredible scent wafting from him, infiltrating every molecule of oxygen.
Mmm. What wasthat? Fairy dust and ambrosia? The sweet cologne so did not fit the skull and crossbones bottle.
“Nice to see you, Cyrus,” Dr. Korey greeted, her voice suddenly higher than it had been a few minutes ago.
Oh la la. They were on a first-name basis.
“Leave us,” he said, his deep baritone inviting no arguments. He didn’t glance up from the file.
The doctor’s colleague strode out without hesitation. She lingered, seeming to gear up to spew facts about me. The high prince remained preoccupied, reading the screen.
