Page 41 of Whispers of Wisteria
The air shifted as Titus stormed through the doors, his hair wild. He pulled at his tie while glancing around the space. He spotted me almost instantly. Then he looked at Bryce, his features sharpened into something terrifying and ferocious.
Titus crossed the room before Bryce could stand. The dragon grabbed my brother by the collar and dragged him to his feet. “What the hell are you doing?”
Bryce was a tall man, but not nearly as tall as Titus, and so he stood on tiptoe as he attempted to offset the force of the dragon’sanger. “I’m sure you’ve heard it from Finn: I’ve brought her in for a checkup.”
“Finn said she didn’t want to go.” Titus’s grip tightened on Bryce’s collar.
“That’s irrelevant. Why are you all ignoring a potentially serious medical issue?” Bryce waved his hand in my direction. “Someonehas to make her, and it clearly won’t be any of you. So, now I’m assertingmyauthority. I refuse to sit by as she suffers.”
“We’re not ignoring it. We’re concerned too,” Titus sharply retorted. “But she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”
I groaned and pressed my face into my knees. Luckily, the only other people in the waiting room were clerks, who only watched the scene with mild interest.
This was so humiliating.
Bryce was dumped back into his seat, and a heavy warmth pressed against the front of my legs. I raised my head and was suddenly eye-to-eye with Titus.
The dragon was kneeling on the floor in front of me, and his green eyes flickered over my form. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you ready to go home? Or, maybe, do you want something to eat?”
Food would be good; I usually liked food. But—
“No thanks, I’m not hungry.” I hugged my arms around my knees. Besides the pain, I was an emotional mess. First, Damen remained impossible to figure out, then there was Brayden and the discovery of my future sage, and I’d said no to Uncle Gregory. Plus, I worried about this new thing I’d signed up for with Gloria.
And now, I had Bryce bombarding me out of nowhere.
My mind was so filled with self-pitying thoughts that I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late.
“See,” Bryce said as he waved an accusing hand in my direction. “She’s not even hungry.”
Titus’s lips thinned, and my limbs grew cold at his sudden look of contemplation.
My spine stiffened. “Hold on,” I rushed to explain. “It’s not what—”
“What’s going on?” Julian had arrived—still in his scrubs, so he must have been summoned from elsewhere in the hospital. He inclined his head in Bryce’s direction as he addressed Titus. “You didn’t kill him yet,” he pointed out. “It’s that bad?”
“She won’t let me take her out to eat,” Titus replied.
Julian’s eyes widened.
Bryce waved his hand in the air. “I told you! And she fainted twice today,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
I was not that predictable. “I don’t always want to eat,” I grumbled.
“Darling.” Julian slipped into the open seat at my other side. “On a scale of one to ten—” he began, touching my shoulder.
“Please stop.” My face burned, and once more, I hid my face in my knees as another stab of pain shot through me. “I’m fine.”
I really should have met up with Damen today.
However, I hadn’t considered that Julian would know. In fact, I only recalled after the cramp had faded and the dizziness had passed.
“Bianca.” This time, when he spoke, his voice had a determination that wasn’t there before. “I agree with Bryce. You’re in pain. Will youpleaselet someone help you?”
The doubt faded from Titus’s expression at Julian’s sudden change in demeanor, and Bryce became suspiciously silent.
“I-I don’t want to,” I told him. “They’re going to push me around, and… well… I don’t care…”
I squeezed my legs closer to me, the tightness almost suffocating.
