Page 61 of Prince of Her Heart
Tabitha stayed perfectly still, barely daring to breathe.His words circled in her head like a whisper on the wind.Don’t leave me.Her eyes stung, but she held it together.
The doctor scribbled something on the chart and murmured instructions to the nurses.She spoke briefly to the guards before exiting as swiftly as she had entered, like a ghost slipping out of a room still haunted by fear.
Tabitha didn’t glance away from Ramzi, her fingers still wrapped around his.Her thumb brushed gently along the edge of his knuckle, as if she could coax him back with touch alone.
One of the guards quietly offered to update her parents.She nodded without looking at him, and he disappeared.
After that, the world blurred—just a hazy mix of nurses moving in and out, soft voices exchanging medical details she wasn’t allowed to know, and the steady, rhythmic beeping of machines that had become her entire universe.
It was a blur of hope.Of fear.Of aching desperation wrapped in prayers that he’d wake again and say her name.
Chapter 29
Ramzi woke to the soft whoosh of the door sliding open.For a moment, he didn’t move—just listened.Then he glanced down and felt something inside him shift.
Tabitha was asleep, curled awkwardly beside him, her head resting against the mattress near his hip, her fingers still gently wrapped around his.Even unconscious, she hadn’t let go.
The sight tugged at something deep in his chest.
The soft click of heels on tile broke the quiet, and his gaze lifted to the doorway.
His mother had just entered the room, her elegance undiminished by the sterile hospital setting.She halted the moment she saw him awake, eyes widening.
Ramzi lifted his good hand and pressed a finger to his lips, glancing at Tabitha.No one spoke.
“You’re okay?”Marianna whispered as she stepped closer to the bed, careful of the machines and wires.
“I think so,” he murmured, turning slightly so she could kiss his cheek.
“You look like hell,” his father muttered as he followed her in, but Ramzi could see the crack of emotion beneath his gruffness.
Rylan, his younger brother, appeared behind them.Tall and imposing, his arms crossed tightly.His glare was fierce.“You wouldn’t dare die on us,” he hissed—then immediately looked at Tabitha, guilt flickering across his face.
“Not a chance,” Ramzi replied, the words breathless but warm with amusement.
At his side, Tabitha stirred.Ramzi watched as she blinked groggily, slowly lifting her head.Her eyes were rimmed in red and heavy with exhaustion, and when she realized there were others in the room, she stiffened.
“What…?”she whispered hoarsely, and sat up—only to wince and cradle her arm.
Ramzi’s heart twisted.She must have stayed there like that for hours, unmoving, holding his hand.
“Who are you?”she asked warily, inching backward as though trying to make herself smaller.Ramzi could see the instant she registered his mother’s perfectly tailored outfit, then looked down at herself—the wrinkled, blood-streaked rose silk dress, the tangle of her hair.Her panic spiked visibly.
“This is my mother, Marianna el Sandir.And my father, Sheik Amit el Sandir,” Ramzi explained gently.
A soft curse slipped from Tabitha’s lips before she could stop it.
His father chuckled.Rylan outright laughed.His mother only offered a serene, amused smile.
Ramzi wanted to laugh too—but the dull throb in his skull and the weight of his arm kept him still.
“I should go,” Tabitha said, her voice thin and tight.Her eyes flicked to the door.
“Nonsense,” Marianna replied smoothly.“My son’s guards told me you’ve been with him nearly thirty-six hours.You haven’t even eaten.”She turned to a man just outside the doorway.“Please bring something nourishing for Ms.Jones.”
The man gave a respectful nod and vanished.
But Ramzi could see the fight or flight rising in Tabitha’s eyes.
