Page 156 of King of Ashes
“Don’t you leave me. Please, baby. Please,” she sobs, pressing down on my wound.
“I could never leave you.” I splatter more blood, the jerky movement causing my wound to leak more red. Strangely, I don’t feel pain.
She crushes her sweet mouth to mine. “I love you, Vian.”
I smile, thinking I can die in peace.
My eyelids flutter closed. I know she does. That was the only thing I didn’t question.
She doesn’t leave my side, her wails, the only thing reaching me, blaring with a demand not to leave her.
I want to open my mouth to assure her, to tell her I am hers and that her wish is my command. I call on strength that evades me so I can hunt the asshole down for causing her this misery, but she will avenge me. If there’s an afterlife, I will wait for her.
Then everything turns black.
Beep.Beep. Beep.
The constant sound grates on my nerves, yanking me from the sweetest dream. She was there, her hand outstretched, and I grabbed it.
I groan and pry one eye open to see hers swimming in gratitude. She sobs, and I don’t understand what has upset her this badly.
“I thought I’d lost you. I––”
“Don’t cry, mi sol. It’s killing me,” I say, my voice groggy.
Instead of calming down, she cries even harder. “Don’t joke about that. Never.”
“Okay,” I say, anything to make her stop crying.
My brain is still a jumbled mess, everything distorted, so I sweep my gaze around. I am lying in a hospital bed, and I lick my lips to wet my parched mouth.
She rushes to offer me a glass of water, the liquid sloshing as her hand trembles. “Slow sips,” she says in a meek voice. “Youlost a lot of blood, and they had to remove part of your spleen. I thought I’d lost you.”
“Never.”
Her face drops, and she fidgets with her ring before she sees my palm up, waiting for hers.
“You’re not allowed to get stabbed again. One time was enough.”
I chuckle, causing pain to ricochet through me, and I hiss. Right then, the doctor enters and walks me through the surgery. He tells me it went well despite the blood loss and that I should take it easy until I recover.
Lucky.
I never imagined myself to be that until I woke up. Determination shoots a high dose of vitality through me, driving me forward. I will make the asshole pay for every tear my wife shed.
She returned to me, but the timeline doesn’t add up.
“Why did you come back?” I ask, ignoring the doctor who furrows his brows as if he’s here for me, not the other way around. “You can leave,” I dismiss him.
He turns around, mumbling under his breath. I don’t care. My woman is my sole concern.
“That was rude. He saved your life. I’m thinking of building a damn hospital in his honor.”
“You’d do that?” I ask, overcome by emotions.
“I did a shitty job as your wife. But never doubt my love,” she says, looking down at our hands intertwined.
I raise them and kiss her knuckles. “You’re a queen, my queen. Don’t bow your head.”
