Chapter 513: Can I Hold Him?
(From Demetrius's Perspective)
All those times felt like an eternity. I could hear, I was alive, but I could not open my eyes. I could feel touches, I could feel her touch, every time she stroked my face, kissed me, hugged me, but I could do nothing. I wanted to hug her too, kiss her and just talk to her, tell her it would be alright. But I knew it maybe would not be.
I would not have known what was going on unless she told it all to me all those times she would come here. When she did not, I felt like the darkness was consuming me.
And then, I could open my eyes today. With the sharp pain on my shoulder, the warm touch of her hands, and that look on her face… She was like a different creature. She had fangs, my blood was on her lips, dripping from her fangs. Her blue eyes had slit pupils and her tongue was split and thin. But it was her.
It did not matter what she was. I did not care. I would have hugged her just the same no matter what she was. She was mine. My beloved wife. The love of my life.
My body was weak. But I pulled her closer. She had returned to her old self right after losing consciousness.
"I love you," I whispered. "I love you so much."
It was only when my thoughts slowly returned to me completely and I woke up from the daze I had been in that I realized she was injured. Most parts of her body were bandaged from here and there. Under her nightgown, the bandage covered most part of her body. Did something serious happen to her? Her right upper arm was bandaged and here and there, she had ointment all over her body.
Panic overtook me. What happened to her? She was not okay. The war was over, as per she had told me. She told me what she did, how she led the knights and mages, and how she created a freaking dragon. It even had a name.
Vigor.
But if the war was over, then who hurt her? It must be her father. It had to be.
I heard a commotion and within just thirty seconds, the door of the room where I was burst open, and there stood King Ford. He looked breathless at first, then relieved when he saw Blue, and at last, shocked as he saw me.
"She is here!" he yelled without taking his eyes off us.
He slowly made his way inside the room and stared at us, shaking his head. After him entered Luc and Cyan. Both of them were just as speechless and shocked as King Ford.
"How…?" Luc mumbled. I had never seen that look on his face. It was like he had seen his favorite red velvet cookies for the first time after fifty years.
"She needs Doctor Dimitri to take a look at her if he is alive," I said. "And I need a damn shower."
"Our antidote did not work," Cyan said. "It was not working. How did you even wake up?"
"He surely cannot know that. He has been in a coma for a long time," Luc said.
I knew. I knew what happened, even if I did not exactly know why.
"She did something," Cyan said.
"She said she…," Luc started, then stopped as soon as he looked at Blue. "First, we need Doctor Dimitri to take a look at her and Demetrius. Bring him here. Where is he?"
"He is with Dion and Lady Ruby," King Ford replied and looked at me.
I could not read his mind as he was a dark mage, but I read Luc's mind just fine. All of them were looking at me and I knew exactly why.
It was my son. It was the boy my wife had given birth to.
I breathed out and looked at her. Luc's mind gave me a good idea about what Blue did. I felt myself shaking as I hugged her tighter. I was supposed to protect her, and keep herself away from danger. But I failed. She had to protect herself, the people, the kingdom, and me.
King Ford knew I could read minds. Maybe out of sympathy or just a better understanding, he made Luc go and get Doctor Dimitri. He did not say anything to me the whole time, just stared at Blue and me, as if trying to understand exactly what she did. Blue's brother, however, did not stop talking and kept asking what Blue might have done and why his antidote did not work.
No one said much of a thing as I went to take a bath and Doctor Dimitri was checking Blue. I did not move from my place until he said she was okay and would regain consciousness after getting enough rest. She was exhausted, other than having two broken ribs, a cut on her right upper arm, and a lot of small cuts all over her body. At least, she was safe.
I wanted to take my bath alone, but Luc would not listen.
"If you slip and die here, Blue will kill us all," he said. I gave him a shrug. "Trust me, she is capable. You won't believe how… I still have trouble believing what I have seen with my own eyes."
I washed myself, sitting in the tub while he sat on a stool nearby and kept on talking.
"We got no news of you and she would not say anything. She only said you were sick and needed to be moved somewhere else. After that, she returned to the palace without much of a word and then, we got the news that the Queen was a dark mage and asked for loyalty in the courtroom and… gained it as well.
Then, within a few days, on the battlefield, there were suddenly hundreds of black birds and… a fucking dragon. She was on its back, wearing one of the most scandalous dresses ever, and who knows how she can have that much faith in that piece of fabric? That's not even the point! After that, she asked for all the knights' and mages' loyalty. Of course, there was opposition.
But knights and mages know better than anyone that the more powerful the master is, the better their chance to leave. The duke's knights also pledged their loyalty to her. The battle went on for fifteen more days. Then, the negotiation for peace came from Trouvaille, Lacuna, and Ataraxia."
"Lacuna helped a lot," I said.
"How do you know that?"
"Blue said so," I said.
"When?"
"When I was in a coma," I replied. "I could hear everything."
Luc gave out an annoyed and embarrassed grunt. "No fucking way, dude!"
"You said you missed me," I laughed. "Now, that was cringe."
"It was! Gross!" he said. "… But life was too less noisy without you there. I guess, a little noise doesn't hurt. But anyway, do you know what Blue did today?"
"Blue could not say anything about today."
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"She… I don't know. You need to hear that part from King Ford as he had been there. It was just him there when… she gave birth," he said.
"Only he was there?"
I missed it all. I wanted to be there for her. But in the end, it was King Ford who got to be there. At least, he was someone who could be trusted. Still, I was jealous.
"Not even Doctor Dimitri?" I asked. The thought disturbed me. How did she manage to do it without a doctor's help?
He shook his head. "It was unassisted."
Luc then told me all about what happened. His details were only from his point of view. He did not know exactly what happened after the whole place was covered in darkness. He could not see what happened between her and the dark mages, except for the fact that most of them fell from the sky and died, or had been cut through. He also said there was a giant snake and Blue's dragon went after it.
It killed the snake.
After I came back, I went straight to the room where my wife was. I needed a little help from Luc to walk as my body was quite weak. It would take a while to fully get my strength back.
"Your Highness," Ruby said as soon as we entered the room. She had something wrapped in her arms. I looked closely.
It was a baby. A really small baby. It was my son.
"He has woken up," Luc said.
"He has been crying, but now has calmed down," she said. "Doctor Dimitri said it is fine for him to drink his mother's milk even if she is sick. I held him there."
I watched the baby closely. His eyes… They were black. It was something I feared all the time, but now, it did not truly matter much.
I asked what came to my mind first.
"Can I hold him?"