He locked eyes with her. “I think we should, too, but after you’re clear medically.”
She shook her head and stood. “No. We need to talk now.”
He slowly rose. “Okay, all right. Just sit down first. You’re not…Anda? Anda!”
The world spun around her again and his voice was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.
15
Now
ETHAN
Present Day…
Vallerian Royal Palace, Royal Wing
Apartments of Prince Ethan
Ethan finished situating Anda on the bed. The Royal Physician—who was technically her doctor—and the medical personnel who’d brought her in started rolling the stretcher out, leaving bags of supplies near the door, then left his apartments. Ethan sat down, his hips near hers, and just held her hand. It had been several hours since she’d fainted and lost consciousness, but after an exam, tests, and head scan, he knew she wasn’t in any danger.
He still wished that she would wake up.
He’d already cleaned her up, bandaged her, and she’d gotten a sponge bath at the hospital she’d just come from to wash away the blood and dirt and debris of the night. He, however, was still in the same clothes and needed a shower, yet he didn’t want to leave her. He’d left her three months ago, and that had been a big mistake. He didn’t want her to wake up and not find him there, but he knew logically that he would have to step away at some point and it would still be some time before she woke up.
After spending several more minutes with her, he rose and started unbuttoning his shirt. He was moving towards his bathroom for a shower when he heard knocking on the door to the hidden passageway into his apartments.
His hands fell to his sides and he looked up to the ceiling. The majority of people who had access to the hidden passageways snaking the entire palace walls were his family members and security agents. He had security stationed outside the door to his apartments, so they would likely knock on the front door. Since the threat had been neutralized, there was little reason why security would need to contact him anyway. That left family in the passageway and he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with any of them right now.
Still, he cast one more look at Anda, who remained unmoving and sleeping, and he left the bedroom, closing it behind him. He made his way down the hall, past the other bedrooms, office, small kitchen and dining area, and sitting rooms and made it to the foyer. Whoever was waiting for him could have just entered—only his parents’ apartments required the additional step that someone be let in from the inside—but he supposed he appreciated the consideration.
That was, he appreciated it until he opened the door and saw who was inside.
He let Marcello in and, once he was in the foyer and facing him, Ethan punched him in the face.
Marcello touched his cheek. “Jesus, Ethan.”
Ethan shook out his hand. “You deserved it, and you know it.”
Marcello rolled his jaw. “Yeah, I do.”
Ethan started walking towards the sitting room and heard Marcello follow. He went to the sideboard where the drinks were kept. Though he wanted something stronger—damn but he wanted a real drink—he poured himself and Marcello some water; he wanted to be alert in case Anda needed him, so hard drinks were out of the question for now. He handed Marcello his drink and remained standing.
Marcello took a long gulp and set it on the table in front of him while he took a seat. “I thought you said you’d never punch me.”
“I never said that. I said I wouldn’t defend myself against my own brother if he had a good reason to punch me, but that doesn’t meanIwon’t punchyouwhen you deserve it, too. What the hell, Marcello? What are you doing here?”
“How’s Anda?”
Ethan very nearly rolled his eyes. “Now you give a shit about her? You fired her. She is not your concern anymore.”
“If she’s gonna be my sister-in-law, then she’s always gonna be my concern.”
Ethan’s gut clenched. He wasn’t sure what would happen when Anda woke up, but he couldn’t deny that his mother and sisters accepting her had felt like a weight being partially lifted from his shoulders. Was Marcello accepting her, too? “What if she did become your sister-in-law? What if she did become my wife? Would you really accept her? Would Papa? You know what she wants to do, you know she needs to take down Envision. She needs our support with that. She doesn’t need you firing her and taking away her lifelong mission.”
Marcello nodded in the direction of the bedrooms. “Does she know you’re trying to get her job back? That’s the sort of thing she’d want to do herself, not send a lackey to do it.”
Ethan wouldn’t rise to his brother’s bait and punch him again, even though he wanted to. “Fuck you. No, she doesn’t know that I’m talking to you about this because she’sunconsciousright now. In the last twelve hours, a bomb exploded underneath her feet injuring her, she’s been beaten, she’s been kidnapped, and God knows what else.” An image of her in that filthy room, her dress tattered and torn, her body bruised and beaten, flashed in his mind. “She went through all that and she was still fucking standing at the end of it. Despite all that, you still fucking fired her because you don’t respectmeor trust me enough to realize that I know what I’m fucking doing. You know she’s a great fucking agent. With the hell were you thinking? You know her—”
