Silence fell between the two of them.
George entered looking more stressed than Elise had ever seen him, though she hadn’t been around him much.
“Your Majesties.” He bowed slightly from the waist then looked between them as though he wasn’t sure which one of them he should report to. “The prince is on stand-by, though he won’t depart the States unless it becomes necessary.”
Prince? Probably Frederick’s younger brother, the older of the twins, who would be his stand in if anything were to go wrong - and his heir if anything went very, very wrong.
Unless she had a child in the next nine months.
Possible, but unlikely.
“Thank you, George.” The Queen Mother answered for both of them.
Before anyone could say anything else, the doctor appeared, pulling his cap off. “Your Majesties, everything went well. The king is resting. You should be able to see him shortly.”
Elise’s shoulders slumped in relief. He was going to be okay.
18
Being taken from the medical wing to his suite in a wheelchair might have been the most humiliating thing to happen to Frederick in quite some time.
Fortunately, it was late enough that most of the staff had gone for the evening. He didn’t see anyone unexpected as they wheeled their way to the elevator closest to the residential portion of the building.
But they didn’t take him to the Monarch’s Suite.
His mind wasn’t processing things quickly enough for him to ask about it before they entered another suite.
George pushed the chair straight to the bedroom, where the head of the bed had already been raised a fair bit. “The queen thought you might like to be in a different room for your recovery. This one is near the water. You’ll be able to hear the waves if you want. It’s not the same as being on the yacht, but it’s the closest we can do for now.”
Frederick managed to stand enough to move himself to the bed, grateful he’d already changed into comfortable clothes. His aide helped him find a comfortable position and pulled the covers over him. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure, sir. The queen will be here shortly to sit with you. I’ll be in the other room if you need anything before then.” He bowed again. “Get some rest, sir.”
The only thing Frederick could manage was to close his eyes. The drugs would mess with him for a couple of days. Not to the point that he couldn’t make competent decisions if needed, but enough that he’d likely sleep most of the next few days. Rest was the best way to heal, or so the doctor told him.
When he woke, the room had become dark.
“Hey.”
Frederick turned his head to see Elise sitting in a chair that had been pulled close to his side of the bed. She closed the cover of her ereader.
“How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?” She laid a hand on his forehead. “You don’t feel warm anymore.”
“That’s good.” He struggled to shift to a different position, wincing as he did so.
“It’s time for you to take some pain meds. The doctor said to make sure you stay on top of them. If you wait until you’re in pain, it’s too late.” She helped him into a sitting position, handing him the medication and a glass of milk.
He didn’t normally drink very much milk, but he seemed to remember his doctor saying something about food or milk with the pain medications.
Once he’d had enough, Frederick thanked Elise. He was grateful she helped him lower back down because it wouldn’t put too much strain on his abdominal muscles.
“Thank you.” He closed his eyes again and wondered if he’d fall right back asleep. “I know I spoke with the doctor, but I don’t fully remember what he said.”
“Everything went perfectly. You’ll need to take it easy for several days and won’t be fully back to normal for a few weeks.”She tucked him back under the covers much like had been done when he was a child.
The next time he woke, Frederick more alert than he had been the first time.
He also realized he wasn’t in bed alone.
