Areana's breath caught. "So, he knew where he was?"
"He's smart," Bridget said matter-of-factly. "He figured it out almost immediately. He knew that he'd been captured by the clan."
Of course he did. Navuh was brilliant and incredibly astute. It was part of what made him so dangerous.
Bridget smiled. "He tried to use compulsion on me. It was almost cute how surprised he looked when it didn't work. I showed him the earpiece, and he took it remarkably well, all things considered, immediately changing his tone and saying please instead of issuing demands."
That was because he had already been planning how to work around it. He was always planning. Always thinking multiple steps ahead.
"Did he panic when he realized that he couldn't move?"
Bridget nodded. "I told him that it would take four to six weeks before he could walk with assistance. Two to three months for anything approaching full mobility." The physician met Areana's eyes. "He's going to need a lot of physical therapy. And patience. Something I suspect he doesn't have in abundance."
That wasn't true. Planning things decades ahead, acquiring compromised assets, and growing plants in key positions around the various governments of the world all required a lot of patience. But that didn't translate to him having patience with the small things.
"Can I go in?" Areana asked.
"Of course." Bridget pulled out her phone and activated the door mechanism with a click on the screen.
The door to the patient room swung open with a hiss.
Areana stepped through, and the sight of Navuh lying motionless in the hospital bed speared a pang of guilt through her.
He looked so different from the powerful, commanding presence she'd known for millennia. So vulnerable. Bandages covered his head where his skull had fractured. His arms lay at his sides, connected to IV lines and monitors. At least the breathing tube had been removed, thank the merciful Fates, and he was breathing on his own now.
She walked over to the bed and leaned over him carefully, brushing her lips against his forehead through the bandage.
His skin was warm. He was alive. He was healing.
He didn't wake.
Areana sat on the chair beside Navuh's bed, the same chair she'd occupied almost constantly since their arrival. She'd sat here while he was unconscious, holding his hand and talking to him even though he couldn't hear her.
She'd told him about reuniting with Annani and meeting their sons and their little grandson and about discovering that she had half-siblings she'd never known existed.
She'd told him she loved him, and about the cozy apartment waiting for them in the underground, without mentioning that it was in the dungeon, only that they'd be together, and that was what mattered.
Areana wasn't looking forward to living underground again, to giving up the windows and natural light she'd enjoyed in the penthouse. But she'd do it gladly to be with Navuh.
The question was whether he would want her there once he remembered how he had gotten into this mess.
Areana's chest constricted with a wave of panic, but she forced it down, refusing to let it overwhelm her.
Today was a good day. Her mate was alive. He was healing. He was no longer in danger of dying.
She took his hand in hers. "I'm right here, and I want you to know that I'm not leaving. No matter what you say when you wake up, no matter how angry you are at me, I'm not going anywhere."
2
TULA
Tula wrapped her fingers around a cup of herbal tea that had gone lukewarm while she waited for Tony. She stared at the liquid, her mind circling anxiously around the appointment she had in less than an hour.
Her first ultrasound.
She didn't really know what to expect. She'd seen how it was done in movies, but that was fiction. Would she really be able to see the baby growing inside her? Would Doctor Julian be able to determine if it was a boy or a girl? Did she want to know?
Tony was supposed to be here already.
