Meg nodded and braced herself. A large hand closed around her uninjured one and she glanced over to see Theo holding her. He gave a half smile. “It’ll be okay.”
“Of course it’ll be okay. I’m the best doctor in the southern half of this country.” She snapped her fingers at Galen without looking over. “I need saline. Top drawer.”
He looked like he wanted to snarl some choice words, but he retrieved the bottle of saline and handed it to her. Alexis pulled out a pair of large tweezers and raised a dark eyebrow. “Will you hold still or do you need assistance?”
Do I need someone to hold me down?
Meg cleared her throat. “I’m fine.”
“Have it your way.” She doused Meg’s arm with saline, clearing away the dried blood, and then did it again. “Try not to scream in my ear.” And then she probed deeper into the wound.
Meg had to look away. Pain made the room around her hazy and too bright, and her stomach tried to rebel. She clamped her teeth together to contain the wounded animal sounds her tongue wanted to make. Instead, she held tightly to Theo’s hand, as if gripping him until his bones ground together would actually lessenherpain.
On and on it went as Alexis pulled three separate slivers of glass from the wound. Several more minutes and she pronounced herself satisfied. “It’s not wide enough to require stitches if you aren’t an idiot.” She dumped the bloody gloves into the trash, grabbed a new pair, and clean bandages. Through the whole process, her expression hadn’t changed. She could have been sitting down to tea or a book club or a conversation she was only mildly interested in.
She stared hard at Meg. “Though you’re obviously dating these two fools, so that makes you an idiot if I’ve ever seen one. Maybe stitches would be a better choice. .”
The pieces clicked into place. She looked at Alexis’s blue eyes and then over to Theo’s. “She’s your aunt.”
Theo’s expression went dark. “She’s a fucking traitor.”
“If I was a traitor, boy, I would have called that uncle of yours instead of playing doctor with your girlfriend.” She put a trio of butterfly bandages over the cut and then a pad of gauze over that. “How is Phillip these days?”
“As treacherous as always.”
“I assumed as much.” A roll of bright pink bandages went over the gauze, row after row of it until it was completely covered. Alexis sat back. “This needs to stay on at least a week. The bandage is waterproof, so you can shower as soon as you can stand without toppling over. No baths for a week or so. Ifthe pain gets worse instead of better or you start showing signs of infection, either come back or get to a hospital. After a week, change the bandages but don’t mess with the butterfly bandages until it’s healed shut.”
“Okay.”
She looked over Meg at Theo. “He’s not going to stop.”
“I’m aware.”
“I told my sister not to run off with that dickhead from America, and look where that ended up. Then she pairs up with another dickhead from Thalania.” Alexis laughed bitterly and pointed at Meg. “Be smarter than Mary was, girl. Nothing good comes from the Thalanian royal line. It’s all heartbreak and backstabbing and bullshit. Get out while you still can.”
Meg swallowed hard. “I’ll take it under consideration.”
“You won’t, just like she didn’t.” Alexis pushed to her feet. “You two might as well get cleaned up and go take care of whatever you need to before you leave the country.”
Theo didn’t move. “What makes you think we have things to take care of before we leave the country?”
Alexis gave a mirthless smile. “Because my dear son told me what you’ve had him looking into.” She shook her head. “You should have just asked me. I have copies of all the family records.”
“If I’d asked, you would have said no.”
She shrugged a single shoulder. “Perhaps. I suppose we’ll never know.” Alexis turned and walked out of the room.
Galen pushed away from his spot on the wall. “I’ll be back in an hour. If you can convince her to give you a copy, great. If not, you will damn well wait for me to get back before you go after those records. They know what you want. They’ll be waiting for you.”
A muscle in Theo’s jaw jumped, but he nodded. “Be safe.”
“I’ll do my best.” And then he was gone, leaving them alone.
Theo leaned forward and studied her face. “You need rest.”
The only thing Meg wanted in that moment was to curl up and sleep, but it wasn’t a luxury they had. She started to rub her eyes and realized she was covered in blood. “We both need a shower. We look like victims in?—”
“An attack designed to look like a car accident?”
