Page 194 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“Before I get started, do you want to sit up so we can face each other or do you want me to continue to hold you?” he asks. “Blink once for yes and two for no. Or move your eyes once for yes and two for no.”

I chuckle and all I want to do is cup his face and tell him how cute he is right now. Does he realize that what he said makes no sense? How am I supposed to say yes or no to a question that I need to pick one or the other?

“Why are you laughing?” he asks and then his eyes go wide. “Shit. Once for the first option and two for the second option. I don’t want you to talk too much and hurt yourself. Maybe I should get the doctor first so he can look over you.”

“Kieran.” I say his name gently.

“Shhh, lets get the doctor first. I’m not trying to get out of telling you but I want to make sure that you are okay before we do anything. I need to make sure you are okay.” He looks into my eyes. “Alaric!”

“Yes, High Lord?” Alaric replies as he walks into the room. “Oh, she opened her eyes.”

“Can you check over her to make sure she is alright?” Kieran asks.

“Right away. Can you please lay her back down and I’ll look her over,” Alaric says.

Kieran puts me down and Alaric starts looking over everything.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asks and then looks at Kieran. “Can she talk? How have you been communicating?”

“Tired,” I mumble weakly before Kieran can say anything.

Alaric’s head snaps in my direction, eyes huge. “Oh, I didn’t know you were talking. That will make things easier.”

“She goes into a coughing fit whenever she talks a lot,” Kieran says. “I’ve given her some water and told her not to talk much.”

“She has been out for three days and before that she wasn’t well hydrated, and as much as I’ve given her fluids through IV, her throat hasn’t gotten anything,” Alaric says. “She just needs to slowly talk again and continue to drink to soothe her muscles.”

“And there is nothing else wrong with her?” Kieran asks. “Everything is okay?”

“She is weak from getting stabbed, dying, and coming back to life. It’s going to take a while for her to regain her strength, but if she eats and gets enough rest, she should be able to regain strength fairly quickly,” Alaric explains. “But other than that, her wound has healed from your blood but also you healing her.”

My eyes connect with Kieran’s. “You healed me?”

He nods. “Your wound was still bleeding and you had already lost a lot of blood. When I realized the curse had been broken, it was the first thing I did.”

“And I didn’t get to witness it?” I push my bottom lip out.

Kieran has talked about it so many times and I wanted to be able to witness it with my own eyes. I wanted to be part of it.

He chuckles. “Of course you would be disappointed that you weren’t able to see it. Hopefully you never get hurt again so you won’t be able to witness it.”

“Can I get a paper cut?” I ask before going into a coughing fit.

Alaric holds the glass up to my lips and I take several sips of water.

“Try not to talk as much,” he tells me again. “I know you are regaining your strength ever so slowly and Kieran is here, but you don’t want to damage any of your vocal cords.”

Kieran could just heal me if something like that happens. Not that I want to get hurt, but now I don’t have to worry as much about how I’m going to heal because the curse is broken.

“You are not going to purposefully hurt yourself so you can watch me heal you.” Kieran walks over to me and cups my face. “Do you understand? We are not going to intentionally harm ourselves, so you can be part of the process and watch me heal you. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I mumble and close my eyes. “I never was going to do it. I just—” I stop talking and sigh.

“Everything is going to be okay,” he says. “I just needed to say that in case you were thinking it. I didn’t want you to harm yourself.”

“I promise I won’t.” I open my eyes and look at him.

“Good.” He kisses my forehead.