Page 89 of Inked in Devotion

“We’re having the tea, the prescription, and the homeopathic remedy tested. I don’t want to speculate anymore or give you unsubstantiated information until we get the lab report.”

Her eyes looked everywhere as if she were trying to piece together memories with the information I gave her.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. I could see a conclusion forming on her face. The same conclusion I had about that bitch Marena.

“Were you on anything else?” I asked.

She could only shake her head.

“We’ll sort this out, okay?” I stroked her forehead. I wanted to apologize directly, but Chloe was just waking up from sedation. The unknown substance clearly tampered with her cognitive abilities and I didn’t want her brain to be processing more.

My apology could wait.

“Rest. We should have results soon.”

Chapter

Twenty

Chloe

“Why won’t you let me help you, dammit!”

A super-aggravated bratva enforcer was glaring at me from the bathroom door. Dr. Wyeth was on her way with the results of the blood test and preliminary findings of the “substances” I supposedly ingested. I wanted to freshen up from that cottony taste in my mouth. The effects of the sedative had worn off; I was less groggy. I was oddly detached from what happened. Unlike the times when Kolya caught me staring into space, I remembered bits and pieces of what happened last night.

But I didn’t feel like that person. My brain didn’t feel like it was exploding with thoughts…or voices. Still, fear festered underneath. I spat out the mouthwash, splashed water on my face, and ran a brush through my hair.

My face was pale, and my eyes seemed bigger. I wondered if my pupils had been dilated yesterday. But I felt a million times better today.

Yesterday, I woke up with a sense of hopelessness I didn’t understand. Anxiety and doubts. Huge doubts about raising Sebastian plagued my conscience.

Today, I would reserve that judgment. I felt more in control. Regardless of whether I trusted Theo, I had a full recollection of my conversation with Jeremiah. I shuffled back into the room.

I heard Kolya’s angry sigh.

I didn’t let him touch me. I wasn’t mad at him for what he said to me in the heat of the moment. If our situations were reversed, I might have ranted at him the same way. Maybe even worse.

No, it was the fact that he was promised to someone else. So, okay. I came to his room. I owned that mistake. But he didn’t get to call me baby or that cute Russian nickname he used for me as if nothing had changed or the past week we were living apart didn’t happen.

“I’m fine. I’m not groggy anymore.”

Another frustrated sigh.

He hovered behind me as I climbed back into bed. An attendant came in earlier with a breakfast of toast and eggs. I requested coffee, and the pot just arrived.

“You should go home,” I informed Kolya. “Send Dora over.”

“She’s handling a crisis at the shelter,” he responded.

And I knew Sebastian was with Sorcha, and that appeased me a bit. Still, I wanted to hold my boy. But until I was sure I was psychologically and physically capable of handling the demands of motherhood and wasn’t a danger to my son, I could be patient and logical. I vaguely remembered Kolya explaining about Marena. Somehow, it was connected with another secretive organization related to his betrothed.

“Clearly, if Marena was sent by the organization that wants you to marry one of their own⁠—”

“Chloe, I told you, there’s no arranged marriage planned with any organization. Dimitri was messing with me.”

“Well, then, what is it?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

He regarded me for a few seconds. “I can’t discuss it here.”