A Dove's Tale

Chapter 76

The pain was still there when I woke up, but everything else was different. I was in a bed, a warm, comfortable bed, in a clean, soft nightgown. There wasn't any dried blood crusting my hair to my skin, and I couldn't detect a trace of damp, mustiness, blood, or any other foul odors at all. Just antiseptic and medicine, strangely comforting smells that reminded me of Mother. With my eyes closed, I could almost believe this was the most wonderful dream.

Except for the ever-present pain. It tainted all the pleasant sensations with a constant stabbing, throbbing, aching, and burning that immobilized me. Or maybe that was the many layers of cloth wrapped around my limbs, thicker in areas like my wrists, keeping me from even bending my joints.

Prince Chevalier hadn't been a dream, had he? He'd really rescued me, right? This wasn't just another sick way they'd found to torture me? Or were they just fixing me up enough to keep me alive a little longer?

Someone was touching my arm. I opened my eyes, and a face hovered above me - a face I didn't recognize. An older man, heavily wrinkled, gray hair, bushy eyebrows and mustache, gray eyes, glasses.

"Well, look who's finally awake," he said, his wrinkled face creasing into a smile.

The anxiety that had been building within me erupted into a full-blown panic. I sat bolt upright, ready to run, but pain shot through me and I cried out, temporarily blinded by its intensity. The stranger was still speaking, and now I felt his hand on my shoulder, pushing me back down.

"It's okay, no need to be afraid."

His voice was kind, and the pain was unbearable, but still I struggled. I didn't recognize him. I couldn't trust him. It could be a trick; he could be just as cruel as the others.

Why had Prince Chevalier left me?

"Ivetta."

His voice answered the cry of my heart, flooding me with relief even before I saw his face. He appeared on my other side, and I immediately stopped fighting. I looked up into his crystal blue eyes, panting for breath, as he gently brushed the hair out of my face.

He was here. He was really here. It really was over.

"He's the doctor, Ivetta. You're safe."

I stared up at Prince Chevalier, his comforting words washing over me and washing the fear away. I'd begged him to stay, and he had.

This was better than a dream.

I felt the doctor's touch on my other side again, and I flinched, but I couldn't look away from Prince Chevalier.

"Don't mind me, Miss Ivetta. All I'm doing is changing your bandages," the doctor said reassuringly. "You've been through quite an ordeal. It's really a miracle you're alive. The blood loss alone should have killed you, and you have extensive injuries that will take some time to heal, including many broken bones and lacerations. I'll have to insist that you stay in bed and rest until you've fully recovered."

He wouldn't get an argument from me. Even the bed shifting as Prince Chevalier sat next to me made me wince. I closed my eyes, already exhausted after that struggle, and Prince Chevalier took my hand while the doctor worked. Had he ever held my hand before? I couldn't remember, and it didn't matter. He was holding it now, his touch confirming the reality of his presence.

"There, all done. How's your pain?"

I opened my eyes again and looked up at the doctor. Now that I had calmed down, I could see he was just a sweet old man. A sweet old man who had brought me back from the brink of death and didn't deserve my initial reaction to him. I wished I could tell him the pain wasn't bad, that he'd resolved it just by changing my bandages, but I knew neither he nor Prince Chevalier would accept anything other than the truth.