A Dove's Tale

Chapter 92

"Ivetta. Hey, Ivetta. Wake up."

Luke's voice broke through the fog of sleep for the third time that evening. I lifted my face from my arm and sat up straight, covering my yawn with my hand. The textbook on the table was still open to the same page as the last time Luke woke me up.

"Sorry," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Are ya getting enough sleep?" he asked. I felt the pressure of his leaf-green eyes on me, and I turned to him with a smile.

"Clavis and Nokto had me on my feet too long, I guess," I said lightly. "I just don't have any stamina yet."

That was a lie. I'd been out of bed for a week now, and although my stamina still wasn't where it used to be, being on my feet for an hour without rest wasn't enough to make me this tired. And the look on Luke's face said he didn't believe me.

"Ya sure that's all?"

"I'm sure," I said, meeting his eyes directly as I continued the lie. "Thanks for studying with me, but I'd better call it a night."

My chair scraped across the floor as I pushed it back and stood up. This little study nook in the library - a table and a few chairs hidden from the rest of the room by bookcases - had appeared after Chevalier found me fighting sleep while studying on a sofa here in the library one evening. It was harder to fall asleep sitting on a hard wooden chair, but not impossible. Especially since the nightmares were back.

"Want me to walk with ya?" Luke asked, another scrape signifying him pushing his chair back.

"No, thanks. I'm just going back to my room. See you in the morning."

"Get some sleep."

"I will," I said, flashing him another smile.

The two guards standing outside the library fell into step behind me when I left. They were a fixture in my life now, following me everywhere I went. Theresa knew most of them. The head of my guard detail was Julius, one of Leon's knights and, surprisingly, not one of Theresa's ex-lovers. He oversaw the dozen guards assigned to me, and, although all of them rotated out regularly, he was the one I saw most frequently. I couldn't remember if he was on duty tonight, and I didn't look over my shoulder to check. The nightmares were getting worse as the doctor tapered me off of my pain medicine. I just hoped I wasn't talking in my sleep loud enough for the guards to hear through my door.

"Just in time," Theresa said when I returned to my room. "I have a date."

"Where's the doctor?" I asked, taking my position behind the dressing screen for her to undo the complicated fastenings at the back of my dress. I couldn't manage them myself with my new wardrobe. Part of being a princess was, apparently, discomfort.

"He said you're not getting any medicine tonight, remember? When he was here last night?"

I gasped in relief when the corset sprang free. Theresa laughed and tossed it aside.

"It's not that bad," she chided me.

"You try wearing one," I retorted.

"Okay, okay. Let me get these pins out of your hair, and then I'll get out of your hair. You look tired."

"I was studying for a test tomorrow," I said, collapsing into the chair in front of my vanity while she undid my hair. My plain white chemise and drawers didn't hide the scars on my arms and legs the way my dress had. I dropped my gaze to the jar where Theresa was dropping the hair pins.

"With Chevalier?" she asked teasingly.

"No, not with Chevalier," I replied wearily. "He had to work late. Luke was my study partner."