Last Voyages

Chapter 25

"A certain darkness is needed to see the stars." -Both

Harry's POV:

The ride to the palace was full of tension and awkward silence. Since I was riding with Bella's mother, the amount of uncomfortable feelings swirling inside my body nearly overwhelmed me to the point I asked to ride with someone else.

Of course I didn't, but the thought crossed my mind several different times during the ride up there. The only thing keeping me centered was looking at Bella's body. She still wasn't moving, and her face was getting paler by the minute, but the quick fix Queen Phillipa did on her stomach probably bought her some time.

The one thing I dreaded more than riding with Bella's mother was seeing Layla and trying to describe to her why her mother was nearly dead.

For some reason, the thought of that little girl blaming me and saying she hated me for doing this to her mother absolutely terrified me. I didn't want Layla to hate me...I wanted...her to love me. If that was even possible.

But the time for that confrontation was upon me as the carriages pulled past the palace gates and towards the front doors. With a deep sigh, I opened up the carriage as it slowed to a stop, jumping out and prepared to help Bella's mother get down. The driver got down and pulled out her wheelchair, and together we carefully lifted her from the carriage and set her down into the wheelchair. 

"Thank you." she said kindly to both of us, which shocked me, before wheeling away to the doors.

I turned back around and lifted Bella, carrying her in my arms before walking to the door, seeing Queen Phillipa and Layla waiting for us by the gates. As soon as Layla caught sight of Bella, her eyes widened in shock and her face was pale.

"What happened to Momma?" she asks, her voice quivering slightly and I swallowed hard, about to answer when Phillipa put a hand on her shoulder. "We need to get inside first. Your mother needs to see Dr. Gregory." she says calmly and Layla slumps down, staring at me with her big green eyes and I had to look away from her, disappointment filling my body at the sight of her sadness.

When we got inside, Dr. Gregory met us nearly immediately, a worried look on his face as he saw Bella's unconscious form in my arms. "Bring her in here, Harry." he says and I nod, following him into his office before laying her down on the operation table. 

"I am sorry, but you do need to leave. Leave her to me, Harry. I will deliver her to you safely." he says and I numbly nod, turning around and exiting his room, shutting the door behind me as I walked back to the group, my heart sinking as Layla ran up to me.

"What happened?!" she demands and I let out a sigh, scratching the back of my head. "Look, I don't know how much you'll really understand...but she got hurt, pretty badly at that." I mutter, the strong desire to just walk away and avoid any conversation growing stronger with every second that ticked by.

"I could tell that much. Daddy, what happened?" she asks and I stiffen, the word 'Daddy' coming from her lips sounding so foreign to me, but so natural to her. I turn my head to her slowly, seeing her pouting at me, and a deep sigh fell from my lips as I bent down so I was eye-level with my daughter.

"We were ambushed by some very bad people. They surprised me, and were going to kill me, but Mommy stepped in front of me and took the hurt that was supposed to be mine." I say, trying to keep it simple yet to the point for her. I didn't need her knowing about the rogues or how they terrorized us before.

"Mommy saved you?" Layla asks and a sad smile came to my face. "She did." I reply and Layla looks sad, but after a moment a bright smile appears on her lips. "See? I knew you still loved each other." she says and my eyes widen slightly, my lips parting as the instant urge to argue came to my throat, but I didn't let it escape my mouth.