The Prince's Choice (Book 3)

Chapter 23

I avoided all of my meetings for the day. Lady Kingsley had been a big encouragement but I still wasn't up for going into a room full of advisors who were against me. Especially after what had taken place the night before.

I felt confused. I had dealt with situation but I still feel like something was wrong.
My maids worried over me. When I came back to my rooms from my encounter with Lady Kingsley, they asked if I was okay and how lunch went and if I had visited Daxton or not. Tiredly, I answered all of their questions before James burst into the room demanding to know why I wasn't at one of the meetings.

"I didn't realize you were the boss of me," I snapped, rubbing tiredly at my forehead.

James rolled his eyes. "I'm not the boss of you, Miss Queen Regent, but you need to show up to meetings involving your country.

I heaved a sigh. "I can't deal with that right now."

"You can't deal with that right now?" he raised his eyebrows. "So, you're going to let a bunch of pompous busy-bodies run your country?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, irritated that he didn't understand why I didn't want to go.

"No, I plan to go to my meetings tomorrow. But, James, I don't think I can face all of those advisors right now."

James furrowed his brow but then realization dawned on his face. "I'm sorry. I can't believe I forgot. There's just a lot going on right now."

I shook my head in dismissal. "It's fine. But I'm still shaken. I feel like I need to take a thousand bathes just to get the thought of his touch off of me.

He was so close..." I took a shuddering breath. "James, no one else was there. No one else was close. And no one would have heard me scream. If I had lost my composure, he could have done whatever he wanted."

James grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. "I'll beat his a-"

"Language," I interrupted.

"I'll stop him before that happens again. And he's in the dungeon now. So there isn't anything to worry about."

"I know, but that isn't going to stop me from having nightmares. Or looking over my shoulder. Or feeling like it could happen again at any second."

Pulling away, James said, "Rest. Take the rest of the afternoon and rest and regroup."
I nodded and he left. Taking a breath, I stole away into the library again and continuing the book I was reading. I read until my maids ushered me out of the library and into the bathroom to get ready for dinner.

They were halfway done with my hair and makeup when we heard the door to our room slam open.

Panic coursed through my system-what could have happened now. Adam escaped and was coming for me. Genesis was out and was going to finish what she started-killing Daxton in the process.

"Camry!" Sabrina's voice yelled from inside my room.

Giving my maids a worried look, I quickly stood up from where I was sitting, taking care not to ruin my half-done hair and walked through the bathroom door to my room. Sabrina looked frazzled. Her hair was thrown up into a misshapen ponytail, her breathing wild, and her shirt askew.

"What's the problem?" I asked, scared for her to tell him.

And then she said the thing that made my heart stop and a million possibilities pop into my head. "Daxton."

Fear.

He was dead. He was in pain. They were losing him. He had to have emergency surgery. Something was wrong.

All of those things popped into my head and I froze. He couldn't die now. There was so much I needed to tell him. There was so much we still needed to do.

As if reading the change in my mood, Sabrina shook her head. "Camry, no. He isn't dying. You just-you need to-. Look, he's waking up. You need to come quick."

Everything seemed to blur and move and slow motion. I don't remember how I got from my room to the hospital wing. One second, I was there staring at Sabrina and the next I was running barefoot into the hospital wing with wild eyes.

Where was he?

My heart-oh, I was pretty sure I was having a heart attack with how fast it was beating. My hands trembled at my sides as I threw open the door to his room.

Chaos. Doctors, nurses, and technicians alike huddled around his bed, their voices overlapping, making it hard for me to think.

Steps faltering, I froze.

That couldn't be good, right? If he was okay, they would have left him alone. If he was okay, there wouldn't be as many people here.

Before I could think anything else, a doctor noticed me and made her way to me. "He's functioning but-."

Just before she could finish her sentence, another doctor came up, interrupting her. "We don't know how it happened-."

As if all the doctors realized I was in the room, they moved from where they were huddled around Daxton's bed, suffocating me instead.

"We haven't done anything to-."

"His lungs are-."

Voices overlapped each other and I felt like my brain was going to explode. I didn't know where to focus, who to listen to, who to believe. Medical jargon was thrown at me as if I understood it.

Frustrated, I said, "Stop."

Their voices immediately quieted down, looking at me warily. I looked at the ones closest to me in the eye, my heart pounding in my chest. "We can discuss this later. As of right now, I would like to see my fiance."

With wide eyes, they nodded their understanding. I took a step forward and they parted, backing away from me.
Brilliant blue eyes met mine

Shakily, I lifted a hand and pressed it to mouth.
I had dreamt many times of this moment. Of Daxton finally waking up and being okay. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not.
I didn't want it to be a dream.

But then he said, "Camry."

And I shattered.

I hesitantly walked over to his bed, tears welling in my eyes to the point I couldn't see. I was faintly aware of someone ordering all the doctors out.

"Camry." His voice was cracked and broken, but it was his voice. He was using it. He was speaking.

My knees wobbled and I, thankfully, collapsed in a chair behind me. "You're alive," I sobbed.
He smiled sadly at me, tears filling his eyes as well. "I am, love."

"You're okay."

"I am okay. As are you." He held out his hand, which I marveled at. He was moving. It had been forever since I'd seen him move. But here he was, moving with not a care in the world.
I placed my hand in his, holding on for dear life, scared if I let him go, he'd fall back asleep and out of my life.

Pulling my chair closer to his bed, I laid my head on his bed, quietly sobbing. Groaning a bit, Daxton slowly sat up in bed and tugged on my arm. I looked up at him with furrowed brows.

"Come here, love," he opened his arms.

With a shuddering sob, I climbed into the hospital bed with him. His hands wove in and out of my half-done hair. "You need to tell me everything that happened. Tell me everything I missed. Because I'm quite sure I've missed a lot."

I nodded my head, wanting to tell him-wanting to tell him everything. But for the moment, I let myself be held in his arms.