When The Stars Align

chapter seventeen | the worst is yet to come

VICTORIA IS STROKING my hair when I wake up. She gives me a small, weak smile, kissing my forehead. I notice dark circles around her eyes, which were red and puffy from tears. Her hand went along my arm, until she found my hand. It feels awkward moving it, and then I know why. Ansen must've broken my wrist - it was bandaged now.

It was dark outside. The lights in my hospital room was dimmed. The smell of rubbing alcohol was strong. Lysander was curled up into a ball on a chair, in an uncomfortable sleep. I don't remember much after Ansen and Damien left me with the sword in my abdomen, with me trying to hide the colour of my blood from everyone. I faintly remember Dr. Maxwell and the paramedics.

And then it all turned black.

"Tori...?" My voice was hoarse. I tried to lift my head, but the world began to spin. With each movement, I felt the tubes attached to my body. My brain clicked that the beeping was from a heartbeat monitor, and not a weird ticking clock.

"Shh..." Her hands move back to my hair. "You're okay, Vera, we're right here. The doctors say that it missed anything important. You're going to be okay."

Family. She was my family. Lysander was my family. The same blood ran though our veins, no matter what colour it was. I know that blood doesn't make family, and that's what I tried to convince myself for the last ten years with Ansen, Damien and the rest of the crew.

Family. Victoria was family. Not because of blood, but because she cared. Because despite everything, she's still the first person I wake up and see when I'm sick or injured.

"Go sleep," I tell her. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

She took in a few breaths, just staring at my body, specifically where I was stabbed. "That night when you went missing... I was in charge of you. And I lost you. I was supposed to keep you safe, and you come back to me ten years later, in worse condition then ever. And I can't even take care of you when you're right next to me." There are tears in her eyes.

I wanted to argue. My disappearance wasn't her fault. But I didn't have the strength to open my mouth again. Instead, her tears made me tear up. And then we were just two girls crying while holding each other's hand.

"I'll go to sleep if you go back to sleep," she whispered. "I'm going to be here in the morning, okay?"

I nodded, already drifting into a sleep. I didn't expect anything else from her, out of all people.

Family. She was family.

I fell asleep holding her hand. It was the only comfort I had from the nightmares I couldn't remember in the morning.

✶

I AM NOT DISCHARGED from the hospital, but despite the constant protests from my siblings, doctors, Atticus and the king, I am out and about, moving slowly so I don't further injure myself.

It's a mistake. I realise it's a mistake. But I don't reveal that to the three men following me. I had to fill them in - it's been long enough. I didn't realise how big of a threat everyone was under.

We needed to get those amulets. We needed to find them, first.

"Vera." Lysander moves up so he's beside me. "Vera, you have to go to bed. You're lacking in fluids in your body, not to mention one of those fluids are blood. Whatever you want to tell us, it can wait."

I shook my head. "It can't, Lys. I've been waiting for the right time, and I'm positive that time has passed. Because we're all in danger, Lys."

"What type of danger?" Atticus asked, walking on the other side of me. In the day since I've been passed out, he's learned to walk without his crutch, and his limp is almost gone too. "What did the dude want from you at JAU?"