Chapter 14 Tony
TONY
Tony regained consciousness slowly. It was like swimming up through murky water toward the elusive surface without knowing how far he still had to swim and in which direction.
A familiar scent guided him, but he couldn't remember where he'd smelled it before, only that it evoked several contradictory emotions. Yearning and anxiety, hope and fear, love and anger.
Tactile sensations came next, like the crisp cotton sheets beneath and over him, the stickiness of the attached pads, the seeping cold where the IV was supplying him with liquids through the needle attached to the back of his hand.
His eyelids felt weighted down, but he forced them open, blinking against the soft glow of overhead lights that seemed far too bright even though they probably weren't. The ceiling was white, or rather off-white, and unremarkable.
He turned his head, and his heart stuttered when he saw her.
Tula sat in a chair beside his bed, her dark hair piled on top of her head in a loose bun, her attention focused on the tablet in her hands. She looked tired and a little worried, but she was still stunningly beautiful and achingly familiar.
For one disorienting moment, time collapsed in on itself, and he was back in the harem on Navuh's island, waking up after a late night of marathon lovemaking to find her reading a book beside him.
They were still together. They were still happy.
Or perhaps only he was because she had never been really happy with him.
Tula had left him for Esag, and she seemed much happier with the immortal than she had ever been while she and Tony had been together.
He'd found happiness, too.
With Shira.
The cute redheaded librarian was so much easier to get along with than Tula. It wasn't the same as what he'd had with Tula. Nothing would ever replace her for him. But it was good.
It was really good.
"Hey," he managed, his voice coming out rough and scratchy, like he'd been gargling sand.
Tula's head snapped up, her blue eyes meeting his. A smile spread across her face—that warm, familiar smile that had captured his heart.
"Hey, yourself." She set down her tablet and rose from the chair, moving to stand beside his bed. Reaching with her hand, she brushed a strand of sweaty hair from his forehead in an achingly familiar gesture.
"Do you know where you are?" she asked.
"The village clinic," he said. "I'm transitioning."
The words felt surreal leaving his mouth. He, Anthony Russo, was becoming immortal. It was the kind of thing that happened in fantasy books, not in real life.
But then again, he'd realized a long time ago that reality was much stranger than fiction and that most humans had no idea about what was really going on behind the stage. He hadn't arrived at this point by accident, and what had happened to him hadn't been a coincidence.
The Fates had guided him so that he would end up in this village of immortals and realize that he was one of them.
Tula walked over to the sink, filled a paper cup with water from the faucet, stuck a bendy straw in it, and returned to the bed.
"Here you go. Drink slowly. It's just so your throat doesn't feel so raw. You're getting all the fluids you need from the IV."
Tony had a feeling that she'd made the same speech many times already, but this time it was different than the brief surfacing he'd made before. This time, he had emerged fully on the other side, and he wasn't going back.
He smiled, feeling a sense of rightness settle over him. "I was correct," he said. "It wasn't a coincidence that brought me to Kaia and then to that damned island. I was meant to end up here."
Tula laughed. "You've been saying that every time you woke up. Well, variations of it anyway."
"How long have I been out?"
"Almost three days. The fever started Tuesday morning, and it's Thursday evening now.
" Tula sat on the edge of his bed, careful not to jostle the IV line attached to his arm.
"You've been waking up from time to time for a few minutes, but you were completely out of it.
You didn't know where you were, and you kept asking if anyone was taking lecture notes for you. "
"Lecture notes?"
"You thought you were still a student at Stanford." Her smile turned fond. "You kept apologizing to someone named Dr. Henderson for not submitting your homework on time."
Tony groaned, letting his head fall back against the pillow. "Stanford was the best time of my life," he admitted. "I actually felt like I was going somewhere back then. Like I had a future."
"You still have it." Tula patted the hand without the IV. "A much longer one now, actually. You could go back to Stanford if you want and pursue a professor's position."
He grimaced. "I didn't have a chance in hell to get a position then, and I don't have one now.
That's why I was so easily lured to the island.
I thought I would carve out a future somewhere else.
I didn't expect that this future would not lead me to academic excellence but to becoming a breeding stud for the harem of a megalomaniac immortal warlord. "
Laughing, she put a hand on her rounded belly. "You did a good job of that."
He felt the familiar sadness descend over him. "Let's hope so. You know what they say about genes. It's like genetic roulette. Junior could come out like my good-for-nothing cousin Vincent."
Tula frowned. "You never told me about that cousin. What's his deal?"
"He's a petty criminal, which is why I was embarrassed to mention him. But you should be aware that Junior might not be as brilliant as his father."
Tony was far from brilliant, but he was smart enough for Lord Navuh to desire his genetic material.
Tula surprised him by leaning over and kissing his cheek.
"I'm sure he will be brilliant. After all, I'm his mother.
" She winked. "Anyway, you might try your luck in a different university, but even if you get a teaching position, you can't stay for long.
Eventually, people will start noticing that you are not aging. "
He would be young forever.
The concept was too vast to wrap his mind around, so Tony filed it away for later contemplation. Right now, he was more focused on the dry scratchiness of his throat, the dull ache in his muscles, and the strange tingling sensation that seemed to run through his entire body.
He was about to ask for more water when the door opened and Shira walked in.
She looked frazzled, her red hair a far cry from the artful curls she usually presented to the public, and her eyes frantic, but the moment they landed on him, her entire face transformed.
"You're awake." Joy and relief flickered across her features.
"He's back," Tula said, rising from the bed. "And it seems that it's for good this time. He knows where he is, and he's coherent."
Shira crossed over to his hospital bed and threw her arms around him, hugging him so tight that his bones made sounds they were not supposed to.
"Careful. I'm not an immortal yet. I'm a delicate human."
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.
"I can imagine." He wrapped his arms around her, breathing in the familiar scent of her shampoo. "I'm sorry for the trouble I caused."
"Don't apologize." She pulled back just enough to look at him, her green eyes bright with unshed tears. "Just don't do it again."
"By definition, transitioning into immortality is a once-in-a-lifetime event."
"You know what I mean."
He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing away a stray tear. "I'm okay," he said. "I made it."
Tula cleared her throat. "I should go. I was just waiting for Shira to get back. We've been taking turns watching over you."
Tony turned to look at her, struck by the strangeness of the situation. His ex-girlfriend and his current one were working together to care for him during his transition. It should have been awkward. It should have been uncomfortable. Instead, it felt right.
"Thank you," he said. "I feel so loved."
He'd intended it as a joke, but he realized that he meant it. Tula still cared for him, and Shira was growing to care for him. He had two wonderful women looking after him, and he was grateful.
Tula smiled, and there was understanding in her eyes, an acknowledgment of the journey they'd both been on since their relationship had ended. "Get some rest," she said. "I'll check in tomorrow."
She gathered her things and slipped out of the room, leaving Tony alone with Shira.
"She's been so much help," Shira said, settling into the chair Tula had vacated. "I don't know how I would have gotten through the past three days without her. I would have been forced to quit my job."
"I'm surprised." Tony shifted on the bed, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"Tula has a good heart, but she's not the nurturing type.
She's the kind of person who will jump into a fire to save a baby but then quickly pass it to someone else to take care of.
I hope she will do better with our son."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Shira patted her curls, trying to put them in some semblance of a hairdo. "But she'll be fine. Motherhood is instinctive, or so I hear." She reached for his hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Strange. It's like wearing a suit that was altered while I was sleeping. How are you holding up?"
"Me?" Shira chuckled. "I'm fine. I'm not the one who's been unconscious for nearly three days, running a fever hot enough to fry eggs on my forehead."
"That's not an answer."
She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I was terrified," she admitted. "I know that the transition is supposed to be safe for a healthy guy like you, and Julian was monitoring everything, but watching you lie there, burning up, and not knowing if you were going to wake up okay…" She shook her head.
"You were afraid that I wouldn't wake up?"