35. Ivy
Chapter 35
Ivy
“Concussions can make you feel really sick.” The nurse gives Mom and me a sympathetic smile. “If you feel any nausea or discomfort, please let us know.”
“Thank you. I will,” I answer.
“Get some rest. You’re going to need it. I’ll come back to check on you later.”
I nod and instantly regret it. My head still feels like it’s going to fall off. I’ve been given mild painkillers but all they did was take the edge off.
It’s better to feel the pain than being dead. Nothing can describe the terror I felt when I saw that gun and heard the bullets flying. I didn’t see the shooter but I guessed it was someone to do with the scar-faced man.
That was the second time in my life I’d been in danger. This time Thorne saved me.
Mom and I watch the nurse leave.
I gaze out the door when she walks through it, hoping I can catch a glimpse of Thorne and Levgen.
Levgen went outside to speak to Thorne before the nurse came in. He hasn’t been gone long, but it feels like forever.
Visiting hours will be over soon. Thorne has been with me the whole time but I hope to see him again. And I want to know what Levgen said to him.
I told my parents everything, so all the secrets are laid out on the table.
The door swings shut and I look back at my mother.
I know she’s mad at me. Of course she would be. I did everything she told me not to do. I awakened an assassin, put myself and our family in serious danger by exposing our secret, and I lied. I lied terribly.
I’m mad at myself, and I’m also embarrassed that Mom got the confirmation that Thorne is my boyfriend when she walked in on us kissing. As if things weren’t bad enough.
I saw the way she looked at his tattoos. Especially the dragon on his neck. Then there were the ones all over his left arm. The arm that got grazed by a bullet.
She’s used to the two little Knight tattoos Levgen has on the underside of his wrist, but to her, Thorne must have looked like the rebel.
My mother is not showing her true emotions only because I’m lying in a hospital bed. She’s glad I didn’t die.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble, keeping my gaze on her.
She’s looking at me, too, her eyes filled with so many emotions it hurts me. I see worry, terror, grief and disappointment. That last one really hits hard.
“I wish you’d told me what was going on. Now that I know you’ve been dating Thorne Ivanov I understand why you were so secretive.”
“I didn’t mean to be.” I try to sit up, even though my head is protesting in pain. It feels too awkward to talk to her about something so serious while I’m lying down.
“I don’t know him.”
“But I do.”
“Sweetheart, you are young.”
“Maybe so, but I know what my heart tells me.”
“Thorne’s uncle is the man who sentenced us to death. How can you think that we are safe now?”
I have to believe what my heart whispers to me. That Thorne would never expose us. “It’s been months since he found out about us. He could have told his uncle who we really were, but he didn’t. He put himself in danger to find that man who set Dad up.”
“You don’t know what men can be like. Your father…” Her voice trails off and her breath hitches. She looks close to tears but I know she’ll do everything she can to hold back like she always does.
“Dad didn’t do what you think he did, Mom. He didn’t.”
“He hurt me deeply. Every time I think of him I remember him running back to the palace, leaving me all alone to protect you. I loved him so much. And… I never stopped.” Her voice drops to that low whisper I’m used to when she talks about my father.
It’s like she’s scared the walls will hear her. The only person the walls could tell her secrets to is Levgen. So I understand why she sounds like that. It’s because she doesn’t want to be disrespectful to the man who risked his life to save us.
“Your father wasn’t there when I needed him most. He chose to go back and leave us. For his loyalty, we lost him, and we could have died.”
I search the gloom in her eyes and try to find light, but there’s none. “Mom, I understand you. I understand how you feel but I don’t think Dad meant for any of this to happen. That’s why he made sure we were safe before he went back.”
She stares back at me for a moment before giving me a clipped nod, and it feels like a eureka moment. This is the first time ever that I’ve gotten something so positive out of her toward my father.
“Let’s stop talking about this now.” She sniffles. “It can’t be good for you. You need to rest.”
“I can’t rest when so much is going on.”
“You should try.”
The door opens and Thorne and Levgen enter the room. My spirits lift and I wish I could run into Thorne’s arms.
Mom watches him carefully when he walks to my side, then she watches both of us.
“Visiting hours are over, so I’ll be back first thing in the morning.” Thorne touches my cheek.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Of course. Don’t worry about me.”
I glance at the bandage around his arm, my heart shrinking away when I think that bullet could have hit his heart.
I don’t care how badly my head hurts or who's watching me, I throw my arms around him and hug him hard.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whisper into his ear.
“Anytime, Bambi.”
We pull apart and he gives my mother a curt nod. “Mrs. Yegorov.”
“Take care.” I’m glad Mom speaks, even though her tone wreaks of caution.
Thorne and Levgen exchange glances, as if they are in silent agreement over something I’m not privy to, and then he’s gone.
The moment he leaves, I feel lost again.
I worry whether he’ll be safe.
I have my parents, but Thorne doesn’t have anyone like that to look out for him.
I see Thorne for a little while the next day.
Like he promised, he’s here first thing in the morning. But then it’s time to leave the hospital.
Levgen booked us into a little cottage in Charlestown to stay for the week. I don’t need to be out of college for such a long time, but Levgen and Mom are worried about my health and safety.
They have a doctor on call and the cottage is heavily guarded.
The story we’re going with is that we had a family emergency. No one knows Thorne and I were involved in the incident yesterday, and we’re keeping it that way.
Levgen told me that he’s taken over the investigation of the scar-faced man.
Although I feel better knowing that he’ll be looking into the matter from here on, and Thorne would be safer handing everything over to Levgen, it’s still unsettling.
I spend most of the day in bed. Having a concussion is no fun at all. I have moments of extreme dizziness in which I feel like I’m going to fall and fall and don’t stop falling. Then there’s the pain in my head from the actual wound.
It feels like there’s a hole there.
By nightfall, I feel slightly better, so I decide to sit by the window and do some composing.
I miss Thorne. He’s called and sent messages but I miss seeing him.
I hate that I’ll be stuck here for the next week and I’ll only see him when he comes by. I miss my friends, too.
I messaged Isabelle and Mackenzie to let them know about my family emergency so they wouldn’t worry.
I stare out the window, look at the guards by the trees in the garden and the full moon high in the sky.
I’m safe, but why do I still feel that spine-tingling sensation that I’m being watched?
Watched by the scar-faced man.
I can’t see him but I feel like he’s out there somewhere.
I feel like it’s just a matter of time before I see him again.