23. Penelope
Penelope
Colors blurred.
Voices echoed.
Movement… added to the pain twisting my insides.
Fingers pushed across my pulse point while arms cradled me. The men were arguing. Or one was threatening. My body jerked in agony, and I gagged, feeling nothing come up despite how hard my body continued trying.
“I told you this would happen. She’s fine, Your Majesty.”
“She doesn’t look fine.”
“Perhaps lay her on the seat, here, so that she doesn’t become sick on you.”
A growl rumbled underneath me. “Do you think I fear getting soiled? We shouldn’t even be here. Look what you’ve done.”
The king’s voice was hard, and I cried out through the pain and recognition. My eyes were almost impossible to open.
“Row-an.”
My arm tried to lift so I could push myself off, away from King Lawrence.
“Shh. It’s okay. We’ll have you back to Glenbrae soon.”
A sob left me, and again my body heaved. The king adjusted me in his arms.
“Sire—”
“Do not speak to me right now. You’re lucky you’re the only physician here.”
More threats. More anger.
What was happening?
How was I heading back to Glenbrae? I’d been on the plane. We’d been about to leave.
Answers didn’t come. I felt myself get sucked back into the nothingness, tumbling down a blackhole of sharp tinges and internal screams. It wasn’t until the cool air hit me that I felt myself plucked right back into the pain.
A loud cry left me, and my body tried curling in.
That had my face burying in King Lawrence’s neck.
The spiciness was so unlike Vaughn’s smooth exotic scent.
It was close… but not. It felt wrong to breathe it in, but I was unable to control my body the way I wanted.
“H-Hurt. Hurt. Rowan.”
“Almost there, Penelope. I know it hurts.”
A sob tore free at what felt like lightning rooting down deep in my lower stomach. I jerked hard, only to try to curl more into myself.
“Rowan?” My eyes managed to open, catching a sickeningly swirl of colors as they blurred by at our speed. Gasps sounded and even voices rang out. Footsteps raced towards us, and Lord Summerlyn’s voice had me fighting to function.
“Your Grace—Penelope.”
“Back,” the king threatened.
“Is she okay? What happened? Where are her guards?”
“Later, Lord Summerlyn. We found her like this. Her guards are dead.”
“Dead?”
I heaved. Realizing I was twisting. Turning in the king’s arms. He paused, shuffling me as he tried not to drop me.
“Rowan. Rowan!”
I caught Lord Summerlyn’s face, and I was reaching to him. Trying to grab the only person I could trust. One minute I was here—the next I was beginning to fade out, losing my strength. He had my hand, moving me more into his arms. But King Lawrence was pulling me back to his chest.
A gag catapulted me up. Back to the panic that was leaking out in small bouts of recognition. “Call…” I gagged again. “Theo—Call.”
“What…in the…” The King’s voice was deep. “She’s… Penelope stop,” he growled, threateningly. “There’s—She’s… bleeding.”
My body seized, and I screamed through the agonizing cramps that were taking over. The stabbing was transitioning. Spreading.
Lord Summerlyn’s stare went from King Lawrence to me as my eyes rolled. I began fading again.
Here.
There.
Nowhere.
“Are you with a child?” The Lord’s voice was an echo. It sounded menacing, but I didn’t think it was to me. It was full of fear. “You’re bleeding, Penelope. Are you pregnant?”
He was patting against my face, tapping, trying to bring me back. And then I was moving again. Running?
“Baby… Yes,” I sobbed, but everything was hollow. So far away. “Call… Theodore. Plea…se.”
Silence. Stillness. Darkness. It was as if the room and everyone in it turned to stone. No one moved. Was anyone breathing? Or maybe it was me who wasn’t breathing… But we had been moving—and then nothing—and then I was spinning.
“Get her on the bed. You!” More threats hidden in demands. “Fix her.”
The pains were coming back, and with them, I was able to hold onto the chaos. Rowan. Mark. … Dead? Blood. I was bleeding? What had happened to me? To them?”
A pinch registered in my hand. I was being moved—adjusted. My clothes were being taken off. Something in that was more about survival than pain. I sucked in air, flying forward as my limbs went wild.
At first I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t remember what words I should even be using.
“Let’s hurry.”
“D-Don’t…. D-Don’t—touch me. Don’t touch me!”
“Penelope, we have to assess you. We have to make sure you’re okay. You’re bleeding. You’re sick.”
King Lawrence’s words were hard, but I was turning to Lord Summerlyn who they were trying to remove from the room. I reached for him, feeling my arm collapse from the weight.
He stays. “Lord—” I gagged, feeling the muscles tightened and contract through the heave. The physician was holding something near my mouth, but I had to state my demands. “Lord Summerlyn. Stays. Stays! He helps me dress. No one else.”
Confusion. My eyes rolled, and my head fell back against the pillow.
“Surely, the female aids—”
Lord Summerlyn cut him off.
“The Duchess is a victim of abuse of every kind. Surely, you’ve heard the stories, Your Majesty.
” Lord Summerlyn’s voice was full of authority.
Shuffling sounded mixed with banging. “They’re horrifying.
Victims choose who they feel safe around, and she feels safe with me.
Out. All of you while I dress her. She wishes for privacy. ”
“I stay.” King Lawrence’s tone didn’t allow for argument.
More banging, and the room faded again. I knew my body went back into heaves. I even expelled bile. The chills that hit at the coolness settling over my skin is what drew me from the darkness.
“I’m taking this off. Don’t worry. No one will look at you.”
Lord Summerlyn’s tone was smooth. Soft. I felt my riding coat leave me, and then the blouse.
Where I thought he’d remove the chemise, he pulled it higher on my chest, hiding the brand that was leveled over my heart.
Only then did I relax. I wasn’t sure when he took off my boots or pants, but the chattering of my teeth drew me back as something was leveled over my hips, covering my waist. My panties were pulled down and words left more than one person.
“No…There’s…” Lord Summerlyn pulled the panties free and the weight over my lap adjusted, covering me more. I was rolled as they put something underneath me, moving me this way and that.
I was screaming. Not outwardly, but on the inside. I was tearing against the heaviness that kept me suddenly contained. My hand was getting cold from whatever was being pumped through the IV, and I could barely stay conscious.
“She’s possibly losing it.” The physician. “It’s hard to know until we let things play out.”
“What the hell happened?” Lord Summerlyn. “She left here scared but healthy. Why go after her? And why is she like this?”
King Lawrence cleared his throat. “I didn’t want to alert the guests.
There wasn’t something right with her guards.
Mine have been watching them. They alerted me that one was in the kitchen this morning.
It triggered enough suspicion that my physician decided to come check any food that she may be keeping in her room.
That’s what we all walked in on. He was trying to make sure she was safe, but I didn’t get that out of him until after she was already gone.
We managed to get to her plane in time, but the damage was done.
She was unresponsive. At their sudden fight, we had to take them down. ”
“Sire.” Lord Summerlyn’s voice was strained.
I heard nothing else.
Nothing but my cries for Rowan, Mark, and my baby.
What had happened?
What was I missing?
I didn’t know.
I was being taken back to the silence.
Back to the nothingness.
Warmth.
It was the first thing I noticed as I began to come back.
Not the pain or the nausea. Not the heaviness that seemed to love to pull me back under.
Warmth.
A slow, deliberate touch brushed through my hair, smoothing it away from my face. Fingers stayed steady. Unhurried as they pushed the strands away.
Something registered, but I couldn’t put my fear into words.
My fingers twitched.
Something…
Wasn’t there… something?
My lashes fluttered, and nothing came into focus. Everything felt so far away. Distant. Like I was treading water, but something was pulling me back under.
“There you are.”
A voice. It was low. Close. Too close?
A breath brushed my temple as his fingers slid through my hair. It was slower this time, and more unhurried. Affectionate? Yes…
“I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake for me.”
My stomach twisted violently, and cloudy memories assaulted me. I tried to get my body to react, but nothing happened. I could barely get my fingers to draw in as he moved his hand down to trace my lips.
Move.
I needed to move.
To…
“Careful.” My head was cradled to the side.
“You’ve been through quite a lot. Losing a baby can’t be easy…
Truthfully, I didn’t see that coming. I should have.
” His tone dropped, barely audible at the end as he moved to ease his fingers to trace my cheek.
“It’s done. I think you’ll see in time that this was for the best.”
Somehow, I managed to jerk my head to the side, but it felt more like it was rolling over.
King Lawrence’s thumb brushed under my eye, catching a tear that began to leave me. My body shook through the sob, and I felt more wetness build and race down the sides of my face.
“Don’t cry. You’re safe now. You don’t have to worry anymore. You’re exactly where you should be. I’m going to take care of everything.”
Everything….
The words echoed as I began to drift away again.
Everything.
Take. Care. Of. Everything.
Take… everything.
Yes.
Hadn’t he done that?
Hadn’t he taken everything?