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Rowan could smell her mother all over the thoughtful gift and she couldn’t help but smile. “The medicine has taken care of most of it.”

She picked a cream-colored velvet one.

The dragon helped her slide it on. “At the rate you’re healing, you should be eligible for a prosthetic in a day or two if you’d like. Although you do look rather more mysterious with an eyepatch.” She handed her a mirror.

Horror struck Rowan. She’d never been so pale in her life. Large dark bags looked like bruises and her hair looked like it needed a serious wash and hours of detangling.

Alessandro had seen her in such a state. She groaned out loud.

“What’s wrong?”

“He saw me like this.” Rowan gently shooed the mirror away.

Aqua’s eyes softened. “He checks in on you every four hours on the dot.” She laid her hand down on Rowan’s scarred one. “A man who wants nothing to do with you wouldn’t do that.”

Rowan clenched the sheets that had pooled around her hips. With the back of her hand, she rubbed her one good eye as she felt them sting. “This shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”

Aqua looked as if she had slapped her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She whispered before she stormed out of the room.

Rowan was utterly flabbergasted.

Annabelle, Axel and Alessandro all piled back into the room, staring curiously after the woman.

“What did you do to the poor doctor Rowan?” Her mother was the first to ask.

Rowan shook her head, just as confused, “Can someone catch me up on the ongoings of the world while I have been taking my nap?”

“No.” Axel was firm. “Sorry, Ro, all of your doctors have advised against it.”

Rowan glared at her. “And since when have we actually adhered to what my doctors say?”

“Since you permanently lost an eye!” Axel planted her hands on her hips. “Since you went into a coma for an entire week!”

“It’s only an eye!”

Axel’s nostrils flared, and she opened her mouth to retort before Annabelle gave her a hard nudge in the ribs.

Axel glared at her mother, but shut her mouth and looked away.

That sealed it. Something was definitely up. It was one thing for Aqua, a stranger, to keep her mouth shut, but Axel rarely kept anything from her.

“What?” Rowan demanded.

Annabelle sighed. “Your father wants to be here when we tell you. Can you trust us and not do anything stupid before then?”

Rowan wanted to fight against the demand. However, her eye was getting heavy, and the room was going out of focus. “When I wake up again, I want to know every-“

It was too much. She couldn’t finish her threat. The room was too warm and her body too heavy.

Chapter 25

The next time Rowan awoke, instant nausea had her lurching off the bed. Her legs gave out and in mid fall, whatever she had been force-fed exploded from her mouth and her nostrils.

One glance up showed Alessandro hurrying towards her from the armchair her mother had occupied earlier, his laptop crashing onto the tiled floor.

Rowan tried to get out of her own pile of sickness before he could reach her, but another wave of vomit hit the floor so hard that it splashed back up to cover her face with its ferocity.

Horror filled her when she could breathe again.