Page 28 of Torin and His Oath (Torin and the Princess #2)

LEXI

I pulled myself conscious enough to see the familiar faces of Cooper and Jen above me. I was home, Torin had gotten me home, it had happened, just like he promised.

I asked, Where ’ s Torin?

But I was too weak to see, to hear, I didn’t understand what they said.

Later, there were paramedics around me — Torin?

My temperature was checked, my blood pressure taken, then I was moved on a gurney to the ambulance.

The world kept tilting — up, down, sideways, though the ambulance didn’t seem to be moving that much.

Voices came in fragments over the steady hiss of oxygen and the snap of something being torn open.

A voice said, “BP’s low, get another bag going.”

Another, “Pulse one-oh-five… okay, let’s keep her head up.”

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was sand. Someone was pressing my hand. I felt a tightness around my arm, then a stinging in the tender skin below my elbow — an IV, maybe. I caught the tang of antiseptic and plastic tubing, the brassy smell of my own sweat.

The stench of the sixteenth century clung to me: shit, piss, dirt, stress.

Torin’s voice wasn’t there.

I saw an IV line hanging beside me. This was good, I needed this. Yes.

The doors banged open and cold air rushed in. Light — white, too white, swallowed everything. Wheels rattled over a seam in the floor.

A voice, “…dehydrated, probably viral, maybe bacterial… fever one-oh-three…”

A cuff tightened on my arm, there was a soft thunk of a stethoscope on my chest. Someone peeled the plaid away — but no, it was a hospital blanket. I wasn’t in the past anymore, I was in the modern day, my damp tunic replaced by a gown.

I remembered nothing.

A hand held mine, is that you?

Cooper’s voice, “Yeah, it’s me, I’m right here, Lexi.”

Where did Torin go?

A nurse’s voice, kind but brisk: “Lexi, you’re at County in Brevard. We’re starting fluids. You’re going to feel better soon.”

My lips stuck together when I tried to answer. “Where…? Home?” The word broke apart, too heavy to finish.

“Save your strength,” the nurse said.

They wheeled me into a smaller room. The ceiling blurred. An IV bag hung above me, clear tubing running to my arm. Somewhere, a monitor beeped slow and steady.

I thought of Torin then — his hand on the reins, the solid weight of him beside me, the steady confidence in his voice when I’d been too sick to think straight. The sound of him saying my name, Princess, because I was his Princess now.

I realized with a dull ache that I’d never hear it again.

My head hurt, but I hadn’t thrown up in hours, thankfully.

It was the first time I felt like I would survive.

I looked around the room. No one was here.

A nurse stuck her head through the door. “You’re awake! There’s some people here who are worried about you. I’ll send them in!”

My heart filled, I was going to be able to thank him for getting me home. We would decide what to do next — I wanted to touch him again, for him to sit by my bedside while I recovered, talking to me about the day, bringing me strength.

Then through the door walked Jen and Cooper.

Oh.

They pulled up chairs on opposite sides of my bed.

Jen said, “Thank God you’re here!”

“We were so worried.”

“Coop didn’t leave the porch.”

“That was scary as hell, thank God you survived.”

They held my hands.

I looked back and forth at their faces.

Coop said, “Damn how long were you gone? It was less than a day here.”

Jen said, “How long were you sick?”

My chin trembled.

Where’s Torin?

Jen said, “Aw, honey, Torin had to go...”

She kept talking, but I looked at Cooper’s face. He said, “Don’t worry, Lexi, we’re going to make sure none of this happens to you ever again.”

A tear rolled down my face.

I wanted to see Torin again, and he wasn’t here.

A few moments later, Jen patted my arm. How about we let you rest?

And then I was alone.

I woke to the sound of wheels squeaking past my door and the faint chatter of nurses somewhere down the hall.

The monitor standing beside my bed hummed quietly, the IV bag now half-empty.

My mouth still tasted faintly metallic, but the ache in my muscles had dulled to something manageable.

I blinked at the pale ceiling, piecing together where I was.

County hospital. 2004. No Torin.

The thought landed like a stone in my chest.

I blinked back tears looking around the room — to the sunlight filtering through the blinds, the smell of disinfectant, the cool weight of the hospital gown on my shoulders. Was there anything better than clean sheets, a laundered gown?

A scrubbed world, perfect and modern — it all sucked.

It all made my heart want to break.

I hated it.

I wanted to go back to live with Torin — even though the past had tried to kill me, even though the food sucked, the midges were terrible, and there was no plumbing. I wanted him.

A nurse came in, checked my vitals, and with an overly cheery smile said, “Your fever’s breaking. The doctor says if you can keep some fluids down and walk without help, you might go home this afternoon.”

I sighed. Home.

A house without Torin in it.

By the time they wheeled me outside, the world felt too bright.

Jen was waiting, standing at the curb, holding the door of Cooper’s truck. “Front or back?”

“Back.”

I climbed in and they drove me home.

We pulled into the driveway and my eyes settled on a horse, eating grass in my side yard.

For a split second I thought, ‘Torin!’

But then I realized what it meant. Oh. “Is that… that’s Ferrari.”

Cooper turned around in the seat. “Yeah, he left a horse, we gotta figure out what to do with the horse.”

Jen got out of the truck and opened my door. “Let me help you up the?—”

“No, I need to see Ferrari.”

I climbed down from the truck and slowly walked over to the horse. He was calm, ears flicking forward at the sight of me. My breath caught. “Hey, Ferrari.” The horse looked exactly as he had on the road beside Lambo, head high and watchful.

I stepped forward, still unsteady, and laid my hand against his neck. The horse leaned into my touch, warm and solid. I started to cry. “Do you miss Lambo? We got left behind, boy, sorry about that. Guess you’re stuck with me now.” I looked around at the space, tears streaming down.

“I’ll build you a stable here, would that be good? Not sure about the permits, but… I can do it.”

I felt really weak, this was the most I had done in days, just having a conversation with a horse. I turned and saw Coop and Jen waiting for me on the porch. I said goodbye to Ferrari and slowly walked over, wiping my face on my sleeve. Dude walked up, trilling like a monster-bird.

I used the porch railing to pull myself up the steps, saying, “Hey, Dude, you made it back, I’m so glad. You did just what you’re supposed to do, pay attention, be close when the time came to jump. Well done.”

Jen and Cooper fell in beside me, helping me up, holding the door, getting me inside. “Want your bed or the couch down here?”

“I think I want the couch. Not entirely sure I won’t throw up again, want to not do it in my bed. Plus it’ll be easier to order you around.”

Jen said, “Perfect,” and rushed around getting blankets and pillows and making me a nest on the couch.

I settled in.

Cooper said, “What do you want to eat?”

Jen said, “I bought chicken soup from Marjorie.”

I said, “Perfect.”

A little later Cooper was sitting in the chair across from me, Jen was at the end of the couch.

I had taken a few tentative sips of soup, but had left it uneaten on the table.

I was disappointed to see that I had gotten saltine cracker crumbs on my blanket.

It had been clean. Now it was a mess. I had a mug of peppermint tea.

I asked, “How come you’re not at work?”

“Took the day because my bestie was missing.”

“Oh, and… I left yesterday? It’s only been one day?”

“Yeah, and you said it had been days and days where you were?”

I nodded.

“I was in the year 1558, I think, no one really knew. We would ask the date and get answers like, ‘near a fortnight afore the flower moon.’”

Jen said, “That’s just so absurd, no calendars?”

“Nope, but maybe some people had them, but we were in the middle of nowhere, like cattle country. Hanging with the good ol’ boys.” I dropped my head back on the couch. “It was a real life and death experience. Every minute.”

Jen asked, “How did you escape those guys who kidnapped you?”

“They put us in a shed kinda thing, then started drinking. We just snuck out into the woods, but then Torin went back and… he handled them, and gained two horses. That’s one out there.”

Cooper said, “I fed her, by the way, but I think she needs more than just a grassy fenced-in side-yard.”

“Yeah, likely, not sure, never had a horse before.”

“New hobby, that should be thrilling, and Dude was there?”

“He appeared in the window when we were imprisoned in the shed. I guess he had followed us through the woods; he just stuck near us, rode in the saddlebags, and I’m so damn glad he made it back. I was worried he would get stuck in medieval times.”

Cooper said, “Yeah, me too.”

I said, “You okay?”

“Just upset about this whole thing, it sounds much more dangerous than I even guessed when I was out there all night worrying about you.”

“Yeah, it was really dangerous.”

He nodded. “About the horse, I made some calls, and got two options. There’s a stable nearby. They have space to board him. We just need to let them know, and they can send a hand with a trailer to pick him up.”

“Is there any way he can stay here? I kinda want to keep him near. We went through a lot together, and he’s not used to this place. He might want to be close.”

He leaned forward and pulled some papers close. One was a map. “I looked up the rules, it looks like, because Laurel Ridge is on this side of the city line, by feet, lucky for you, you can have a horse.”

“Good.”

“But you have to have a stable.”

“I can find someone, right?”

He leaned back. “I’ll build it, don’t have anything else to do right now.”

“Oh, good, thank you, Coop.”

He put his fingers on his lips, pressing until his skin was turning pale, like he was trying to keep it civil.

Then he leaned forward again. “So where were you, really, and how did you get so sick? You know, Torin swears he’s going to protect you, and then he brings you back and you have to be hospitalized.”

“It’s not Torin’s fault, at all, I just…

I was so stressed out, and I was supposed to, you know, just poop on the ground, but there was no toilet paper, and I just couldn’t.

I didn’t for three days, and then I started running a fever.

Could be the water — we drank out of streams, never done that before.

I assume there’s no factory runoff, but what else might be in there?

It might have been the food, everyone had questionable cleanliness, and they know nothing about food borne illnesses.

I got served a stew that was months old, apparently. ”

Jen screwed up her face. “No way, you ate it?”

“I had no choice, I was really hungry. And there weren’t any salads, no medicine, damn sure wasn’t any Pepto. So when I got sick, there was nothing I could do to fix it. Madame Agnes gave me some herbs, they prayed over me. When I was thirsty they fed me bitter ale. I was just sick. So very sick.”

Cooper said, “They prayed over you? Who’s they?”

“Madame Agnes and um… Torin.”

He narrowed his eyes.

Jen said, “I’m so glad you got home.”

He said, “Why didn’t you come back earlier, that’s what I don’t get, Torin just kept you there?”

“The vessel didn’t work, he doesn’t know how it’s supposed to work, he knows barely anything, but even the little he knows wasn’t working. I don’t know. It was completely dead, we checked it all the time. He was desperate for it to work.”

“I bet.”

I yawned. “I’m really sleepy.”

Cooper smacked his palms down on his thighs, “Yeah, of course, I’m going to get some dinner going, why not rest?”

He gave me a hasty kiss on the cheek and left the room.

I waited until he left and said, “He’s mad at me.”

Jen said, “I think he was just really worried, and now you’re back and he was going to be the hero, you know? He was going to shoot someone with that gun, but now you’re back and he’s not the hero, there’s a lot of ‘Torin this’ and ‘Torin that’. He’s just having trouble.”

“I can’t help any of that, Torin was the one who saved my life.”

“And you can imagine how that makes Cooper feel. I’m not saying it’s justified, I’m just saying it’s how the world is.”

I yawned again. “I’m sorry I’m falling asleep.”

“That’s okay, want me to stay for dinner and hang out? I gotta go to school tomorrow.”

“Nah, why not go home, get ready for work. I’m mostly going to sleep, not even sure I can stay awake through a meal.”

She patted my ankle and left, stopping in the kitchen to speak with Cooper, as I fell asleep.