In the end, it had only caused me heartache and pain, the same things they had gone through themselves. My mother had suffered at the hands of my cruel father and had nearly lost me in the process. What a strange twist of fate to have Isauros save her life only to hunt me down to attempt to take mine.
The door opened and a nurse came hurrying in, a sympathetic look on her face. She motioned to my neck, where I was sure ugly bruises were starting to appear. “I’m fine,” I said softly, my throat hurting. “I don’t need anyone to look at me.”
She clucked her tongue and handed me a towel, pointing to the bathroom. “Thanks,” I said weakly. “Can you make sure that someone tells me how she does?”
The nurse nodded and walked out of the room, leaving me to hope that she at least understood that I needed to know how Johanna was doing.
Wearily, I pulled myself off the chair and made my way to the bathroom. The sight in the mirror wasn’t the best. Dark circles under my eyes matched the ring of handprints around my neck. My hair was down, blood splattered along my upper body, and seriously, I looked like I had been in the fight of my life.
I had, though I wished I had been the one to get stabbed and not Johanna.
I cleaned up the best I could and pulled my hair back into a knot on the top of my head, wishing I could get a scrub top or something to cover my semi-nakedness. The towel was filthy now, covered in dirt and stained with blood, so there was no way I was going to wrap that around myself.
But as I exited the bathroom, I halted in my steps. “What are you doing here?”
Royce was the first to step forward, already stripping off his shirt in the process. My body did a little happy dance as his muscular torso came into view, dotted with his scars. “Are you all right? Fuck, Anna, what did she do? Here, put this on.”
I accepted his shirt and shrugged it over my frame, enveloped with the dying warmth of his body heat still clinging to the fabric. When his fingers touched the bruises at my neck, I flinched, causing him to swear again. “Isauros attacked me,” I said dully, wrapping my arms around my waist. “I was trying to fight her off and Johanna stepped in and—” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, the nasty image replaying in my head.
“Fuck,” Max muttered as Royce reached for me before hesitating.
I felt the tears stain my cheeks once more and threw myself at him, grateful when he pressed me up against his warm body. “Pauper,” he said raggedly, his hand sliding down my back. “Bloody hell.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried on his shoulder, not caring about what they had done to me just last night. They were here for me right now and that was all that mattered.
When my tears were spent, I pulled away from Royce reluctantly. “Thank you,” I said to all of them. “For coming.”
Arthur stepped forward, reaching for my head. “Of course, Anna. When we heard the news, we thought she had gotten to you.”
“But you are a total badass,” Max said, nodding to my bruises. “And with this, she’s going to be put away for good. She threatened a royal.”
“Two,” Arthur interjected, his eyes on me. “Anna is one of us.”
I wasn’t really, but it was nice of him to pretend I was. I hadn’t made any decisions if I wanted to be, either, but it wasn’t the time to hash that out in my head.
“I’m going to grab some coffee,” Max announced a moment later, his expression weary.
Arthur sighed. “Someone should call Jo’s parents. I will reach out to them.”
“I’ll stay here,” Royce replied evenly. “With Anna.”
Surprisingly, there was no argument and I watched as the other two kings filed out of the room, leaving me alone with Royce. He turned toward me, holding out his hand. “Come here, pauper.”
I couldn’t make myself stay away. I took his hand and he folded me into his body once more, pressing a kiss to my temple. “When I heard about the attack, all I could think of was that I had lost you,” he said, his voice harsh. “I was going fucking mad.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said, pressing my cheek to his bare chest. “I didn’t mean for her to get hurt.”
Royce pressed another kiss into my hair. “It’s not your fault, Anna. None of this was your fault. Bloody hell, you don’t deserve this.”
It was good to hear it from another person. I hadn’t asked to be born, nor had I asked to be born to my mother and father. I hadn’t been the reason for Isauros’ failed marriage or her miscarriage, though she was personally holding it against me.
And now, now I didn’t even know who I was.
The door to the waiting room opened once more and two serious-looking men stepped inside. I pulled out of Royce’s arms, though he held onto my hand tightly, interlacing our fingers together. He spoke something in Swedish that I couldn’t understand but one of the men started to converse back as I stood there, feeling wholly inadequate that I hadn’t learned their language.
Finally, Royce turned to me. “These are police detectives,” he said, his expression grim. “They want to ask you about what happened.”
I clung to his hand. “Do I need a lawyer?” I didn’t know if Isauros had ties in the police department and was planning on pinning this on me to finally get rid of me.
To my relief, Royce shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, but I will go ahead and alert my family lawyer just in case.”
“Royce, you don’t have to do that,” I told him.
He leaned down, brushing his lips over mine. “I want to. Please, let me.”
“Considering I have no means to pay for one, okay,” I answered, giving him a tiny smile.
He winked. “I will figure out some way for you to pay me back, pauper.”
I had no doubt.
***
The police, with all the kings’ help, questioned me for over an hour, taking pictures of my bruises and writing down key facts about what had happened. After the other kings came in, Royce left to call his family lawyer and Max took over the duty of translating for me and the police, giving me a rub on my back every once in a while. Arthur had, in fact, reached Johanna’s parents, and told me that they were on their way, so I should brace myself for a confrontation with her father.
I knew I would have to do some explaining and though inwardly I didn’t feel ready, he deserved an explanation.
Finally, the physician came in after the police had left and with some help on the translating side, told us that Johanna was going to make it. The knife had missed all her vital organs and though she would be sore for a few days, she would recover fully. “I have her in a medical coma so that her body can rest,” he explained to Max, who in turn told me. “But you can see her for a moment if you would like.”