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I walked further down the path but turned when his voice trailed after me. “Doesn’t she become a princess in the end?”
I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. “Highly unlikely. Unless you believe crazy old women can turn pumpkins into carriages and mice into horses.” He didn’t respond and it felt silly to stand fifty feet apart and continue a conversation, so I gave him a slight little wave with one hand and turned back towards the estate.
When I looked back at the top of the stairs to the house, he was gone. And I wasn’t sure why, but I missed his presence.
And it felt as if I imagined the whole bizarre thing like a forgotten glass slipper.
Chapter 23- Arianna
Theweightofdarknessthat had been holding me under finally started to slip, letting my brain fight through the fog of my mother’s tonic.
I must have been bad because it was an especially strong dose this time.
“Hmm.” I hummed, fighting the weight of my eyelids like they were the heaviest things in the world.
“Arianna,” Nico’s deep voice vibrated against my temple seconds before his warm lips pressed a kiss to it. “Open your eyes for me, baby.”
“Hmm.” I hummed again, unable to get my tongue off the roof of my mouth as I cracked one eye open. His perfect face was blurry when he leaned down right in front of mine, and confusion rattled my slow brain.
What was he doing here?
Where were my parents?
Why was I high on the tonic, if Nico was here?
“Come on, Little One.” he said again. “Open those pretty eyes for me. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them.”
I forced both eyes open, using up all my strength, and then blinked a few times to clear the blurriness from them. “Nico.”
His rugged face lifted with a breathtaking smile of relief as he held mine in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over my cheeks. “Welcome back to the land of the living, darling.” he said, kissing me gently and then laying his forehead against mine and breathing me in.
“What happened?” I lifted my hand to his chest and ran my fingers over the smooth fabric of his shirt, grounding myself as panic tried to seep in through the cracks in my memory.
“You had an allergic reaction at dinner,” He replied, pulling back to look at me. “Do you remember it?”
My brow furrowed as I tried to recall what led up to that moment, and then it all flooded back.
Panic.
Anxiety.
Suffocation.
“The baby?” I gasped, clawing at the blanket laid over my body to get it off. I couldn’t move it from under his hip where he sat on the edge of the bed and struggled. “Is he okay?”
“Shh,” Nico cooed, pulling the blanket free and then lifting the gown I was wearing so I could run my hand over the bare skin of my abdomen. “He’s perfectly fine. Doctors have been monitoring you both the whole time we’ve been here.”
I deflated back into the pillows with my hand cradling my stomach as tears burned in my eyes. “He’s really, okay?” I questioned, hesitant to believe it.
“I promise, he’s just fine.” He covered my hand with his and then covered me back up, keeping me warm from the cool air of the room.
A hospital room.
“How long have I been here?” I wondered out loud as his thumb drew small circles around my belly button.
“Two days,” He sighed. “You were almost lifeless by the time I got you here.” He swallowed and worked his jaw back and forth before closing his eyes and pressing his forehead to mine again. “I died over and over again watching them work on you, baby. I never want to feel that way again.”
“I’m sorry.” I patted his cheek and kissed him gently. “How did it happen?”
