Chapter 15

When I returned to the bedroom, Elva was missing from the bed. I nearly screamed, were it not for both of maids, who quickly approached me.

“W-where’s Elva?” I asked them, panic quaking my voice.

“You caused a right commotion, running around,” the talkative maid said. “It was enough to catch the attention of Prince Nicholas.”

Nicholas? “He’s still at the banquet…?”

I remembered looking back at him as I was leaving. He’d been smiling at an eager girl desperate for his attention.

“The banquet is still occurring,” the maid said. “He must have excused himself early.”

Why would he do such a thing? Surely he hadn’t overheard what Susie said about Elva? Even if he had, he wouldn’t have cared… would he?

“Prince Nicholas came in here,” the quieter maid said. “He felt Elva’s fever, and then carried her out of this room himself.”

My mind was a spiral of fear and worries. I struggled to think straight. I only knew that wherever Elva was, I had to be near her.

Nicholas wouldn’t make her leave the palace, would he? She was just a little girl.

No. No, as much as he’d changed from three years ago, he wouldn’t hurt Elva. I was certain of that. Especially when I thought of how gently he had held her when she ran to him at the mixer in the parlor.

But where would he take her?

He was a prince. Nowhere in the palace was off-limits to him. Where would I even begin looking?

I couldn’t go to his room. That was a grave offense. Nathan had made clear that it could cost me my head.

I needed to be strong for Elva. I needed to be alive.

I paced the bedroom, trying to think. I wanted to scream in frustration.

Yet, just before I could, someone knocked on the door. I glanced, and a guard was standing there. He was one that I had previous accosted, who had told me they’d been ordered to honor the doctors’ judgement.

He seemed much less troubled now, looking fully at me. “Miss Piper, you are to go to the royal infirmary. Come with me. I’ll show you the way.”

I quickly went the guard. Sensing my urgency, he maintained a fast pace as he led me through the back hallways of the palace, through places Nathan had not included on his tour.

Visiting off-limit places was surely allowed if I’d been summoned, right? I didn’t have time to worry. I’d risk beheading if it brought me to Elva.

The royal infirmary had a few beds and a wall of bookcases. Several tables were covered in chemistry equipment and microscopes.

Elva was in one of the beds, with an older woman doctor leaning over her. Nicholas was nearby, far enough back to give them space but close enough to be watchful.

I rushed to Elva’s side at once. She was still sleeping. I touched her cheek. She was warm, but not as hot as before.

“Her fever has subsided,” the doctor said.

A half-sob, half-sigh of relief shook my whole body. I cried as I held Elva’s hand. I made sure her blankets were tucked in securely around her.

Then, after a while, I could speak again.

“I don’t understand. The other doctors said… They said…” I couldn’t vocalize the horrible words they’d spewed. I dared not voice them here, for fear this doctor might agree with them.

“I know what they said.” The doctor’s brow lowered, angry. “And they are wrong. Though Elva’s condition is tricky, we should not and will not give up on her.”

She leaned closer to me. “I am Prince Nicholas’s personal physician. Ask for me directly if she has another need. I will add regular check-ups of her to my routine.”

“Thank you,” I said to her, then looked at Nicholas. He leaned against the bookcase, arms crossed over his chest.

He watched me but he didn’t say anything.

“Thank you, Your Royal Highness, I –”

“I didn’t do it for you.” His gaze fell to Elva, who looked so small in her hospital bed. “No harm will come to any child in this palace.”

“Even so.” I was grateful for his help, no matter the reason he gave it. “Thank you.”

The doctor glanced between us. “If you will excuse me, I will personally take Elva’s prescription to the pharmacist. It seems safer that way.”

“Thank you,” I said, as Nicholas said, “That would be best.”

When the doctor left the room, Nicholas kicked off the bookcase and came closer. He peered down at Elva from her bedside, a soft look on his face.

I remembered his interview. Nicholas loved children. He wanted a big family. That kindness must have extended to Elva.

“Truly,” I said, “I don’t know how to thank you for this.”

His soft look hardened when he gazed up at me. “Children are separate from our situation, Piper. Elva is innocent in all of this.”

It was clear then, that he didn’t want me to take this gesture personally. He wanted to maintain distance from me. But he was still willing to help Elva, and that was what really mattered.

I wished I could think of a way to convince him that I wasn’t here to chase a crown or rekindle what we had. If Julian knew I was only here as a publicity stunt, then surely Nicholas must have also known.

Yet he held onto his anger for me, and wrapped it around himself like an impenetrable shield.

He’d likely never warm to me. I had to just accept that.

Looking at Elva, I knew I had bigger things to worry about anyway.

“The doctors in my room. When they were leaving, one of them said, ‘Perhaps leaving the palace would be better for her?’”

Nicholas’s gaze sharpened. “They said that?”

I nodded. “Is there someone here… who would want to harm Elva?” I felt foolish even suggesting it, but I wasn’t sure what else that doctor could have meant.

Immediately, I thought of the flash of Lena I had seen leaving the hallway just as I’d arrived.

She hated me. Would that be enough reason to endanger my child?

“From now on, only my personal physician will tend to her,” Nicholas said. The gold in his eyes flashed dangerously. It might have been a trick of the light.

Elva stirred. “Mommy?”

“I’m here, honey.” I inched closer. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay now.” Her curious eyes shifted from me to Nicholas. “Who are you?”

Nicholas placed a hand on his chest. “I’m Prince Nicholas.”

“Nick-lass?”

Panic surged through me. “Oh, no, no, Elva. We address him as ‘Your Royal –’”

“It’s okay,” Nicholas said, stopping me. “Nick-lass is fine.”

Elva smiled. She reached her arms out to him. “Up, please.”

Nicholas leaned down. Elva wrapped her arms around his neck. Holding her close, he lifted her from the bed.

My whole heart melted into a puddle of warm goo. Elva had made a new friend. Nicholas was so good with children.

In a different life, this could have been our family.

Immediately, I shut down that thought. Nicholas resented and hated me, and I had no delusions that would change. I might have regretted breaking up with him, but though the guilt remained, whatever feelings I’d had for him were buried in the past.

This was a flash in the pan kind of feeling. I saw something cute and my heart reacted.

It didn’t mean lingering feelings were involved.

Nicholas shifted Elva in his arms, and I caught the wince he tried to hide as he bent his right wrist.

He was… injured.