Chapter 23 Sharing A Room with Him 

Lightning illuminated the sky above us, and I wrapped the raincoat Warren had packed for me tighter, but it wasn’t doing me a whole lot of good.

To avoid being tracked down by the city security, who reported directly to Theo, we intentionally avoided public transportation until we got outside of the greater capital cityarea.

It had been raining for hours, and I was beginning to feel drowsy from trudging through the mud in such foul weather. I sneezed, again, this time barely getting my arm up to cover my face, and I willed myself to keep walking.

Warren was concerned about me, and he had been for the last few hours since I’d begun to cough and sneeze. He wanted to shift and let me climb on his back, but I’d refused. We would save that for if we were in danger. Right now, I was miserable, but I wasn’t going to die.

“I see city lights off in the distance, Ciana,” he told me. “We’re almost to a town.”

His words entered my mind, but I was having trouble processing them. Unless it was a town with a giant bubble over the top of it that would protect me from the rain, I didn’tcare.

Trudging on, I began to lose most of my conscious thought. I just continued to lift one foot and then the other. Eventually, I

noticed that Warren was guiding me, his arm around me, and then, the mud of the forest changed to open green grass, to pavement, to a sidewalk… to steps.

“Where are we going?” I muttered.

“A hotel,” he explained. “You need to rest and recover.”

“Let’s find a small one,” I mumbled my explanation. “Fewer security cameras around.”

“Good point!” He chuckled under his breath and commented, “You surprise me all the time, you know that?”

“Goodness gracious!” a loud female voice proclaimed. “You poor dears look half drowned.”

“Yes, we need a couple of rooms, please,” Warren explained to her as I leaned against his side to keep from falling over.

“I’m afraid I only have one,” the woman said. “But it’s got a big bed in it.”

“That will do.” Warren held on to me as he fished out payment for the room from beneath his raincoat, and I wrapped my arm around his middle to steady myself, my eyes locked on the floor where a puddle was forming from all the water dripping off of me.

I wanted to apologize to the custodial staff for making such a mess.

Halfway up the stairs, I lost my footing and almost tumbled back down, despite Warren’s grip on me.

“All right, that’s it,” he proclaimed, and the next thing I knew, I was being lifted off of the steps into his arms. I didn’t protest. Even if I’d wanted to, the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

Once we were in the room, he helped me out of my raincoat, and then I insisted that I could change into dry clothes myself. I went into the bathroom and took a shower with very warm water, which I enjoyed.

When I returned to the room wearing fresh dry clothes, Warren had also changed. He looked at me very concerned. “I think this is worse than just a cold,” he told me.

I waved a hand at him, but even that seemed to be moving in slow motion. “I’m okay.”

you being in that hideous dungeon for all of that time has left your immune system weak, Ciana. Climb into bed, and I’ll get you

I didn’t have a problem crawling into the nice warm bed. The next thing I knew, a

Had I fallen asleep?

and water. Then he said, “I’ll go see if I can find a pharmacy that’s still

“No…” I muttered; my mind was cloudy. “It’s not safe. You’ll catch

breath. “I think I’ll be okay. I take my vitamins every

a… good

“Unlike what?”

brother. He’s…” Um, my head was so heavy and I felt I couldn’t think straight, but it

don’t disagree with you, I

head lolled to the side, and I noticed the print on the wallpaper. It was a fleur-de-lis print, white

to say something to Warren, he was

someone helping me with liquids and medicines, but for

had a lot of strange dreams, and although I couldn’t remember the details, I knew they were about my parents

Maybe it was more of

dreamt that Theo had been

at the hostel, I awoke with a start, much like I had when I’d snapped out

was streaming in through the window, and Warren was sitting in a chair across the room, reading

sleeping beauty awakens!” he teased, causing me

stretched

while,” he said with a grin. “How

out in the rain to

nodded. “I wanted

you!” He was such a good man. “We should be on our way

now.” 

getting kind of late. It’s been

talk him out of it, so

idea,” he

bright flowers that have flourished after the rain. Check

a long time, that was for sure. My hair was sticking up all over

but

the courtyard he’d been speaking of. It was lovely. Sitting down on a quaint bench beneath a tree full of fuchsia blooms, next to several rose bushes in a variety of

think only positive thoughts, but my mind kept going back over everything that had happened in the castle. I thought about Prince Theo

in prison for doing nothing wrong. No, I was certain now that he truly was

of what had unfolded while I was at

a dream to

parts seemed

there was Warren. My long-lost

he had any memory whatsoever of being in the

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