Chapter 163: The Girl in Red (II)

Elara:

I turned at the sound of hurried footsteps, expecting another doctor or Moon Warrior to approach me, but instead I found five familiar figures standing at the bottom of the stairs on the other side of the hallway.

For a moment, I simply stared at them. All the voices around me disappeared - the doctors, the nurses, even the physician who had been following me for what felt like forever, repeatedly insisting that I return to my room and allow them to examine my injuries properly. None of it mattered anymore.

All I could see were those five men making their way toward me, and something inside my chest suddenly loosened. Relief hit me so violently that it almost hurt.

It made no sense. Just a few hours ago, I would have been grateful if I hadn’t seen any of them at all. I had spent days avoiding Kairo and Esmeray, I had been deliberately keeping my distance from Reign, and Lorien was the last person I wanted to face after the humiliating disaster in his car. Yet seeing them standing there now, seeing all five of them coming toward me, made something inside me break free.

Anxiety, agitation, fear, exhaustion - everything I’d been holding together since the accident seemed to collapse at once. My knees weakened, and for one terrifying second I thought I was going to hit the floor.

I never did.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist before gravity could claim me, pulling me firmly against a solid chest and making everything else disappear. A familiar scent surrounded me immediately, blanketing me in warmth and a strange comfort. And even through the fog clouding my mind, I knew exactly who was holding me.

Reign.

His arms wrapped around me so securely that for a moment I forgot about the pain in my ribs and the throbbing in my head. His warmth seeped through my clothes, and those strange tingles I’d felt around him before traveled through my body again, only this time they were accompanied by something far more powerful - safety, protection, and security. It came over me so suddenly that I almost felt trapped inside the sensation.

I didn’t understand why being held by the person I’d spent months fighting with made me feel safer than I’d felt since waking up in this hospital. I should have pushed him away. Every rational thought in my head told me that. Yet not one part of me wanted to move. I simply stood there in his arms, breathing shakily while the world continued moving around us.

Somewhere beside us, the doctor was still talking.

"She has been extremely stubborn," he complained to someone nearby. "The moment she regained consciousness, she refused to remain in her ward. She walked out and came all the way here, outside the operating theatre, before we could stop her. We have been trying to convince her to return so we can properly examine and heal her injuries, but she refuses to cooperate."

I heard Lorien’s voice a moment later, calm but carrying the unmistakable authority that made people listen. "All the Moon Warriors and medical staff, step aside. We need a moment with the Princess."

There was a brief hesitation before footsteps began retreating. Within seconds, the crowded hallway that had been filled with doctors, nurses, and warriors became strangely empty. Only the six of us remained.

I barely noticed someone approaching until a deep, alarming growl vibrated against my cheek and Reign’s arms tightened around me instantly. I stiffened, surprised by the sound, but strangely, I wasn’t frightened. Not even slightly. If anything, the sound made me feel even more protected. And that realization should have terrified me.

Reign was supposed to be my nemesis, the person who could irritate me faster than almost anyone else in the academy. Yet my exhausted body seemed to have forgotten every argument we’d ever had.

I didn’t have the energy to question it. I couldn’t afford to think about why I felt so comfortable in his arms when Jasper was fighting for his life behind the closed operating-theatre doors only a short distance away.

"Reign," Lorien said gently, his voice cutting through the silence. "She needs to be treated."

Reign didn’t move.

"We need to know how badly she’s hurt," Lorien added.

Esmeray stepped closer, his normally calm voice carrying a quiet urgency. "Reign, you are holding her too tightly."

Reign immediately went still. "What?"

"Look at her," Esmeray said softly. "She’s injured. You are putting pressure on her unattended injuries."

That finally made Reign look down. I felt his entire body tense as his eyes moved over me properly for the first time. Whatever he had been feeling vanished beneath a flash of horror. His arms loosened immediately, though he didn’t completely let go.

Esmeray stepped closer, stopping a respectful distance away. "Let me check her," he said quietly. Then his eyes met mine. "Elara, may I touch you?" I didn’t have the strength to answer properly, so I gave him a small nod.

He approached slowly, almost as though I might break beneath the slightest movement. His fingers first touched the cut on my forehead, his brows drawing together as he examined it. Then his hands moved toward my shoulder, where the fabric of my torn sweater concealed the worst injury.

"I need to look at this," he murmured.

I nodded again.

Carefully, he moved the torn material aside. The moment the enormous gash running from my shoulder downward became visible, every man in the hallway inhaled sharply. Even I looked at it properly for the first time.

The doctors had stopped the bleeding earlier with healing magic, but the wound remained ugly and deep, the surrounding skin bruised and swollen. Esmeray’s fingers trembled faintly as they hovered near it without touching. I noticed the reaction immediately, but he quickly regained control and continued his examination.

His hands moved carefully over the rest of my body, his expression growing darker with every discovery.

"Your right hand is fractured," he said quietly. "You have several broken ribs." His gaze moved lower, and his jaw tightened when he found another deep cut on my left thigh that the healers had already closed enough to stop the bleeding.

"There are smaller lacerations here, here, and here," he continued, gently indicating the various cuts and bruises scattered across my arms and legs. "Multiple contusions. Your shoulder has significant trauma."

With every injury he named, the silence around us became heavier. Reign had gone completely still beside me, while Kairo’s face had lost all color. Alaric looked like he was struggling not to explode, and Lorien’s expression had become so controlled that it frightened me more than anger would have.

Finally, Esmeray stepped back. His voice trembled slightly when he spoke again. "The good news is that none of these injuries are immediately life-threatening. Her internal organs are completely intact, and there doesn’t appear to be any internal bleeding."

He paused, looking at me with an expression that was almost pained. "But these injuries..." His gaze briefly moved toward the closed operating-theatre doors before returning to me. "They should have been enough to leave her unconscious for at least a day or two."