Claimed by the vampire prince

Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Cold air nipped at his bare exposed back when someone rolled him over to lay on his chest. The next thing he felt were fingers gently prodding the stab wound. It hurt. Everything hurt.

He was trapped on the precarious ledge between sopor and wakefulness. It was as though his eyes were sewn shut with wire and his limbs no more than dead weight. He was laid on a table, its hardness digging into his aching flesh. The voices around him were muffled as though stuck underwater.

He felt several hands touching him, holding him down. Someone pressed something on his wound. Pain, white hot and all consuming, washed over him. He couldn’t even scream before immediately being plunged back into the bleak nothingness.

He had no concept of time as he went in and out of consciousness. Soon the surrounding sounds trickled into his senses; the squawking of a bird in the distance and the low voices engaged in a hushed conversation. He was no longer lying on the hard table, now he was in a bed, the sheets soft against his skin. He must have moved or made a noise because the hush conversation halted instantly.

He could hear footsteps approaching. Warm fingers brushed over his face.

Someone called his name but he couldn’t place the voice.

His eyelids fluttered open for a heartbeat before he winced and shut them tight, repelled by the searing brightness of the room.

His eyes were itchy and felt like they were filled with dirt.

" Quick. Close the curtains." He heard someone in the room say. It was followed by the rustling of fabric.

When he opened his eyes again, the searing brightness of the room had been reduced to thin trickles of light. freewebnovёl.ƈom

" Your highness," A voice to his left said.

Ragnar turned his head slowly in that direction. Lady Taryn Caelorth sat by his bedside. She was a member of the royal court and one of Ragnar’s closest allies. A fearsome woman in her own right, someone no one dared trifle with.

She sat beside him, watching him with an expression that was a mix of pity and concern.

Ragnar groaned when he attempted to sit up.

" You shouldn’t try to get up just yet. Lay down." Taryn said but that was the thing. Ragnar didn’t want to lay down. The position they kept him in did nothing for the ache in his back.

" How many hours has it been?" He rasped as he reluctantly laid back down. It hurt to speak. His throat felt like sandpaper, dry and hoarse.

" Hours?" Taryn frowned. " Prince Ragnar, you have been unconscious for days. Six to be precise."

That couldn’t be right.

He winced when he tried to move his injured leg. It hurt but not as much as it did in the arena. It was healing. Sometime had to have passed between now and the fight for that to happen. It meant Taryn was being honest.

" We brought you here when the physician confirmed your life was no longer in immediate danger." Taryn added.

For the first time since he woke, Ragnar took a second to scan the bedroom he was in. It was the room Circe shared with her brother. Why they hadn’t taken him to his own chambers was a mystery but he was glad they hadn’t. He wouldn’t have been able to rest comfortably there. His eyes moved over the plain wall fixtures and draperies until they landed on Circe sitting in an armchair at the other side of the room.

There was a deep scowl on her face. She didn’t look too thrilled to see him awake. That scowl was sharp enough to flay a man open but he didn’t look away, couldn’t. Not even while Taryn spoke. Ragnar must have taken a blow to the head along with the rest of his injuries. It was the only logical explanation for why he found it hard to avert his gaze.

" Where is Casilo?" Ragnar asked.

Lady Taryn huffed. " Far enough away, I hope."

" I need to see him. We have important matters to discuss." freeωebnovēl.c૦m

" Why would you want to do that?" Her green eyes hardened, her voice going from gentle to accusing. " He challenged you. That good for nothing traitor tried to betray you."

" He’s your nephew."

" A scoundrel is what he is." Taryn folded her hands over her chest, face scrunched in displeasure.

He and Casilo were close to Lady Taryn and in turn she treated them like her own sons.

Ragnar, Casilo and Gonan— Lady Taryn practically raised all three of them. They not only cared and protected each other, they were also bound together by a shared purpose.

Ragnar knew how it must have looked to her and everyone else that witnessed the fight. It must have been infuriating for her to watch Casilo do something that went against all the progress they made.

" There’s more to it than that." Ragnar said. " Casilo has to be somewhere in the palace grounds. Help me find him and allow him to explain what truly happened. And try not to attack him."

For a long moment it didn’t look like Ragnar’s words were getting through to her. Taryn’s lips were still pursed, her arms folded. The action pushed back the wide sleeves of her dress, revealing smooth tawny skin.

She turned and strode towards the door without a word, letting it click shut behind her. Leaving Ragnar and Circe alone in the bedroom.

The silence that followed was stifling. He could sense that she was upset about something but then again, when had she ever been happy to see him?

The silence between them grew taut.

" You’re healing fast." Circe’s voice startled him. It sounded light and smooth in the dimly lit room. It was surprising that she chose to speak to him in the first place. " It should have been impossible with those injuries."

" You seem displeased by that fact." Ragnar quipped. He was goading her but he didn’t know why.

" I’m simply upset I didn’t get to watch you take in your last breath. A shame, truly."

Ragnar grunted. His body still felt like one giant bruise. " Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance one day."