Royally Screwed - Lynn Van Dorn Page 0,80
a prince willing to grovel and beg at my feet?”
Unable to control himself, Angelo leapt toward Blackheath, wanting to get his hands around the man's neck. Without warning, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He lost whatever grip he had on Blackheath, who sped away. Angelo wanted to pursue him, but his legs refused to move.
“Your highness! Are you injured? Dammit, how many times have I told you not to run right into danger? Do you ever listen to me at all?”
“Listening now,” Angelo panted. Why he was out of breath when he hadn’t been before was beyond him. He stood there, watching the bastard run away, and wondered what had happened. He touched his side and his fingers came back bloody. He’d been stabbed. That utter dickface had stabbed him.
“Sir, you’re bleeding. We need to get you to A & E.” Roger put a careful arm around him. “Can you walk?”
“I'm fine. Need Yuri. Make sure… safe.”
“After I call for an ambulance. Although I'm not sure how you're going to make it up those stairs.”
“Fine. I'm fine. Just a scratch.”
“Right,” Roger muttered, his ear to the mobile. “Pillock.”
“Prince Pillock to you. I want to see Yuri.”
“Soon, your highness. Why deal with only one pillock when you can have two?”
Angelo found himself leaning heavily on Roger's shoulder. “You love me.”
“Do be quiet, your highness. I'm trying to save your life.”
Angelo woke in strange surroundings. He'd just had a very odd dream but the details fled his mind. In the background, he heard beeping.
“Oh, thank god. You're finally awake.”
He turned his head to see Yuri by his side, holding the hand that wasn't hooked up to IV tubing. Angelo finally realized he was in a private room at a hospital, but he had absolutely no idea how he'd gotten there. It was dark outside, but Angelo had no idea how late it was.
“Yuri? What time is it? Why am I in hospital? Why do I hurt more now than I did when the dickface stabbed me?”
Yuri’s beautiful blue eyes were drawn and tired. He yawned and looked at his watch. “It’s about fifteen till eight. You’re in hospital because you were stabbed. Remember?”
Angelo remembered all right. “But why am I here? In this bed? Even if I needed stitches, I shouldn’t be here. And on an IV.”
“You were stabbed. Stop trying to minimize that.”
Angelo let it go and went on to the next important topic. “Where’s my mobile? I need to inform work that I’m in hospital. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here, though. Tell me exactly what happened. It was just a little prick—”
He was interrupted by a snort of amusement. “Francis had a lot of flaws, but a tiny prick wasn’t one of them.”
“Shut up, Yuri. Give me my mobile.”
Yuri stretched. “Roger contacted your work. Yesterday. It’s Monday night.”
Angelo started. “It can’t be.”
“Yeah, sorry, but it’s Monday night. The ambulance came and brought you to the A & E. I came with Philippe, Roger, and Sam. Security’s outside, but it’s Malcom and Trevor now. Philippe went to go get some food. Anyway. In A&E, they found Francis had nicked your intestine and you had sepsis. By this point, you were out. They started you on some sort of antibiotic and god knows what else and you’ve woken up a few times, but this is the most coherent you’ve been.”
“Damn,” Angelo said.
“Yeah. You have bacteria running amok all around your bloodstream. Fun times.” Yuri’s face crumpled. “I thought you were going to die.”
“Come here, Yuri. Look. I’m alive and… well, I’m alive.”
Yuri crawled carefully onto Angelo’s hospital bed. He lay on his side by Angelo and put his head on Angelo’s shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do if you were gone,” Yuri whispered. “You can’t leave me. You can’t.”
“I won’t,” Angelo promised. He was too tired and sore to embrace Yuri, but he rested his cheek against Yuri’s hair and that was enough for now. Angelo was tired of the farce they’d been living and it was time to put an end to it. He was claiming Yuri as his and damn anyone who didn’t like it.
Angelo’s parents were not pleased with the turn of events.
“You will come home now,” the king insisted.
“We can care for you here better than where you are,” the queen added.
“I can’t travel right now,” Angelo insisted. He didn’t want to go home. He didn’t want to be apart from Yuri. Besides, even the thought of sitting for hours on