It didn’t escape my mother either.
There was a pause, subtle but weighted. My mother’s eyes narrowed, just a fraction, as they slid over Narine again. I could see the wheels turning in her head.
Narine’s POV
One second I was standing quietly beside Sargis, trying to piece myself back together after Sargis’s mother, apparently, was all in my face, bombarding me with questions, completely ignoring her son, and the next she wrapped her hands around mine.
“Come, dear. Let’s have a proper talk,” she cooed.
And just like that, she pulled me roughly like a woman accustomed to taking what she wanted. My chest squeezed, and I froze up, the cold seized my limbs as she dragged me across the polished floor and into the sterile white of the medical ward.
Voices around us dipped to murmurs. Eyes turned on us. Then, just as suddenly, I felt a tug on my other hand.
Sargis.
“Mother,” he uttered sternly. “Enough.”
I couldn’t look at either of them. I didn’t want to. My heart was thudding too loudly in my ears, and my breathing was uneven.
“Oh, silly boy.” I’m just so excited to meet her since you kept her away from everyone for months. She retorted dismissively.
“What’s your birth moon, dear? Any siblings? Tell me, have you started learning court etiquette yet? What about ceremonial dances, do you know any?”
Her hands kept brushing my arm, shoulder, and even a lock of my hair she tucked behind my ear.
I hated it.
My skin crawled from the excessive touching and invasion of my personal space.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Please don’t touch me,” I whimpered.
She didn’t hear me. Or maybe she did and chose not to care. Her hand landed on mine again, and something in me snapped.
I jerked back without thinking, yanking my hand away like her fingers had burned me. I stumbled backward, right into Sargis’s chest.
And then I hid.
I turned my body, pressing into his side, and tucked myself halfway behind him like he could shield me from her probing eyes and sharp tongue.
The murmurs around the ward grew louder.
My face burned from all the attention, and my ears rang. I didn’t look at her. But I could feel her staring.
Sargis didn’t move. He didn’t say anything yet, but his posture changed. Subtle, but unmistakably protective. I wasn’t sure if it made me feel safer or more exposed.
I wasn’t weak. At least, I didn’t want to be. But all I could think about was the flash of Joe’s face, the weight of his body, the unwanted hands, the helplessness,
Her touch, even if well-intentioned, was too much.
I blinked hard, trying to shove the tears back. My breathing slowed a little, just enough to keep from unraveling completely.
I stayed tucked behind Sargis, clutching the back of his shirt like a lifeline. I wasn’t trying to make a scene. I wasn’t even sure how we’d ended up here with my pulse thudding in my throat, and my skin prickling from unwanted touch, and his mother standing just a breath away, confused and slightly affronted, as if I had been the rude one.
Sargis’ arm came around me.
“Mother,” he said again, this time with the kind of weight that made the entire room hush. “You are overstepping. She is not a court pawn, and she’s certainly not yours to interrogate. Respect her boundaries, or don’t speak to her at all.”
It wasn’t angry. Not overtly. But it was a reprimand. A public one.
His mother blinked at him, then slowly turned her eyes to me. She gave a small, derisive huff, like she couldn’t quite understand what the fuss was about.
“Sensitive, isn’t she?” she muttered under her breath, but it was just loud enough for me to hear.
She didn’t wait for a reply. She turned, her royal cloak brushing the tiled floor behind her like a closing curtain, and swept out of the medical wing without another word.
I stared at the floor, my breath slowly evening out. A quiet throb pulsed at the base of my skull from all the noise.
She didn’t like me.
I didn’t need words to know it.
There was something about her, the regal posture, and tight smile, the eyes that watched too closely and judged too fast, that reminded me so vividly of Ama.
Great.
Now I was finally meeting people just as rotten as the ones I’d left behind.
Sargis turned to me, his expression softened now that the storm had passed.
“I’m so sorry for her behavior, My mother can be snobbish and overbearing at times. But I want you to know she means well,” he murmured, searching my face.
“Are you okay?” he inquired with worry etched on his face.
I nodded once. I wasn’t sure if I actually was, but I wanted him to know I appreciated the way he handled it.
Before he could say more, Maravek entered from the far side of the ward, his long coat swayed behind him, and he had a tablet tucked under one arm.
“Well,” he began lightly, as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, “I trust you’ve both had an eventful morning?”
He greeted me with a kind smile and gestured toward the cushioned chair near the far counter. I sat carefully, still feeling the lingering hum of anxiety beneath my skin.
“I’ll keep this quick,” Maravek promised. “Just a routine check-in.”
He began his usual examination with light touches at my wrists and neck, checking my vitals, murmuring observations to himself. When he asked me how I was sleeping, if I’d had any pain, any nausea, any new symptoms, I answered each one quietly but clearly.
At one point, he paused and gave me a curious look.
“You’re speaking more,” he noted. “Comfortably and naturally. That’s good.”
I glanced at Sargis, who stood off to the side, watching but not hovering.
By the time Maravek finished, he stepped back and made a few notes on his tablet before smiling up at me.
“You’re making staggering progress,” he announced. “Far beyond what I expected at this point. Your nervous system is stabilizing. Your aura’s harmonizing. At this rate… I’d say you’re only days away from a full reintegration.”
My brows lifted. “Meaning?”
“Meaning,” he echoed gently, “your wolf will soon surface again.”
I dropped my eyes to my lap.
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