Forbidden Royal

by Victoria Pinder

Roll out of the way. Her body wouldn’t follow commands. Her right leg was numb.

  The spinning in her head spiraled out of control. Amy pressed her forehead to the ground and ordered the spinning to stop. It didn’t work. She closed her eyes against the pain. "Lucio, please find me soon. I don't feel well."

  And then everything was black.

  18

  Lucio's hand trembled as he gripped his phone. Following instinct, he’d noticed the car racing away from the hotel. He’d started running, eyeing clues until his brother drove next to him, picked him up and gave him the car. Tire tracks, an angry man lucky to be alive, and a knocked-over street sign. Less than a quarter mile away, a farmer flagged down help from the side of the road. Lucio, breathing hard, pressed a grateful hand on the man’s arm and he led him right to Amy lying in his field.

  He knelt beside her but texted Antonio his location to send help. His stomach churned with fear as he checked her vitals.

  She had a pulse.

  Two minutes later, his brothers were next to him. Every cell in his body rushed with adrenaline while he checked her arms and legs.

  She still wore the light blue dress from her interview, which clearly showed the right leg at an odd angle. Bloody scrapes were across her knees and hands.

  Worst was how pale and lifeless her face was.

  His brother, Antonio, slapped him on the back gently. "Don't touch her anymore. She’s alive. Now let’s wait for the paramedics."

  She was probably thrown from a moving car, and she must have crawled if she made it this far into the wheat field. He leaned closer and heard the soft intake of air from her nose.

  Tears threatened but he held them back. "She's still breathing, but not regularly. Where is the ambulance?"

  Marco hung up his phone, and knelt beside him as Lucio said, "Her leg is probably broken. She’s too pale. She might have some internal damage."

  If she was conscious, the pain would be too much, but he kept the thought to himself. Where was help? He tried to control his racing heart. "I need the ambulance..."

  "It's here." Antonio waved an ambulance into the field.

  The ambulance team parked and two of them were out with a stretcher, but Lucio's hand never left Amy's arm. She could die and it would be his fault for not protecting her. He let her go so the paramedics could put her on the stretcher.

  Antonio patted his shoulder to get up. "Lucio, go with her."

  "I should never have left her alone." He stood.

  The paramedics were checking her vitals as they lifted her into the ambulance.

  Marco brushed the dirt off Lucio's arm. "Let them get her to the hospital. Ensure she gets the best care."

  He nodded, walked toward the ambulance, but turned to his brothers. "I will fly in whoever we might need."

  "The plane is on standby." Antonio nodded. "Let's hope it's just a broken bone."

  The female paramedic said, "It's time."

  Lucio stepped inside.

  The door slammed closed. Lucio sat opposite Amy whose breathing was measured on a small screen. The female paramedic came beside him with bandages. "We're cleaning her injuries, Your Highness."

  The ride was bumpy. Lucio held onto his seat and saw that despite how the ambulance jostled through the field, Amy seemed immobile and white as snow.

  He missed the pinkness of her flesh and the spark in his body when she held his hand. The paramedic moved away from her. He leaned closer and kissed her cheek. "Amy, I'm here now."

  She didn't move at all.

  The paramedic said, "Keep talking to her. Her heartbeat is strong."

  He nodded and held her hand in his without squeezing too hard. He'd never hurt her. "Good. Whoever did this to my love is going to pay."

  "I understand. Her left side seems better," the paramedic said. "We immobilized the right."

  She must have hit the dirt on one side. His insides all twisted at the idea that someone had thrown her out of a moving car and left her like this. He brushed her clammy skin. "She's cold."

  The paramedic gave him a small smile while she typed in her computer. "She's been out in that field, but her temperature falls within normal parameters."

  What if it had been the middle of winter? His heart couldn't take that. He pressed his free hand to his knees.

  For a few minutes no one said anything, but as they neared the hospital, the paramedic looked over his shoulder and tensed. "The doctors are waiting outside for you, and the press."

  The last thing Amy needed was anyone getting in her way for help. He told the driver, "Get us closest to the door."

  "Yes, sire."

  The paramedic braced the door until they arrived as close as possible to the entrance.

  Lucio kissed Amy’s cheek as everyone else worked to unhook her safely. "Amy, you have to be okay."

  The paramedics worked lightning fast to get her inside the hospital. One of the doctors in a white coat pointed down a hall. "This way. We have the prep room ready for her and an operating room cleared."

  His pulse dropped to zero. Amy might need surgery? He had truly failed her.

  Another doctor, an older man, gave orders to a female nurse, "Get the X-ray machine and prep the CT scan."

  "On it." She rushed out the door.

  Lucio's head swam, but no one dared asked him to move from Amy’s side. He leaned closer and told her, "Amy, I need you to be okay for me."

  He’d never forgive himself for putting her in this situation. This was his fault.

  Another nurse came over and kept her head down. "Your Highness, we need you to step back. She’ll be run through the CT machine so we get a full analysis of what happened to her."

  He stepped back and nodded. "Go."

  The nurse went behind the small bed and pushed Amy out of the room.

  He stood silent, waiting as doctors milled around in the room. No one said anything as they waited and time blurred.

  Once the door opened and Amy wheeled back inside, the entire room brightened and he was alert. The older doctor he recognized from earlier came in and spoke to him and the team of other doctors. "She has broken bones and a small internal bleeding tear. We're bringing her to the operating room."

  Three of the doctors filed out and followed down the hall.

  Lucio stared at the doctor who seemed in charge. He knew he couldn't go in there. He held his shoulders tight, hanging on. "Will she live?"

  The doctor returned his gaze without blinking. "If we stop the bleeding, and nothing else happened. We'll know more once the doctors start."

  Without another word, he left and Lucio was all alone in the empty room.

  For the first time in his life, he put his hands together and prayed for God to help her. Amy had his heart and he couldn’t live without her, not now.

  His mother came into the room and broke the heavy silence. "Son." She took his hands, like he was still six years old.

  "Mom." He wished somehow that Anna Camilla really had the power to make everything better.

  She squeezed, as if sharing her strength. "Amy's parents are in the waiting room. What happened?"

  The tears that threatened earlier burned the back of his eyes. He kept his head down and swallowed the ache in his throat. "I followed the speeding car from the hotel. When I made it to a field, a farmer flagged me into his field and brought me to her. I have no idea how she got there."

  She kissed the sides of his face and gently tugged him toward the door. "Come. Please talk to her mother and sister. They are both worried."

  Lucio's feet felt like lead as he followed his mother to the hall. No press had made it to the waiting room—just family. His gaze met Evie's who stood next to her fiancé and he told the four of them, "They brought her in for surgery."

  Her parents hugged each other and cried.

  "Mom, Dad, everything will be okay." Evie broke eye contact with him to console her parents.

  Amy’s mother was very pale. He wished he had better news, but his stomach
was in knots. "The doctors found broken bones and internal bleeding. They rushed her into surgery."

  "Is she going to be okay?" Her mom rocked on her feet. Amy's father held her until she quieted.

  Lucio dropped his head, but was thankful his own mother was here for him. "I don't know any more."

  Evie reached for Michael’s hand. "Internal bleeding—how did this happen?"

  How was a great question—but he had no answer. Once he knew Amy was okay, he'd devote every second to bringing whoever did this to justice. "The last thing I know is she left your room, Evie."

  Evie's face flushed red and she clung to her fiancé. "We talked but she said she was going to you."

  Again, this was on him. His own face felt hot. "She never made it there."

  Evie turned toward her parents. "I swear I'd never do anything to harm Amy. I apologized to her earlier for being a horrible sister when we were younger. She accepted."

  Amy had gone to see Evie, and the clip showed a smiling Amy at the end of the conversation. Lucio lifted his head. "Evie, I watched the video feed. No one is accusing you, but someone inside the palace must have kidnapped her—someone with the ability to adjust the security footage."

  A stone-faced nurse entered the waiting room and Lucio tried to make out if she was relieved, happy, or heartbroken. Anything that might prepare him, but she gave nothing away. "What's happened?"

  Her words answered the silent pleas of his heart. "The surgery to stop the bleeding was successful. The doctors are setting her broken bones. We suspect she’ll be awake soon."

  Amy would be okay. He felt like he could breathe for the first time. "What did she break?"

  The nurse took a folder from the nearby desk at the nurse’s station and returned to talk to them. "Her right leg has a spiral fracture in her tibia and the ulna has a straight line fracture in her lower right arm."

  Amy’s mother spoke in between her tears. "Thank goodness, she's a leftie. In recovery, she'll be able to flip a page of a book or type."

  Evie laughed. "Now that sounds like Amy."

  All Lucio could think about was seeing her again. His heart was in his throat when he asked, "When can I see her?"

  The nurse stepped aside and lowered her head. "She's still unconscious, Your Highness. The doctors are working on her."

  He turned toward her family in the waiting area. They'd all want to see her too. "If you don’t mind, I want to be there when she wakes."

  They nodded.

  The nurse said, "I will take you to her private room to wait."

  Lucio turned toward his mother and Amy's sister. "I'll call the second anything changes."

  Evie walked to her mother's side. "Keep us posted!"

  Lucio placed his hand on his heart. "And I will find out how she landed there. You have my word."

  He followed the nurse down the linoleum hall lit with bright lights. She pointed to room 112 and he entered. "Oh, she’s here already."

  Amy lay on her bed, unmoving. No color was in her face. He pulled up the seat behind her and took her left hand in his. Once she woke up, he'd tell her how sorry he was that he let this happen. He swore he'd never let any hair on her head be harmed. He couldn't lose her, ever again.

  19

  Amy counted the square white tiles of the ceiling and squinted away from the bright lights. At first her voice seemed nonexistent, and her mind wouldn't do more than count. There were two light bulbs in the florescent overhead. She could count her heartbeats. She realized that she wasn't in the field anymore.

  She jerked up and people in white uniforms rushed toward her. As she shifted left, she saw Lucio's brown eyes and strong shoulders beside her and, in that moment, she could breathe easier. "Where am I?"

  Lucio sat straighter.

  The woman in the white nurse's uniform stepped in her line of sight as she placed a stethoscope on Amy’s chest. "Welcome back, Amy. Nice to see that you’re waking. Let me take your vitals."

  Amy didn’t have the energy to say anything more.

  For a few minutes, she let the nurse do whatever she wanted, but once she moved and Amy had clear sight of Lucio, she felt better.

  The nurse finished, stepped back, and said, "Everything is good. I'm going to update her chart and leave you two alone now."

  Good. Lucio scooted closer so he had to think the same thing. The moment the door closed and she heard the click of the handle, Lucio brushed her hair out of her eyes and leaned over her. "Amy?"

  A huge smile grew on her face. She couldn't feel much on her right side, but if she was here, in a hospital near him again, then she'd been saved. "Oh. Thank goodness. You found me."

  His expression tightened and she swore he looked scared. He kissed her knuckles on her left hand. "Amy, finding you like that scared me. I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

  She wiggled her right side, not that it did much of anything. "From the cast on my arm and leg, I'd say I'm not going anywhere anytime soon anyhow."

  "That's not what I mean." He squeezed her hand a little.

  No. He needed to understand. She needed to tell him. She swallowed. "I kept praying you'd come for me and you did."

  He shook his head, dejected. "I wasn't fast enough."

  The last thing he should do was blame himself—she’d invited Suzie to the wedding. She stared into his warm gaze that made her feel soft. "Lucio... I don't think our wedding can go off in that church your mother had planned for tomorrow."

  A small smile hovered on his mouth. "We can wait. As long as I know you're safe—but now we'll have to endure a full royal wedding rather than the quick alternative. Please tell me, what happened?"

  A full royal wedding sounded like a lot of work, but she'd be with him. She'd be happy as long as she stayed forever with Lucio, but first he had to know that she’d fallen in love. He’d said he hadn’t wanted love.

  She sighed and answered his questions. "I woke up in an ice truck that drove away from the palace. I could see through the frozen windows when I woke up and my teeth chattered. Then I was delivered to a hotel."

  He nodded and leaned back in his chair that he’d pulled as close to the bed as possible. "We raided the hotel and arrested a few men. I'll need you to identify them—when you are ready."

  "I was knocked out at first but when they dragged me out, I saw them." Her heart beat faster. She'd have to do the best she could to change this conversation, but Lucio cared about justice. In high school, she remembered Marco complaining about the teacher and Lucio always tried to take the middle ground and be fair. It was part of the adult version of him. "I remember the four who kidnapped me."

  He briefly rubbed his chin. "We arrested five."

  Her mind raced to last night, if it was last night. Time wasn't her friend right now, but she recounted everyone she saw. She pursed her lips. "I only saw four. The two who drove the truck and the two who interviewed me. I broke the window and used the fire escape."

  She tried to sit so she could tell him about Suzie.

  He adjusted his chair to see her better. "We gathered that by the broken glass. You were lucky not to cut yourself! How did you get thrown from a car?"

  Now her face felt hot. If she was Lucio, she'd have thought of a better way out. She hadn’t known what else to do when Suzie sped in the wrong direction, but even now, she had no other solution. She closed her eyes to avoid his judgment. "I didn't. I jumped."

  "You jumped?" His hand pulled back slightly. She opened her eyes and saw he sat further back in his seat.

  She tightened her grip on his fingers. "Suzie was there outside the hotel when I’d escaped the men. Of course, I hopped in her car! She’s my friend—she was my friend. When I got scared, she refused to pull over. Said she was helping them, for money rather than power. Anarchists generally don't have money to pay like that."

  "Suzie?" His eyes widened, then he traced her face with a very gentle finger and kissed her cheek. "We'll figure it out, together. Right now, you need to focus on he
aling."

  "You understand that I had no choice?" It was time she told him everything. He had to know. "There is more though. I need to tell you-"

  "Relax." He smiled and took her hand. "Amy, don't strain yourself. I'll take care of Suzie. You need to stay calm."

  Whatever happened to her kidnappers or Suzie wasn't what she wanted to know about. "Suzie said you spent an hour in Evie's room. Just the two of you."

  His gaze filled with concern. "I went there looking for you but it took no more than five minutes. Then I saw Evie in the hospital waiting area. She's worried about you."

  She nodded and ignored her stiff casts. She needed his kiss, but she stayed focused on the conversation and not the shape of his lips. "That was my sense too when I confronted her. She said the same man who came to my office went to her and threatened her if she didn't turn over the pictures. I believed her."

  He stood. “Drat,” and he let her hand go.

  He then listened to her breathing closer. ”You sound on the mend, sweetheart. I should go tell your parents you're awake."

  She held out her hand in the air for him to take it back. He didn’t want love, but he had hers. "No. Wait." She knew this was her chance. She swallowed and met his gaze.

  "First, I want to tell you that I jumped out of that speeding car because I love you and want to spend my life with you—I didn’t want to die. When I said yes to you, it was to satisfy my parents and their dreams of social climbing. Now I want to marry you because I love you, but I need to know if this is a problem for you."

  His expression lightened and he gently kissed her lips. "It's not a problem. Amy, when I saw you in the field unconscious I almost lost my own reason for living. I can't lose you. Not now. Not ever."

  "Why?" His kiss was perfect, but she didn’t understand his words. "We hardly know each other. You can't possibly love me."

  "Wait? What?" He stared at her dumbfounded.

  She pressed his hand to her heart. "I loved you when I was a teenager. You didn't see me then. "We" only started for you a couple days ago. I'm okay with waiting and hoping one day you might love me."