To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Her head was pounding, but she moved it anyway. Anything to escape the light.
“Cut it out.” Or that was what she tried to say. It came out in a garbled, “Cut oot.”
Suddenly, the light disappeared, and she was blinking up at Rhys’ stern and impossibly handsome face.
“You promised never to do that again,” he scolded.
Technically, that wasn’t true, but Valeria wasn’t about to argue with an angry dragon.
“I’m, uh, sorry.” She licked her dry lips. “I guess the protection circle didn’t work.”
Lips compressing, Rhys’ glare could have put out a fire, it was so icily controlled. “It would seem not.”
Turning away, he spoke to someone over her shoulder. “Thank you for your service.”
Valeria sat up to see a middle-aged Indian man with a paunch dressed in blue scrubs standing next to Naveen. He was wearing a stethoscope around his neck and held an otoscope—the source of the light shining in her eyes.
As she watched, the clan’s second handed the doctor a full-sized gold bar.
“But I haven’t done anything, only the most routine of examinations,” the stranger sputtered, struggling to hold the gold bar. How heavy were those things?
“Our resident hea—doctor—is qualified to interpret the scans you ordered, thank you.”
When Rhys signaled, the bewildered man was shown out by leather-suited men waiting at the door.
“Let me guess,” she said, squinting to focus on the retreating forms. “He is a human doctor you paid to come up here, blindfolded the whole way.”
“He was allowed to remove the eye covering on the airplane.”
Valeria winced. “So, he’s not a local doctor? He wasn’t from around these parts? “
Rhys stared down his nose. “Dr. Sadi is a neurologist who specialized in brain injuries. We offered him his weight in gold to attend you. He offered several suggestions in transit and requested scans. But you woke up before his direct intervention could take place.”
Her stomach tightened. “His weight in gold?”
Valeria had been hoping Rhys hadn’t gone to too much trouble. So much for that…
“I would appreciate it if,” the first of the Draconai Imperia began, “—given that you’re being hunted by witches so they can kill you—you didn’t help them along by trying to kill yourself.”
He was yelling by the time he was done.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice.
Rhys passed a hand over his eyes, gathering himself. “Actually, I think it’s best if the doctor continues monitoring you. I’m going to stop him, delay his departure.”
He left the room. Once he was gone, she realized she still wasn’t alone. Naveen had remained, standing guard on the other side of the bed.
“Hey,” she muttered, her headache making it difficult to turn her head in his direction. Naveen obliged her by moving closer to the door.
“How angry is he?” she asked.
Naveen grunted. “Very. I’m not too chuffed, either.”
Valeria wasn’t sure what chuffed meant, but she got the gist. “My apologies to you as well. It can’t have been too pleasant seeing me like that.”
Her memory after the first bout of screaming was hazy, but she recalled the nosebleed that had poured blood down her front. There might have been a trickle from her ears as well.
“What was worse was telling my first what you’d done.”
Damn, these dragons were excellent at the guilt trip.
“I’m sorry your spell didn’t work,” Naveen added, his face softening. “I know you were hoping to learn some details about Gabrielle’s life.”
Valeria’s brow puckered. “Oh, that part of the spell did work. A little too well, actually.”
Naveen blinked. “But what about the bit when you woke? You said—”
“I meant the circle failed its primary purpose—to protect. But the part where it helped me remember and use the psychometry, well, that went flawlessly,” she finished dejectedly.
“Oh.” Naveen glanced at the door as if debating calling Rhys.
“No,” she said. “Don’t.”
“But…”
“I said no.” Valeria shook her head, even though it hurt. “He can’t ever know what happened to her, how she really died…”
She lapsed into silence, still trying to process all the memories that had flooded her brain.
All those screams locked inside her. That was why Valeria had cried out. Hundreds of years later, Gabrielle’s screams for help had finally been heard.
Shutting down the replay of painful memories in her head, she opened her eyes to find Naveen sitting at the foot of the bed.
“I have been thinking about your dilemma,” he said in a low voice. “You feel guilty for taking Gabrielle’s place, for wearing her face, walking in her shoes. But she’s been gone a long while. And you are here.”
He paused. “Then there’s the matter of the mirror.”
Her shoulders slumped. Not the mirror.
Naveen must have seen the enthusiasm on her face because he said, “Yes, the mirror.”
He picked up a pitcher of water, pouring her a glass and giving it to her. “Jerik and I are still researching the provenance, but we have discovered enough to be certain of one thing—the mirror shows your vranai—in human words, your mate.”
Valeria parted her lips, but he forestalled her with a finger in the air. “Deny it all you wish, but the question of whether you are Gabrielle reborn doesn’t matter.”
She took a sip before putting the glass down. “How can you say that?”
“Because Rhys is not the one who looked in the mirror.”
Frowning, she collapsed back on the pillow.
Naveen took the glass again, putting it to her lips until she drank. “I admit there would be room for doubt if he had been the one to gaze into its depths, because it could be either you or Gabrielle reflected back,” he said, his air philosophical. “But that’s not what happened. You, Valeria, were the one who looked in the mirror. And you saw him.”
Footsteps sounded, signaling Rhys and the doctor’s return.
Naveen got to his feet. “You saw my first as he is today,” he continued. “So, stop tearing yourself into small bits wondering if you are his. The point is moot because no matter what else may have been true in the past, the reverse is most definitely true—he is yours.”
With that, the clan’s second snapped her a quick bow and left before Rhys walked in.