The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 44

The Heiress He Underestimated

Chapter 44 Cytokine Storm

She must have dozed off at some point because she woke to the feeling of something warm touching her hand. She jerked awake, every nerve firing.

Drakonius was looking at her. His eyes were clearer now, the fever haze mostly gone. His hand, still weak and trembling, was resting on top of hers where it lay on the blanket.

“You’re awake,” she said, her voice rough. She sat up straighter, immediately going into doctor mode. “How do you feel? Any nausea? Dizziness? Can you focus on my finger?” She held up her index finger and moved it slowly side to side.

He tracked it, then let his gaze drift back to her face. “I feel like I was trampled by horses,” he said, his voice a dry rasp. “And then possibly set on fire. But I am alive. Which I gathered was not a certainty this morning.”

“You had a cytokine storm. Your immune system overreacted to the vector. It’s a known risk, but knowing it and living through it are very different things.” She was talking too fast, her words tumbling over each other. “We had to use steroids to calm everything down. Your fever got dangerously high. I had to put you in an ice bath, which I know sounds medieval, but it was the fastest way to…”

“Elera.” His fingers tightened fractionally on hers. It was the barest pressure, but it stopped her rambling immediately. “Thank you.”

The simple words, delivered in that quiet, exhausted voice, did something strange to her chest. It felt tight, too full. She looked down at their joined hands. She should pull away. This was not professional. This was not the boundaries they had established.

But she didn’t pull away.

“You don’t need to thank me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “This is what I do. This is the deal.”

“No,” he said, and there was something in his tone that made her look up. His gray eyes were fixed on her with an intensity that felt physical. “The deal was that you would try to cure me. It did not include nearly drowning me in ice water while you sat there soaking wet to make sure I didn’t stop breathing. That was… something else.”

They both knew that Simon or Anya could monitor him just as well. But she found herself nodding.

“Yes. I’ll stay.”

Relief, naked and unguarded, flashed across his features before his usual mask of control slid back into place. He closed his eyes, settling deeper into the pillows. Within minutes, his breathing had evened out into the rhythm of sleep.

Elera sat back in her chair, pulling a blanket someone had left around her shoulders. She watched the rise and fall of his chest, the steady beep of the monitors, the slight flutter of his eyelids as he dreamed.

They had crossed some invisible line today. She wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened. Maybe it was when she had climbed into that ice bath, not caring about her clothes or her dignity, focused only on keeping him alive. Maybe it was just now, with that simple question. Will you stay?