Their Hidden Princess (Zora and Maximus) novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249

Zora’s POV

I came in and out of consciousness. When I was awake, I was so cold that I was shivering. There was a weight upon me – blankets. Many of them, but it didn’t feel like enough. A cold compress was on my forehead. I tried to shake it off. It was already so cold. Who was trying to torture me?

“Shh,” Valentin said gently, and returned the compress to my forehead. He kept his hand there with it for a moment. Then pressed the back of his palms against my cheeks as if checking the temperature there. I didn’t know what he felt, but I found comfort in his touch and leaned into it.

“This isn’t good,” Max said. “We need to take her to a healer.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Valentin said.

“And this fever isn’t?” Max replied, aghast. “She’s burning up, Valentin.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Valentin snapped, a rare moment of him losing his cool. “You think this isn’t torture for me as well? But what she has, a healer won’t be able to solve. This is no ordinary illness.”

A warm hand held my own. I recognized Max’s strong touch as he squeezed.

“We all know the cause,” Kairos said, his voice low and dangerous.

“You’re talking about me,” Thorne said. I was surprised to hear his voice. He hadn’t come into the house yet, but as I was on a bed, likely in my bedroom, that meant Thorne must have finally been coaxed inside.

I didn’t know what to think. I wished I could open my eyes to see him, but my eyelids were too heavy. Sleep was already pulling me back under, but I fought it.

“Of course I’m talking about you,” Kairos snapped. “Who the hell else was being an asshole today?”

“Maximus,” Thorne replied.

“Fuck off,” Maximus growled.

“You can both fuck off for hurting my mate,” Kairos said. Under his anger, there was something else. Something like… fear. Gods, how bad was I, to make someone as strong as Kairos afraid?

“Come at me, then,” Thorne replied harshly. “I can take you both on.”

“I’d be fucking happy to,” Kairos said.

My chest ached again, hard and fast. I started to squirm, groaning against the pain.

Valentin was still touching my face. He must have been the first to witness my distress.

“Stop it. All of you,” Valentin said, his voice filled with the authority of his experience and station. “You are acting like spoiled children. Do not forget that fighting each other is exactly how this happened in the first place.”

The others fell quiet, and in the silence, I couldn’t keep myself conscious anymore. The darkness pulled me back under, and I finally found relief falling into it.

I awoke again, sometime later. I had no sense of time like this. I was still exhausted, still shivering, but this time, at least, I could open my eyes.

Max was to my left, holding my hand. Valentin was near my head, gently brushing back some of my hair from my forehead. I had been sweating, I thought. My hair was damp and sticking to my forehead. In a moment of clarity, I felt self-conscious. To be sweating like that, I must have looked and smelled horribly. I tried to pull away from Valentin.

“What’s wrong, Zora?” Valentin said softly, his voice as comforting as his touch. I melted a little, falling back into it.

“I’m ugly…”

“Never, my heart,” he said. “You are perfect as always.”

Despite the setbacks in trust between my mates, we were at least all here. If we just worked a little harder… We could fix things. We could fix this.

Thorne could be my fourth mate, and everything would fall into place.

“Thorne,” I said again, wanting him closer.

He was standing near, but still far enough back, not touching me, that he felt like the outsider in the room. I wanted him to feel included. He was my mate, even if he had rejected me in the past. None of that mattered now. He was here. We were trying. If he would just come closer, I was sure we could make this right again.

Yet, as he looked at me, as I stared deeply into his eyes, just like with Kairos, there was more behind his worry, behind his angry.

I saw his fear. I felt it strike down into my heart like it had sliced into me.

This wasn’t fear just for me. This was something else. Something that was reflected inwards.

I knew what he was going to do, maybe even before he did. Tears filled my eyes. I wanted to stop him, but I had no idea how I would do so. What could I say that would make him want to stay?

My other mates became alarmed, clutching my hands tighter. Valentin said my name.

But I couldn’t look away from Thorne, my heart begging the words I couldn’t bring to my lips.

Stay. Please stay.

He swallowed again, his entire throat working. Then with a blink, he looked to his left and right. No one else was paying attention to him. Only me.

He didn’t look at me again as he turned away and fled the room.