Chapter 87
Dron heard every last word.
He couldn’t open his eyes or say anything, but he heard everything that Tempest said while she was lying next to him.
Dron cursed his body for failing him. He was stronger than this. Stronger than some mystery poison coursing through his veins. At least that is what he wanted to believe...turns out he was mistaken.
He’d never felt as much pain as he had when Gerax had been cutting away pieces of him, morsel by morsel.
Then the pain was exacerbated by what he heard Tempest saying.
He thought when she told him that she loved him that he wouldn’t have to worry anymore about losing her. That she would be his.
He thought that when he finally accepted that she was his fated mate, he’d never have to think about being without her again. It seems as if she didn’t have the same feelings for him. Dron didn’t know if fated mates worked on humans. Tempest had told him previously that they didn’t have anything like that on her planet. Dron wondered if that meant that she was immune to the changes that had already started in his body.
He swallowed hard and tried to force his eyes open.
His body didn’t respond.
How long would he have to stay like this? Like an invalid. He wanted to get up and shake some sense into Tempest. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong. That he didn’t care who would come after him as long as she stayed with him. There was no danger he feared more than the thought of losing her.
There was no use; nothing Dron did was strong enough to wake him from the fog-like dream sleep he was in.
Maybe that was what this all was. Maybe it was all one big nightmare that he was having. It could be that Tempest wouldn’t still want to go back to Earth when he woke. She would stay with him forever.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a bomb of disappointment detonated in his core. His luck wasn’t that good. He would be surprised if she were still there when he woke up. She could use this time while he was unconscious to find someone who would be willing to take her back to earth.
She actually could reach out to Prince Jaqen to make her request. After the humiliation of today, Dron was sure that Prince Jaqen would want to do away with both Dron and Tempest. Depending on how he spun it to the crowd.
If the crowned prince made it seem like he knew Dron would win he could pretend to be happy about what had just happened. Dron didn’t see that as a possibility, though. The anger was too clear on the royal’s face when Dron took out the last opponent.
No, the crowned prince would have to make an example of Dron in some way. The punishment would come soon. He just didn’t know what the royal would do.
Time seem to slip around Dron like the sand on the dunes. He didn’t know if he had been sleeping for a few moments or a moon cycle. The next time he had any grip on reality, Dron could hear two people talking.
He strained, once again, trying hard to force his eyes open. It didn’t work.
Dron resigned himself to just listening to what was going on around him. It took him a few seconds to figure out who was in the room. He identified Tempest right away. Her melodic voice sang to him. It was a sad song. It sounded as if she hadn’t slept for days. He hoped that she was taking care of herself. Or at least that there was someone around to take care of her.
Had she eaten anything? What about Squab? Was the little creature destroying his pristine house? So many questions were floating through Dron’s mind, but there was nothing that he could do to answer them. He could only hope.
Once he identified Tempest’s voice, he focused on the other in the room. It was a woman.
"Gerax is one of the very best scientists in all the land. I trust his work."
Tempest groaned, "Are you sure? He’s been sleeping for so long. I just want him to open his eyes. I want him to be okay." There was a soft sound, and her breath hitched.
Was she crying?
Dron thrashed against the mental hold, trying to force his body to react. He needed to hold her. Needed to tell her that he was okay. He felt like such a horrible mate. If only he could assure her. There was nothing that he could do. Nothing that he could say.
He focused harder on the second voice in the room. It was a woman. He’d heard it before. Several times. It took him a second to realize that it was Mexyn. He should’ve known, though. She’d become a close friend to Tempest. It made sense that his mate would call her.
"Calm yourself, Tempest. Look. Check his vitals."
Dron didn’t feel anything, but he was sure that the woman was navigating through his wrist device to pull up the medical options.
"Yeah, it all looks good to me." Tempest’s voice was soft, "How come the life nectar didn’t work? I thought that was supposed to cure anything."
"It is. I don’t know why it didn’t work. All I can say for sure is the crowned prince and the other fighters seemed to have gone through quite a bit to make sure that Dron didn’t make it through that fight. It’s not what I would’ve expected." Mexyn spoke, and from the inflection in her voice, Dron assumed that she was angry.
"But why? I don’t understand. Why do they want him out of the way?" Tempest asked.
Dron didn’t have to wait for Mexyn’s answer. He already knew why.
Tempest was the key.
One way or another, Tempest was going to change the course of life for all of Ustea.
She truly didn’t know how important she was, but Dron did. She was important enough to break all the rules.
If they could do it, so could Dron.
He would just have to figure out a way to do it without anyone figuring out that it was him.