CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
I don’t see anything… but the world doesn’t stop because I fainted.
Chairs scrape. Guards shout. The king snaps.
The entire dining hall explodes into movement.
“Someone get the car. Now.” Adrian’s voice cracks—sharp, commanding, but underneath it is something no one expects:
Fear.
Not the king’s usual icy authority…
Real, human fear.
The guards scramble instantly.
“Your Majesty, should we bring the royal medic?”
“No. I said the CAR!” he roars. “We’re going to the royal clinic. MOVE!”
His footsteps thunder toward me.
Fabric rustles.
A breath—shaky, too shaky for a man like him—falls above me.
“Why didn’t you pick my calls…” he mutters, but now his voice has lost its anger.
Someone tries to help him lift me.
He snaps:
“Don’t touch her. I said I’ll carry he
