“She was taken to the hospital still conscious. She kept saying something about protecting the baby.”
“My wife is pregnant!” I shout, already running out of the room.
I couldn’t precisely recount what happened from the moment I received the news until my arrival at the hospital. It feels like a reenactment of what happened in Rheadur. As if life were showing me its fragility and how nothing is guaranteed.
Unlike the last time, when I didn’t really know what had happened but was sure that if she were gravely injured, Kaled would have told me immediately, I am completely in the dark now.
My heart pounds painfully inside my chest, and all I can think about is my beautiful wife, the mother of my child, hurt.
This time, there is no family member waiting for me, and I storm in like a hurricane. I am the hospital’s principal shareholder and don’t need authorization to see my wife.
I reach the reception desk. “Where is the duchess?”
The clerk swallows hard before answering, perhaps because of the madness she sees in my face. “In the intensive care unit, Your Grace.”
“And the doctor who treated her?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the police chief who had been at my house approaching. He must have followed me.
“He is available only to your wife, duke.”
“Which floor?”
“First.”
I start toward the elevator.
“I think you need to know a few things first, Your Grace,” the officer says.
“No. What I need is to see my wife. We can talk about the rest afterward.”
I reach the floor, and there’s a doctor standing in the hallway. He recognizes me immediately.
“Where is my wife?” At this point, I don’t care about titles or formalities. I just need to see her.
“Sleeping, now. I sedated her because she was agitated.”
“Was she badly hurt?”
“She broke an arm.”
“Fuck that!” I roar. “And my child?”
“The baby appears to be fine, but we’ll run additional tests.”
“What happened?”
“The car she was in left the road and rolled over. If I may say so, she’s a warrior. She managed to free herself and move far enough away not to be hit.”
“Hit?”
“By the fire. The duchess’s car exploded.”
“That’s what I meant, Your Grace, when I said we needed to talk,” the officer says again, drawing my attention back while the doctor’s words echo in my head.
For the second time in a short span, I could have lost her, and now, because of me. I was the one who taught her how to drive.
Fuck.