Royal by Blood: A Princess and the Pea Retelling by S. A. McClure & Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night

Author:S. A. McClure & Once Upon A Fairy Tale Night [McClure, S. A. & Night, Once Upon A Fairy Tale]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B08B34K6HB
Published: 2020-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Max attached cold pads to her temples and chest. Wires ran from them to a machine. He’d given her a sedative to calm her nerves, but Layla couldn’t stop thinking about discovering, finally, the truth.

“Layla, listen to me,” Penny whispered with consternation. “You cannot do this. Please. You have to believe me when I say that this will wipe me. I will be gone. My code overwritten.”

“I don’t believe you,” Layla replied.

Fear crept into Penny’s voice as she pled, “I promise you, if I could give you the information you want, I would. But I’m not lying about this Layla. I have never lied to you. If you do this, I will not be able to regenerate. I will be gone.”

“Then I guess you’ll be gone.” The words came out harshly and she regretted them the moment she thought them, but she refused to take them back. Whether it was pride or embarrassment, she wasn’t sure. She just couldn’t bring herself to stop what she’d started. She wanted the truth too much. She needed answers.

“I’m almost done setting up the procedure,” Max whispered. His breath was warm against her skin in stark contrast to the iciness of his hands. She gave him a wan smile.

“Will it hurt?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not in the slightest.”

“And my PEA?”

“It’ll be fine. We do this kind of extraction all the time. It’s intended to collect data from traumatic events that PEAs file away in order to protect their humans. In this case, your trauma occurred when you were barely four months old. These memories are locked away so deep, it’s no wonder your PEA has kept them from you.”

She sighed in relief at his words.

“See,” she hissed at Penny. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

A shudder of electricity fired through her body. She shivered.

Max smiled down at her. “If you’re cold, I can get another blanket for your feet.”

“No,” she replied quickly, “I’m fine.”

“I know you’re not happy I’m doing this, but I have to know the truth,” she said to Penny. She felt like a broken record as she confronted her PEA yet again. “I have to know who I am. Definitively.”

“If you do this, it will destroy me,” Penny replied weakly.

Layla considered asking Max to stop. She trusted he would. There was something about the tenderness in his voice and touch that made her feel like he would do anything to help her. To keep her safe.

Max bent over her and pressed a cool hand to her brow. “We can stop this now, if you want,” he whispered.

She shook her head. With the sedative he’d given her coursing through her veins, the movement made her dizzy. He squeezed her hand. “Ok. Then let’s get started.”

“Please, Layla. Once he begins, it’ll be too late. Anything that attempts to access these files will cause a wipe of my system. I do not want to lose you,” she paused. “I do not want to die.”

“You won’t,” Layla said.

“Ready?” Max asked.

She breathed in deeply.

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