The Stolen Princess: A YA Dystopian Romance (Desolation Book 3) by Kortney Keisel

Author:Kortney Keisel [Keisel, Kortney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-25T18:30:00+00:00

17

Commander Stoddard

Stoddard stood by King Adler’s bedroom window, staring down at the Tolsten House gardens. Behind him, Doctor Von leaned over the king, counting his heartbeats.

“Myka!” Adler yelled. “Where’s Myka?” His speech was slurred, but Stoddard understood what he said because that was the only thing the king had said over the last three days.

“The king is being very difficult,” Nurse Blanch said, trying to hold his writhing body down. “Someone needs to tell him where his daughter is.”

Stoddard knit his lips together, staring at the woman. “We’ve been able to keep it from him for the past couple of days. Why would we tell him now?”

“Because it’s not right,” she said.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with right or wrong when I released your husband out of prison in exchange for your silence.”

Her eyes dropped.

How quickly people forget the kind deeds done to them.

“Besides, we don’t know where the princess is,” Stoddard said flatly.

Doctor Von cleared his throat. “It’s just that the king seems very distraught about the fact that the princess hasn’t visited him.”

“I thought we were sedating him for that?” The doctor could work through the most difficult medical problems since Desolation, but he couldn’t figure out how to deal with a dying man’s temper?

“I’ve been giving him sedatives. That’s the only thing that has been keeping him calm, but”—Doctor Von stroked his forehead—“at this point, with the type of pain meds that he’s on, it would be too risky to continue with the sedatives.”

“Why?” Stoddard rested his chin on his fist.

“For starters, it would decrease his respiratory rate to a level I’m not comfortable with.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t he going to die anyway? I don’t know why we're trying so hard to keep him alive.”

Doctor Von blinked. “Because he’s the king.”

Stoddard ignored his response. “I thought that fever a couple of days ago was supposed to kill him.”

“It was very concerning, but it went down.”

“Did the princess give him that herbal medicine again?” He flashed his eyes to Blanch. “I thought I told you to dump that stuff out.”

“I did dump it out.”

“Sometimes with cancer, things can go up and down,” Doctor Von chimed in.

Stoddard turned his head to the window again. The spotty clouds were clearing out, and rays of sun were filtering through the sky. “I’ll think about telling the king about his daughter.”

Stoddard’s voice went soft. “I don’t want him to worry about her safety. We’ll find her soon and bring her home.” That wasn’t the real reason he withheld the information. If Adler knew that his beloved daughter had been taken, he would spend all of Tolsten’s resources to get her back. He would have responded immediately to the letter from the kidnappers with the location of the weapons, and that was something Stoddard could not have happen. If Stoddard’s plan to take over all of the seven kingdoms was going to work, he needed every single weapon Tolsten had.

“Fine.” Doctor Von nodded. “You’re in charge.” He moved to leave.

“What about the other?” Stoddard asked.

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