Waking His Princess: A Sleeping Beauty Romance (Filthy Fairy Tales Book 2) by Parker Grey

Author:Parker Grey [Grey, Parker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Declan

The days blur together. After two they take some of the tubes out of her. After three, or maybe four, they move her to a new wing of the hospital, out of intensive care. Her face gets less puffy, and her bruises begin to yellow around the edges.

They’re no longer worried that she’ll die. They’re just worried that she may never wake up, a worry that looks more and more like the hard reality every day, and her family begins discussing their options in whispers and murmurs.

I’m still there, at her bedside, whenever they’ll let me be. Sometimes I fall asleep, holding her hand for hours at a time. Once I wake up to find that someone’s put a blanket over me.

After nearly a week, the bruises on her face are faded enough that she’s recognizable again, even through the purple and blue shadows. She’s lost weight, and there’s a hollow space under her cheekbones, but she’s still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

Visiting hours are nearly over, so I stand from my chair. I kiss her hand, the same way I do every night, place it on her bed next to her.

“I love you,” I whisper, but Aurora just keeps breathing.

I don’t know what possesses me to do it, but something does. Now that she looks less delicate, less horribly breakable, I’m stunned at how gorgeous she is, even like this. She radiates something powerful, something I can’t name, but unconscious or not, Aurora’s got a hold on me.

I bend over her bed, stroke a strand of red hair from her face. She doesn’t move at all, and I let myself trace her cheekbones, so lightly I’m not even sure I’m touching her.

Nothing. She doesn’t move, the machines don’t beep, no one comes in to scream at me.

I kiss her.

There’s no disaster, but strangely, I feel a little better. I miss everything about her, but I miss the feel of her lips on mine, that simple pleasure.

At least I can do this, I think.

“See you tomorrow,” I tell her, touching her hand one last time as I leave before the nurse can come in and berate me.

My hand is on the door before something catches my attention. At first, I don’t even know what it is, but a small voice in the back of my head whispers wait, wait, there’s something, wait.

I pause. I turn and look at her, every sense on high alert, and I stand there and listen.

In a moment, it hits me.

She’s breathing faster. It’s slight, but I’ve been listening to her breathe for a week, and it hasn’t changed until now.

“Aurora?” I whisper, hoping against hope, walking back to her bed.

Her face is the same, but her breathing’s different. Faster, then slower, then faster again.

Suddenly, she coughs.

I swear to God every machine beeps at once, the whole room exploding into an electronic cacophony, and I grab her hand, falling to my knees again.

“Aurora,” I beg, my lips against her fingers. “Please.”

It’s all I can say before the door flies open, two nurses rushing in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.