Royally Tamed

by Diana Ames

  “Ms. Burkheart, you’re back for your test results?” a male nurse said, walking into the room. He stopped short when he saw the two people in the room glaring at each other.

  “I had an accident,” Alondra said, shifting her gaze to the nurse. “I think I broke my nose.”

  The nurse went over, and Alondra removed her hand to allow him access to her face. He gently felt around her nose and then tipped her head back to look at the inside.

  “How long ago did this happen?”

  “Maybe an hour, give or take,” Alondra replied. She winced with each probing touch from the nurse. “It really hurts.”

  “It’s definitely broken,” he told her. “It looks like you have several broken blood vessels up there as well. Your nose needs to be set unless you want it to be crooked permanently. It’s going to need to be packed with some cotton as well. It doesn’t look like those blood vessels are clotting on their own.”

  “Is it going to hurt?” she asked, fear creeping into her voice. It had hurt badly enough when Damian knocked into her, but she hadn’t anticipated that pain. She would know this was coming, and that would make it worse.

  “Well, it’s not going to feel good,” the nurse told her. “How were you injured? It probably won’t feel as bad as that.”

  “I just ran face-first into a wall,” Alondra lied. “I guess just do it, and I’ll deal with the pain.”

  “I can give you something for the pain beforehand.”

  “Just do it already,” Anton snapped, his patience at an end. “She said to do it. Straighten her nose, and stuff some cotton balls up there, so we can get out of here.”

  “I-I need to get someone to hold her head still, sire,” the nurse said. “If she jerks—”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Anton said, striding over to Alondra. He stood behind her and gripped her head hard between his hands. “There—she won’t move. Now, fucking do what you need to do!”

  The male nurse had a look of pain on his face when he grasped her nose and snapped it back into place. Alondra screamed as the cartilage cracked loudly, and then she passed out.

  ***

  Anton’s grip on her head wasn’t enough to hold her upright, and she crumpled to the floor. He gaped at the unconscious woman at his feet. Blood was pouring out of her nose now, like someone had turned on a water faucet.

  “What the hell?” Anton yelled at the nurse. “You said this wouldn’t hurt her any more than the initial injury! She didn’t pass the fuck out from the initial injury!”

  “Just let me…I have to…” The nurse frantically looked everywhere but at Anton.

  “Don’t just stand there, dumbass!” Anton shouted. “Get her up on the table.”

  The male nurse tried to lift Alondra, but he was too nervous, too frightened, and just too weak to pick her up. Anton shoved him out of the way and lifted her like she was a baby. He gently laid her on the exam table and stood back to see the nurse wringing his hands together.

  “You might want to try to stop the bleeding,” Anton said with exasperation. “She looks like she’s bleeding to death.”

  “I need to get a doctor,” the nurse said roughly. “I can’t…I just…I’ll get someone,” he stumbled over the words before bolting out the door.

  Anton watched the timid man run away, and he cursed under his breath. He knew nothing about medical care or illness or injury, but even he could see that this wasn’t normal. He put his hands on her nose, pinching as he’d seen her doing earlier. He panicked a little when she started choking on the blood that must have been running down her throat from the angle of her head, and he quickly tried to roll her onto her side. A little blood ran out of her mouth, adding to the mess on her face and clothing, but she wasn’t choking anymore.

  “She needs to be in an upright position, so the blood can drain,” a voice said from behind him.

  “Well, I can’t do this pinching thing and hold her up at the same time,” Anton snapped. “And that idiot who was in here took off like something was chasing him.”

  Anton heard papers flipping and then a loud gasp. He looked over his shoulder to see what was keeping the latest incompetent from assisting him.

  “Sire, we have a big problem.”

  ***

  “What are you doing back in my office today, Gillian?”

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about how you’re going to help me,” she told him. “I tried to rest. I really did. But every time I close my eyes, I see his face.”

  “We have to keep this quiet, Gillian. I thought you understood that,” Stephen said, rising to his feet. “If you’re in my office too much, someone is going to question it. As it is, you are here for a session every day of the week. That’s more than I see any other patient.”

  “I am dressed as you requested,” Gillian said, batting her eyes at him. “I need this so badly, Stephen,” she pleaded with him.

  Stephen walked to where she was once again shackled to a chair. He unzipped the front of her jumpsuit to her waist and watched her plentiful bosom spill out over the material. He pinched one turgid nipple between his thumb and forefinger and grinned when she gasped.

  “Did you like that, Gillian?” he asked in a seductively low voice. “Do you want me to do it again?”

  “Yes, please,” she whispered, “sir.”

  Stephen couldn’t contain the grin at being called sir. Others treated him respectfully because he was in charge, but he wasn’t really respected. He wasn’t feared. He knew the guards would snicker behind his back and make jokes because he wasn’t an overgrown muscleman. But he had power, and the woman shackled in front of him knew it. Even better, she’d acknowledged it. When he could announce that he’d cured her of her delusional obsession with Prince Anton, everyone else would know it as well.

  Stephen went back to his desk and got the master key for the shackles. When he released her, she rose to her feet and unzipped the one-piece jumpsuit. She kicked off her shoes and let the clothing fall to her feet.

  “Get on your knees,” Stephen whispered.

  When she kneeled in supplication in front of him, his cock sprang forward. Undoing his fly, he pulled his hard member out and rubbed it over her lips.

  “Suck,” he commanded.

  Gillian opened her mouth and tried to swallow him whole. His eyes rolled back in his head as her tongue swept over him, and her teeth gently teased him. He fisted her hair and began thrusting hard into her mouth. He only stopped when he heard her trying to stifle a gag.

  He jerked her up by her hair and shoved his pants to his knees. Sitting in the chair she’d been chained to only moments before, he pulled her onto his lap and shoved his cock hard and deep. He gripped her hips and moved her up and down until he felt her cream coating him.

  Rising to his feet and locking her ankles behind his back, he slammed her into a wall and began fucking her hard. He gloried in her pants and groans until he was sure he was going to come from just listening to her.

  That was, until she came.

  “Oh, Anton!” Gillian screamed. “Yes!”

  Stephen’s erection deflated instantly upon hearing another man’s name. He swiftly pulled out of her and shoved her toward her clothing.

  “Get dressed!” he barked. “I’ll see you tomorrow for your regular session.”

  “Stephen, I—” she said, panting.

  “I said, get dressed! A guard will be in to return you to your cell in five minutes. I’ll let him know that I unshackled you because you’ve shown good behavior, and the trust is good for your self-esteem.”

  Stephen pulled his pants up and stormed out of the office. He couldn’t figure out just why he was so angry, but for the first time in his life, he felt like punching something.

  ***

  Anton sat by Alondra’s bed and watched the sleeping woman. She’d had a blood transfusion and an injection of some clotting factor before the bleeding had completely stopped. She was finally cleaned up. The blood had been washed from her face,
and her clothing had been changed. Her nose had been splinted and packed, but she still hadn’t regained consciousness. The doctor had told him it could be several hours to an entire day before she came around simply due to the blood loss and the shock her body had undergone.

  Anton felt guilty for forcing the nurse to set her nose. He felt guilty for screaming at her. He just felt guilty. He began to think he had no feelings left in him other than guilt. He couldn’t get past it enough to even contemplate what the doctor had revealed. Sitting there now, he turned it over in his head.

  Alondra had a mild form of thalassemia. Primarily a disease found in Mediterranean people, it was fairly rare in her homeland. That was why the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Is she aware that she has the disease? Burkheart certainly wasn’t a Mediterranean name, but thalassemia was an inherited disease. They had found the disease when she was feeling ill and came to medical a few days ago.

  Anton hadn’t realized it, but it was standard procedure to test for the disease in every tube of blood that came through the lab. The disease itself wasn’t so disturbing. It was more the implication of her having it, and then add in the type of blood they’d needed to transfuse her.

  Anton shook his head and looked down at the bandage on his arm. He needed her to wake up. He needed her to tell him that she’d had a blood transfusion before. If she hadn’t, she was connected to the Colania royal family.

  Anton stood. He didn’t want to leave until she woke up, but he couldn’t sit there any longer. He had to get some real answers, and for that, he needed a doctor. He left the room quietly and made his way to the nurses’ desk.

  “I need to see the doctor who is treating Alondra Burkheart,” he told the woman sitting there.

  She glanced up at him and swallowed hard.

  “Sooner rather than later,” he snapped impatiently.

  He waited until the woman picked up the phone before moving away from the desk. He glanced around at the white walls, the white ceiling, and the white floor. Anton decided that whoever had chosen white for the hospital color should be shot. It was too stark, too bright. In no way did he see how all this white could possibly be conductive to healing. In fact, it was giving him a headache.

  “Sire, you wished to speak with me? I’m Dr. Melianos,” he stammered.

  Anton turned to see the little man who had told him of Alondra’s disease.

  “Walk with me.” Anton began walking to an isolated section of hallway. “How difficult would it be to get her medical records or birth certificate from the United States? We need anything that might tell us who she is or where she came from.”

  “The United States is pretty strict on handing out information on their citizens,” the doctor told him. “She would have to be either mostly dead or sign a release form.”

  “Well, tell them she’s on her deathbed then, and she can’t consent to give us her records,” Anton snapped. “I want those records yesterday!”

  “Yes, sire,” the doctor said with a gulp.

  “I also want her DNA compared against every single royal you have on file, beginning with mine,” Anton ordered. “I want it done quickly and quietly. I don’t want word of my suspicions getting out. Am I clear?”

  “I will run the tests myself, sire,” the man said. “I will only need the assistance of one technician, whom I will hand select.”

  “How long?”

  “For the records, at least a week, sire. The channels through the U.S. are quite stringent. If I get to work now, I should have some preliminary results for you by tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Get it done. Find me directly,” Anton told him. “I do not want this discussed over radios or phones. If this gets out, it’s your head.”

  The diminutive doctor took off down the hall, and Anton just shook his head. Am I really so terrifying that people feel the need to run from me?

  Anton walked back to Alondra’s room, but at the last moment, he changed his mind. He had to get out of medical before he went completely mad. After leaving directions with the nurse to call him the minute Alondra woke up, Anton headed for his apartment. He hoped he would be able to catch a few hours of sleep before the shit hit the fan.

  ***

  The phone was ringing when Anton entered his apartment, and for a few seconds, he was tempted to let it ring. But the annoying sound only exacerbated his already pounding head, and he grabbed the receiver to shut it up.

  “What?”

  “My apologies for disturbing you, sire.” Dr. Servo’s voice echoed in Anton’s ear. “You haven’t made your last two regular appointments, and I wanted to contact you personally—”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve been busy.” Anton rubbed the back of his neck. “Mellissandra and I have been working on the education program, scheduling a countrywide tour.” He propped a hip on the stand in the foyer while cradling the phone against his shoulder. “She actually left today.”

  “You did not join her?”

  “No, Damian went with her.” Anton stood up again and fidgeted.

  He had grown comfortable with Dr. Servo over the last year, but he realized now that it was because he was constantly judging her reactions and had found them to be acceptable. Her disembodied voice through a phone line was disconcerting.

  “I volunteered to stay here and babysit Ms. Burkheart.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise, given the way you feel about her?” Dr. Servo’s voice was crisp as if she’d snapped to attention.

  “I don’t feel any way about her,” Anton protested. “The woman pisses me off. She’s coming between my brother and his wife. She’s digging around, looking for who knows what, and trying to make trouble.”

  “Yet, you have expressed your fantasies about tying her to your bed,” Dr. Servo interjected.

  “Don’t you forget anything?” Anton sighed heavily. “I’m fairly certain seeing her bleeding to death from her nose was enough to quell those fantasies.”

  “You saw her covered in blood? And it didn’t draw out your darker inclinations?”

  “It was gushing from her nostrils,” Anton snorted. “It wasn’t very sexy, especially since she passed out and fell in a lump to the floor.”

  “Sire,” Dr. Servo said excitedly, “you’re missing the bigger picture here. Just over a year ago, a woman covered in blood excited you. It didn’t matter where the blood was coming from. This is amazing progress!”

  “If you want to believe that, Doc, you go right ahead. I’d say it was more likely that I was half-traumatized myself because we were in medical and it was nose blood.” Anton paced the few steps the small phone cord would allow him. “Look, it’s been a great chat and all, but I need to get some rest. Babysitting this woman is going to be a full-time job, and running a country is fairly time-consuming as well.”

  “I see. Does this mean you’ll be postponing our sessions?”

  “I’ll call you if I need you,” Anton said softly. His voice was gentle and smooth. He didn’t want the doctor to think he didn’t appreciate her efforts to rehabilitate him.

  “Please check in at least once a week,” Dr. Servo requested. “Even if you don’t have time for a session, check in, so I know that you’re not backsliding. This breakthrough is huge, but the realization that you’re changing could cause a setback as well.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Anton hung up the phone and rubbed his neck. The talk of breakthroughs and setbacks set a ripple of stress through his body, and he felt every muscle in his neck and shoulders tighten. He was sure there was no way he could sleep after that conversation.

  CHAPTER 20

  Alondra opened her eyes, only to slam them closed again. The stark bright white of the room sent pain spiraling through her head. Eyes still closed, she took stock of her body. She was lying down, and all her limbs felt normal with the exception of her right arm. Her arm felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and something was stabbing her just below the elbow. Her face ached as well, and her nose it was stuffed full.
With her left hand, she reached up and touched her nose. Her eyes flew open when she felt the bandage and splint.

  Alondra took in the hospital room she was in and the IV sticking out of her strapped down arm. The events came rushing back to her. She’d woken up Damian, and he’d accidentally slammed his forehead into her nose, breaking it. The bleeding wouldn’t stop, and Anton had brought her over to medical to be checked out. The scenes flashed before her eyes— Anton grabbing her head in an iron grip, the nurse’s grimace as he reached for her face, the horrific pain, and then nothing.

  Alondra closed her eyes again and groaned. She was stuck in a hospital bed because of a lousy broken nose. Who does this happen to? She shifted, trying to relieve some of the pressure on her arm, and she heard paper crinkling under her. With her left hand, she reached under the blankets and felt around. Feeling nothing beside her, she squirmed until she got her hand underneath her.

  She pulled a thick envelope out from under her ass and closely examined it. It was a sealed plain white letter envelope and fairly thick as if it had five or six pages in it. Alondra cursed under her breath. With her right arm fastened to the bed, there was no way she could open a sealed envelope. Alondra fidgeted and fussed some more until she managed to shove the envelope in her underwear, the only thing of hers she was still wearing. Then, she pushed the call button on the side of the bed.

  ***

  Anton woke up to a ringing in his ears. After his conversation with Dr. Servo, he’d fallen into bed and, surprisingly, slept like the dead. He heard the ringing again and shook his head to try to clear the lingering sleep.

  “Hello?” he said groggily after bringing the phone to his ear.

  “Sire, she is awake,” the voice on the other end said.

  That woke him up, and he sat straight up in his bed. “Has anyone been in to see her yet?”

  “No, sire, we were waiting for your instructions, but she must be attended soon. The transfusion needles are still in place.”