Rhys brought one of the bags to me. It was bulging with different medicines. “I don’t know which is the best to use for the current illness you have,” he told me.
I dug through the medicines and took out one for flu symptoms. “This one will work great.” Before any of them could offer, I opened it, poured the liquid into the small measuring cup, and then quickly swallowed it.
“Do you want us to heat up some soup?” Deryn asked me, placing his hand against my forehead with a scowl.
“No, I can’t eat anything yet. My stomach is still too upset.”
Fox opened one of the electrolyte waters and set it on the coffee table in front of me. “Here, this way it’s available when you’re ready for it.”
“Thank you. All of you, seriously, thank you.”
The last time I had been taken care of like this was when my grandma had been alive. It was nice to have people who loved and cared about me.
“Open up,” Nico ordered me, holding the thermometer. I obeyed, opening my mouth and then closed it when it was beneath my tongue. The thermometer dinged and he looked at the temperature it showed. “Hm,” he grumbled, pulled out his phone and searched the internet for something. “It’s high, but not life threatening.”
All of the guys relaxed, breaths whooshing out of them. I had not realized they were holding their breaths.
“Guys, I’m not going to die. It’s a common illness. Do an internet search for it. You’ll see,” I promised them.
“We’ll take shifts,” Rhys told everyone. “She needs sleep and there are too many of us here. Nico, you want a break or you want first shift?”
“First shift,” he said and resumed stroking my face.
“I love you,” I whispered to them as I let my eyelids droop.
The three who were leaving pressed light kisses to my forehead as they went. It was sweet and it filled me with warmth and love.
Three days later, I was finally well. The guys still tried to baby me, but I assured them I was healthy again. After a bit more reassuring, they believed me and the next four days were filled with marathon bouts of sex and hours of cuddling. They’d been terrified they were going to lose me and they all needed skin to skin contact with me in their arms to remind them I was safe. In a weird way, they seemed more scared after my flu, than they had after I’d been stabbed.
I wasn’t complaining.
Chapter 15
Why haven’t you made a decision?” Emrys, king of the dragons, asked me as we ate lunch at a fancy Italian restaurant a block away from my work. He had invited me suddenly this morning and I didn’t want to turn him down.
“Decision about what?” I asked him between bites of my penne Alfredo pasta. It was heavenly, and I wanted to scarf it all down as fast as possible.
“Mating,” he replied softly, so those nearby wouldn’t hear us.
“I have made a decision, but I haven’t told anyone,” I admitted to him. I was holding off on telling the guys until it was right. Things just didn’t seem right yet.
“Since you haven’t told your guards, I’m guessing you won’t tell me either,” he said with a smirk.
“No, sorry.”
“I want you to come visit the dragons,” he told me. “I’ve invited you several times to the den and you have pushed it off time and time again.”
“Not because I want to,” I told him right away, not caring if I was throwing Rhys under the bus. “Rhys said he doesn’t want to take me unless I’m his mate. He said if someone challenges me now, he won’t be able to fight with me, but if I’m his mate he will be able to.”
He sighed and set his fork down. “He’s always been a worrier. I blame his mother. I will have a talk with him. I will ensure that no one can challenge you and you will be safe when you visit. What does it say about us if the wolves can have you over with no problems, but my own son is too afraid of us to have you over?”
“Did I just get him in trouble?” I asked softly and stabbed a piece of pasta.
“No, I figured this was most likely the reason you hadn’t visited,” Emrys admitted. “Like I said, he’s always been a worrier. I will talk to him and then we will have you over. Do you have plans Saturday?”
It was strange to be sitting in a restaurant talking to the King of the Dragons about visiting his clan. My entire life was strange. I had gone from an isolated girl with major daddy issues to the princess of all four clans and queen of the four princes. Who knew one necklace would cause so much change?
“Saturday sounds great,” I replied with a smile, which Emrys returned immediately.
“Great,” he said. He sat still a moment and said, “My son is right, there’s something about you, your presence, it’s calming. Sitting with you like this makes me feel much more relaxed than I have felt in at least a decade. Are you sure you’re human?”
I chuckled and said, “I’m human, but I’m glad I can offer you some relaxation.”
I didn’t have much to offer, but I could handle offering a calming presence.
“There’s my queen,” Rhys said and took a seat next to us after giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“I love you,” I told him with a smile.
He smiled and said, “I love you, too.”
“Dessert!” Fox said as he pulled a chair up to the table. “We need to order dessert.”
“Why am I not surprised that you four showed up?” Emrys asked with a smirk.
Deryn grabbed a breadstick and took a big bite before he said, “Because you know that we can’t allow our queen to eat with strange men without interrupting.”
“Strange men?” Emrys asked. “Is that how you refer to your uncle?”
“Is he trying to steal our queen?” Nico asked, sitting between me and Rhys with a chair he stole from a nearby couple’s table without even asking them. Their shocked faces were hilarious.
“I believe, that would be between your queen and I,” Emrys teased them with a smirk.
I laughed and enjoyed the banter of the men I loved. This was where I belonged. Wrong or right, this was home. Home is where the heart is, mine just happened to be evenly split amongst the four of them. Something I was perfectly fine with.
“Home,” I whispered.
Nico squeezed my hand beneath the table, and the other three winked at me.
Yes, this was home.
THANK YOU FOR READING MY BOOK. IF YOU ENJOYED IT, WON’T YOU PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW?
Also by Catherine Banks
Song of the Moon (Artemis Lupine, Book One)
Kiss of a Star (Artemis Lupine, Book Two)
Healed by Fire (Artemis Lupine, Book Three)
Taming Darkness (Artemis Lupine, Book Four)
ARTEMIS LUPINE THE COMPLETE SERIES (Books 1-4)
Pirate Princess (Pirate Princess, Book One)
Princess Triumvirate (Pirate Princess, Book Two)
Mercenary (Little Death Bringer, Book One)
Protector (Little Death Bringer, Book Two)
Royally Entangled (Her Royal Harem, Book One)
Royally Exposed (Her Royal Harem, Book Two)
True Faces (Ciara Steele Novella Series, Book One)
Barbaric Tendencies (Ciara Steele Novella Series, Book Two)
Demonic Contract (Dragon Kissed Trilogy, Book One)
Anja’s Secret (Anja of Plisnar, Book One)
Daughter of Lions
Centaur’s Prize
Dragon’s Blood
The Last Werewolf
Last Ama Princess
Bitten, Beaten, & Loved
Lady Serra and the Draconian
Alys of Asgard
About the Author
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Royally Entangled Page 23