Jennifer’s Pov

Three days passed before Christian was allowed to leave the healing wing.

I stayed with him for most of them. The healers eventually stopped trying to send me away. They wrapped his ribs, cleaned the deep wound in his side, and forced bitter medicine into him whenever he woke. He hated every moment of being still. Even half-conscious, he reached for me in the night as if making sure I had not disappeared again.

On the morning they finally let him return to our chambers, the castle felt different. Quieter. The blood had been washed from the stones. The broken doors were already being repaired. People bowed when...