The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 56

I did not have time for this. I took the paper from my son’s hand and shredded it into a million pieces, watching it float to the ground.

“No littering, mommy!” Theo reprimanded, echoing one of my lessons to him.

“Who gave this to you, Theo?” I asked in a voice that suggested the seriousness of the situation, but in a way that wouldn’t scare him.

He looked at the sky to contemplate for a second. “Uhh,” he said, shifting back and forth on his feet. “A worker?”

“A servant?” I questioned, raising my eyebrows. “A man with a necktie?”

“Yes!” he answered, proud of himself for remembering. “A man with a necktie. A servant.” He sounded out the word slowly.

Aldrich and I always had the worst timing.

I took his hand and brought him back inside, feeling like the weight that was lifted from my shoulders was back on. Now I had two stresses to worry about.

My brain instantly scrambled over what I should do. I could not bother Aldrich so soon after he discovered I was “cheating” on him with a strange man. Maybe I would go to replace Danika; Alan was probably off the table too, since he was most likely listening to Aldrich rage at that moment.

As I walked through the corridor, I realized my brain was scrambling because I had no sleep. I didn’t slumber last night or this morning, and there was nothing I could do at that moment without a refresh.

“We’re going to bed early tonight, Theo,” I told him. His bedtime wasn’t for a few hours, but I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Okay,” was all he said. He was definitely obeying due to the fact he thought he did something wrong.

We ascended the stairs to his room, and I decided to sleep with him tonight in case anything happened–especially with Aldrich and Alan away. I guided him into my rooms and changed him into his night time clothes.

“Can you read to me, mama?” he asked, and I smiled with a nod.

He opened the nightstand cabinet to pick from the row of children’s books I read to him each night. He chose a fairytale one about a prince and a princess.

As I read to him the story about the prince saving the princess, something seemed to resonate on his face. When the story was over, and I flipped to the last page about the prince and the princess moving into the beautiful palace to live happily ever, he looked up at me with a grin.

“You’re the princess, mommy!” he exclaimed, pointing to the couple on the page, “and Aldrich is the prince!”

I smiled at that; if only he knew I was technically one by association, but just didn’t act on it.

“Yes, honey, Aldrich is a prince,” I said, closing the book.

“But you are with the prince, so you’re a princess,” he demanded, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Let’s get to bed, Theo,” I announced while running my hands through his hair. I put away the book and we got under the covers as I thought about how he might not be my prince anymore. I didn’t want to attain my title if it was going to be taken away soon.

When I finally fell asleep with him nestled in my arms, I dreamed.

“My Princess,” Aldrich said, approaching me in the sun drenched room. The walls were composed completely of glass, offering a massive view of rolling hills and the treetops of the forest under a sunset glow.

I was in a white gown patterned with pink roses, the skirts pleated with lace. It was the same dress the princess in the story wore.

“You have saved me,” I told him, and he knelt down to his knees while taking my hand.

“I will always save you,” he said. My heart swelled as he drew my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

He was dressed like a knight, as if he just slayed a dragon somewhere. I gazed at him admiringly.

Reaching his hand into his pocket, he grinned at me, taking out a ring. It cast prisms in the sunlit glass room, its diamond huge and teardrop shaped.

“I want to properly ask you this time,” he said, his forest eyes looking like something I wanted to live in forever. “Cathy, my beautiful princess, will you do me the honor of—”

He didn’t get to finish before the dream became a nightmare.

A creature came crashing through the glass walls, hissing. It was a giant, green snake. It had fangs the size of our bodies and its eyes glowed at us demonically. I screamed out as the glass shards flew at us in a sharp dust, piercing our skin. I saw b***d on my hands and my arms, and when I turned to him, he was also bleeding. His b***d glistened in the light.

The snake came slinking toward us, fast as lightning. I screamed my throat raw as the snake unhinged its jaws, closing over me.

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. I heard myself whimpering as whoever it was was trying to yell over my cries.

“Cathy, get it together and wake up!”

My eyes flew open to discover Alan hovering over me in his wheelchair. Theo was gone from my arms, and the sun was high in the sky.

“What…what happened?” I murmured, feeling like I wasn’t fully awake yet.

“You were sleeping. You’ve been sleeping all day!” he exclaimed in annoyance.

I rubbed at my eyes, trying to recover from my nightmare. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“I do, actually,” he said, crossing his arms as he narrowed his eyes. “I know why you’ve been sleeping all day.”

“Oh, yeah?” I entertained, cocking an eyebrow at him, “and why is that?”

“You’re recovering from your nightly escapade,” he said disapprovingly, a light accusation.

I sighed, closing my eyes again. I did not have the energy for this.

“So sorry to inconvenience you,” he drawled sarcastically, “I can’t believe you have the audacity to not be begging on your knees right now.”

“Begging on my knees?” I repeated mockingly. I sat up, brushing my hair out of my face.

He sighed, throwing his arms up. “I can’t believe you literally brought me back from the dead just to make me watch you cheat on my best friend!”

I wasn’t surprised that he already told him. “I didn’t cheat on him, Alan.”

“Then who did?” he asked with more dripping sarcasm.

“I went out to heal the homeless with the man who saved your life,” I snapped, slipping out of bed to face him.

“What?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

I explained everything to him. Clement’s b***d, our venture out at night, and the day we spent trying to replace an antidote to the vampire poison. An array of expressions went through his countenance as I explained.

I didn’t even have time to worry about whether he believed me or not. Theo came bounding into the room with worry pinching his face, his cheeks flushed.

“Alan, I tried replaceing Danika like you said, but the guards said she is missing!” he exclaimed in distress.