The Fourth Ceremony: The Sacrifice Trilogy (17 page)

              "Hey, hey, it's okay. They are in the cell with Alec and Khi. And trust me, the only one who is even still thinking about hurting you will be incapable for a very long time." Camden squeezed her hand gently and wished that he could hold her in his arms.

              "Of course, that was ridiculous, it just startled me," Camden could see her trying to revive her dignity.

              "You aren't ridiculous. I think you have plenty of right to be a little jumpy right now." 

              "So you and Marston found them, huh? I didn't even know that you knew him," Alessa stated curiously.

              "Us guards, we all keep in touch. Never know when you might need someone's skills." Camden laughed off the near admission and wondered if he should go farther. But he was worried about her and her headache. He didn't want to make it worse by telling her everything now. It would simply have to wait.

              "Hey, you should probably rest. The physician will be back to check on you soon. And listen, you don't have to take the medicine if you don't want to. I think you should, but you don't have to. You just have to say 'no'. I'll back you up."

              "Have you been awake all night, Cam?" Alessa looked concerned.

              "I got a couple of hours once I got here, but really, I'm fine. I just needed to come make sure that you were okay." Camden was being honest just like he said he would.

              "Wouldn't you rather be at home in your own bed?" Alessa's question was weighted and he knew it. He leaned down so that he was inches away from her face.

              "I'd rather be wherever you are." He kissed her gently on the forehead. They spent a few moments looking into each other's eyes, reading each other, memorizing each other. Camden leaned away from her. "Go to sleep Alessa. I'll be here if you wake up. Right over on that couch. You need anything and you just say so, I'll be here."

              "Thank you Cam, for everything. My debt to you keeps growing. Just don't take advantage when you call in your favor," she smiled as she made her quip, but Camden inwardly winced as he thought about what he planned to ask her. He got up from the bed and walked over to the couch. Camden dropped into a restful sleep. Thoughts of what was to come were far from his mind.

Alessa

              Alessa woke to the soft voices over her head. She began to stretch, then whimpered as pain radiated through her head and shoulder.

              "Whoa, hold still. Don't move Alessa." She saw Camden's face lean over her. All of the events of the attack came flooding back to her and she remembered that she was injured and that Camden had saved her from getting worse.

              "Yeah, sorry, forgot," she replied.

              "Sacrifice, my dear," the physician addressed her formally, "you are going to be alright. There are no broken bones, no permanent damage. Some bruising on your ribs may cause discomfort for a while and that shoulder is going to be tender for quite a few weeks, but it is back in place now and no real harm done. I am going to leave some medications here with you and I want to check on your healing in two weeks, okay?"

              She nodded at the physician and watched him turn on his heel and leave the room. 

              "So, I'm fine, time to get up," she said with a smile to Camden as she pushed herself up in bed. She silently cursed herself when she winced and caught her breath at the motion.

              "Just hold on there, ma'am, take it easy. We'll have you up in no time but for now I think its best you rest. I'm sure Evan will be happy to help you get back on your feet, slowly." Camden smiled at her as he spoke. "For now, I am going to leave you. I need to clean myself up and sleep on something other than a couch."

              "I'm sorry I made you stay on the couch, I-"

              "No apologizing, I would have stayed whether you asked me to or not. I've been through a lot of trouble making sure that you're okay, I need to check my investment," Camden said while barely concealing a laugh at Jayna's earlier joke.

              "Well far be it for me to keep you from managing your investments, sir." Alessa let out a short laugh which resulted in an ache in her ribs.

              "Rest, Alessa. I'll be back soon and we'll get Evan down here to get you moving." Camden bent and kissed Alessa on the forehead then turned and left the room.

              Alessa let out a deep sigh once she was finally alone. All the events of the past twenty four hours whirled in her head and made it hurt. Alessa couldn't believe that those men meant to hurt her, to kill her. She had always been loved and revered by everyone in the Empire. At least, that's what she was led to believe. And Camden's behavior was its own mystery. He had gone from teasing and almost mean to affectionate protector at the drop of a hat. Of course, she knew that he would be protective, it was his job, but the kissing and checking up on her certainly was not.

              She wanted to allow herself to get closer to him. She wanted to get to know him better, to spend the last of her days enjoying a burgeoning romance, but then she thought that wasn't very fair. What if he went back to being a jerk to her, or worse, what if he really began to like her? She was destined to die. Did either of them deserve to go through the inevitable end of their relationship?

              Alessa's thoughts were interrupted by a light tap on the door.

              "Come in," Alessa said as loud as she could without causing a new wave of pain through her torso.

              "Ahh, Alessa, you're awake." Alessa smiled to hear Jayna's voice.

              "Yes, please come in Jay, I'm glad to see you," and she genuinely was. Jayna had become a comforting presence in her life recently.

              "So I see you finally got Mr. Camden to leave you alone," Jayna said with a knowing gleam in her eye. Not for the first time, Alessa wondered if Jayna knew everything that happened in Alessa's life.

              "He only left a little while ago. He wanted to clean up and sleep in his own bed. As I've been in my own bed all night I can't say that I sympathize with him. I'm dying to get out of it," Alessa stated plainly as she began to struggle to sit up.

              "Alright well take it easy. I'll help you if you give me a second." And Jayna was on her good side, helping her stand and steady herself. "How's your head?"

              "I'm a little dizzy, but nothing unmanageable. Can I walk to the couch?" Alessa wondered why she was asking permission of this woman, her servant, when she made a point to ask permission as little as possible.

              "I don't know that anyone has ever been able to stop you from doing whatever you set your mind about doing, Alessa," Jayna said pointedly.

              "Jay, where are you from? How long have you been here? And how did you become a servant of the Sacrifice?" The questioned tumbled out of Alessa before she had a chance to think that Jayna may not want to talk to her about her personal life.

              "Well now that is an awful lot of questions," Jayna laughed as they progressed slowly across the room.

              "I'm sorry, of course you don't want to talk about yourself here, with me. It was silly of me to bring up." Alessa tried to backtrack as she sank slowly onto her couch.

              "Now I didn't say all that," Jayna corrected Alessa as she sat beside her, "it's just hard to explain a life that has gone around as mine has. I don't know if there's much of a place in this empire that I haven't lived, although I've never left its boundaries. As for here, I've been here for around five years."

              "Why didn't I know you until this year, Jayna?" Alessa wondered how she could have missed such a wonderful person right under her nose.

              "Well I haven't been on your service for much more than a year, Alessa. I used to work maintenance. I may not look it, but I can fix just about anything you lay in front of me."

              "What made you change?"

              "Well, I noticed you around and I wanted to get the chance to meet you. You do make an impression everywhere you go. You must know that." Jayna seemed serious.

              "Of course I do, I'm the Sacrifice. I've never escaped notice," Alessa said wistfully.

              "No, Alessa, that's not it. It's certainly what draws an eye in, but it's not what keeps the eye on you." Jayna turned to Alessa and waited until Alessa looked straight into her eyes, "you're special Alessa. You have influence and power inside of you. You could move mountains with that attitude of yours, girl."

              "I don't know about mountains, Jay, but thanks for the vote of confidence," she laughed out and turned from the piercing eyes.

              "I think you'll do alright getting back on your feet. You alright with sitting here while I go let your parents know that you're up and about and fetch Evan to you?" Jayna didn't wait for her reply, but stood to leave. She was such a strange servant, not servant-like at all.

              "Sure that's fine," Alessa said to Jayna's back and then the door as Jayna left the room.

              Alessa sat after Jayna had left thinking about what the woman had to say. Why had Jayna insisted that Alessa know how persuasive she was? It wasn't like Alessa had time to begin any big movement or help save starving children or the like. And all the talk about moving mountains with an attitude, it was absurd.

             
Besides,
a small voice said in her head,
you don't need to move mountains. Mountains would be easy. You need to move the entire sea.

              Alessa decided that she would dress herself while she waited on Evan to arrive. She walked into her closet and set about changing her clothes. She heard a knock on her bedroom door while she was changing, but the pain of undressing herself distracted her from answering it.

              "Hello, Alessa?" She heard Evan call out from her room. Alessa cracked the closet door and answered him.

              "Evan, I'm changing. It's taking a little longer than I thought it would. Please wait just a minute."

              "Ever the poor planner, as usual." Evan used his typical mocking tone.

              "Thanks a lot," Alessa answered sarcastically. She returned to the task at hand and couldn't stop the small whimper that escaped as she raised her shirt over her head to pull her arms through.

              "You alright in there, Less?" Evan was worried about her, which she thought was strange.

              "Fine, fine, just a little more of a challenge than I thought it would be," Alessa responded with annoyance as she wondered just how long everyone was going to baby her. She couldn't spend the rest of her life being pitied and treated differently by everyone. She was going to have to get back to normal quickly. She rushed out of the closet with a thought on her mind.

              "Evan, I want you to get me back to par as soon as possible. Whatever it takes. I'll train every day if you want." Alessa's words came out in a rush.

              "First things first, do you see that thing sitting over on your bedside table?" Evan pointed to what he meant and Alessa rolled her eyes against the surge of disappointment. "That is a sling that the doctor left for your arm. It should be on you and you most certainly should not be changing clothes on your own." Evan's tone was superior.

              "Are you volunteering?" Alessa was petulant.

              "No, although I can think of at least a couple of men on this Manor who might." Evan punctuated his statement by sticking out his tongue at her, a very atypical thing for him to do. "Furthermore, you are to do no arm exercises or move that arm out of that sling for three days, understood?"

              "Three days? Oh, that's ridiculous," Alessa cried out to him.

              "Three days. If I find out that you have taken it off once, I won't train you for two weeks. And believe me, princess, I will find out." The challenge was dripping from Evan's voice. He knew that he had her. Alessa had never trained alone. Even thinking of what to do while standing there in front of him she wasn't sure that she could put together one good work out, much less two weeks' worth. She sighed deeply as she let Evan help her manipulate her arm into the sling.

              "This is torture." Alessa's tone was flat and irritated.

              "It's my pleasure. However, if you behave yourself, I will continue to work on lower body strength with you so that you don't lose your stamina."

              "Well thank the Gods for small favors," Alessa said sarcastically.

              "Don't be silly, nothing I do for you is a small favor," Evan replied with mock charm.

              Just as they faced off against each other, the door burst open and Khi flew into the room.

              "Alessa, I didn't know you were awake or I would have come up here sooner. I was interrogating the prisoners. How are you? Why are you out of bed? Are you hurting?"