When Luna awoke, she found Lukas looming over her.
That wasn't the surprising part.
The surprising part was that next to him was her father. And he looked concerned.
It took her addled mind a few moments to remember that her father would never be concerned over her safety, and then she started trying to guess the reason.
What did I say? What did I do? How did I end up here?
The hospital rooms were on one of the lower levels, near where the palace proceeded underneath the ground. It was at the edge of what the public saw, which was good for their image as a household.
Saving children and healing the elderly and sick? Yeah, right. As if her father was ever interested in that. He would prefer to throw out the infected infants and execute the infected adults. And everyone knew it.
The only thing that people didn't realize was that he was clever, too. He displayed his anger in only frivolous ways until the time came when he could truly ruin those he hated.
Everyone saw him as wrathful, but petty. They didn't realize just how petty he was. Even Luna wouldn't have known unless she had seen his list.
The night she had, he had explained to her, in great gory, unsettling detail, exactly what he planned to do to each person on it.
Luna hadn't slept that night.
Slowly, she pushed herself up. As she started, her head pounded twice, and a ringing like a gong filling her ears.
She froze.
As far as she knew, this was not normal. Whenever her mother got sick, she was able to sit up just fine, but she couldn't walk very well, and her skin was pale.
Luna looked down at her arm, moving her head slowly to prevent what she assumed was nausea from overwhelming her again.
Nothing.
It was just as tan as it usually was.
Then what's going on?
Luna continued to push herself up, barely moving a centimeter at a time, but then she froze.
There was something cold on her neck. She hadn't been looking, because she had been so occupied with getting herself up.
It was Lukas. His hand rested on her neck, and though it was cold, she could feel the heat that roiled behind the cold mask like the warm breeze that blew away the last winter storm.
But it stubbornly stayed there.
Luna followed the insistent pressure of his hand, mewling softly as she was pressed back to the mattress.
Although it was an accident, it may help, but her body's responses were beginning to get dangerous. What if she couldn't control them when she needed to?
For now she would play along, she decided. Although at the moment she didn't have a choice.
Luna whined softly, but quickly bit the sound back as he removed his hand, and then she shivered with delight as his arms looped under her, one at her knees and the other at her neck.
This time she felt his warmth, and she relaxed into it.
She closed her eyes halfway, barely enough to see her father's rage, and leaned her head against his bicep.
It was as firm as iron, but wrapped in softness, like the rocks she had used to bring in and stuff in her pillowcase, and then sleep on.
Lukas's calm voice rumbled through her entire body, and her legs vibrated with it, shaking slightly.
There was no way she could walk now, even if she had been able to before.
But at least her father was getting a fraction of what he deserved. Any part of a plot that angers her father would have her full support.
Who knew it was the threat of her leaving that would finally break his composure.
Luna heard a shouting match briefly, in which her father was the only real participator because of Lukas's calm responses, and then there was a rustling sound.
Lukas handed something to her father, and moved towards the door after one more exchange.
By the time that Lukas exited the room, having refused to put her down when she had drowsily asked, Luna was asleep.
When she woke, it again took her a minute. She had figured that Lukas carrying her away from her father had been a dream, but it didn't appear to be.
She was in a small but lavish room, laid across a bench. The bench stretched all across the room and touched both of the walls, which were close enough that she could touch both while lying down if she unbent her knees. Around her it was rumbling and bumping, jostling her and rocking her head, though that was positioned carefully on a pillow. There were two windows, though both were covered in thick black cloth and only let in a small amount of light.
It was a carriage.
Luna was being taken away.