I was disoriented and my body was hurting when I woke up. It took me a while to find my bearings, I couldn’t recognize the place I was at and my powers were blocked. I was free, so I immediately activated the necklace so I could get my powers back, before starting to get the IV off of me, I wasn’t sure what they were giving me, but I knew that whatever it was it was affecting my mind. I had no idea how I had ended in that place, but while I was trying to piece it together the door opened and a couple of nurses, followed by two guards, entered the room. I immediately got into a defensive position, I couldn’t let them get to me, not while I was vulnerable.
“Kaiserin? What are you doing?” a familiar voice asked. I had been so focused on the nurses and guards that I didn’t notice Mbali as part of the group.
“Mbali? What’s going on?”
“It’s alright Kaiserin, we are here to help you, you are hurt,” she explained. I looked to the group and realized that the nurses had stopped moving, they looked uncertain, and a little afraid, then I realized the other two were part of my guard, and they were confused by my attitude.
“My powers…” I whined, my voice weak and a little afraid.
“You had a psychic headache, you were bleeding, so we had to put a suppressor on you to keep you from getting worse. You do remember what happened, right?”
It took me a minute to remember, the memory of the impostor wearing Agmong’s face made me shiver, and then I remembered Kimball being hurt and I fell to the floor. “Kimball, what happened to him? Is he…?”
“My cousin is fine,” Mbali said, getting closer to me, while the others kept their distance, still unsure of how to act around me. “Do you want to go see him?”
“Yes, please.” I said immediately.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to move her,” one of the nurses said, “she needs to rest, her injuries are not healed yet. We need to put the IV back before the pain returns.”
“I don’t want drugs,” I said, “they make me feel bad.”
“You will feel worse without them, the pain…”
“I don’t care!” I yelled, angry. “I can deal with a little pain, I can’t deal with a clouded mind.” I felt as if I was moving in slow motion, my thought were cloudy.
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” Mbali told them, going to where I was and helping me up.
“At least let us bring a wheelchair.”
“No…” I started to say.
“It’s not necessary,” Mbali interrupted, “I will help her.”
Yoweri and Rasmus hadn’t moved since they first entered the room, but I could feel their anger, the aura they were emitting was oppressive and I knew how much damage they were capable of. I couldn’t help but move away from them, I knew they wouldn’t hurt me, they were supposed to keep me safe.
With Mbali’s help I got out of the room, and was met with a group of people, Ivan moved towards me as soon as he saw me, and I couldn’t help but take a step back to keep away from him. I saw his surprise and confusion at my reaction, and I didn’t miss the look he gave Mbali, as if he was asking for an explanation. Soriya also moved forward, but slower, her attitude less menacing.
“How are you feeling?” Soriya respectfully asked.
“My mind is cloudy, I can’t think straight,” I confessed.
“It’s normal with the medicine they were giving you. We did all we could to help, but some injuries take time, no matter what we do, and your body must be depleted, tired and most likely hurting. You shouldn’t be out of your bed, and you shouldn’t stop the medicine.”
“I don’t want the medicine! I want a clear mind!” I said strongly, and then I flinched, convinced that something bad was going to happen after I spoke my mind, but at the same time telling myself that it was my right to do just that, wasn’t I supposed to be in charge? “Mbali, I want to see Kimball,” I asked, thinking that once I was by his side everything would be fine.
The guards standing along the hallway moved to the side, giving us a wide berth so we could walk by. The aura around them was oppressive, and it was hard for me to hide my fear. Kimball’s room was very close, and we finally moved inside, Mbali closing the door behind us, and leaving the others outside. I felt my chest constrict when I saw Kimball lying still on a bed, surrounded by cables and dressings covering most of his body. I left Mbali’s support so I could go to Kimball. He didn’t look like the Kimball I knew, he didn’t look strong and powerful as usual, he looked vulnerable.
“One of the bullets broke his collarbone, another got into his bloodstream and caused an obstruction. The bullets that were stopped by his uniform managed to cause many bruises and broke a few ribs, one of them punctured his lung. He had surgery and all of that was fixed, doctors are confident he will have a full recovery, but for the moment he is under anesthesia,” Mbali explained. “I’ll leave you alone.”
I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat next to Kimball, I put my forehead next to his hand. The necklace chose that moment to disable the suppressor, and despite the lingering headache I decided not to activate the suppressor again, I was confident enough that I would be able to keep my powers under control, besides, having access to them made me feel better.
I fell asleep, and the next time I woke up I realized that I was lying on the bed next to Kimball, and he was caressing my hair, while he spoke with someone else. I lifted my head and found that Ethan was standing next to the bed, on the other side of Kimball.
“How are you feeling?” my son asked when he realized I was awake.
“Better than the first time I woke up,” I sincerely said, my mind was clear and even if my whole body was aching, it wasn’t something I hadn’t felt before. “And how are you?” I asked Kimball, moving away from him, scared of hurting him.
“Much better, I will be as good as new in a couple of days,” he said, with a smile that made me believe in his words.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “it was all my fault. If I hadn’t ignored the warnings, the visions… I never thought something like that was possible. I was careless, and that put you both in danger,” I felt sick just thinking about Ethan and Kimball near death’s door.
“We are not the only ones that had been in danger,” Kimball said, taking my hand and stroking the skin just under the marks on my wrists from the chains.
“I promise I won’t let something like this happen again, I won’t be taken by surprise again,” I wasn’t sure how I would keep that promise, but I would, I wasn’t going to go through the same pain again. But first I needed to find who else Faakhir had shared my past with, I knew I wouldn’t be alright until all of them were gone, I wouldn’t be able to keep my sanity if someone else used the same tricks as Faakhir and Temur had used against me. “How long has it been?” I asked. “Do people know what happened at the vineyard? We can’t let our enemies attack while we are vulnerable,” I panicked for a moment just thinking about it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself or my family.
“Don’t worry about that,” Ethan said. “The official version is that you were attacked and you killed all your adversaries, also that my father was hurt, but only because his injuries couldn’t be hidden. The rest of the people that were captured with you reported that they woke up surrounded by dead bodies. The tree of pain caused quite an impression.”
“So they don’t know that they defeated me, they don’t know that those men…” for a moment I had trouble separating the memories of the real Agmong with those from the impostor.
“You killed them Kaiserin, I wouldn’t count that as a defeat. You like to remind me that you have gone through worse, so you can’t let this affect you.”
“It’s just that I don’t know what I would do if they decide to attack now. I can’t stand to go through that again, and I can’s stand to see you hurt again.”
“I know what you mean, watching them hurting you was more painful than the shots they fired at me.”
“No one is going to let something like that to happen to you again,” Ethan said. “You have an army just outside the door that would give their life for you. I had to close my empathy just to get to here, the people outside are so angry that it was difficult to even breathe. They feel bad that they weren’t there for you, that they didn’t have a chance to avenge you, I’m sure that if they could, they would bring those men back from death and kill them all over again.”
My mind no longer clouded, I was able to remember and analyze what had happened when I had gotten out of my room, the atmosphere had been heavy and they had been furious, but what I hadn’t realized was that that fury wasn’t directed at me, they had been angry that I had been hurt. It was still hard for me to understand that they could be worried about me. I had accepted that Kimball cared about me, just like I cared about him, but experience had taught me that most people would take advantage of my weakness, not feel protective about it. I knew that Ethan was right, those people outside had come together for a common goal, but along the way I had earned their trust, respect and even their affection, I wasn’t blind, I knew some of them even loved me, and not the dangerous kind that wanted to hurt and possess, but the platonic, pure kind of love.
“It’s time to get back to work, I need to be prepared to avoid our enemies to surprise us again. I’ll find the way to get ahead of them.”
“First, you need to recover. I’m sure that Soriya and her team of healers are desperate to keep working on your injuries,” Kimball said. “I asked for them to bring another bed so you can stay with me. Why don’t you go look for Soriya?” Kimball asked Ethan. “I’m sure that even if your mother won’t admit it, she could use the help.”
“Of course, I’ll be right back,” Ethan said, running out of the room before I could say anything.
“Ethan shouldn’t have to see this, it can’t be easy for him to see both his parents hurt. And I have to say, you look terrible, even with all the help you had to accelerate your recovery.”
“Now that my mind is clear and my powers under control, I don’t feel so bad,” I could still feel every mark on my bod, and I didn’t want to even imagine how my back looked, most of the damage was there, but I knew that wasn’t important, I had learned how to deal with pain a long time ago. I hated the idea of looking at that kind of scars on the mirror, again, but I trusted that the doctors and healers would be able to help me to minimize them, even make them completely disappear. “Right now I’m more worried about the people outside, I don’t know how I will be able to face them again. Ethan is right about them caring about me, but they just saw me at my worst, how can I expect them to respect me after that?”
“You are the only one that thinks like that. You see someone that have been bested by her enemies, you see yourself defeated, but they see a woman that got through something that would have broken most people and managed to kill her enemies. You are letting your fear blind you from what’s in front of you.”
“I’m afraid that what happened will change their opinion of me, I’m afraid they won’t respect me anymore, that they won’t follow me or they will think they can control me.”
“How’s your headache?” Kimball asked, changing the topic so suddenly that I was confused at first.
“It’s not completely gone, it still hurts a little, but is manageable enough so I can use my powers. For the moment is better if I don’t use them unless it’s an emergency, so I won’t make it worse again.”
“It’s not an emergency, but you should use a little of empathy or maybe a bit of telepathy to see what’s on the other side of the door. Maybe once you can see for yourself that they don’t see you any different, at least now different as you expect, you will be more at ease.”
I knew that most of the problem were my own insecurities, awakened by the trauma I had just gone through. I was trapped by my own fears, and I was afraid to listen to Kimball and find something I didn’t want. Just as I was thinking about it the door opened and I saw most of my men outside the door, guarding my room, making sure I was safe. I extended my senses, like Kimball had suggested, and couldn’t believe what I found, I expected pity, but found admiration, I expected disgust, but found respect. I made a signal to Ivan so he would come closer, and I could feel how they all relaxed, as if that simple act proved that I was ok.
Ivan came into the room just behind Ethan, Soriya, and a couple of healers, behind Ivan were another couple of people pushing another hospital bed that they started setting just beside Kimball’s. Soriya and her healers went to my side, but Ivan kept his distance, I could see weariness on his face, and my powers let me know that he was worried and doing his best not to make me uncomfortable.
“How are you feeling?” Soriya asked me.
“I’m sore, but much better overall,” I said sincerely, but from her frown and the look she exchanged with the other healers, I guessed she didn’t believe me.
“We would like to take a look if that’s ok with you, we want to speed up the healing and try to get rid of the scars. We would like to start with your back.”
“That’s ok,” I said.
I got out of bed and went to a stool that was there, knowing that it would give them better access to my injuries. The gown I was using was tied at the back, so it would be easy for them to have access to my back. Soriya was the one who untied it, and then she put her hands on my shoulder, I could feel how affected she was by the trembling in her hands. Another hand touched the base of my neck and the other healer put his hands on my other shoulder. As soon as they started working, I felt heat and tickling on my back, and I knew the healing process was going well. I could see that Ivan was trying to avoid looking at me, and I saw his hands curled into fists.
“You can see it, don’t you?” Ethan asked, he was sitting on the floor next to me, resting gently against my legs, but being careful not to hurt me. ‘Watching you hurt is hurting him,‘ he said to my mind. ‘We all worry about you, we all want you to be ok.’ I knew what he was talking about, I could feel how affected Soriya was, how angry Ivan was, and not at me, but at himself for not being able to spare me the hurt.
“Ivan,” I called him, and he looked at me for the first time, letting me see the guilt in his eyes, “I missed a lot, I need you to tell me what happened. How is everyone?” I had forgotten about Temur’s threats with all that had happened, but I suddenly remembered how he had said he would kill everyone who had helped me seize control of the Dominion.
“We lost many people in the initial attack, no one from our group,” he quickly assured me, “mostly soldiers that we had taken along for protection. Franz was the one who was injured worst, but Soriya was there and was able to help him, there won’t be any permanent damage for him.” I put my hand over Soriya’s in a silent thank you for her help, hoping she would understand the gesture. “Our men, Franz, Lukas, Tatyana, Nasim, Soriya, Kebe and Yoweri were able to fight back and stop the rest of the mercenaries at the vineyard. By the time they broke into the cellar you had already taken care of the enemies inside, and Temur was in one of your constructions, he didn’t survive long after their arrival.”
“He should have lasted longer, he didn’t suffer enough,” Kimball said, and I could tell that Ivan agreed with him.
“So there were no survivors from my attack. What about the rest of the people there?”
“Well, the rest of us arrived as fast as we could. Thalia and her group of telepaths worked on the other captives in the cellar, making sure none of them were involved with the attack, and as per Kimball’s instructions, making sure none of them remembered what had happened inside the room. As far as we could find, none of them knew about the attack, and we managed to capture the rest of Temur’s people. Thalia and Fatima were in charge of questioning the rest of the mercenaries, and they kept them alive and isolated, in case you wanted to conduct your own interrogation.”
“That’s perfect, you seem to have everything under control,” I made a signal to the healers and stood up. “I will need at least another day of rest, but I want you to have everything ready for me to go meet with the mercenaries tomorrow, I want to see if I can find more information on Temur and his partners.” I went and opened the door, letting Ivan know it was time for him to leave. “I will need Fatima, we have a lot of work to do, we need to start working on getting ahead of our enemies, we can’t allow what happened at the vineyard, or the school, to happen again.”
“We won’t let them hurt you again,” Rasmus assured me from outside the door, he roared his promise. The rest of the people outside let me know they agreed with the sentiment. Almost all of the guards that had helped me take over the Dominion were outside the door.
“I’m ok, I swear, I’ll be just fine. I’m grateful for your support and I assure you I will be as good as new in no time, and this will only be a bad memory.”
“I don’t think I will be able to forget what happened,” Yoweri said, falling to his knees in front of me. “I failed you, I’m supposed to keep you safe and I couldn’t do it. You have no idea how bad I feel about it.”
“I don’t blame you for what happened, so you don’t have to, either. You did a great job staying alive and fighting back, getting help and stopping our enemies, you even got me out of that place. What happened is already in the past, we only have to worry about the future and about making sure our enemies don’t take us by surprise again.”
I extended my senses, and was able to confirm yet again that Kimball’s and Ethan’s words were true, I could feel that the people there cared about me. They were willing to risk their own lives for me, and yet, part of my mind couldn’t let me forget that I had met people like that before, and that hadn’t stopped them from betraying me. I liked to know that I could trust those people, that they were willing to keep me safe, but I couldn’t forget that I had to stay alert, because people could change in a second.
I left my guards outside and went back to the room, to where my family was waiting for me, and the healers were ready to keep working. For the time being my first priority was to recover, I could worry about everything else later.
Kaiserin Novel 