CHAPTER 12- GETTING UP ON MY FEET.

Adriana came into the room holding a tray of food and set it by the table close to the bed. She turned, probably to help me sit up, but I sprang up immediately. She blinked a few times in surprise, but said nothing. "You must be hungry. Eat something." She said setting the tray on the bed next to me. I hadn't eaten anything since the Silvia incident, and I should've been very, very hungry.

I wasn't sure if I had any appetite after what happened, but I didn't want to discourage Adriana so I took a little out of the porridge she'd brought. It was good. Very good. I began to eat with effort, but everytime I took a spoonful, the memory of Silvia's death, of her brother's death came flashing into my memory. The smell of blood somehow lingered around the air, or was it just me. I couldn't put up with it for long, and when I felt I really was going to throw up, I gently pushed the plate away and held my head in my hands.

"is something wrong with the food?" Asked Adriana who'd been watching me keenly for a while now. "I made it myself, and..." "There's nothing wrong with the food. It's delicious." I interrupted. "I'm just... feeling a little nauseous." Adriana stood up at once. "I'll go get Priscilla." she said. She took the tray of porridge along with her as she left. Moments later, she came back with Priscilla who did a thorough, and I mean thorough check up on my wounds.

After Priscilla had gone, Adriana sat by my side of the bed and scooped up my hands in hers. "So... do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?" she asked. I think she must've seen the flash of hurt in my eyes, or the expression of pain on my face because she changed her mind immediately and said it was okay if I didn't want to talk about it. Okay? By every means possible, that was wrong. I owed her that much.

"No." I interjected, holding her hands tighter. I wanted to tell someone. When Adriana was kidnapped, I promised never to put anyone I held close in danger because of my status, yet both Silvia and her brother died because of me. If I'd never come to this place, to Doria they'd still be alive and I knew it. The reality of this fact was eating me up from inside. It was all my fault. None of them deserved to die for me just because I was royalty and they were not.

The slavers killed them because of Silvia's relationship with me. Could this mean, I could no longer stay with the people I loved? I was putting everyone around me in danger just by existing in their lives!

"Bren...? Bren!" Adriana said snapping her fingers in my face. Then I realized that I had been lost in thought. I told her everything, not excluding the slightest details, and she listened in shock. When I was done telling her about what I'd experienced when I went to meet up with Silvia, Adriana was as white as a sheet.

She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder . I liked it when she did that, then after a few moments of silence, she spoke. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that Bren..." She paused as if thinking of what to say, then continued"...I'm so sorry about... Silvia and her poor brother. No one deserves to die like that."

I didn't reply, and for that moment we both preferred to stay silent, each of us immersed in our own thoughts. I don't know how she did it, but somehow Adriana managed to conceal what happened from her father and covered it up with the made up story that I was sick. To say little, Adriana Continued to take good care of me much to the displeasure of Gaius.

She always brought me meals, fresh clothes, and was constantly checking my wounds. The news had spread among the servants that I'd been sick, and by the time I resumed work, everyone especially Gaius, was surprised at my quick recovery.

Surprisingly, I had no scars from any of the wounds, save for the ones on my heart which would never fully heal.