Читать книгу The Royal Mess - MaryJanice Davidson - Страница 24

Chapter 13

“Ow ow OW!” Nicole yelled, regaining consciousness. She opened her eyes, then groaned in equal parts pain and horror. About a hundred people were crouching over her.

“—didn’t mean for her to hit her head!”

“Christina, for Christ’s sake. We sent you to be a diplomat—ever heard of the word?”

“Ma’am,” a paramedic said, ripping the blood pressure cuff off Nicole’s arm, “can you tell me where you are?”

“The seventh circle of hell,” Nicole answered.

Christina elbowed two other Baranovs out of the way and peered down anxiously. “I’m so sorry, Nicole. I only meant to give you a black eye.”

“That’s an apology?” the crown prince demanded.

“I didn’t mean for you to hit your head on the boss’s desk when you fell!”

“How—how did you all get here so fast?” She was looking around, and in addition to two paramedics, she recognized Princess Kathryn, Prince Nicholas, Crown Prince David, Prince Alexander, Princess Alexandria, King Alexander, and her brand-new nemesis, Christina. “Does the palace have a teleporter pad?”

“You’ve been out cold for twenty minutes,” Prince Alexander, a shorter, younger version of his brother David, told her. “We had tons of time to get here. I’m Alexander, by the way.”

She clapped a hand over her eyes. “I know who you are. I know who you all are.” Her head was on the firmest pillow ever. Who knew Freeborg kept—

“Are you okay, kiddo?” the king asked anxiously. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Now that’s rude,” Prince Alexandria said approvingly.

“All of you back off and give her some air,” Jeffrey ordered from—ulp—directly above her. She realized with equal parts heat and cold that the pillow was him, and her head was in his lap.

As one, the royal family took three steps back.

“Your vitals are fine,” the other paramedic was telling her, “but with such a long loss of consciousness I think we should run her to the hos—”

“No hospital. No doctors. No way.”

“Ma’am—”

“I’ll sign the NMA.”

“NMA?” she heard the youngest, sixteen-year-old Nicholas, whisper to his sister Kathryn.

“No Medical Attention,” Kathryn replied. “Means if she falls down the stairs and breaks both legs while barfing up blood, she can’t sue.”