-Karen-A shiver woke me up sometime later. I sat up slowly and saw that my blanket had fallen to the ground. I had the sudden feeling eyes were on me. I looked down to the cot and saw Conor watching me. I carefully slid off the table and picked up my blanket. He scooted over and lifted his blanket. I added my blanket to his and slipped onto to the cot next to him. The cot was small but much more comfortable than the metal table plus adding Conor’s amazing warmth made me even sleepier. I held onto him as I snuggled up to him and we fell asleep again.The hours seemed to crawl by as I tried to sleep as much as I could. Roger was trying to get me to eat but I wasn’t hungry. I was tired and extremely depressed. I only wanted to sleep since that was the only thing that helped me not feel. Whenever I was awake I would cry and stare at the walls. Bart and Conor also tried to persuade me to eat but I just rolled over and lay on the cot thinking about our baby. A few days later, Roger told C
-Karen-Joanne scooted closer and leaned against me as we held each other silence. Joanne. My best friend and sister. “It’s been over- Three weeks since I woke up, you know… And I can't get the painful memories to stop playing on repeat.” She cried sorrowfully. Damn. Don’t I know… I don’t dream about it thankfully. “Every time I see Bart, I just cry- I have been trying really hard not to do that but, I don’t know if I can stay with him, Kay.” I tensed up at her words. What? Jo, you love him though. “I feel like I will only cause him more grief and pain and he- He doesn’t deserve that. Especially after he has loved me knowing that my father would never agree to let me be anything more than his Mistress.” She choked back a sob. I sat in silence and listened as she continued. “I love Bart with everything I am or ever was… B-but I will only cause him pain from now on. He will see me and think of this devastating experience. I see him and think of our little Kira. She looked just like him
-Karen-“I… I don’t know yet…” He whispered feebly. He cupped her left cheek and pulled her gently into his embrace. “Joanne Marie, I love you. You mean everything to me.” He kissed her forehead, stroking her hair as she cried into his chest. I feel like there is absolutely nothing I can do…“My fate is sealed Bart. I’m going to die- I know he’s going to kill me.” She cried holding on to him. “There’s nothing that will stop this. Nothing… The sooner I accept it, the better.”“No! We will find a way out of this! We just have to get a copy of the contract.” He kissed her forehead. “I still need you, baby. I know you’re broken, but if it takes the rest of my life to put you back together, I’ll do it. I’d do anything for you!” He lifted her chin just enough to kiss her tenderly. “Please don’t give up on us Joanne. I’m begging you. Please just hold on!”She burst into tears clinging to him so tightly her knuckles were white. Bart held her protectively trying to console her until she finall
Conor had been ordered to start doing drills again the day after I was released as Zachary proclaimed he was even more determined to crush the Resistance now than before. Several thousand soldiers had been killed in the last couple weeks and it put the king in an awful mood. Michael, Conor and the Generals were charged with training the replacement soldiers that had just arrived. A couple more days passed by and we had not seen or heard from Bart or Joanne since we saw him in the medical ward. We were becoming increasingly worried about them. Conor and I had been trying to get in touch with them by stopping by their apartment but every time we went, no one would answer. We also sent Clay and some others and there was still no answer. We had decided that we were going to force our way in this time. We were both nervous that we were going to find them both dead in the apartment. I hope they are okay. They don’t deserve to lose their happiness because Octavian is a monster.Conor came b
-Karen-I ran up the servant stairs to the second floor as fast I could. I’m so hungry but I have to save my sister! I can eat after. I summoned my Soul Jewel as I passed the King’s study. I continued running past servants and guards and came to a stop in front of Bart’s apartment door. I silently slipped back into Bart’s chambers as Conor and Bart were speaking quietly in the corner. They looked up as I walked over to the bed and laid out the ingredients next to the large book. I flipped the pages open to bookmarked page and started following the instructions for bundling the ingredients. “Where have you been Karen? We looked up to ask you a question and you were gone. We’ve been worried about you…” Conor frowned with a note of relief in his voice. “You’ve been gone for hours.”“Are you going to use magic on her?” Bart asked wearily. “Can her body even handle that?”It was a good question. Honestly, I don’t even know. “I’m going to try to save her. I don’t know that this will work b
-Karen-“Okay, Joanne… When you wake up, this will all have been a horrible, horrible nightmare. You will only remember losing the baby naturally. You will remember that you made a promise to Bartholomew that you would not give up being the woman he so desperately loves. Everything else will be part of your nightmare including what you remember about Karen and the grievous actions against her and Prince Conor. You will remember the marriage contract to Lord Justinian that your father arranged. Everything else is part of the dream.” Eldon stated as I struggled to sit up. I heard him say the same incantation as I had earlier. I sat up in time to see the shard shatter into dust above her. It just burst into sparkling dust… “Wake up Joanne.” Several minutes passed by and she was motionless. I’m too late… I dropped my head feeling terrible until I heard her start to stir as Eldon came back over to me and pulled me to my feet. We all watched with bated breath for Joanne to fully wake up. W
-Karen-First thing on my list was to check on Bart and Joanne. I still wanted to make sure they were going to be alright even after Eldon helped me suppress her memories yesterday. I knocked on the door and Bart answered the door. He glanced over at their bed and then stepped out into the hall shutting the door. Before I could say anything he hugged me tightly. “Thank you so much Karen. You saved the love of my life. I can never repay you for the pain you went through to help Joanne.” He proclaimed solemnly. “I really thought she was done after I found her hanging in the shower.”“I’m glad she is doing okay… But I know exactly what you can do to repay me.” I replied with a smirk. Take back that threat from months ago!“Name it! I’ll do just about anything you ask. I promise!” He retorted crossing his arms over his chest with a straight face.“You can promise to give me anesthesia before I have any procedures in the future, okay?” I answered with a chuckle. “I feel like we are even no
-Karen-I woke up hours later curled up to Conor in a comfy white nightgown. He dressed me. Such a sweet man. I love you so much, Conor. I haven’t given up because of you… Every night since I fell asleep with him on the cot in the medical ward, he held onto me protectively. That tragedy had pulled us even closer together and I trusted no one more than him. Ring or no ring, I trust you with everything Conor. I know you feel the same way… I quietly slipped out of his warm embrace and walked into my workroom shutting the doors of the armoire room and the workroom behind me. I carefully walked over to my worktable and turned on a light, fighting my tears the whole way.I sat down quietly and started sewing the larger quilt blocks together. I had only one thing on my mind right now and I figured it would be better if I cried alone. I don’t want to wake you Conor… Not after you’ve taken such good care of me. I sat there sewing absent mindedly thinking about our son. William… You rest right