Chapter 87

Jasper POV

Jasper felt privileged learning Lucian’s story, though he also felt undeserving. Lucian and Jasper had never been close, always on the out edge of each other’s social space without every fully crossing over it. Yet, they were still cousins, still family.

Lucian was still Jasper’s King.

Not to mention that Aria, the woman Jasper loved, was in love with Lucian. She saw something in him, even when he was keeping her at arm’s distance.

Jasper trusted Aria’s judgement. She wouldn’t have married a man who wasn’t good at heart.

With all of these feelings, Jasper’s generally good-aligned nature refused to allow him to let his cousin suffer unjustly.

“Lucian. I know you won’t listen to me. Not really. We aren’t friends, and we’re barely more than acquaintances. But, with the exception of your marriage to Aria – which you totally messed up, by the way – none of this is your fault. Things happened and they suck. But you couldn’t make yourself love Sheila. You didn’t turn Travis into a monster. You didn’t help Sheila lose her infertility.”

“Even so –”

Jasper cut him off, not letting him finish. “In fact, all you’ve done is try to fix things. When you found out about Travis, you sent him away. You worked with Dr. A to fix Sheila’s infertility, right? She can have babies again?”

“I think so… That’s what Dr. A believes.”

“Then we should trust her. She’s a good Healer. She knows what’s up.”

Lucian fell silent, in which Jasper hoped some, if not all, of his words were getting through to him.

“You don’t have to keep torturing yourself,” Jasper said.

Lucian still didn’t say anything.

Jasper watched him for a long moment, wondering what else he could possibly say to help Lucian understand. But, he doubted there was much he could say at all. Lucian had entrenched himself in this self-loathing for years. A few words weren’t going to be enough to dig him out of this.

“We need to get to the hospital,” Lucian said.

“Switch seats with me, then, and I’ll drive,” Jasper said. “You shouldn’t be behind the wheel for a while in your state.”

He half expected an argument, but Lucian appeared to agree. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. Jasper did too, and they traded spots, putting Jasper behind the wheel and Lucian in the passenger seat.

They didn’t say one more word to each other as Jasper drove them to the hospital.

Lucian’s POV

I was embarrassed for opening up so much to Jasper, who had only ever been little more than a rival and annoyance to me. Yet, in that moment of weakness, he had not mocked me, he had been supportive.

While I still loathed and detested the thought of him with Aria, perhaps he was not such a bad man to have as a cousin.

At the hospital, we reconvened with Mom in the waiting room. She hugged me tightly, the moment I walked within reach.

Holding me, she said, “Aria was so calm and level-headed. I could have sworn she was a full-blown Healer, and not a girl who only took a few classes.”

“People react different in emergency situations,” I said. “Some people step up and do what needs doing. Others need direction.” I was pleased that Aria was the type who could step up and help, even in an emergency situation.

She might have been my ex now, or at least on her way to being that, but even as my ex, I was proud to have once been her partner.

“Where is Aria?” I asked.

“She went in with him,” Julia said. “But then she disappeared…”

How… odd.

“I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later,” Jasper said. “Why don’t we sit down and get comfortable. This could probably take a while, yes?”

At Jasper’s suggestion, Mom, Jasper, and I each took seats in the waiting room. We were already drawing some attention from the others there. People were whispering about me, surmising what I might have been doing there.

We sat there waiting for an hour and then two. Aria never appeared again, and I began to become worried.

A while after that, I saw Cathy walk down to the reception desk. Recognizing Aria’s friend, I immediately hopped to my feet, ignoring how Jasper called after me, and walked toward Cathy.

Cathy caught sight of me coming and turned as I approached.

“Where is Aria?” I asked.

She frowned at me. “She went home. She was tired after a long day.”

I blinked, surprised. “I didn’t see her leave.”

“There are other exits,” Cathy said.

That seemed so odd… Aria had been so adamant in helping Harold. Why would she just disappear without making sure he was okay? The Aria I knew would have joined us in the waiting room and waited all night if she had to.

At the very least, it seemed strange that she didn’t even tell Jasper, her boyfriend, where she was.

Although, maybe…

I hated to think it but perhaps it was my presence that made her want to go home. We were not on good terms, and I could have been making her uncomfortable. It was clear she didn’t want to be around me.

And who was to say she hadn’t been texting Jasper this whole time? He never said he was waiting for her. He could have been sending her periodic updates so she wouldn’t worry.

I was the only one out of the loop here.

“Dr. A is with your father now,” Cathy said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Dr. A is?”

“Yes. She will see that he is given the best possible care.”

Ah. That made even more sense now. Aria knew Dr. A was the best of the best. If Dr. A was working on my father, then Aria likely did sneak out the back to avoid me.

I didn’t like it, but this story at least calmed my nerves somewhat.

“Thank you for the update,” I told Cathy, and turned. We had nothing more to say to each other.

As I sat down, Mom looked over at me.

“Where is Aria?” she asked.

“She was upset about everything and went home,” I said. “Dr. A is in with Dad now.”

“Oh,” Julia said, her face falling a little. I tried not to let my disappointment in Aria show.

Even to avoid me, I thought she cared more about my parents than her actions were letting on.

“She was feeling unwell at the party,” Jasper said coolly. “Likely seeing your father faint and then helping him has given her quite the shock. I’m sure she will be back here when she can.”

Looking at Jasper, I tried to guess if how much he’d known, but I couldn’t determine. Jasper was a very good liar, delivering his lies as smoothly as his truths.

I wouldn’t find any answers looking at him.

We continued to wait another hour before Dr. A finally made her appearance, walking out of the emergency room. She seemed tired as she came to us.

Julia and I stood at once, with Jasper moving slower. The three of us approached Dr. A together.

“How is he?” I asked. “How is my father?”