Post by Joanna Montefiore on Mar 7, 2015 11:27:06 GMT -5
Demetrio was asleep, needing his rest after the fight of his life to protect and defend their family. The physician adamantly refused to allow Joanna in to sit at his bedside, until Elena trumped him with her cool, implacable demeanor. In the face of the Sandoval lady's command, he capitulated and conceded, stepping aside to let the little Montefiore dove keep vigil at her cousin's bedside. Now, seated in a chair beside her cousin's slumbering for, Joanna's small hand gripped his, unable to take her eyes from his battered face.
She had not been able to sleep, haunted by the night's events and imagery that refused to leave her in peace. The horror of fear, blood, fighting and panic that seized her had been shared by every member, compelling them into actions and behaviors that they'd hoped never to encounter again. Even kindly, pious Piero had been touched by the violence of the attack. They would all prove irrevocably changed by this, even her. Someone in the world, in the kingdom, wanted her family dead, torn apart and parted for reasons she could not understand.
For now, she sat quietly, stroking Dem's hand. They had come so terribly close to losing him last night, and he had taken such risks that she marveled he'd survived it. She owed him her life, Joanna knew, a debt that she could never repay, but he had also gone too far in trying to protect her. Lowering her head, she let the tears that threatened come to the surface, resting her forehead on his hand as they trickled down her cheeks. Feeling lost, she did not know what she would do without Dem, without her family.
He had to wake up. She needed to know he would live. Joanna would do anything, even surrender her own life to make sure that Demetrio survived and thrived.
@demetriomontefiore