I leap from my bed, screaming for the doctor as I rush to Andrew’s side.

“Andrew?” I can barely breathe as I lean over him, touching his face. “Andrew?”

“Your Highness!” The doctor runs into the room along with a nurse and another one of the assistants.

It’s only when the doctor pulls me back toward the bed that I notice the blood everywhere. My stomach tightens as I think Andrew must have cracked his skull open when he hit the floor.

She pushes me back into the bed as the others attend to my husband. I try to resist—try to get back to him—but she holds me there by the arm. “Please…my husband…” Tears fill my eyes. For all I know, he’s bleeding to death, and she wants to hold me down in the bed. And for what? Nothing matters if I don’t have him. My life wouldn’t be worth living if Andrew wasn’t in it.

“Please…just…I need to know what’s going on. Please…” My voice cracks as tears stream down my cheeks.

“We’ll figure that out in a minute.” She looks over at Andrew, still holding onto my arm. “What happened?”

“He…he passed out, I think. But the blood…” I shake my head. “He must have hit his head—”

“The blood is from you, Victoria.”

My gaze snaps to hers before I look down at what she’s doing—holding pressure on where my IV had been a few minutes ago. I must have torn it out when I ran over to Andrew. “I…I didn’t even notice.”

“Hold this.” She motions with her head at where her fingers are on my arm.

I nod, doing as she says, and she runs over to Andrew.

More people rush into the room with a gurney, hoisting Andrew’s lifeless body onto it. And in another moment, they’re all gone, leaving me alone in the small examination room.

It takes me a second to get my wits about me, and I walk to the door, peering outside. I can hear the commotion down the hallway, and I stumble toward it.

There’s a group of people surrounding the gurney, all working together over his body. I can’t make out what any of them are saying, exactly, but they seem to know what they’re doing.

One of the nurses looks over at me. “Your Highness, you should wait outside.”

But I’m frozen in place, unable to move as I watch the group.

It’s a few more minutes before the same nurse stops what she’s doing and walks over to me, taking me by the elbow. “Your Highness, let’s get you back in bed.”

“But…” I make a weak gesture with my hand toward the commotion. “But…my husband…”

“We’re doing everything we can for him.” She looks directly into my eyes. “We need to get you back into bed.”

“I…” I seem to have forgotten everything in the past few minutes—who I am, where I am, what I’m doing here. My hand goes to my belly, and the baby inside kicks at my hand, reminding me of everything.

It must know, I think. Giving me a kick to reassure me that it’s okay. Something about that thought makes everything slow down, at least for a moment. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Andrew won’t let anything happen. He wants us to be a family more than anything. He won’t let himself die—not now.

It’s the only thought that brings me any consolation. My husband is a fighter—he’s far too stubborn to let anything take him away from me. From us, I think as I rub at my belly again.

I give the nurse a slight nod, and she leads me back to the room where I was before. She spends several minutes there with me, cleaning up the bloody mess I made before helping me back into the bed.

She turns back to me before leaving the room. “One of us will be back in a few minutes to let you know what’s going on with your husband. But please, let us do our job. Okay?”

I give her a weak nod as I lie back onto the bed. I hold my abdomen as I close my eyes, saying a small prayer that everything is going to turn out for the best.

I’m not sure how long it is before the physician returns to my room. But I can see by the look on her face that things are not good.

I sit up, swinging my legs to the side of the bed. “What is it? What’s happened—?”

“We’re not sure. I’m having him moved to the hospital in the city for more tests.” She shakes her head. “The most concerning thing is that we weren’t able to wake him. What happened right before he lost consciousness?”

I shake my head, trying to remember those last moments. “He’d been outside. He was cold—freezing. But—”

“It isn’t hypothermia.” She chews on her bottom lip as though she’s thinking out loud. “His temperature was normal. Hm.” She looks back over at me. “We’ll run some more tests. And hopefully by the time we get him to the hospital, he’ll be awake and able to tell us more. I’m just concerned…” She shakes her head. “We’ll run some more tests before we speculate on anything.”

I stand, following her to the door. “I’m going to the hospital with him. And don’t think you’re going to stop me.”