Reborn To Change My Fate-Chapter 345 - Three Hundred And Forty Four

He also saw Derek. The tall, strong man was sitting in a wooden chair right by the side of the bed. Derek was still wearing his dark blue military uniform. He was leaning forward, holding Marissa’s hand tightly in both of his.

Normally, when Ryan entered her room, Marissa would immediately sit up. She would smile her beautiful, bright smile, call his name, and open her arms for a big hug.

But today, she did not move.

"Mother?" Ryan said. His small voice was suddenly quiet and full of confusion.

He took a slow step forward. Marissa didn’t turn her head to look at him on the floor. She didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t stand up to hug him. She remained perfectly, completely still beneath the heavy blankets.

Hearing the small voice, Derek slowly turned his head away from the bed.

Derek’s face was pale and exhausted. Dark, heavy shadows hung under his red eyes. He looked like a man who had fought a war for ten years without sleeping. But when he saw the small boy standing in the doorway, Derek forced the deep, agonizing grief back down into his chest. He had to be strong for the child. He could not fall apart now.

Derek completely turned his body in the wooden chair. He opened his strong, broad arms wide, inviting the boy in.

"How are you, my boy?" Derek asked. His voice was rough and raspy, but it was incredibly gentle.

Ryan did not hesitate. He ran across the thick carpet and ran straight into Derek’s embrace.

Derek wrapped his arms tightly around the small boy. He pulled Ryan onto his lap and hugged him fiercely. Derek buried his face into the soft fabric of Ryan’s winter coat for just one second. He closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of fresh air and innocent childhood. He drew strength from the boy’s warm, living body.

"I am fine," Ryan mumbled, wrapping his short arms around Derek’s neck. "I missed you and mother so much. The house in the country was so boring without you two."

Ryan hugged him for another long moment, feeling safe in his uncle’s strong arms.

Then, Ryan pulled back slightly. He rested his hands on Derek’s broad shoulders and turned his head to look at the bed again. He stared at Marissa’s pale, sleeping face.

"Father," Ryan asked, his young brow furrowing with genuine worry. "What is wrong with mother? Why isn’t she saying hello to me? Is she mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"

Derek looked past the boy’s shoulder. He looked at Marissa. He saw the slow, shallow rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing. She was warm. But she was trapped somewhere in a deep, magical sleep, caught between life and death. Derek did not know how to explain the forbidden arts, the dead Lord Colton, or the poison arrow to a child. It was too dark and heavy for a child to assimilate. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Derek looked back into Ryan’s clear, innocent eyes. He chose the simplest, kindest truth he could find.

"No you did nothing wrong, my boy. She is sleeping," Derek replied softly. He reached up and gently brushed a messy strand of hair away from Ryan’s forehead. "She had a very difficult, very tiring few days. She is exhausted, Ryan. Her body needs a lot of rest to get better."

Ryan listened carefully. He looked at Marissa again, studying her still face. He remembered times when he had played too hard in the gardens and fallen into a deep, heavy sleep where nothing could wake him up. He understood being tired.

Ryan nodded his head slowly in understanding.

"Oh!" Ryan said, his voice returning to its normal, cheerful pitch. He accepted the simple explanation without any suspicion. If his strong father said she was just sleeping, then it must be true.

Ryan slipped off Derek’s lap and stood on the carpet.

" I’ll go and take my bath then," Ryan decided practically. He looked at the bed with a small, hopeful smile. "She would have woken up when I’m done. Then she can come down to the dining room and eat sweet bread with me."

Derek forced a small, tight smile onto his own lips. His heart ached at the boy’s innocent hope. "Yes," Derek whispered. "Go take your bath, my boy."

Ryan turned around and ran back across the bedroom. He grabbed the heavy brass handle of the door.

He opened the door and ran out into the hallway.

"Miss Nancy!" Ryan shouted loudly on his way out, his boots thumping against the floorboards again. "Miss Nancy! Where are you? Can you bathe me? Mother is sleeping right now!"

His cheerful voice faded away as he ran down the corridor to find his nanny.

The heavy oak door slowly swung shut behind him. It closed with a soft, final click.

The master bedroom became perfectly quiet once again. The only sound was the crackling and popping of the burning logs in the fireplace.

Derek sat alone in the wooden chair. The brief moment of strength he had borrowed from the boy completely vanished. His broad shoulders slumped forward. He looked incredibly tired and defeated.

He turned his body back toward the large bed. He leaned forward and gently reached his hand out. He picked up Marissa’s hand from where it rested on top of the quilt. Her hand was soft and warm, completely different from the freezing ice of the stone coffin.

Derek held her hand between both of his large palms. He began to rub her hand slowly and gently, trying to massage more warmth into her skin.

He leaned his face closer to hers. He looked at her closed eyelids, her pale cheeks, and her still lips. He had given his blood. Colton had given his life. The magic had brought the warmth back, but it had not brought her back.

The physician had reported that she’s alive but not certain when she would wake up or if she would wake up.

A single, hot tear escaped Derek’s eye and rolled down his cheek, dropping silently onto the white blanket.

"Could you open your eyes," Derek whispered into the quiet room, his voice breaking with pure, desperate sorrow. He squeezed her hand gently. "Even just for Ryan’s sake? He is waiting for you, Mari."