I yanked the stethoscope from my ears and looped it around my neck, my eyes locked on the floor. I tried to still the tremor in my hands.
I cleared my throat and jotted down the vitals I’d just taken on the chart.
“Well?”
The gruff voice made me startle. I slid my eyes closed for a moment before I plastered a grin onto my face.
I reminded myself that, as a doctor, bedside manner was vital to my work. I stopped myself from being reactionary. “Looking good.”
“Hmm.”
I frowned at the answer as King Viktor rolled down his sleeve and clasped it with his diamond cufflink.
“You’re really making some wonderful improvements. I’m pleased,” I said, trying to make sure my voice didn’t shake.
The king set his dark eyes on me–so very much like Nattie’s but so much colder, more calculating. “I can imagine you are, doctor.”
I knew exactly what he was getting at. It had been painfully obvious since the moment I’d been introduced as more than the man who had saved his life.
In fact, had it stopped there, I may have gotten more respect from him.
I’d tried to imagine it more than once. What would have happened if Nattie had stopped after saying, “This is Dr. Kyle Carter. He brought you out of the cryo freeze, Papa. And he performed the surgery that removed the bullet and saved your life.”
The man’s eyes had lingered on me then, and I’d seen a measure of surprise and respect. I envisioned what would have happened in the next moments had Nattie not spoken again.
“Well, Dr. Carter, that is very impressive. My other physician took years to figure this all out. Yet you walked in here and pulled me from the dark sleep like an old pro. Well done. It seems you should be the choice for the royal family’s physician.”
I would have lifted my chin and beamed at him. “Well, I will happily accept.”
Except that wasn’t at all how it went.
“Oh?” The king had set his eyes on me before they shifted back to Nattie. “Why do I feel there is something you aren’t saying?’
Wow. Five seconds out of a cryogenic coma, and the man was already shrewdly calling out his own daughter.
