Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 84

84: Chapter 84 84: Chapter 84 Seraphina’s POV
Darkness was all I had known for what felt like an eternity.

It was peaceful in a way I’d never experienced before-no pain, no worry, no crushing weight of responsibility on my shoulders.

Just pure, uninterrupted rest.

I floated in that darkness, content and safe, as if I were being cradled by the universe itself.

Time had no meaning there.

There was no sense of urgency, no pressing need to wake up and face whatever waited for me in the waking world.

For the first time in years, I felt truly, completely at peace.

But slowly, gradually, something began to pull me upward.

The ascent was gentle at first.

Warmth began to seep into my awareness, followed by the faintest sensation of weight-my body existing in space, lying on something soft.

Then came the sounds: distant and muffled, like hearing voices through water, but gradually growing clearer.

A steady beeping.

The soft whoosh of air being circulated.

The quiet murmur of voices speaking in hushed, worried tones.

My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, as if they’d been weighted down with stones.

The simple act of trying to open them seemed to require more effort than I remembered it ever taking.

I struggled against the lethargy that clung to me, fighting to break through the last layers of that peaceful darkness.

When I finally managed to crack my eyes open, the world exploded into harsh, unforgiving light.

I squeezed them shut immediately, a sharp gasp escaping my lips as the brightness sent spikes of pain through my head.

The light was cold and clinical, nothing like the warm, golden glow of sunlight or the soft flicker of candlelight.

It was artificial.

Where was I?

Fighting through the discomfort, I slowly opened my eyes again, this time preparing for the assault of fluorescent lights.

As my vision adjusted, shapes began to come into focus around me.

White ceiling tiles.

White walls.

The metallic gleam of medical equipment.

My heart began to race as the reality of my situation sank in.

I was in a hospital room.

The steady beeping I’d been hearing was coming from monitors connected to me by a web of wires and tubes.

An IV drip hung beside my bed, and I could feel the sharp pinch of a needle taped to the back of my hand.

Hospital.

I was in a hospital.

The realization hit me like ice water in my veins.

What had happened to me?

Why was I here?

The last clear memory I had was…

was what exactly?

I tried to sit up, but my body felt foreign and unresponsive.

My muscles were weak, shaky, as if I hadn’t used them in far too long.

Even the simple act of lifting my head from the pillow left me feeling dizzy and breathless.

I turned my head to the side, desperate to get my bearings, to find something familiar in this sterile, frightening environment.

That’s when I saw them-two figures sitting in chairs beside my bed, both staring at me with expressions of complete shock.

The first was a doctor, recognizable by his white coat and the stethoscope draped around his neck.

His eyes were wide with what looked like amazement.

But it was the second figure that made my already racing heart skip a beat entirely.

Damien.

He was sitting in a chair pulled right up against my bedside, but he looked nothing like the composed, powerful man I knew.

His usually perfectly styled hair was disheveled, as if he’d been running his hands through it repeatedly.

His clothes-a wrinkled dress shirt and slacks that looked like he’d slept in them-were completely unlike his usual impeccable appearance.

But it was his face that truly shocked me.

The strong, confident features I knew so well were drawn with exhaustion and etched with lines of worry I’d never seen before.

Dark circles shadowed his silver-blue eyes, making them appear almost hollow in his pale face.

He was staring at me as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, his mouth slightly open in stunned silence.

One hand was pressed against his chest, over his heart, as if he was trying to keep it from beating right out of his body.

I tried to speak, to ask what was happening, but all that came out was a harsh, rasping croak.

My throat felt raw and dry, as if I hadn’t used my voice in weeks.

I swallowed hard, wincing at the pain, and tried again.

“I…” The word came out as barely a whisper, rough and scratchy.

I cleared my throat, the sound harsh in the quiet room, and forced myself to speak louder.

“What…”
Both men leaned forward at the sound of my voice, the doctor fumbling for his clipboard while Damien’s hand shot out to grasp mine.

His fingers were warm and solid and real, anchoring me to the present moment.

“Sera?” Damien’s voice was rough with emotion, breaking on my name as if he couldn’t quite believe he was saying it.

“You’re…

you’re awake?”
As I stared into his eyes, something extraordinary happened.

A single tear slipped down his cheek, followed by another, and then another.

I’d never seen Damien cry before.

Not once, not even when he’d told me about losing his parents.

But now he was sobbing, his shoulders shaking with the force of emotions too powerful to contain.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he choked out between tears.

“I thought you were never coming back to me.”
My own eyes filled with tears at the raw pain in his voice.

I reached up with my free hand, cupping his face and brushing away his tears with my thumb.

“I’m here,” I whispered.

“I’m okay.”
But even as I said the words, I knew they weren’t entirely true.

Something felt different about me, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

There was a strange sensation thrumming through my body, a new kind of energy or awareness that hadn’t been there before.

“What happened to me？”