Chapter 3The Half Of My Body I Sacrificed To Make You Queen

When I woke up in the hospital, Seri wasn’t there.

The doctor stood by my bed, frowning at my chart. “Where is the family member?”

I weakly shook my head. The doctor moved on to the next patient.

The bed next to mine was occupied by a young couple. The girl was chattering, mostly scolding the boy for being clumsy, but the love in her eyes was palpable and pure.

It was exactly how Seri used to look at me.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand—a barrage of anonymous texts. Each one contained a new photo of Seri and Devin: matching couple tattoos, ziplining together, praying at an ancient mission, chasing the aurora borealis.

Seri was right. She was happier with Devin.

“Youth has its currency, Mr. Reed. Wouldn’t you agree?” Devin’s faintly mocking voice echoed in my mind, a challenge I couldn’t refute.

Seri finally came in on the third day of my hospital stay.

She sat by the bed, looking at me, her expression fraught.

“Devin is young and careless. Don’t hold it against him.”

Her first sentence was a defense of him. The dull, persistent ache in my heart sharpened into a fresh stab of pain.

“Are you still hurting?” She held my hand, searching for the right words. “I forgot you couldn’t drink, but you knew that, Ash. Why did you do it? Were you genuinely trying to punish yourself?”

Seeing my silence, Seri realized her mistake. She ran a restless hand through her hair, inadvertently exposing a faint red mark on her neck. Finally, she slumped in defeat.

“I’m sorry.”

I pulled my hand back, turning my gaze away from her. An odd, charged silence filled the room.

For a brief period after that, Seri seemed to revert back to her old self. Perhaps it was guilt, perhaps a fleeting moment of conscience. For a few days, she was by my bedside almost constantly, watching me take my medication, personally preparing me bowls of restorative broth.

It was almost like the beginning again.

The time when she’d lost everything: the daughter of Manhattan Royalty, stripped of her empire overnight. Her parents, unable to face the ruin, took their own lives. I found Seri after she’d cut her wrists, and thankfully saved her life. From that moment, I swore I would protect her.

In our hardest years, we lived in ten-dollar-a-night motels, sharing a single cup of instant ramen. She’d always sneak the one egg I could afford beneath the noodles, pretending she didn’t see my grueling hours running errands and taking odd jobs.

Back then, getting sick was terrifying because we had no money for medicine or treatment. She would look out the motel’s rusted-out window at the skyscrapers and the endless traffic.

“Ashton,” she used to say, “we have to get out of this place.”

We did. We climbed out.

But she changed.

That night, the dim bedside lamp flickered. Seri sat slumped in the chair, half-asleep. I looked at her, greedily absorbing the sight.

Then I looked away. It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t stay this way. Her heart had long ago left this room.

Sure enough, a call from Devin woke her up. She didn't offer a single word of explanation, grabbed her coat, and rushed out of the hospital room.