“I’d say so.” Now I needed to figure out how I’d gotten involved with him.

“You up to a shower?” Cass asked. “Because you kind of stink and I’m so not sponge-bathing you.”

“I don’t need that mental image in my weakened state.”

She helped me push back the blankets and swing my legs over the edge of the mattress. My head spun a little and I was pondering the odds I’d be able to find my balance when the door opened again.

“Guards belong outside,” Cassie said. “I told you, this isn’t a—” The complaint died on her lips.

Mother passed through the doorway, visibly seething and Father followed close at her heels. Cass shrank beside me and I gripped her shoulder. She had no need to be anxious. They were obviously out for my blood this time.

“Coming to check on my health?” I asked, keeping my voice light.

“What were you thinking?” Mother waved her hands wildly, making the silk ruffles at the cuffs of her blouse flutter in agitation. Her hair was tied back particularly ruthlessly today, and the hairpin twisted in so tight it pulled her already smooth skin taut. Going by her body language, I’d done something particularly unforgivable.

“I have no idea what I was thinking. Weren’t you told? I have memory loss.”

“Don’t be flippant, Altair.” Tension bunched Father’s shoulders. “You can’t imagine the favors we called in to get you out of your latest mess.”

“Latest?” Anger made me sit up straighter, and Cass pulled at my sleeve, but it wasn’t in me to back down this time. “You mean the second? You certainly took care of it the first time.”

“And you never thanked us for that,” Mother said.

“Thanked you?” My voice trembled. Thank them? For covering up a death I should’ve been punished for? For heaping me with guilt I’d never be free of? The only thing I’d ever thank them for was spurring me to escape the path they’d planned for my life. They didn’t want my thanks. They wanted my obedience. “What do you want from me now?”

“You may have misstepped,” Mother said, talking fast, “but the fact remains that you were taken into Doctor Nagi’s innermost circle.”

Father nodded. “You’ll come to us as soon as your memory returns. If we show a united front, we can win the Doctor’s trust and get you reposted to your position.”

When my memory returns? That was wishful thinking. Even if they could talk their way into getting me reinstated, I wouldn’t touch whatever position I’d held. The fall-out was too suspicious. I just couldn’t bring myself to argue when my head ached and my insides felt so hollow. “Of course I’ll come to you. But for now, I’d like to rest.” They didn’t catch the flatness in my tone.