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.”“I apologize for being so tied up at the moment.I would love to talk more, and hear how your parents and sisters are doing.”“I understand,” Zander said, glancing at the back room.“They’re good.”“You might be able to catch up more at dinner,” William said, with a strange sound in his voice.“I meant to tell you that Quinn just heard from Jonathan.He’s coming here.“Tonight?”“Apparently.Marcus was going to let my parents know to make plans.”“Why? What’s going on?”“That’s all I know.”“Well, then I guess I’d better get things settled here.Jacob is on his way to help as well.He should be here within the hour.”William nodded, beginning to dig in the drawers of the supply cart as Nathaniel headed back to the other room.“So, you don’t have a problem with needles?”“No, not especially.”“Good, because I’m going to get some blood from you so we can see where your antibody levels are now.We won’t have the results for days, though.”Zander held out his arm.“You know, if we were in my world, I might be pretty freaked out to have a guy my age doing this,” he said, as William tied a tourniquet above his elbow.“If we were in your world, I’d never let someone our age near me with a needle,” William agreed, chuckling.“Did you always know you wanted to be a doctor?”“Yes.I started following Nathaniel around and trying to do the stuff he did when I was about two.For my fourth birthday, he brought me a real stethoscope from your world as a gift.Looking back, I feel bad for Thomas and Linnea.They were my captive practice patients.”“You didn’t draw blood did you?”William laughed.“Oh, definitely not.”“Then I doubt Thomas minded.”“That’s probably true.Thomas would let me do anything.He has more patience with me than anyone, except maybe Quinn.I don’t know how they put up with me sometimes.”“They’re crazy,” Zander teased.He didn’t know how it had happened, but he really did like William.Not as much as he liked Ben and Thomas maybe, but still … he wasn’t nearly as difficult to deal with as he made himself out to be.“Certifiable, probably.But I love them anyway,” William said, grinning.“I sort of envy you that.”“What? Having a crazy family?”“Well, that, yes, but also knowing what you want to do.Growing up just training for it and walking right into it.”“Walking right away from it, more like.All those cycles of training, and now I spend more than half my time on my duties as a king, which I in no way prepared for.”“Still, though, you never had to be undecided.And you still get to practice medicine, obviously.”“I do.And you’re right.I’ve always thought that part of living in your world must be hard – all those choices, and all that time you spend waiting to be allowed to be useful.”Zander had never thought about it that way.He’d done a lot of things, had a lot of opportunities, and a lot of fun … but William was right.None of the things he’d done were actually useful.“Are you finished?” Zander asked, startled as William taped a piece of cotton to his arm.William held up three glass tubes of blood.“All done.”“I didn’t even feel you do anything.”“I’m good.”“And modest, too.”William’s shoulders shook with laughter.“It’s not bragging if you really are the best at something.” They both turned at the sound of Ben’s voice.He was smiling.“Are you feeling better, Zander?”“I’m fine, now that I’m away from that smell.You?”“Much better, too.Although I could use five or six showers.”“Well, we’ll all need to get cleaned up before dinner,” William said.“Jonathan is on his way here.”Ben’s reaction was much like Nathaniel’s had been.Zander was beginning to feel really out of the loop.“Okay, who is this Jonathan everyone’s all up in arms about? Should I be worried?”“There’s no reason for you to be worried about anything,” William said.Zander wasn’t sure why that bothered him.William was right, of course, nothing that happened here really affected him, but still having it pointed out somehow rubbed him the wrong way.“So who is he?”“He’s Quinn’s uncle [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]