Fifteen days remained, and Emily was growing more anxious each day.
She was still being taught the basics. And she even had to learn how to play an instrument. She chose the piano. She had had mild interest in the instrument back when she was a kid, but had never had the talent for it.
During one of her training sessions, she got a chilly feeling deep within her belly. She shrugged it off as nothing.
A few minutes later, a servant entered the enormous room in haste.
“What seems to be the matter?” Serena asked her in a soft tone.
“His highness, prince Theodore, is feeling unwell. He’s asking for his mate,” she announced in between her pants.
“What do you mean by unwell?” Emily demanded to know as she rose to her feet at once, and marched towards the servant with resolute steps despite her quivering heart.
“I do not know the specifics,” she all but whimpered in response.
“Today’s session is adjourned,” Serena told them matter-of-factly as Emily left the room in a hurry, uncaring of the protocol.
She was basically running, only quicker than she ever managed. She was in their shared bed chambers within seconds.
“Emily,” Serena was right behind her. “You just flashed out of there. Your dragon is manifesting.”
“Theo,” she growled in anguish as she opened the door.
Her devilishly handsome lover and mate was laying on the bed, a fine layer of sweat covering his face.
He was indeed murmuring his endearment for her. He kept saying dorogaya over and over again. There were two men beside him, Liam and a stranger.
“Do something!” Liam urged the stranger.
“I do not know what poison his highness has ingested,” the man shook his head helplessly.
Emily, who had stood frozen to her spot for a few seconds there, snapped out of it when her beloved Theodore groaned in pain.
She rushed to his side just as he hunched over the bed and threw out blood – lots of it.
“Is there nothing you can do?” She asked in alarm as she shook the stranger, guessing he must be a doctor or a healer or something of the sort. “Nothing at all?”
He shook his head negatively before saying in a hesitant tone, “At this point, there’s nothing but one technique that comes to mind.”
“We are all ears,” Liam said resolutely.
Serena nodded in agreement, and Emily simply waited impatiently for his next words.
“The legends say that the blood of a dragon’s fated mate can be an antidote to most poisons,” he said. “Has he met his mate?”
“I am his mate,” she told him as she shook him some more. “His fated mate,” she insisted. “How do we go about this? Should I make him drink my blood?”
He shook his head negatively.
“Considering his state, I’d say he needs the equivalent of three blood bags.”
“Do what needs to be done already,” she growled at him, her eyes stinging as they probably flashed crimson.
“Yes, your highness,” he said meekly.
He was the first one to ever address her as your highness. Most nobles called her princess, almost in a mocking way. But she didn’t have the time to ponder it.
She laid down on the bed next to her feverish mate, as per the healer’s instructions. He said her proximity would help him fight for his life.
“I am with you, Theo,” she said vehemently, “Come hell or high water, I’ll make sure you won’t die on me today.”
“Is the procedure safe to the princess?”
“I don’t fucking care, Liam,” she growled at the man who dared to object.
“Theodore won’t be happy if something were to happen to you, and he will most likely be out for my head first,” he grimaced.
“It won’t come to that,” she assured him, infusing her words with all the conviction she possessed.
“Should I begin?” The healer looked between her and Liam.
She nodded at him whereas Liam merely sighed in a resigned manner of sorts.
That’s a lot of blood, she thought to herself once he had finished extracting it from her.
It wasn’t long before he was trying to insert a needle in Theodore’s arm, so as to pass the blood to him.
Her beloved trashed, and she helped soothe him with murmured sweet nothings and soft strokes on his cheek.
About half an hour later, when his state seemed to have become stable, the king and the queen entered the bed chambers. There was not even the hint of worry in their eyes.
“We were having tea and you lot never came,” the queen accused.
What was wrong with this woman? Did she not know of her son’s poisoning, or did she simply not care?
“Well, forgive us your highness, but we had a far more pressing issue than your tea party,” Emily all but growled at her.
“Know your place, you impudent child,” the queen growled back.
“We do not tolerate disrespect,” the king supplied.
Emily’s eyes flashed a menacing crimson at that.
“I am no child,” she growled.
Just then, Theodore, who seemed to have woken slightly, spoke up. “Dorogaya,” he said in a feeble voice, “You’re just young when compared to my mother. That’s why she calls you child.”
“Are you calling me old, son?” The queen sneered.
“Aren’t you, mother?” He taunted.
“What happened?” The king then inquired, looking at his son impassively.
“That damned David poisoned me,” Theodore declared.
“David? Who’s David?” Emily had met no David during her stay at the palace.
“He’s a cousin,” Liam clarified. “What were you doing at his place?”
“I needed intel,” Theodore said. “He offered me jelly.”
And everybody knew his love for jelly.
“You foolish brother!” Serena exclaimed angrily. “You had us so worried.”
“Well, I’m still alive, and ready to kick some ass,” a small smirk came to adorn his face.
He was still weak from the looks of it.
“Do you have any proof?” The queen raised an eyebrow.
“Do we need proof?” Serena asked angrily.
“Sadly we cannot take action against nobles after all the recent events,” the king told them.
“You mean to say his deed will go unpunished?” Emily was flabbergasted to say the least. And as she straightened up in bed, she felt dizzy and held her head with a hand.
The healer spoke at long last. “You shouldn’t overexert yourself, your highness. That was a lot of blood.”
Emily nodded in a daze and laid back down.
“What blood?” Theodore growled, rising to his feet, anger etched on his face.
“You should rest as well, your highness,” the healer advised him in an almost timid tone.
“What did you do?” He then focused his eyes on Emily.
She felt like she was being chastised and thus pouted at him.
“She just saved your life,” Serena told him matter-of-factly. “She basically gave you the equivalent of three blood bags to recover.”
“Who allowed that?” He growled angrily, looking at all of them with eyes ablaze. “Never put my mate in danger!”
“I made the decision myself,” she told him sheepishly.
His eyes zeroed in on her face. She didn’t know what he saw there, but his eyes changed back to molten gray and softened at once.
“Oh, dorogaya,” he cooed as he got on the bed again and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Kindly do not worry me so ever again.”
She smiled at him and allowed the all too consuming darkness to claim her at long last.