"I can take care of her better," Alec said in a controlled tone. If only Lauren was not refusing him, he would have snapped the head of the man holding her.
"No, you can’t. Let’s go, Darius," said Lauren and looked away from Alec’s gaze. She tried to hide the pain she was feeling but her overly pale face and shivering body gave her away.
"Her Majesty consumed a drink with poison, King Alec. I know a healing spell that will remove the poison, so I need to attend to her. We are not heading anywhere else but to the castle. You can follow our carriage," Darius said with a diplomatic tone.
Alec looked angry and hesitant. He never saw the man before but Lauren seemed to have so much trust in him. He was deeply irked that his throat was burning in bloodthirst, but he tried to calm down. He thought that standing in their way would only worsen Lauren’s condition.
"I will kill you if something goes wrong with her," Alec threatened Darius before stepping aside.
Darius did not say anything and hurried to the carriage. Alec went to the royal carriage to follow them.
Darius supported Lauren as he made her sit inside the carriage. He sat beside her, his arm was around her shoulders to keep her in place. He then pulled a small vial from his pocket. He took the lid off and brought the vial to Lauren’s pale cold lips.
"Here, drink this, Your Majesty."
Lauren slowly drank the liquid in the small vial. She used to bring one every time she went out, but she forgot today. She also did not expect her illness would resurface too soon. It usually appeared once or twice a month, but for this month, she had consumed three vials of medicine already.
Truth was, Darius lied. She was not poisoned. She was ill... badly ill.
And it was the kind of illness that was believed to be a product of forbidden sorcery... a condition that was never seen before. So she kept it hidden from everyone all these years. Only Darius knew.
It was the reason why she wanted to finish her business in the castle as soon as possible. Why she did not want whatever was between her and Alec to grow into something more. Why she was so sure that she could not build a family of her own in this lifetime.
Darius removed his arm from Lauren’s shoulder when he sensed she slowly relaxed and her normal temperature returned. And when she could already support herself, he moved to the seat across.
Lauren leaned back and closed her eyes for a few moments. The pain had subsided but a lot of thoughts were stirring up her mind. She did not expect the tea party would be filled with blood, nor did she expect Jasper to be one of the rebels.
She was really convinced that Jasper was Thalia’s son although she had never proved it. All she had were mere assumptions that sounded reasonable to her. Thalia also did not affirm or deny it when she confronted her. However, she knew Jasper could be lying. Why else did Thalia leave for eight months before her wedding with the late king if she wasn’t trying to hide her pregnancy?
Setting aside Thalia’s matter, what transpired today was enough proof that the rebels were ready to make a move with their plans. And seeing how strong the deranged humans had gotten, she figured that this time they must have used a stronger type of poison to corrupt human hearts.
And the fact that she was running out of time made it worse.
"Find Jasper Owens and investigate what happened in Haystone’s mansion," it was Lauren’s order to Darius before she got off the carriage upon arriving at the castle.
Alec was outside the carriage waiting for her when she went out. His eyes were dark and livid as he held her elbow to support her.
"I am fine now. I feel a little weak but the poison is out of my body," she said and removed his hand from her elbow.
"Are you sure?" He looked over her shoulders and his icy eyes fell on the man inside the carriage. Darius bowed curtly before he told the coachman to drive away.
"Yes. Darius is a vampire mage who studied some healing spells. I only drank a bit of poison so it wasn’t hard for him to remove it from my bloodstream."
"Still, we need to get you checked."
Before she could utter a word of contempt, her feet left the ground when Alec effortlessly took her into his arms.
"This is unnecessary. I can walk..." Heat rose to her cheeks when she noticed they were surrounded by Alec’s soldiers.
But Alec acted as if he didn’t hear anything and walked straight to the castle’s main doors. Matthias who was talking with his fellow commandant, Edith, stopped in his tracks when they saw the couple entering the hall.
"Send the royal physicians upstairs," Alec ordered which his two subordinates nodded on.
The whole time the physicians were checking Lauren, Alec was standing near the bed where she was, watching the physicians’ every little move. His jaw was clenched and although his eyes had returned to their original color, the lining of his irises remained dark red, letting her know he was still mad.
"She is fine, Your Majesty. There is no trace of poison in her bloodstream and her pulse is normal," said the head physician.
"Don’t you need to conduct more tests?"
"I believe the Queen is doing well so it is not needed."
The head physician who was a middle-aged woman glanced at Lauren. She was a skilled healer mage and although she did not find any trace of poison in her body, she sensed a different compound in her blood that was somewhat blocking the healing spells. She was only the one who noticed it, and as it was something she wasn’t sure of, she did not dare speak a word about it in front of the King who looked very anxious for his wife’s well-being.