22 Poisoned

"Jones!" The Duke rushed out of his car. This man sped on the interstate from the castle to his estate, and luckily he was the king's right hand man, or he would have been fined countless times.

Picking up his daughter from his old friend's arms, he led the way to her room, pointing out the free room beside his daughter's, for the Prince.

"Father, I hurt, make it stop." I wheezed out, while grasping the front of his shirt, the poison felt like fire laced my veins, and prickles of sweat were working, down my face, dropping to the ground. Not daring to open my eyes, I fell in and out of conscious.

"Daughter, the doctor is here, stay with me." He commanded as he laid me down on the bed, I could hear footsteps all over the room, and needles stabbing in my skin, yet I couldn't open my eyes to watch.

"Doctor, is she going to be okay?" My father's worried voice boomed in the room, and yet is sounded so weak and vulnerable. I grasped the sheets, as pain coursed through my body, yet I couldn't say anything aloud.

"I'm setting up an IV, allowing an antidote to go through her blood, and I give her some pain medication. What she needs is rest, and for us to determine what the poison is." Letting go on my conscious, I fell into a deep slumber, numb of the pain.

"What can you do?" The Duke looked over to his daughter, he was heartbroken at the sight of the pained look on her face. The doctor went over to feel the pulse of the girl, and he nodded that she was still alive, just resting.

"Pain relief, and a small amount of an antidote, luckily they've made something that counterattacks everything. However, Duke Willow it must run it's course, I'll monitor it closely, but eventually she would have been introduced to it." The doctor looked between the great Duke and the special child with a worried look. 'Their connection is truly strong.' thought the doctor before he moved to the next room.

"Jones, I'll take it from here, did he ingest the antidote in time?" He asked before cleaning up the wound on his shoulder, and letting it air out.

"He did, the young lady didn't." The doctor nodded, and checked all the vitals he needed, the Prince was fine, except for being unconscious. The doctor saw no need to inject an IV, since it wouldn't be long before the Prince was back up.

"I'll come back to check on him, I think the Duke needs to be monitored closely, I'm worried about his mindset at the moment." The lieutenant closed the door, while looking at the room beside it. Through the crack, both of the men noticed the Duke's tears falling onto the bed, while clasping his daughter's hand.

"Shall I ask the maids to prepare breakfast for the both of you?" Duchess Willow walked up the stairs and closed the door, so her husband's tears wouldn't be seen anymore. The Duchess was shocked to see her daughter, full of energy this morning, in the arms of Ryan, in pain.

"I think that would be the best option, Lieutenant Jones, you will need to contact the King to inform him of his son's condition." The doctor followed the Duchess down the stairs, while praying that the young lady of the house would come out unharmed.

***

A couple hours has passed since Rebecca lost conscious, and since the Duke has moved. Not eating or drinking anything, just watching his daughter's chest go up and down, indicating she was still breathing. The Duke sometimes debated on visiting the Prince, but couldn't bring himself to.

"Ryan, eat or drink something, you also need to contract His Majesty." Duchess Willow stepped into the room, glancing at her daughter, before placing her hands on her husband's shoulder. Ryan grabbed Eleanor's hand and leaned against it, while not taking his gaze off of his child.

"The Prince?" He asked while breaking the silence in the room, Eleanor looked away from the man, and looked at her child who was covered in cold sweat. Stepping away the Duke, she grabbed a cool cloth and wiped her daughter's face carefully.

"He's stable, the doctor even said their was a chance that he would be awake sometime tomorrow. Are you going to speak to His Majesty?" She asked while grasping her daughter's hand, 'she promised she wouldn't get hurt, yet she came back in the worst condition.' She thought to herself

"I can't leave her, will you go retrieve my phone." The Duchess looked at the closest maid and ordered her to do the job. Minutes later the maid came back with the phone, and was panting from running up two flights of stairs.

"Thank you." The Duke called the King's assistant, and on the second ring the man picked up. "Give the phone to His Majesty, I need to speak to him privately." The Duke's voice turned into a commanding tone, and the Duchess looked away from the frosty sight.

On the other end of the line, the King's tone could be heard, as he questioned who was on the line. "Your Majesty, I have urgent news, Prince Elias has been poisoned, as well as my daughter. Until Prince Elias has recovered I request you let him stay at my estate." The other end of the line turned silent, and the King favored the request.

"Will you be keeping him until your daughter awakes?" The King asked and the Duke swallowed.

"I'm sure Elias will not have it any other way." The Duke replied while watching his daughter break out in cold sweat again. The voice on the other end, agreed with the statement, then hung up, leaving the Duke to once again worry about his daughter.

By the time it was dinner time, the Duke still had not moved or eaten, not even a drop of water got down his throat. The Duchess stepped into the dark room, clapping her hands once, the lamps beside the bed were dimly turned on. Stepping over to her husband, she placed down the tray of food on the bed.

"Do you think, Rebecca would want to see you like this, she's not dying, she's in a stable condition. Eat and drink something and be strong for our daughter. I will force feed it if I have to." Eleanor sliced a piece of meat and held it in front of the man's mouth.

"Eleanor, I'm not hungry or thirsty." Batting the fork away from mouth, the lady narrowed her eyes, before shoving the piece of meat in his mouth. The Duke widened his eyes are the move, and then complied and chewed his food.

"I don't care if you don't eat much, but you must keep fluids in you." She spoke before walking over to wipe the cold sweat off her child's face. Rebecca showed no signs of waking up, and they didn't anticipate it.

***

The next day...

Waking up in a strange house, I bolted upright in panic. Feeling a sharp pain in my right shoulder, I pulled away the cloth and looked at the deep wound. Feeling slightly dizzy at the sudden motion, I felt a set of hands steadying me.

"Prince Elias, it's alright, you're in Duke Willow's estate. Do you remember why you were brought here?" I turned my focus on the short old man, who was speaking to me. Brown eyes watching my every move, and his voice sounding fuzzy in my ears.

"I was poisoned, but why am I here." I asked as I shifted in the bed to a comfortable position. The old man sat there, and looked away. Knitting my brows together in confusion, I looked around for the Duke and Rebecca.

"Your Highness and Lady Willow, were both poisoned with the same thing, except with different doses, Duke Willow is in the next room." Pulling away the blankets, I pulled on a top and pair of bottoms and slowly walked to the next bedroom.

"Knock knock, may I come in?" I asked as I leaned against the door, for some support. As soon as I got up, I felt dizzy, yet I wanted to see for myself that she was poisoned. The Duke lifted his eyes for a moment, and in that moment I noticed the heavy bags under his eyes.

"Your Highness, you're not suppose to be out of bed." The doctor grabbed my arm, preventing me from walking another step.

"I'm staying in here." Lightly taking his hand off my arm, I took the unoccupied seat by Rebecca's left. Watching her sleep felt strange, especially since I didn't know her condition. "Is she stable?" I asked, and the doctor cleared his throat, before walking over to change the IV bag.

"She is, however you both were injected with a combination of wolfsbane and a paralysis. Whoever injected the Miss, didn't want her dead, just unable to do something for awhile. You on the other hand, had a larger does of wolfsbane than her, yet you are awake." I looked away as the doctor glanced in my direction.

It was an perk of being a dragon, poisons were like a sedative, a painful sedative. We are invincible in our other forms, however if poisoned in our human form, I can affect us, like the humans. We healed fast than humans, but not as fast as werewolves and vampires.

"I just woke up, more rest will help, but I want to stay by her side for awhile. Will you have the kitchen maids cook both the Duke and I, a meal." The doctor nodded then left the room, the Duke didn't take his eyes off of his prize in the world, as I stood up.

"Did you sleep?" I asked before wiping the cold sweat off her face, she didn't stir at the motion, instead stayed unconscious. "What happened?" The Duke for the first time, took his eyes off his daughter to look in my direction.

"I didn't sleep, I was worried. All I know is that she was poisoned, I don't know when or by who." It took everything in the Duke to not drag his gaze back to his daughter, he could feel exhaustion in his bones, yet he couldn't bring himself to close his eyes.

"I remember being ambushed and my new driver was in on it, gaining a huge knife wound, but making it out alive. I remember seeing Rebecca slightly groggy, but didn't think anything of it." The Duke nodded tiredly, then stood up, walking over to pat my shoulder, it was the first time the Duke has left the room.

"Watch over her, and don't leave her alone." The Duke opened the door, and left it parted. Commotion could be heard all over the mansion on how the Duke has finally moved from his daughter's side. Reaching over, I lightly placed my hand over the young girl's hand, as an encouragement for whatever she was dealing with, while unconscious.

***