Once Upon A [Hidden] Time - [Stolen] Series IV

CHAPTER 12

EDWARD
18 JUNE 1415

They made love tenderly, and then aggressively. I caught a glimpse of Myra, who blushed at the way David fed luring words into Jasmine's ears, making the Queen submit under his body. I wondered if I had the same effect on her. Would she comply with my demands and needs as Jasmine did for David? It was still unbelievable, watching two people stripping off their clothes, joining as one body—one soul.

Myra flipped the page, and we saw Jasmine sitting at her writing desk, reading something from a book.

"It's a book from the twenty-first century," Myra exclaimed.

I snapped my head at her. "How do you know?"

"The printing, the subject..." She trailed off. "This is an oncology book."

"What in the world is that?"

"A branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer," she answered, looking at me with an addled expression. "This is comparatively a new field of medicine."

God's teeth!

"Which means that she truly is a time traveller," added Myra.

"What is cancer?"

"It's a tumour that can grow on any internal organ, destroying it, and later on it causes death if not treated."

"Is it curable in your time?"

"Depends on the stage." Shrugging her shoulders, she continued, "The last stage is when it is hard for a patient to survive."

"How do you know if someone has cancer?"

"We have tests and scans to run," she replied. "This is where an oncologist comes in." She nodded at the book.

"Reading, Your Majesty?" We heard a man addressing Jasmine. It was the voice of her Royal Advisor, who we could not see, but his voice was still very familiar.

"Come, dear!" she said, pulling a seat next to hers.

"What is troubling Her Majesty?" the Advisor asked.

Jasmine huffed at his words. "The Duchess of Dover...my assumption was right," she said, flipping through the pages. "She has dysplasia."

"You mean at the precancerous stage?" the Advisor asked.

I had no idea what they were talking about. I glanced at Myra, who appeared to be transfixed with their conversation. I decided not to interrupt by asking her again and let her figure out what witchcraft was going on.

"I took her Pap smear test last week and got the results from the lab yesterday," Jasmine added. "Things do not look in her favour." She pulled out a paper from the drawer. "See?" She pointed at something on the paper. "Abnormal changes to squamous cells in the cervix."

"We cannot run more tests here," the Advisor remarked.

"Bloody Hell!" Myra mumbled. "They are doctors."

"What?" I snapped.

"They both are twenty-first century, highly trained doctors!" Myra repeated.

"She is forty-two, so we can prevent the problem," Jasmine went on.

"Should I summon her?" the Advisor inquired.

"Tell her to see me in my clinic," Jasmine answered.

Myra removed her hand from the book, and the window disappeared in front of our eyes. She rubbed her hands together and blew on them hard.