Hidden Heirs and Fallen Crowns (Complete)

Chapter 31

A/N: Dedic. to ChandiniMahal for voting AAALLL the way through! Thanks so much!! :D

____________________________________________________

Chapter 31

My hand grabbed the gold lion head knocker, and I slammed it against the wood once. I was heaving from the effort of coming so fast, leaning on my knees for support, when the doors were almost immediately opened.

"Majesty?" Mark said, confused.

"Su ... zanne," I corrected him in between breaths.

"Suzanne. Where's Jasmine? What happened?"

"Blade ... Zed's hurt ... Jasmine with him ... needs you to come," I panted.

A stony look came to his eyes. "Where is she?"

I straightened, breathing deeply. "Back alleys of the Square," I answered. He got poised to go when I grabbed his arm. "Wait," I said. "I'm coming. Just two secs."

"I don't think you're in a state to run all the way back," he observed.

"Yes I am," I insisted. I looked in the direction of the Square, took a deep breath, and said, "OK, let's go."

Everything became blurry as we ran like mad towards the square. Even though we were going pretty fast, someone could easily see us rocketing past them, even if they only saw a blur. I asked permission to enter Mark's mind, and he granted it.

We'll need to go through the back alleys instead of through the Square, I told him. Can't risk anyone seeing us.

Lead the way, he said.

I took a sharp left to the direction we were going in, and he followed half a second later. As soon as we reached the back alleys, he thought, Stop.

I halted immediately, leaning against the wall to support myself as the world spun. When everything eventually came into focus I saw him staring straight ahead, rotate slowly to the right, and then rotate slowly again to the left.

"Uh, that looks creepy," I said. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Locating Jasmine," he answered.

I was going to ask him what happened to me leading the way when he set off. Too worn out to protest, I just followed him.

We found them a few minutes later, Jasmine sat wearily against a wall. She stood up abruptly, attempting a smile.

Mark nodded at Jasmine, then bent down to observe Zed.

"Ah," he muttered. "It's bad. But not fatal. He should be able to recover soon and heal himself."

"Could you carry him back?" Jasmine asked anxiously. "I mean, he's as heavy as a dead person."

He waved away her concerns dismissingly. "It's fine. It's just Suzanne I'm worried about." He looked in my direction as he said this.

She looked at me in surprise. "Why? What's wrong with Suzanne?"

"I'm just a bit tired," I cut in before Mark could answer. "No wonder, considering everything that's happened today. Come on, let's get out of here."

She didn't question me. Mark hauled Zed onto his shoulder as gently as he could, but I still winced every time it looked like the wound would get more damaged than it already was.

And for the last time, we all ran back to the mansion, Mark noticeably weighed down by Zed.

When Jasmine had closed the doors behind her and I was sure that we were all safe, I sat down on the nearest thing I saw, trying to steady my breathing. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Normally I wasn't this tired after running just a few miles, but it seemed that the last few times had become more and more effort-requiring.