The Royal Deal

Chapter 19

Two days.

It had been two days since I had woken up, and Ian had fallen down. Two damn days.

There was no medicine in this goddamn cabin as well. There was a small first aid kit, but it only had painkillers, nothing for a cold. To make matters worse, half of the fruits and vegetables were rotten with mold, so we were very short on our food supplies. The whole week we had been here already was testing us, and it seemed as if we weren't going to make it for the rest of the last one.

I knew we had been here for nine days exactly by the small paper calendar that was hanging on the refrigerator door by a magnet. Ian -I would say it was him since he was the only one here with me- had been crossing out the days that had passed while I was out cold. And since we had gotten here on a Sunday, while today was Tuesday, nine days had gone by.

I sighed as I sipped on the barely warm soup while I watched Ian sleep peacefully. I had helped him eat a hot soup not that long ago, but as soon as he had managed to gulp down half of it, he had passed out again in a range of coughs.

My nose was still stuffed up, but at least the cough from before was gone, and I had a little more energy to do the chores. I had managed to clean up a bit, throw away everything that didn't work anymore, and even arranged our living compartments for better access to the flame in the past two days. But the rest of the cabin still looked like a mess, and part of me didn't really care.

"Wasn't my fault our stupid parents decided to send us here in the first place...." I muttered to myself for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Charlotte....."

My eyes quickly snapped up to see a tired Ian sitting up. His red nose popped out from his pale face, and his voice was so soft, I barely heard him in the first place.

"What are you doing? You should be sleeping." I quickly handed him a few of the last remaining tissues as his face formed into a sneeze. He groaned as he blew his nose, and then sniffed as he looked over at me.

"I can't bweathe." My lips twitched slightly at the way he said his words, but I managed to not laugh.

"Well a humidifier would help, but we don't have one."

His head slowly slumped towards my shoulder -as I had sat down besides him- and he sighed. The shock that ran through me left me speechless long enough for him to fall back asleep with a snore. I groaned mentally and eyed my soup from the kitchen table with longing.

"Gah damn it...."

*

*

The door slamming open, bringing in a blast of the cold, frosty air with them snapped me from my nap. My brain slowly processed the events going on around me: Ian curling even closer to me as multiple feet stomped towards us. Then voices trying to get my attention as my brain finally began to focus.

People.

PEOPLE!

"Princess?" The man crouching in front of me said in concern. I blinked rapidly, shook my head slightly and then spoke.

"I'm sorry. What did you just say?" I flinched as ice, cold fingers touched my forehead as they quickly ran something across it, and winced as someone flashed a flashlight at my eyes.

"Slightly elevated temperature," he spoke again and then it was quiet for a few seconds. "101.4. Start the car now, we are leaving."

I didn't even get to speak again as I was immediately lifted up from the floor. A small squeak escaped my lips as the random person who carried me crushed me even closer to them. A heavy quilt was thrown over me, making everything go dark for a few seconds before I was taken out to the chilling wind.