What Blooms At Midnight

Three

"Y-Y-You're... You're the..." My lovely little rose of a human goes paler than a sheet, his beautiful eyes spreading wide in recognition of my name before going even wider, his hand coming up to clutch his chest, a pained cry escaping from his lips as he's brought to his knees.

I'm stunned, and then I hear it...

The irregularity in the heart beating altogether too quickly in my soulmate's chest. It sounds just as painful as his face shows that it feels as he continues to drain of all color.

I find myself by his side in an instant, one of my arms wrapping around his shoulders while the other hand urges him to recline back against my bracing.

He struggles against my guidance, his hands trying to bat mine away but unable to stay away from clutching his chest for too long to try and press some of the stress away.

"Your Highness... Y-Your clothes!" It's nothing more than a wheeze, and is quickly followed with a weak, "M-My chest.."

...
Jasper
...

"My clothes are not important, Jasper. Do not think on it one moment more, just breathe.." I give in to being eased back into the supportive arm of Prince Edmund, my vision being encroached upon by a blackness that threatens to overtake me.

It's hard to focus on the words that leave his mouth as the painful misstep of my heart continues. Sometimes a hard thump to my chest can even me back out when reduced to such a panic, but at the moment all strength seems to have deserted me, my hands only able to ball up my shirt, leaving it only to hold tight the hand that finds its way to my cheek.

The hand guides me, a stern voice demanding that I resist giving in to the urge to let my eyes fall shut as the blackness begins another round of encroachment, my chest feeling as though it might burst, "...Jasper!"

...
Edmund
....

"You have got to calm down, Jasper... Breathe, Love... Breathe..." My pleadings are answered by nothing but Jasper's pained shallow breathing starting to become slower... Deeper as he does his best to try and do as I've asked.

I would have never thought that my dearest one would have such a visceral reaction just to name and name alone... Though maybe it would have been less a shock to him if it hadn't come so soon after having such a fright trying to reign in his runaway horse.

"P-Prince Edmund...", Jasper's stunning eyes flutter, but as I monitor his pulse and feel it return to a more normal rhythm while I caress his face with calming strokes to his cheek I'm no longer worried about the harm that a potential loss of consciousness could cause.

"Hush now, Darling." I'll not hear another word from him while he's still too weak to even support his own head properly, the episode having drained him, "I've got you."

And soon the palace Doctors will have you too.

It takes no effort at all to pull my hand away from his face and out of his weak grasp in order to thread it under his knees in order to lift both of us off the ground from where I had kneeled.

This time I'm granted submission from my angel, his body choosing to curl into my careful hold of him, tears once again seeping through my clothes and gracing my marbled skin with their tender release of the pain that is surely still consuming him.

Figuring out what to do with the mare is another matter, and soon I settle for setting Jasper in the saddle encouraging him to lean forward and hug her neck for stability before untying the reigns and swinging myself up behind him and then bringing him back to lean against me for his own comfort, my arms securely wrapped around his waist while I guide the poor horse towards the palace to have him properly examined.

...
Jasper
...

His Highness is so gentle with me as we start to ride... He is so gentle with me period...

He seems to understand what's transpired without needing an explanation from me... And as my chest aches with every jostle I cannot help but track my brain to try and remember if I've ever heard of any of the Royal family having heart troubles... Of them having any health issues to begin with... 

My mind feels too foggy to continue trying to wrack itself for an answer and instead seems content to focus on the only unpleasantness I currently feel... The solidness of the Prince's chest against my back while his arms keep me from falling off of Annabeth.

I try not to think of the direction that we're headed in... I do my best to pay no mind when the glimpses of trees I keep managing to grasp with my dizzied eyes thin out into the purposeful shrubbery of a garden as we gallop past it all... And when we finally reach the stables that are most certainly not the ones I've grown used to since arriving at our new home a few short months ago I am content to let myself fall into the Prince's strong arms as soon as he dismounts my normally gentle mare.

...
Edmund
...

It's alarming how placid the keeper of my slow beating heart has become, his body growing limper by the second as exhaustion starts to take hold as is only natural after such an episode...

It's all I can do to keep track of his heart as it continues to calm itself and make my way into the palace as quickly as I can without harming my dear one.

My feet carry both of us down the corridor and up the stairs without hesitation, my own chambers the only appropriate place to deposit him after flagging down one of the maids and sending her to fetch Alister, the Doctor in residence here amongst us as a permanent resident of our court.