The Second Son

Chapter 14

My training kicked in and I ran to the bed. I leaned my head down onto the king's chest to listen for a heartbeat but before I could hear anything, I was ripped away by my hair. I stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. When I looked up, I was met with a raging queen.

"Don't touch him! What did you do to him? Did you poison him? I'll kill you for this girl!"

I sat there on the floor in shock, trying to think of a response to the queen's accusations. She turned back to her husband and collapsed over his body again.

Suddenly, Henry burst through the door no doubt in response to his mother's shrieking. He glanced at the commotion on the bed and then at me on the floor. He rushed to my side to help me up.

"Em, what happened? Is my father....? Can you help him?"

"I don't know...." I responded as I got back on my feet and rushed back over to the king. Henry grabbed his mother before she could push me away again.

"Mother let Emily help. She knows what she's doing." He tried to reason with her but she just kept fighting to get out of his grasp. At this point she was hysterical.

"Henry let me go! She did this! She's some sort of evil witch doctor!" Henry wrapped his arms around her small frame and held her back in a bear hug. She continued to fight. I took a deep breath and did my best to tune out the commotion behind me.

I leaned down again to listen for a heartbeat but all I heard was silence. I put my ear up to his mouth to listen for breathing but again, silence. I checked his pupils and they were fixed. From all accounts, the king was dead. I closed my eyes to try to take control of the rising panic I felt.

And then it hit me. The Midnight Bloom! The medicine I made with it was in my bag. It was the king's only hope. Before I could even consider the consequences of what I was about to do, I grabbed my bag and searched until I found the vial I was looking for. The mixture was pitch black and had an oily consistency. I sat down on the bed beside the king and lifted his head with one hand while holding the vial up to his mouth with the other. I tipped it back and watched as the liquid slid into his mouth. The consistency allowed it to slide down his throat.

Behind me, the queen was screaming that she would kill me with her own two hands and that if Henry didn't let go of her, she would disown him. I couldn't really blame her for behaving the way she was. The king fell ill so suddenly and went downhill so fast.

I gently laid his head back down on the pillow and stood back up. Nothing was happening. His coloring was starting to turn grey. I knew the Midnight Bloom was too good to be true. If the king was dead, so was I. The queen thought that I had poisoned him earlier. She already hated me.

I stepped back from the bed and Henry let go of his mother. She pushed me out of the way before collapsing onto his body and sobbing even louder than before. I felt Henry come stand beside me and it sounded like he was trying to hold back his own tears.

"I....I don't understand. He was fine yesterday. How did this happen so fast. I have to get my brother." He turned and walked quickly out of the room.

Not wanting to be alone with the Queen, I started to step backwards to leave the room. As I was about to step into the hallway, the queen whipped her head around and looked at me with so much hatred and anger, a chill went down my spine.

"You did this! You evil girl! I'll kill you!" She stood and lunged at me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me down on the ground. I felt her foot connect with my stomach and the wind was knocked out of me. She was screaming incoherently as she dropped down to the floor and grabbed me by my hair and slapped me. My ears were ringing from the impact and the pain caused my vision to blur.

I tried to crawl away but she grabbed my dress and I heard it rip down the back. Henry and his brother ran into the room and pulled her away from me before she could hurt me any further.

As the two brothers struggled with their mother, I sat up and leaned against the doorframe to try to catch my breath. My hand went to my side where she had kicked me and I flinched at the pain. Suddenly, there was coughing coming from the bed. Henry jumped up and hurried over to the bed. His back was to me so I couldn't see his face but he dropped down on his knees and his back shook like he was sobbing. Prince James and the queen followed. The prince stood there like he was in shock and the queen dropped down next to Henry.

I grabbed onto the door frame and pulled myself up. I cautiously stepped towards the bed and what I saw shook me to my core. There was the king, wide awake staring at all of us like he didn't understand what all the fuss was about. The Midnight Bloom had worked!