The Prince's Bride Part 2 - J.J. McAvoy Page 0,113

palace had been informed peanuts were banned. The kitchen knew. So how in the hell did it end up on her plate?

“Your Highness?”

Alert, I stepped forward as the doctor finally came out of the room. For the first time, Gale looked up. His eyes were red, and tears dropped from them. Quickly, he moved to stand in front of the four doctors in front of him.

“How is she?”

“She went into anaphylaxis shock,” the female doctor said gently.

“That was not my question,” Gale repeated gently. “How is she, Doctor?”

The woman glanced at me and then Thelma. “We should speak in private—”

“We are in private. Please, say it.”

“She will recover.”

Gale exhaled, releasing his arms.

“However...”

“However?” he questioned.

“She lost the child.”

I froze.

So did he for a moment.

“What child?”

The doctor looked back at him, confused. “Did you not know she was pregnant? No more than a few weeks now.”

Gale stared at her, then hung his head again. It took him a moment, but he nodded, swallowing slowly before speaking. “Thank you. I hope we can count on your discretion.”

“Of course, sir,” she replied. “She will need a lot of rest. We sedated her, and she will need intravenous fluids and oxygen for some time. If not for the injections of epinephrine, she would have died, sir. You may go in, but visits should be kept to a minimum.”

Gale cracked his jaw to the side and nodded. “Thank you, Doctor.”

She nodded, and the rest of them stepped aside, allowing him to go inside. I wanted to go as well, but again, I was not family. I was the staff. So, I looked in from the door window to see her lying on a bed, intubated with a ventilator to help her breathe with IVs coming out of her arm. Gale slowly walked up to the bed, and being safely behind the doors with only her in front of him, he fell to his knees, weeping.

Feeling my eyes burn, I turned around and used my body to block the window, but it didn’t help. I could hear his cries, and so, the tears came down anyway. Normally, I hated how easily I came to tears, but when I saw Thelma—the bear, the female warrior of warriors—standing across from me and towering over me, with eyes glazed over as well, it made it easier for me to let the tears fall.

How did this happen?

How did everything go so wrong?

Why her?

Why?

Hearing the doors open to my left, I cleaned my eyes and stood straighter as Iskandar came inside. He said something to Thelma, who only nodded before coming to me. Well, not to me, to the door.

“I need to speak with him,” he said softly.

“Does this look like a good time?” I snapped.

He shook his head. “But when will be a good time?”

I didn’t know. But I still didn’t want to step aside.

“You did well by being there,” he added. “You saved her life. Like a true guard.”

Any other day I would have smiled. “Thank God I stayed in the adjacent hall to watch instead of taking my day off. Being a nosy worrywart paid off for once.”

“Yes, it did. Just not now as I do need to speak to him, Wolfgang.”

“They should at least have more time together—” The door behind me opened, cutting me off and forcing me to step out of the way. When I looked at him, I couldn’t read his face. It was void of everything—even anger.

“What happened?” Gale demanded.

“One hundred percent pure peanut abstract was added to her soup—only hers.”

I inhaled and clenched my fists. I didn’t want to believe it. It was absurd for me to think it was any more than an accident. But she— she was—

“Someone poisoned her,” Gale stated instead.

“I believe so, sir.”

“So, we are back to poisoning royals?” he muttered to Iskandar, slowly putting his arms behind his back. “Bring the car. I’m going back to the palace.”

“Yes, sir.” Iskandar was already getting his phone out.

Confused, I stepped forward. “You’re leaving, sir?”

He turned to me and nodded once more. “You saved her life, Wolfgang. Thank you.”

“I did what anyone would have done had they known—”

“Apparently, not,” he interrupted and looked over at Thelma, who stepped forward. “No one but her doctors, our family, and Wolfgang may enter her room. No. One.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The car is waiting at the private entrance, sir,” Iskandar stated.

“Keep watching over her, Wolfgang.” It was the last thing he said before leaving. And I was a little baffled he’d waited for so long only to