“I am not!” she shrieks, jerking her arm away again.
“If you want the entire staff to see you shrieking and screaming and being dismissive of a health emergency for their king—you will not look good,” Xander snaps.
“Oh my God, oh my God, it’s like Phillip!” the dowager queen wails, dropping to her knees and sobbing loudly.
Phillip? King Phillip? Xander’s grandfather? My brain can’t quite make out what she means by her comment.
“Mother, come,” Prince Henry says, helping her up. “And everyone else will come out. The doctors don’t need an audience when they get here.”
“Oh, this is my fault! I did this!” Arabella sobs, clutching onto Liz.
My God, these people are a three-ring circus, I think. Arthur doesn’t need this!
With that thought, I glance at the ornate gold clock on the mantle. Please get here soon, I will the ambulance. Please hurry. Every second counts now.
“We need to leave,” Helene says briskly.
“I’ll help you, Henry,” Roman says, taking the dowager queen’s other arm. Liz and Helene guide Arabella out, and soon, the room is silent. It’s me and Christian with Arthur, and Queen Antonia with Xander.
“Honestly, I don’t think this is necessary,” Arthur says, sounding exhausted.
But when he stares at me, I can see he’s terrified.
And deep down, he knows he’s in trouble.
“My grandpa had a heart attack that was very much like this,” I say calmly, although my own fear for him is thick within my chest. “His friend recognised the signs. He got him to A&E, and he had a simple procedure and was home within days.”
Arthur takes a breath and nods.
“I don’t understand,” he says. “I had an extensive physical examination six months ago. I was fine.”
I’m about to answer when I hear voices and noises, and then I almost weep with relief when the palace doctor arrives with a slew of people, who must be the courtiers. I inform the doctor of the symptoms I observed, around what time I thought they happened, and then I step away. The courtiers pull the family aside and begin discussing the situation, but I stay away. I’m still watching the doctor work on Arthur. Soon, the paramedics arrive with a stretcher, and I say a silent prayer that too much damage hasn’t been done to Arthur’s heart.
I watch as the paramedics hook Arthur up to cardiac monitoring equipment to take an ECG. Xander moves next to me. I glance up at him, and my heart breaks when I see how shattered he looks. His eyes are haunted. Fearful. I want to tell him it will be fine, but I can’t.
Only the doctors can tell us that.
Christian goes up to the crew and speaks briefly to them, nods, and then comes back to us.
“I’m going to go with Father in the ambulance to Kensington Cross, because they have a coronary unit with a cath lab,” Christian explains. “Xander, can you tell everyone else?”
Xander nods. “Yes.”
Christian then hurries to catch up with the ambulance crew.
“Will you come with me?” Xander asks quietly. “I need you to come with me.”
“Of course, I will,” I say, reaching for his hand.
“Oh, absolutely not. She’s not family. She will not go there. It will only make more of a scene for the media,” Queen Antonia says. She’s now surrounded by her staff.
Xander jerks his head towards her. The look of fury on his face is so powerful, Queen Antonia takes a step backwards.
“She has a name, and it’s Poppy,” Xander says, his voice low. “And she is going. Poppy saved Father’s life tonight. Or do you not want that story getting out because it’s not about you?”
Queen Antonia goes pale. “It … really was a heart attack?”
“We will have that confirmed at the hospital. And we,” Xander gestures his hand between himself and me, “will be there.”
Then Xander turns to me. “Let’s tell the family what is going on.”
He strides with purpose now, snapped out of the fog that initially hit him when I told him Arthur was having a heart attack. He hustles through the dining room, entering the corridor, where the family, along with PPOs for Prince Henry and Xander, have gathered. The dowager queen is sitting on a chair, sobbing, with Liz and Arabella consoling her. Prince Henry is pacing the red carpet, and Roman is standing with Clementine, speaking quietly to her.
As soon as Prince Henry spots us, he stops pacing and hurries towards Xander.
“We saw Arthur on a stretcher and Christian running after them. Is