“We will wait with you for the others to return, Your Highness. We have to stay behind to follow the Second Prince’s orders to guard this place.”
“I see... I didn’t know my brother was so adamant about guarding this place. Why are you two here instead of patrolling around, anyway?”
“We were given orders to stay here specifically.”
“I see...”
She suddenly heard a loud noise, and closed her eyes by reflex. Cassandra recognized the sounds of a fight and, for a few seconds, she pondered about checking if Opheus was alright. However, if she came out too soon, she risked getting them both killed. Not knowing what was happening just a few steps away was frightening. For the next few seconds, Cassandra stood there and listened. Then, she clearly heard two weights hitting the floor.
“You can come out.”
She let out a little sigh of relief. When Cassandra stepped out of her hiding, the two guards were dead at Opheus’ feet, their throats sliced open in a little puddle of blood that was growing. She was disgusted but impressed. Those two men were Imperial Guards, but he had gotten rid of both of them within a minute. The Prince didn’t drop a pearl of sweat either, while the two men were obviously in a bad shape.
“Let’s hurry,” said Opheus, not commenting on what had just happened. “We probably don’t have long until the others come back.”
Cassandra nodded. She carefully walked past both bodies, but they had nowhere to actually hide them. They had no time to find a good hiding place either.
Opheus pushed a door that was on their left, letting her walk in first. It was a very large bedroom, with what was most likely a large bed hidden by curtains at one end. Cassandra almost ran there, but Opheus caught her wrist before she lifted the curtain. Gently pushing her behind him, he lifted it first. A wave of relief appeared on his face.
The old Emperor was lying there, looking very pale, but his eyes were open and staring at the two of them.
“Your Highness!”
“Father...” whispered Opheus.
Cassandra was astonished. How could he have lost so much weight in such a short time!
“White Lily...” whispered the Emperor.
For the first time, his appearance matched his age, but he looked very sick. Cassandra could tell he had a high fever without even touching him, and the bony hand he raised was even thinner than hers. He grabbed her hand, shaking his head.
“Your Highness, what happened?”
“Vrehan did this to you?”
“You... Your son...”
Cassandra was astonished. He was asking about Kassian now? What was going on?
“He is born, Your Highness, he is fine. But please, tell me what they did to you? Did they make you eat something?”
“Good...” whispered the Emperor with a smile.
Cassandra was devastated. He couldn’t even seem to hear her questions, the poor man looked so weakened. He was nothing like the mighty Emperor she had seen just a few weeks ago. All this time, she had prayed for him to be alive. She had hoped to be able to save the Emperor, but he was already on the brink of death!
Aside from the erratic, raspy breathing of the Emperor, there was a horrible silence weighing on them. Cassandra had no idea what to do. His lips were somewhat swollen and purple, his mouth was dry, and the old Emperor was obviously running an agonizing fever. He had lost a lot of weight, too. She wondered if there was even anything she could do when he was already this bad? She looked around for something to help, but there was only a small basin of water - it couldn’t be that the poor old man had simply been left to die here! This was the Emperor, for goodness sake!
Next to her, Opheus looked just as shocked and lost as she was. He hadn’t given much thought about his father’s reported illness, but seeing the powerful figure now lying in bed as a sickly, dying old man was too much for him. He stumbled back, lost for words.
Cassandra couldn’t just sit on the sidelines. She looked around again, trying to find something, anything that could help. She ran to the little basin of water, tearing some of her dress’s fabric to make a compress. The water was barely lukewarm, which made her even angrier. How was it possible that the Emperor wasn’t receiving proper care? She walked back to him and wiped the sweat from his brow. He was no longer the Emperor to her, now, he was a patient. A patient in critical condition, who she couldn’t allow to die like this, especially not before she had tried everything she could to save him.
“White Lily...”
“Your Highness, what did they do to you?” she asked, desperate for an answer. “Did you eat or drink something? Do you remember what it tasted like?”
Cassandra was struggling to hold back her tears. If she had been in a proper medical space with all of her plants, she may have been able to do something. If only she had a clue about what had been done to the Emperor, any indication towards what he may have been given. She might have had a chance of figuring something out, but it seemed to be that his state was far too desperate now. She had been too hopeful in thinking she would get here in time, to find a cure for whatever ailed him. She never imagined that it would be too late already.
Her fingers were trembling on the little piece of wet cloth, as she kept questioning in utter despair. Opheus remained silent, slowly coming to the understanding of how bad this really was.
