The aftermath of rushing Emily to the infirmary had left Lewis exhausted beyond anything he had ever known. Some of the others had come and gone, disappearing for breakfast before returning, but Thomas had stayed with him the entire time. He said it was so Matron Henare could monitor him for any lingering effects of the nightshade essence, but Lewis wasn't sure if he believed him or not.

'Sorry,' Matron Henare muttered as she appeared beside Lewis. 'I won't be a moment; I just need to do her observations.'

Every half an hour or so, she would appear, apologising each time before she spent a few minutes checking Emily over, making notes, and disappearing again. 'Is she going to be alright?' Lewis asked, watching as Matron Henare checked her pulse.

'She's definitely through the worst of it, but that doesn't mean she's out of the woods just yet,' she said. 'It will take time, but she will get there. The body is an incredible thing; sleeping helps our body to recover and heal almost as much as any medicine I could give her.'

'How long do you think she'll sleep for?' Arthur asked. With his attention focused on Emily, he hadn't heard him approach. Lewis looked up to find him biting into a pastry with several others bundled up in a napkin. Gratefully, he accepted them, passing a couple over to Thomas. His stomach had been rumbling for the last two or three hours, but he had refused to leave Emily's bedside.

'I can't say. It could be a few more hours, but it could be days, maybe even weeks,' she replied, glancing at the pastries sat on the side of the bed.

'Help yourself,' Lewis said, noticing her look. 'I know you haven't had a chance to get anything for yourself yet.'

'Thank you, Your Majesty,' she said with a little bow of her head. He found it very strange that the moment she was no longer talking about Emily or her medical condition, she reverted to a formal conversation with him. While she was working, she treated him just like she treated the others. He much preferred it that way. With the crown thrust upon him, he didn't feel like he was any different from every other person in the castle; he longed to just be his normal self again. Matron Henare glanced at Thomas and Arthur. 'Might I have a moment to discuss some of her test results with you alone?’

'Of course,' Lewis said, taken aback. 'Your office or outside?'

'Whichever you please.'

'Your office is fine with me.'

She nodded. Scribbling down one last note and letting go of Emily's wrist, she led the way across the infirmary, pointedly ignoring Emperor El-Farha, who was sitting up in bed with a bowl in his lap. Lewis was sure he heard her mutter an insult in his direction under her breath. He saw the emperor's look of disgust as she ignored him.

Lewis stepped into her office, allowing her to shut the door behind him. The walls were covered with different charts, large posters of different plants and common insects, and a tall bookshelf that stretched from floor to ceiling. ‘I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I felt it best to do this in private. Although I'm sure you will share what I say with the two outside anyway,

'Please, it's just Lewis. If there is anyone who can dispense with the formalities, then it is you. After everything you have done, I will forever be in your debt. And if there is anything you need,' he said, glancing around the room at the shelves packed with books and vials, 'then you need only ask.'

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She bowed her head ever so slightly, colour rising in her cheeks for a moment before she gathered herself once more. 'After seeing the way the poison acted, I wanted to run a couple of other tests. I hope I haven't overstepped my bounds.'

He shook his head. 'Of course not; anything you need to do to help her or to understand, then please do; you are far more knowledgeable on everything inside this infirmary than I am, and I'm sure many other things besides.'

'Thank you. I hope you will forgive my bluntness,' she said, still somewhat hesitantly. 'Were you aware that Emily is pregnant? Not for long, likely somewhere between one moon and two.'

Lewis blinked. He felt his mouth drop open, and had it not been attached, he was certain his jaw would have reached the entrance hall five flights of stairs below them. 'I wasn't,' he managed to breathe after a stunned moment. Stunned didn't even begin to cover what he felt in that moment.

'Firstly, congratulations. Secondly, I'm sorry for the sudden news. Would you like to sit down?'

Without a word, he stepped to the side, sliding down into the chair in front of the desk, his mind racing at a mile per minute. He was going to have a child. They were going to have a child. A child that would be the heir to the throne, which he had just taken up amongst all the chaos. 'Sorry, I'm not quite sure what to say. I think that was about the last thing that I was expecting to hear.'

'That's quite alright; take your time,' she said, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher on her desk and offering it to him. He took it gratefully, taking a large gulp and feeling the chilled water run down his throat.

'It goes without saying that Emily will have the best care while she is here, now, and until the baby is delivered. And beyond, of course. However, that doesn't take away the fact that, under the circumstances of the nightshade, there are considerable risks. While Emily's outlook is more positive with each set of observations, it is much harder for me to assess the baby, especially at such an early stage.'

'You don't think the baby will survive?'

'I will pray, of course, but for now we have no way of knowing at all,' she said. 'Forgive me if you were already aware of this, but, while pregnant, when a woman falls sick, the unborn child is able to pass their cells to the mother to help fight off an illness. Many speculate, but I for one believe that is why the bond between mother and child is so different from that of any other. From their first moments, they are helping each other to survive, sharing everything.'

'To treat nightshade in any form, powdered Abineva extract is essential; to fight it with the Abineva already dissolved in another solution was an incredibly long shot. It may have gone a long way to helping, but if I were a gambling woman, I would wager that baby had a part to play in this, especially with both of you having strong Precursor blood in you.'

'You think the baby would have the powers as well, then?' Lewis asked, running her words through his mind as he tried to take it all in.

'Almost certainly. The traits of a Healer Precursor I would expect most likely. While they are nowhere near as rare as Seer Precursors, they aren't the most common either,' she said. 'A lot of this is speculation, of course, but I will keep it to myself until you feel the time is right for it to be disclosed.'

'Thank you; I appreciate that,' Lewis said, taking another gulp from the water. He had no idea how to process all this information in such a short period of time. Slowly, he got to his feet, setting the glass back on Matron Henare's desk. 'Like I said, if there is ever anything you need, let me know.'

'There is one thing, now that you mention it, actually,' she said slowly as she looked at the pastry still held in her hand untouched. 'I'll obviously need to replenish supplies, but that can wait for another day. I know about what happened with the bakery, but I was always a huge fan of those chocolate chip swirls they used to sell. I wouldn't say no to one or two of those. If the opportunity ever arose, of course.'

Lewis nodded. His days at the bakery felt like a lifetime ago. 'Consider it done; it would be my pleasure.'