Transient Time Traveller by Melissa Sweeney

Author:Melissa Sweeney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melissa Sweeney

Chapter 23: Royal Fray

It didn’t take much to convince the trio to follow Lorian to Missus Sharma’s. Seeing Aida convulse sent Zaahir into his protective nature, and Kadar did anything his prince asked.

Lorian felt Beatrice’s eyes on her for the whole venture back, judging her, hating her. She’d only agreed to come along per Zaahir’s request. It wasn’t like she could go back home without him.

Lorian kept her eyes ahead, ignoring her. She’d learned to brush aside her poignant glaring from past family outings.

She was failing.

Before they opened the gates, Missus Sharma slammed open the front door with chamberstick in hand. She’d heard them, or she’d been waiting by the window all night. “Lorian!”

Lorian hopped off her horse before it fully stopped. They’d taken Zaahir’s and Beatrice’s horses back. “Aida’s hurt.”

Missus Sharma looked between Aida’s weathered state and Beatrice and Zaahir. “Is she—?”

“She’s alive,” she said, but it wasn’t convincing. Aida had stopped choking on her own breath, but she still wasn’t “there.” She kept moaning whenever she moved.

Zaahir and Kadar helped Aida off of their horse. They were tall horses meant to see over savannah grasses, so when she fell, she fell hard. It took both of their combined strengths to keep her from twisting an ankle. Beatrice picked up her dress so she didn’t dirty it.

They helped her into their Nest of blankets and pillows. Zaahir had to walk over fallen books Aida had been reading for her research.

“Oh, no, dear, please.” Missus Sharma motioned for the stairs. “Let her stay in a proper bed. It’s what she needs right now.”

“But you haven’t any spare beds,” Lorian said.

“She can have ours. Oh, darling, what has become of you?”

Lorian didn’t know if she was talking to her or Aida. She didn’t have an answer for either.

They brought Aida up the stairs. She’d found her feet, but her knees were bent at odd angles and her head sagged and twitched at every step. It was like she was partly there, partly somewhere else, like she didn’t know why she was walking but knew that she had to keep going. Lorian couldn’t fathom what she was going through.

At the top of the stairs, a door creaked open to Chrissie and Onti. They were looking past each other to see what all the commotion was about. At the sight of Zaahir, Chrissie blushed and ran back into the shadows. Her hands shot out and dragged Onti back to bed.

“Wait!” he protested. “They’re important, ain’t they? They’re royal, right?”

Mi’Sharma took their entrance very well. She looked up, dropped her jaw, closed it, closed her book, and flapped open the covers for Aida. “Sit her here.”

“I’m sorry,” Lorian said.

“Look at her.” She went to Missus Sharma. “How awful.”

Lorian didn’t realize she was falling until she dropped to the bedside with Aida. Her chest was pounding and she was breathing as heavily as Aida was. Aida herself fell asleep in a wink. Her twitches receded to head tics and eye flutters.

“Is there anything we can do?” Zaahir asked.

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