Chapter 71: Taking No Chances

The room fell into a heavy, suffocating quiet. Basil stood paralyzed, his mind racing through the chaos. Linda... poisoned in the palace cell?

Despite everything Linda had done, despite the secrets she had kept from him and the betrayal he had felt when he learned the truth, Basil couldn’t bring himself to feel relieved. No matter how hard he had tried to hate her, no matter how many times he had told himself that he wanted nothing more to do with her, the thought of her dying still tore painfully through him. She was still the woman who had raised him, the woman who had been his nanny long before he ever knew she was his grandmother. The only person who had endured every tantrum, tolerated his stubbornness, cleaned up after his worst moods, and stayed by his side even when he was difficult and impossible to handle. He had spent so much time trying to hate her after discovering the truth, convincing himself that he wanted nothing more to do with her, but now the thought of losing her made something inside his chest twist painfully.

Who could have done this to her?

And why? What had Linda known that made someone want her dead?

Was her poisoning somehow connected to everything happening tonight? The questions crowded his mind faster than he could answer them, while one terrifying thought refused to leave him alone. What if he had just lost another person he wasn’t ready to lose?

"Your Highness?" Leo called softly, pulling Basil from his thoughts. He took a cautious step forward, reading the profound distress written across the prince’s face. "It seems like... something else happened?"

Basil blinked up at him. He had almost forgotten he was in the presence of two men he shouldn’t have been looking away from. His eyes hardened as he looked at the two men standing over the unconscious assassin.

"Why don’t you two start by telling me who exactly you really are?" Basil said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, lethal quiet. "How did you know this would happen? Who sent you?"

He slipped the phone into his pocket, his eyes never leaving them as he waited for an answer

Leo’s expression remained calm, but there was a seriousness in his eyes as he looked at Basil.

"Your Highness, why don’t you call the attending doctor first? Make sure none of that solution got into Prince Darius’s system. We also need to have your guards outside checked immediately. Exposure to an aerosolized neuro-inhibitor can be deadly if it isn’t neutralized quickly."

Basil stared at him, his posture tense, suspicion never leaving his face. Everything Leo was saying made sense, which somehow made the situation even more suspicious and he sounded like someone who was used to handling situations like this, knowing exactly what needed to be done as though this wasn’t their first time dealing with something like this.

"Believe me, Your Highness, we aren’t going anywhere," Leo added, apparently reading the doubt in his expression. "We’re going to explain everything to you. You’ll know the whole truth soon enough, so I see no reason in trying to hide anything from you. Just know that we mean no harm. We’re on the good side. I know we might not look like it, but we’re the good guys."

Basil scoffed, a dark, disbelieving sound. "Fine. Stay in here. Don’t even think of leaving."

He turned toward the double doors, intending to fetch the medical staff himself, but stopped dead in his tracks at the threshold. A cold spike of realization hit him. Am I out of my damn mind?

How could he even consider walking out and leaving two armed, unidentified men alone with Darius simply because one of them claimed to be on the good side? He barely knew these guys, and for all he knew, they could have been part of the same organization that had sent the assassin in the first place. Basil turned around, his jaw set.

"On second thought, no. Why don’t one of you call the doctor while the other stays right where I can see him?" he said firmly. "Go get the doctor and have them come check on Darius immediately. And have them send someone to take care of the guards outside. I want to know they’re all right."

Leo let out a quiet, understanding chuckle. It seemed Prince Basil wasn’t willing to take any chances. He turned to Marcus. "Go get the doctors and have them handle the guards outside. I’ll wait here with His Highness."

Marcus gave a single, tight nod and slipped out through the double doors without a word.

"Your Highness," Leo said softly, gesturing toward the sofa Basil had been sleeping on, "why don’t we take a seat while we wait?"

Basil ignored the suggestion, moving straight to the chair positioned directly beside Darius’s bed. He sat down, wrapping his fingers around his brother’s cold, motionless hand. He wasn’t moving an inch away from him again, not without a full squad of trusted royal guards securing the room. He had already nearly lost Darius once, and an assassin had somehow managed to get past six armed royal guards to get to him. Until he knew exactly who these men were and what they wanted, he wasn’t going to take another chance.

It didn’t take long for Marcus to return with the hospital staff. Two doctors and several nurses hurried into the room, immediately taking over the situation. They checked Darius’s IV ports, ran quick blood panels, and inspected the discarded syringe on the floor. The guards in the hallway were quickly loaded onto gurneys and wheeled away for treatment. The room remained tense as Basil watched every movement, refusing to look away or move away from Darius as they worked.

After a tense series of examinations, the lead physician finally stepped back, looking at Basil with a mixture of relief and immense regret. "Everything is fine, Your Highness. Thank God nothing harmful reached his bloodstream. The IV lines and central line are clean, his bloodwork is normal, his vitals are completely stable, and there are no signs of any adverse reaction. Nor is there any indication that whatever substance was in the syringe ever entered his system."