The departure of the princess elect and the doctor should have left the prince with nothing but silence to accompany him except that he could hear the voices of a couple of women arguing or maybe just discussing. Luke drowned the conversation out, but he kept the movie going. Idle noise from the television would not break into his concentration. 

The reports were thorough, it captured every known communication frequency being used at present, except for the queen’s and her heir’s. Such information was promptly deleted from the archive upon his request. Ironic as it may seem, but the assassination attempt was the event that Luke was waiting for. It should have increased the utilization of the communication lines. It should have given them a hint who in the palace were serving a different master, who authorized the distribution of the military’s standard rifles to civilians and consequently the rebellion. But irregular frequencies were reported to be detected as seemingly just an impulse – an image like a ghost’s that was present and absent at the same time. Much as the team wanted to deny, but the fact remained that the rebellion, who were supposed to be the poor and the desolate, outsmarted them. 

Luke sighed as he swiped back to the second page of the report. He would read and go through the charts again, because maybe he and the IT Team missed a detail. Absently, his free hand rubbed the side of his torso that was bruised. The wooden chair may be cushioned, but it was uncomfortable. He would rather prefer something that would allow him to lean back once in a while. 

He hadn’t given up on the possibility that the accident could still accidentally uncover the people whose objective was to stab him in and his mother in the back. The work that the recently concluded meeting and the confirmation that the Defense and Health Ministries were waiting for could wait a little longer. But apparently Doctor Gulsvig couldn’t.

A sharp knock on the door stole his attention from the comparison of the frequency and time model he generated from the data, then filtered out all the known and used channels. There was a remote chance that the blinking signal was somehow a code. If it was, then he had the idea that the key to unmasking the code was to assume that the name of the clinic and/or the town it was situated were passed on secretly. 

“Your highness,” Nolan allowed himself in without waiting for Luke’s permission. He pushed the door open wide to give way to the medical bed that was pushed inside the room. The furniture that made up the sitting area barricaded the path to the bed therefore a male nurse carefully lifted Rhiane’s unconscious body from the gurney to transfer her into the more comfortable bed. 

Luke slowly got to his feet, keeping his eyes on the woman and the brace that would keep her from placing strain on her arm. It was lightweight and made of breathable silicone-like material. After being restrained by a sling, she would appreciate the advantages of her new cast. “Did she make any trouble?” he asked Dr. Romanelli, who shook his head. Tobias was also inside the room, hovering at a respectable distance from the bed while trying to keep a passive expression. “Tobias.”

The guard snapped into attention, as if the mention of his name had pulled him from a long thought or a daydream. By that time, the nurses and the doctor were exiting the room to grant the princess some privacy. “Look for Octavia and Lia and ask them to stay at Rhiane’s bedside,” Luke ordered much to his cousin’s dismay. Tobias had the notion that his royal cousin trusted him as Rhiane’s bodyguard, that babysitting the future queen was an endeavor that was only for Tobias to enjoy. Somehow he had forgotten that the charge that was given him was a woman – an engaged woman – and it was more appropriate if equally capable female members of the security team would watch over her. The prince’s request was only logical, but it was quite difficult to nod his head in obedience.

Shortly after the matter was settled, Luke was asked to sit on a wheel chair and escorted to the makeshift clinic. Waiting for him at the door were Doctor Gulsvig and Ms. Viscomi. “It cannot be allowed,” the doctor’s features were grim when he said it. Ms. Viscomi looked as if she had not yet ran out of arguments, but the doctor opened the door for the prince then shut it behind himself. 

“Didn’t your mother call-off the tour after what happened?”

“She did,” was Luke’s immediate response. “I persuaded her not to.” He carefully stepped out of the chair and asked for help in taking off the coat. The doctor studied him for a moment before wordlessly turning away to do whatever preparations must be done. 

[hr]

The procedure did not last an hour. His ribs were fractured, but there was no need to cut him open to fix the damage. The serum and a more comfortable version of a brace was enough. If he would not do anything stupid, it should heal in a day or two.

Ms. Viscomi was waiting outside the door as the gurney was pushed through the corridor. “Doctor!” Her cheerfulness and hope were ever present even in the middle of another PR nightmare and possible change in schedules. She walked beside the older man. “It is four in the afternoon. We can still arrange for a dinner assembly meeting with the locals. At around what time is he going to wake up?” 

Dr. Gulsvig shrugged. “As soon as he feels like waking up.” As Luke’s attending physician, the doctor was more concerned about the health of his patient than the strict schedule that was mapped out for him. Because of it, he might have utilized a more potent sedative for the prince. It was for Luke’s own good, because once left to his own devices, then there was no doubt that he would drag his future bride with him to fulfill his responsibilities. 

Luce Viscomi and the doctor were left outside the room as the male nurses rearranged the furniture to be able to bring the patient as close to the bed as possible, then transferred him carefully. “You may try to wake him if you want to, but our crown prince needs as much rest as he can right now, so I gave him the opportunity to do so.”

The nurses and the royal guards soon left the couple to rest in their private room, with the doctors’ strict orders that nobody should disturb them. Sooner than later, though, Luke’s eyes fluttered open. It was odd seeing wood panels over his head bathed in a pale yellow glow. Where was he? Why were his eyelids so heavy? A shift in the mattress told him that somebody must be out there. “Sophie,” he whispered then slowly turned his head.