The Royal Concubine

Chapter Twenty

Yvan

It had stung to find Ravana sleeping in his own bed instead of mine. However, I had decided to respect his decision and trust that he would come to me when he was ready. I lived to regret my decision to give him space when I woke up in the middle of the night to his heaving sobs. I was bursting into his room in seconds. When he saw me, he grabbed the covers and pulled them up to his chin.
'Hey, baby. It's ok now, Daddy is here to take care of you.' I made to climb into his bed but that made him panic even more.

'Ok, Ok! I'll stay over here. Do you want to tell Daddy why you're upset?'
'N-nightmare,' Ravana sniffled.
My heart twisted painfully.' I'm so sorry baby. Do you wanna come and sleep with Daddy?'
He nodded, but then looked at his covers and shook his head quickly.
'Yes or No? Which one is it, baby?'
'I-I... can't,'
'Why not?' I said with a frown.
'I'm s-sorry, I d-didn't mean to,' my boy was back to sobbing again. He slowly lifted the covers, revealing the wet spot he was sitting on.

My hurt broke at how terrified he must've been to end up wetting the bed.' It's ok, baby. I'm not mad at you. Let's get you out of those clothes.' He quickly did as he was told. I left him in the bathroom to shower while I changed his bedding. Then, I helped him dry off and put on some fresh pyjamas. We got into my bed and I held him close to me.
'Do you have nightmares often?'
'Sometimes, but mostly when I sleep alone.' he replied quietly. I'd have to make sure that never happened again.
'What about wetting the bed?'

I had no doubt that he was extremely uncomfortable with the direction of our conversation but I needed to know so we could avoid it in future.
'It happens when I have nightmares, and even when I get scared when I'm awake.' Ravana whispered.
'Thank you for telling me this. You're such a good boy.' And I meant it since I realized how hard it must have been for him to talk about it.
'Daddy will never be mad at your reaction to being scared, Ok' to which he nodded. I wanted to ask him what the nightmare had been about but I didn't want to remind him of the scary situation he'd been in.

I had been worried that he would have recurring nightmares over the next couple of days. Thankfully his sleeping pattern returned to normal. He just seemed a bit more clingly than usual but I wasn't complaining. We back fell into our routine, that is until Ravana became sick. It started when I tried to feed him pieces pineapple. He made a face as if the fruit was the most putrid thing he'd ever encountered. I was puzzled because he was normally a fan of pineapple. He scrambled away from me and rushed off . I followed him to the bathroom where he was purging the contents of his stomach

Cold fear spiked through me. I knelt beside him and rubbed his back. The feeling of helplessness threatened to overwhelm me as I watched my baby suffer. When he had finally emptied his belly, he slumped against me.
'D-Daddy...'
'Shh, it's ok princess. Let me take you to the healer. It's going to be fine, I promise.' I bundled him up in a fleece and held him close to my chest. The journey to the healer's quarters took about five minutes, which was way longer than I would have liked. I didn't even bother knocking. Shilo, the royal healer, and her assistant both looked up when I rushed into the consultation room.

She took one look at the bundle in my arms and quickly motioned me towards the bed in corner. I gently laid my boy down and stepped aside. Shilo pulled the fleece off him. Ravana's limbs flopped onto the bed. His head lolled to the side, his glazed eyes staring at nothing in particular.
'What happened?' said Shilo with a firm tone. She was all business.
'He had an odd reaction to pineapple, which he normally likes. He threw up and has been like this since.' I quickly explained.
' Does he have any allergies?'
'No.'

She grabbed her bag and examined him for a few minutes.
'Did he eat anything else before the pineapple incident?'
'We had breakfast about twenty minutes before that. He was supposed to eat the pineapple then but he was being picky with his food. That's why I tried feeding it to him.'
'Then it's not the food he ate, since you should also be reacting,' she mused.
'Actually, our breakfasts were exactly the same. He had a glass of milk with his while I had tea.'

Shilo swore under her breath,' it's food poisoning. There's a very high chance that the milk was contaminated. Thankfully he already threw up. Kai, prepare the detox concoction.' Her assistant brought the vile, green fluid to Shilo after a few minutes. She had me sit behind him and hold him up while I coaxed him to drink the medicine. I had no doubt that it tasted horrible but he was so out of it that he just chugged it obediently.
'Good boy,' I crooned,' Daddy is so proud of you.' Shilo smirked knowingly.

'Your boy is developing a fever so we'll have to keep him here. Kai and I will constantly monitor him for any changes. Right now he needs to get some rest.' I understood the dismissal but I was reluctant to leave my baby in that state.
'When can I see him?'
'You can come back at two, and at eight in the evening.'
I would have rather stayed with him throughout but Shilo would have none of it. I was forced to head back to the tower. Thank God I had to work, otherwise I would have tracked down the idiot responsible for getting my baby sick so I could introduce them to real pain.

A/N:
20 chapters!!! OMG, I am so proud of myself ( ŏ﹏ŏ)