ROYAL DUTY

35. Her above else.

Tyren's heart stopped the moment he saw Natalia.

His Natalia was frail, bleeding, and staggering. He didn't know how, but she was in his arms faster than he could wrap his mind around the fact that she was there, outside his father's room, barely conscious.

"Ge doc...now." He wasn't making any sense, but he needed her to be fine. Immediately. And, he wanted whoever did this to her to be caught, alive, so he could torture him slowly, and then, kill him with his bare hands." Thomas, Go fetch the Imperial physician. NOW."

"Yes, Your Imperial Highness." He heard him answer, but his focus was on Natalia. He fervently checked for her pulse. It was growing weaker with each passing second. His heart stopped again, as he desperately tried to think of what he needed to do to make it better, but feeling completely helpless at the same time.

A panicked thought rose in his mind that she must be bleeding out. So, he started looking for the source of blood and found more than one. She seemed to have been slashed on both arms, twice on one leg, and had a stab wound on her side. Tearing at his shirt, he tried tying and applying pressure on the wounds.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Tyren had forgotten about his father's presence. It took him an entire minute to remember exactly why they were all there. Then his father's anger made all the sense in the world. "Get up right this moment."

He got up but not before making sure that all her wounds were tied, though roughly. He didn't like the prospect of leaving her on the floor. But enraging his father was a terrible idea, with even worse consequences. So, he slowly laid her on the ground and looked up at his father.

"As I was saying, we will search your room to make sure there aren't any hiding Assassins. Then I will tighten your security, together with mother's security, with my knights. And then I will continue with the investigation of all parties involved. But first—" He had been parroting the speech to his father while thinking of Natalia. Until at last, he knew what to do to help her without risking her life. "Soren, deliver Princess Natalia to her room and send for the Imperial physician and all his nurses to see to her quick and effective recovery. "

"Of course, Your Imperial Highness," Soren answered, and from a single look, Tyren was sure that Soren would take good care of his woman.

He watched miserably as Soren carefully lifted Natalia's unconscious body and carried her in his arms. He felt an uncomfortable tightness at another man carrying his woman. But there was no other way around it, and he hated it. It was then that Tyren noticed Natalia's bodyguard following behind Soren and hoped that she would be well taken care of in their care. He trusted Soren, and Natalia seemed to trust her bodyguard. She was in safe hands, even though they weren't his. And as much as that thought almost drove him crazy, he decided to lean on the fact that her safety must come first before his jealousy.

"It seems like your mother was right. You do have feelings for the harlot."

His father, who must have been reading him all that time, finally commented. There was an unmistakable warning in his tone that he didn't dare miss.

"It is a passing passion. I'm almost over it. She will be my concubine. Everything will work according to the plan. What we didn't predict is this attempt on your life." Tyren intentionally changed the topic to deflect any danger from Natalia.

"Let us talk in my room," His father gestured to his room, and they walked in. He noted that there was a bit of blood in there. Since his father didn't seem to have any injuries, all that blood must be Natalia's. Again, his heart constricted. He wanted to be with her, he wanted to take care of her. But there was no way his father would understand that when there was an assassination attempt on his life.