The Lonely King | Ongoing [New Edition]

27 | Lost and Found

"Go," I said, pushing her arm gently. "You need the check-up to make sure everything is alright. We'll talk later."

"But Asher—"

Greyson didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence as he directed her towards the tent. Emily kept looking over her shoulder at me, her worried expression deepening.

❁❁❁

It took another fifteen minutes before Asher emerged from the forest with a ranger beside him. While Emily looked exhausted from spending the night in the forest, it was Asher who looked absolutely terrible. He was awfully pallid (and he was already pretty pallid in the first place), and his hair and clothes were completely dishevelled— a clear sign that he spent the night in the outdoors. But more disturbingly, his face was not pulled into his signature moody frown. For once, instead of his permanently angry expression, his face was a blank canvas. Asher looked as if he had seen a ghost.

I heard Robin sigh next to me before he walked towards his friend and quietly told the ranger that he could help support Asher instead. Robin helped Asher to the nearby bench, sitting his friend down gently before asking someone for some water.

"Are you alright?" I asked as Robin passed a bottle of water to Asher. A flash of worry passing through his deep blue eyes as he stared at his friend, and in a rare display of emotion, Robin rubbed Asher's back as the latter took small sips of water.

"Did Emily make it back safely?" Asher asked, ignoring my question.

"She just came back," Robin informed. "She's in the medical aid tent, if you want to see her—"

"There's no need," Asher muttered, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. Robin stared at his friend for a few moments before pursing his lips and nodding.

"Greyson said you'll need to head into the medical aid tent for a check-up," I said to Asher, who stared silently at his feet. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable in his brooding silence, and shockingly, was beginning to miss the snarky, rude Asher Dane.

"I'm fine," Asher said, and started to stand up. Robin stood up with him, frowning. "I'm going to head back to my tent."

Before I could protest or coax him to get a check-up, Asher turned around and shuffled off towards the direction of our tent, leaving Robin and I behind feeling utterly confused.

When Asher was out of sight, I snapped out of my reverie and shot Robin an anxious look. I never would've thought I would feel concerned about Asher Dane, but his uncharacteristic behaviour really threw me off. What was up with him?

"Is Asher okay?" I asked curiously, my eyebrows flitting into a frown.

"It must've been hard for him," Robin sighed, shaking his head. "Let's go see Emily."

"Shouldn't we check up on Asher?" I asked, again surprisingly myself with my new-found concern over the certain white-haired boy.

Robin shook his head.

"Asher hates being around people when he's upset. Just let him be," Robin said softly before he slung his arm around my shoulders and helped me as we walked to the medical aid tent.

The minute we entered the tent, Emily perked up from her seat. Her expression fell when she noticed that Asher was nowhere to be seen, and worry flitted through her big blue eyes.

"Where's Asher? Is he okay? I thought he had been found," Emily said quickly, trying to peek behind Robin and I as if Asher would suddenly appear from behind us. I bit my lip, afraid that she would be upset if she had found out that Asher had in fact returned back to camp but for whatever reason, was avoiding her. Robin seemed to feel the same way, because he offered Emily a reassuring look and patted her on the back.