Recklessly Royal(33)

“Yes.” She took a shallow breath and made an uncomfortable face. “It’s been bothering me all day, but don’t worry. I’m fine and won’t slow us down.”

I watched her without responding. I’d known Selene my entire life. She was the type of person who worked from home while sick with the flu, even though she should be sleeping. She never stopped.

“Maybe we should cancel today and head back,” I offered. “You don’t look like you feel well.” In fact she looked pale. As I watched, her clipboard fell from her fingers to the floor of the car and she slumped against the door, her eyes rolling backward. “Selene!”

I undid my safety belt and pushed her into a lying position. “Mark! We need to get to a hospital!” I pounded on the glass between the front and back. He rolled it down even as he accelerated.

“Are you hurt, ma’am?” His voice was calm, but nothing rattled Mark. That’s why he was my escort wherever we went.

“Something is wrong with Selene.” My fingers felt along her neck in an attempt to find a pulse. Panic gripped me as I cursed not having better medical knowledge. It felt like hours passed before I was able to find the thready beat of her heart under my touch. Her pulse was there, but it wasn’t good. She murmured something unintelligible to me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. “I think she’s had a heart attack.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I could hear him talking into his communication device, letting the security guards in the next vehicle know what was happening. “Princess, do you want me to stop and let Jameson help? He was an EMT in the military.”

“No! Keep going.” My hands shook as I touched her face. Selene was like my mother in more ways than I cared to count. To see her so ill was killing me. “Put him on speaker in the car. Let me talk to him.”

“Yes, ma’am.” It only took a few pushes of buttons on his steering wheel before Jameson was piped in over the speakers.

“Your Highness, is she responsive?”

“She’s mumbling, but it’s incoherent. What do I do?” I could hear the panic in my voice, so I took a deep breath. Freaking out was not going to help Selene.

“There is a medical pack in the front seat. Mark, pass it back to Catherine, please.” Jameson’s voice stayed even, as if he was reciting instructions to a practice class. “Catherine, can you get her to take an aspirin?”

“Not sure, but I’ll try.” Taking the bag I dumped the contents on the floor and grabbed the small bottle of pills. I popped the lid and dumped two pills into my palm before grabbing my bottle of water.

I twisted the lid off and held the pills up to Selene’s mouth. “Open up. You have to take these.”

Selene shook her head, but I wasn’t about to back down. “Now! You’ll do it right now even if I have to pry your mouth open.”

“Annoying.” Selene’s voice was thick, but there was no denying the word.

“Yeah, I am.” I pushed the pills between her lips and held the bottle up for her to drink.

“Did she take it?” Jameson asked.

“Yes.”

“How is she sitting?”

“I’ve got her laid out on the front bench.” The car was a little larger than normal, with big windows so that people would be able to view us at one of the scheduled stops.

“Prop her up and bend her knees some. We want her heart to work as little as possible.”

“Got it.” Yanking my light jacket off I tucked it under her head and then lifted her feet; scooting them back so her knees were bent.

“Good. We’re not far from the hospital.” Jameson told me.

“What else should I do?” I found Selene’s hand and squeezed it. Her palms were clammy and she was still so pale I worried she would die right before my eyes at any minute.

“You’ve done all you can at this point.” There was a muffled sound as Jameson spoke to someone in his car. “Mark, take the next turn. The authorities have cleared that one-way road for us.”

“Tell them thank you.” I said the words automatically. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate their help, but that my worry had stopped my brain. The only thing that mattered was getting Selene taken care of, and quickly.

“Please hang in there.” I brushed the hair out of her face. “You’re going to be fine. You’re too tough to let something like this get you down. Okay?”

“Fine.” Her voice was so weak I could barely make out the word, but I knew what she meant. She’d be fine. Selene was always fine.

God, please let her be okay.