Chapter 197
Yarrington caught the Queen before she fell, handing her to the King as soon as he reached her side. Xandar rushed her to Dr Yeil's medical centre. Christian, Annie, the alliance, Ken and Janice all waited along the corridor outside the doctor's room.
Xandar was looking at his mate's unconscious body on the examination table in dismay. He felt her blacking out from across the hall, and the next thing he knew, he was witnessing her petite figure falling before the Education Minister caught her in swift motion
Dr Yeil extracted some blood, and got one of his nurses to go have it analysed. Two minutes into the body examination with his second nurse, Lucianne let out a moan. Xandar rushed to her side without a second thought and asked frantically, “Baby. Baby, can’ you hear me?” Her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze shifted from her mate to Dr Yeil and his nurse before her sights returned to Xandar as she asked, “Wh- what happened?”
"You passed out, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”
“A little dizzy.” she responded.
Xandar lifted her off the table, and held her close to his chest, using the mate-bond to ease her discomfort. Lucianne kept her eyes closed as she concentrated on Xandar's scent and heartbeat, and another three minutes later, she could open her eyes without seeing her surroundings spinning.
She reached for her mate's cheek as she muttered, “Thank you, my love.”
He smiled in relief knowing that she felt better, and pecked a kiss on her forehead before he muttered, “Anything for you, Lucy.”
He sat her in a chair when the nurse came in with Lucianne’s blood test results. What was odd was that the nurse was smiling. DI Yeil and the other nurse looked at their colleague in bewilderment before turning their eyes to the report. They were shocked at what they saw before a smile graced both their features
The doctor looked at the King and Queen, and smiled radiantly as he said, “It seems you can heal from just about anything, my Queen Congratulations, your Highnesses. You're pregnant.”
Xandar and Lucianne froze at the statement. Lucianne blinked a few times before she shook herself out of her daze and asked, “I'm sorry, Dr Yeil. I'm quite certain I didn't hear you right. What did you just say?” The nurses smiled wider when the doctor said, “I doubt you heard me wrong, your Highness. You've healed from the infertility poison, and now, you're with child. It's two days old, so the heartbeat is still faint. Give it another five more days, and you'll be able t o hear it easily in a quiet room. It looks like the Kingdom can welcome a new addition to the royal family in eighteen weeks time.”
Xandar knelt before Lucianne, and pressed an ear over her abdomen, where he detected the beautiful sound of a beating drum. His eyes glistened in joy when he looked up at his mate and cupped her cheeks as he exclaimed in a hushed voice, “You're pregnant!”
Lucianne’s own eyes glistened as well when she chuckled in elation for a moment as she looked down at her still-flat belly, her thumb stroking it lovingly. For the first time in so long, she felt that the Moon Goddess didn’t hate her. It was because their Goddess gifted her the ability to heal from poisons that she was able to conceive again. Then, something came to her mind.
With bright, inquisitive eyes, Lucianne asked Dr Yeil, “The last time there was infertility poison in my system, you said that you sent my blood to the lab, Dr Yeil?"
Xandar stood by her side and faced the doctor as the old man answered, “1 did. I called the head of the department just yesterday, your Highnesses, but my colleague over there confirmed that there's no change in your blood composition. It's still the blood of an infertile creature.”
“But the blood in my body is now healed?” Lucianne confirmed.
Di Yeil looked at the report in his hand and said, “It appears so, my Queen. There are no traces of infertility poison in your body, or any poison for that matter. But I must say, the recovery phase did take a longer time compared to silver and Oleander.”
“Why is that?” Xandar asked.
Looking up from the report, the doctor answered, “My best guess? It's because the hormones required to conceive took time to return to their normal levels. You see, your Highnesses, the infertility poison wipes out the hormones required for pregnancy and...i s supposed to inhibit production of such hormones from the organ producing them indefinitely. To put it simply, the poison was... supposed to turn off the production switch in the organ, much like how lethal poisons such as silver and Oleander turn off the functionality switch in vital organs. But..."
Dr Yeil looked at the report again and said, “If we learned anything about the Queen's immune system, it's that her organs know
how to take care of themselves. Since the switch in her organs never allows anything external to turn them off.. at least not permanently, she retained the ability to continue hormonal production. It took this long because hormones may take days, weeks, o r months, in some cases, to return to their normal levels, depending on one’s diet and lifestyle. According to this report, your hormones are now at healthy levels to carry a child, my Queen.”
Lucianne was speechless as she continued staring at the medical professionals. Xandar caressed her shoulders before he pecked a kiss in Lucianne’s hair and uttered, “Amazing.”
Lucianne then asked, “So, if I gave you my blood that has healed from the poison, and you sent it to your colleagues in the lab, do you think they can study the blood composition and develop an antidote to cure someone who has succumbed to the same poison?”
Everyone's eyes snapped wide open. Dr Yeil composed himself and said, “Technically speaking, and if we were to be optimistic, it should be possible, your Highness.”
Xandar caught up to his mate's thoughts. She was thinking about Annie. Lucianne wanted to know if there was something in her blood that could be replicated to heal her. The thought of how selfless she was even in this made Xandar's heart melt.
With her doe eyes, Lucianne looked up at her mate and asked, “You don't mind if I gave some of my blood, do you? It won't affect the child.”
Xandar lowered himself to peck a kiss between her eyebrows and said, "Of course not, sweetheart. I think it's a great idea.”
Lucianne’s eyes sparkled when she said, “In that case,” she looked back at the doctor and nurses as she said, “Take a little more of my blood, please. See if it can cure anything else.”
“Not too much of it though.” Xandar said with worry. He didn’t want her to faint again.
Lucianne rolled her eyes and said, “I doubt Dr Yeil will take everything, darling.”
Dr Yeil affirmed her statement, “Medical protocol doesn't allow us to extract more than three syringes of blood from a pregnant woman, my King.”
Xandar's tense shoulders relaxed, and he heaved a relieved sigh before pecking another kiss on his mate's forehead as he said,” That's good to know.”
After giving them the blood, Xandar and Lucianne agreed to keep the last part of their medical consultation from the Duke and Duchess until they actually have good news. They didn't want to get Christian and Annie's hopes up and then shoot it to the ground later on if and when there was no cure.
In the hallway, everyone's eyes snapped to Lucianne and Xandar, and when the smiling couple told them that they were expecting, the strained atmosphere lightened as everyone conveyed their congratulations. The two most excited people were Janice, who couldn't wait to welcome another grandchild, and Annie, who couldn't wait to be a distant aunt. Since Xandar was close to her and Christian, Annie doubted that they'd be distant at all!Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
Toby's cheeky demeanor replaced his worried features as he said, “A dynamite carrying a dynamite. This is definitely one safe Kingdom to live in."