Page 93 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Luis’s escort threw open a small door, and they entered a garage of some sort. A white van waited with its doors ajar to reveal an impressively equipped mobile medical unit manned by two men in white lab coats. Luis’s gurney was lifted inside, and Mikel vaulted in after it.

As soon as the van’s doors were closed, the garage door clanked open, and the van sped away.

Eve stared after it, her stomach in knots as she replayed the violence of Luis’s breakdown and remembered the poor, dying dogs who had been brought into the clinic too late to save from the poison.

“Señora, I’ll take you back to your room,” one of the men said, holding the door open for her.

“I…thank you,” she said, stepping into the corridor as she tried to recall everything she could about thallium poisoning. That particular type of rat poison had been outlawed in the U.S. because of its deadliness for humans. In fact, it had been used to commit a spate of murders in Australia in the 1950s. Still, old packages were sometimes forgotten in barns or basements until an animal got into it.

The antidote was Prussian blue. Hemodialysis was used to clear the thallium from the bloodstream. But the doctors here should know that, shouldn’t they? Or should she text Mikel to tell him?

As she debated, they arrived at her suite. “Buenas noches, señora,” her escort said, ushering her through her door before departing. She closed the door and leaned against it, her eyes closed as fear squeezed its fingers around her heart.

Luis would be all right. He had the best doctors in the country treating him. Still…

She raced into her bedroom to grab her phone and text Mikel the information about thallium poisoning. He didn’t respond. She sat on the bed and slumped forward, elbows on knees, head in hands.

He’ll be fine.

She lifted her head. Should she tell Grace? Or Raul? They would just worry along with her, but they had the right to know, because Luis was their father.

She shoved up from the bed and crossed through the suite’s living room to knock on Grace’s door. “Sweetie? It’s Mom.”

“Come in,” her daughter called.

Eve opened the door to find Grace propped up in bed with her laptop on her knees. She set it aside when she saw Eve’s face.

“What is it?” Grace asked. “What’s wrong?”

Eve sat on the bed and took one of Grace’s hands in hers. “Your father was just taken to the hospital, unconscious and with severe intestinal distress. Mikel is with him, and he has the best doctors in the country, but I thought you should know.”

“I want to go to the hospital.” Grace tugged her hand away and threw off the covers.

“I don’t know if we’re allowed to,” Eve said. “Mikel said they don’t want people to know that the king is ill.”

“Shit!” Grace said. “There has to be a way. I’m calling Raul.”

“I don’t know if he’s aware of the situation,” Eve said. “I was going to talk with him next.”

“Why are you the one telling us?” Grace asked with sudden focus. “Were you with him when he got sick?”

“Yes. I went to talk to him in his apartment, and he collapsed.”

“What do you think is going on?” Grace was pulling on jeans and a T-shirt as she talked.

Eve hesitated. “I’m not a doctor—not even a vet like you—so I don’t know.”

“You have an idea, though, I can tell,” Grace said, shoving her feet into her sneakers.

“It might be thallium poisoning,” Eve said. “I told Mikel to have the doctors test for it.”

Grace’s cheeks lost all their color. “Rat poison? No!” she whispered, going still. “That’s ugly stuff. Even if he survives, there could be permanent damage…”

“He’s strong, and he’s the king. He’ll have every medical advantage it’s possible to give him,” Eve reassured her…and tried to reassure herself.

“I’m calling Raul,” Grace said, grabbing her phone from the nightstand.. “He’ll get us to the hospital.”

Eve thought about stopping her, but she wanted to be at the hospital as badly as Grace did. “Tell him gently,” she said as she heard the phone ringing through Grace’s speaker.

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