Page 27 of The Alien's Pet

Korrev's annoyance diminished as he gave her shoulder a little shove. "Karin?"

Dread filled his body when he realized Karin was not simply asleep. He checked her pulse and found her heart was still beating, but very slowly. She was pale. Malnourished. Sickly.

Something had happened before he managed to get to her. He didn't think starvation was the culprit, though it was a possibility. There seemed to be something else entirely wrong with her.

Korrev picked her up in his arms. He hated how frail she felt in his arms, like a limp doll. He kept calling her by her name, hoping she would answer, but she didn't.

Jix, one of his warriors, called out to him, "Your Majesty?—"

Korrev froze when he looked at the bright orange berries more closely. He wasn't a healer and wasn't particularly interested in healing, especially when he had other people to do the job for him. His father thought differently. He'd told him it was important that, as future king, he was schooled in various subjects.

Korrev needed to get her to a healer. He needed to get her out of this hellish planet and towards home, a place where he could keep her warm and safe. Where he could protect her from anything that went wrong.

However, he had remembered one of the lessons Azis had given him regarding poisons. One of the lessons has been on small, orange berries which grew in clusters in bushes. Korrev had all of them burned to the ground when he became king so no one accidentally ate them and became poisoned. But it didn't mean the poisonous berries didn't grow on other planets.

Karin must have swallowed them in her desperation to get some food in her belly. He remembered Azis saying it was a slow acting poison. There was a very good chance Karin might be saved.

"Get Azis on the telecommunicator. Now!" Korrev said through gritted teeth when Jix continued giving him a stupid look. How could he have been stupid enough to not bring a healer along with them? But he had never thought his precious Karin would be hurt. He had thought she had landed on a planet where she would have food and shelter even if she was a captive. How foolish he had been.

Neither he nor his men knew anything about healing. They could remove weapons from the body, fix limbs temporarily, and stop the bleeding. But neither he nor his men knew anything about poison. It was not something they often dealt with, and even if they did, they always had the grumpy Azis or one of the healers to take over.

Jix finally bowed to him. "Yes, Your Majesty. What about the others?"

Korrev fought the urge to slap him. Didn't he see how important this was? "We will come back for the others. We need to return to Krotevnow.Let Azis know we are on our way and he had better be ready for us."

The trip back to Krotev was short, only about forty-five minutes. Yet, for the king, it felt like the longest moments of his life. He used the time to stroke Karin's blonde hair from her sweaty forehead. Her fever was getting higher as the minutes passed by and she was growing paler, even though her cheeks were rosy from how feverish she was.

He whispered sweet nothings into her ear, something he had never done with anyone else, which caused his warriors to exchange odd looks. Korrev didn't care what they thought or said. His only concern was that his pet was comfortable.

"Ko," she mumbled in her sleep, but it was the extent of her words. She didn't say much after that and he didn't pressure her. She needed all the rest she could possibly get. She was talking. She was breathing. For Korrev, it was enough.

Azis was waiting for them once the ship landed. He barely blinked when Korrev exited the ship, still carrying Karin.

"One of your warriors said she consumed something," Azis said plainly as Korrev practically ran to the infirmary. "What was it?"

"Berries. Those little orange ones. The ones that grow on bushes. You said they were slow acting poison." They finally made it to the infirmary and he placed her on the bed. He took a dagger and ripped open her clothes.

Both men grimaced when they saw her ribs poking out and how malnourished she was.

"She needs a bath."

"A bath is the least of her concerns." Azis went to his cabinets and started opening them. He pulled out several bottles filled with different colored liquid, along with his medical tools. "I need to act fast if I want to save your pet. It's a miracle she's not dead yet. Most humans would have perished the minute they took their first bite."

Korrev gripped his arm. "You said it was a slow acting poison!"

"It is." Azis pulled away and started drawing some blood from Karin to test. "For us. We have a stronger immune system. Humans are delicate, especially human females. You seem to forget, the smallest gust of wind can knock them down. It's a miracle their species has survived as long as they have."

"But she will live, correct?" It took all his willpower not to strangle Azis, even though he knew deep down it wasn't the healer's fault. Karin had to live. She needed to live, for him. For herself. He doubted he would be able to function without his pet by his side.

Azis grimaced as he looked at Korrev wearily, as if afraid of how the young king would react. "I will try my best to save her," he said slowly. "But this type of poison acts fast on humans. Itcauses the organs to shut down. It's a miracle she has lived as long as she has. If she does not make it, I will make sure, at least, her death is comfortable?—"

"You will save her."

"Korrev, be reasonable. There are other human females. Just because she was foolish enough to run off, doesn't mean there won't be others to warm your bed at night."

"You will save her," Korrev repeated again. "You will do everything in your power to do so. I do not want another female. I wanther.Is it clear?"

He gave a little nod of his head. "Yes, Your Majesty." He hesitated. "You need to leave the room. I and the rest of the healers cannot work while you are prancing around the room like a caged animal."

---