Chapter 281: Chapter 281

281 Jane Doe

Lina reached down and touched the pale girl’s forehead and gasped. She’d started to heat up, “We need to get her to your place quickly before she comes down with a bad fever,” she said, shifting into her white wolf almost instantly.

The decision had come so naturally, the princess already sensing more than she was supposed to from the state of the girl. Honour helped her get the girl on her back and took a step back, “You too, Honour.”

“Will you be able to carry us both?” Honour asked her friend with a raised brow mixing into the worried gaze she cast at the unconscious girl.

“I can’t leave you behind. I also want you to keep her steady. Have you ever been made to carry someone who was unconscious?” Honour sighed at the question. It was a no-brainer, “It’s like the ground is their friend and they just keep reaching for it,” Lina was speaking fast through the mind link.

Honour got onto her back, sensing the urgency of the matter and started to take the shirt off the girl as a first aid precaution, “I’ve never been made to carry anyone, Lina.”

Honour pondered on whether Lina had simply forgotten she could shift as well, “Try to keep the ride smooth, Lina. This girl is not exactly light.”

“You’re telling me about her weight,” the wolf’s voice came forced through the mind link. Before Honour could get off the white wolf, fearing the weight might be too much, they were dashing through the trees at dizzying speeds.

Honour gripped her friend’s fur tightly, her head jerking back with so much force from the sudden burst in speed. The trees were a blur as Lina zipped through the forest.

Her umbrella, however, was lost to one of the branches it got stuck in during the sudden dash. The base of Honour’s back hurt from the strain of flexing her muscles too much to keep from falling off, “You should give me a warning before you do that,” the girl groaned.

.....

“Oh, sorry, Honour. I wasn’t thinking much after seeing that girl. She doesn’t look too good right now,” Lina replied through the mind link.

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Honour replied, leaning forward to resist the wind that threatened to throw her off the wolf’s back.

The backyard belonging to Honour’s house soon came into view. Lina stopped to have the girl removed and they both took her inside, laying her on one of the sofas.

Honour’s mother came into the living room after hearing the commotion that was stirring within her house. She paused when she saw a random girl, drenched in rainwater and lying down on the sofa, looking far too pale. “Honour, get me the towels,” the woman immediately switched into her caring mode that saw past the mud that had been introduced into her house.

“I was going to do that, mother,” Honour replied, stepping away from the girl.

...........

Lina ended up staying to watch through everything they did to get the girl stable and warm. Honour’s mother seemed to know what she was doing and it was obvious where the girl had learnt everything she knew from.

After setting the girl in Honour’s bed, the two girls returned to the living room, “I’m sorry to have kept you here all this time,” Honour apologized.

“What are you apologising for? We’re the ones that decided to bring her here, remember?” Lina reminded her.

‘I’ll just take that one,’ Honour kept the thought to herself.

“Yeah, but if I had suggested we take her to the hospital, then perhaps we would have both gone home early enough. I’ve also got you into trouble with Crysta,” Honour responded.

“Oh, Crysta won’t mind this one bit. More importantly, that girl. Keep me updated when she wakes up,” Lina said, approaching the kitchen. She quickly entered the door and hugged her best friend’s mother as she washed her hands.

The woman had chosen to help them and stay out of whatever they had gotten themselves into, a decision that would very rarely be taken by an adult and Lina was grateful. Stepping out of the kitchen and to the door, Honour continued.

“That much is obvious,” Honour said, escorting her friend to the door. The two of them bid each other farewell with a heartfelt hug before Lina shifted into her white wolf and was gone. Honour barely had time to complain about her mode of travel.

Lina was gone and dashing through the woods, taking on the appearance of a white blurry streak. This approach meant she would have to take a long route to get to the castle.

With how fast she had gotten, the distance to the palace didn’t bother her in the slightest. Her mind, however, wouldn’t stop drifting back to the girl they’d met. She’d said something about rogues before she went unconscious and it had raised so many red flags within Lina.

Considering her state when they found her, she had been running for a long while. ‘If rogues had been chasing after her in her human form, they would have caught up to her, wouldn’t they? Unless she got some kind of head-start,’ she thought to herself.

The girl reached the castle and shifted back, making her way into the palace, cleaning her feet at the entrance. Because of the endless rain, the palace had ordered an ample supply of doormats to try and reduce the mud getting into the castle. They were also being changed much more frequently.

This, in turn, created more work for the women that had to deal with laundry, but it couldn’t be helped. “Hey little sister, we’ve been looking all over for you,” Drake called out to her while she was approaching the stairs.

“What for?” she asked the man.

“Father wants to meet with us,” he responded.

The two of them went up to the man’s office where they found that their mother had prepared refreshments in the homey part of the office, “I’m glad the two of you could make it here in time.”

“Mother, where is Father?” Drake asked, straight to the point.

“Your father will be here within the next few minutes,” she responded, gesturing for them to take their seats. They helped themselves to the cups of tea their mother had already prepared for them. Knowing the queen, there was no other way.

The king walked in moments later and took a seat next to his wife, “Well, we have a matter to discuss as a family. I would have wished for your sister to be here, but the situation doesn’t allow it.”

“What’s the matter, Dad?” Lina asked, worry seeping into her voice. Perhaps they had got a report on a recent rogue attack to tie the girl she’d found in the woods back to the scene.