"Save the king," was all the queen could say. She had not expected her husband to suddenly collapse. Anastasia was still missing, and so were the king's seal and scepter of authority. If the king died now—especially with the war in the north—there would definitely be internal strife.
Physician Nathan looked at the king. He had been studying the situation all along, even trying to find out the name of the herb used to suppress the poison. But the king had claimed not to know.
Nathan had considered going to the old temple to ask the seer, but he was told that the seer was cultivating and could not receive any visitors.
He could not determine what the king had been poisoned with. In fact, from the beginning, he had only guessed it was poison. He wasn't sure. He'd spoken to the queen, and soon no one doubted his diagnosis. Yet deep down, he knew it might not be poison at all. The king could have caught a plague—or some unknown disease.
