I closed my eyes and brought my hand over his own that was still on my cheek. “You make it sound like it’s inevitable. Do you really have such little faith in yourself?”
While my eyes were still closed, he moved close to me and kissed me gently at first, but then transformed it into one of fervency. His hand traced my jaw and neck, and moved down to the small of my back, pulling me to him. I put my arms around his neck and made our kiss even more passionate.
As Peter ended our kiss, he kept us in our embrace and smiled. “That’s one of the things I love about you, Rose. You have such an unreasonable faith in me.”
I laughed. “Can’t be helped. You haven’t failed me yet. I see no reason for that to change now.”
Smiling bigger and shaking his head, he stood up. “We should probably find Ella lest people become suspicious about all this time we have been spending alone.” Peter wagged his eyebrows.
Sighing, I joined him. “I don’t want to hear any more talk about the unknown future, though. Let’s live in this moment.”
He gave me a peck on the lips. “Alright. I think I can manage that.”
~ ~ ~
We found Ella looking through a picture book of Britainnia we had recently acquired. When she heard the door slide open, she looked up at us and raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised to see you two today.”
Glaring at her as the door slid shut behind us, I said, “We figured we should spend time with you today to not provoke suspicion.”
Ella laughed and I heard a muffled snigger come from Peter. Ella said, “That’s what I figured. I just wanted to yank your roots a bit. No need to be so serious, Rose.”
No sooner had she finished her teasing when the door slid open again behind us. Ella put her book down and Peter and I turned to see who it was. Father and Mother walked in.
Do they know? They look pretty upset…
Father said, “Oh good. I am glad all three of you are here. Peter and Miriam, please sit down.”
They used my real name. They must know! I’m in so much trouble.
As Peter and I joined Ella on the sofa, Father and Mother sat on the sofa across from us. Father was stoic and Mother looked like she had been crying. Peter’s leg started bouncing on its own volition and I was trying to be as still as possible.
“What’s going on, Father?”
Unusual for him, he avoided eye contact by looking down at his hands folded in his lap. “This is not easy to say. It is a very – confusing situation.”
I’m sure you are confused, Father.
“Father, I – ”
“Please don’t interrupt. I just need to be out with it. A very serious virus has been reported in all family members of the Cedar and Willow Noble houses. They’ve been quarantined until their illness can be determined not contagious.”
As I started fidgeting with my fingers, Peter’s leg stopped moving. I looked over to Ella, who looked back to me mirroring the same look of anxious uncertainty I was sure was on my face as well. Looking back to Father, I asked, “No one knows what the disease is? Not even Doctor Winston?”
“Darrel Winston doesn’t even know. He has sent an assistant out to the Willow Province, since it is nearest to his lab here on the palace grounds, to get a sample of saliva he can test.”
“But he has determined that the Cedars and Willows have the same thing? How can that be? They’re virtually on different sides of the kingdom.”
Father shook his head. “We know they have the same thing. Their symptoms are identical and have been progressing at the same rate over the last few days. Doctor Winston agrees with you that it is odd considering their distance. He has also pointed out that while the families have contracted the disease, none of the household staffs or guards have.”
“Do you think maybe it was contracted at the King’s Test Ball?”
“No. Neither does Doctor Winston. Apparently, some members of the households were exhibiting symptoms before the ball.”
Bending over so my elbows rested on my knees and my head rested on my hands, I said, “Please let me know if the Council meets concerning it. This is the sort of thing I should have hands-on experience with so I can have more preparation for becoming Queen, aside from history and etiquette.”
Father gave me a small smile, though it didn’t reach to his eyes. “Alright, Miriam.” He stood and gave Mother a hand in joining him. “Amoura, let’s go back to my office and await updates.” Looking back to me, he assured me, “We will keep you posted.”
When they left the room, Ella moved to the couch they had been sitting on and Peter rested a hand on my back. We sat in silence for a few minutes, consumed with our thoughts.
How is this possible? What do the houses have in common? There hasn’t been a gathering of the Nobility for quite some time before the King’s Test Ball. I wonder what kind of symptoms they’re having. I should have asked Father.
“The Cedar children are so young. The oldest isn’t even ten yet,” Ella broke the silence in the library.
I nodded. “The youngest is three. Theo’s brothers, sister-in-laws, nephews and nieces are all under the same roof, too. I hope the symptoms aren’t painful. I would hate to know they are suffering too much.”
“Blossoms! Why didn’t I think of asking?!” Ella vocalized the thoughts I had just been having.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” I covered my face with my hands. “I’m going to be Queen someday. That’s the sort of thing I should think of when a problem of this magnitude comes up.” Peter’s hand on my back began moving in circles.
“Don’t beat yourself up too much, Rose. You’re not Queen yet,” Peter tried to comfort me.
“I could be, though. Anything can happen. My parents could die by any number of different ways and I would need to rule. I should be more prepared than this.”
Silence fell again. What I said couldn’t really be argued, though I did wish one of them would have said something about me being more prepared than I thought I was. I was supposed to be ready now. That was why our kingdom had the special Crowning Coronation when the heir to the Crown turned twenty-one.
While heirs in other kingdoms were accepted into adulthood, and even married off, by the time they were seventeen or eighteen, ours waited until twenty-one so the heir, and his or her spouse, could be more prepared and mature. If the King and Queen were to die before the heir was twenty-one, which had never happened up to that point, a Regent would rule until the heir was of age.
“I wonder if Count Theodore will be better by the time the King’s Test comes around,” Peter pondered aloud.
I took my face out of my hands and gave him a dirty look. “What? You can’t blame me for wanting less competition,” he reasoned.
“Plus, he’s a lascivious scoundrel,” Ella said. I shifted my dirty look to her and she shrugged.
I answered, “Even if he is still sick by the time the King’s Test is supposed to begin, he wouldn’t be disqualified. The Council would just postpone it until he was better.” Peter sighed. “Besides, it’s an unkind thing to say. We may not be close friends with him, or even want to be, but we do know him. You should be concerned, not filled with hope that he stays sick.”
Peter slumped over at my chastisement, but moved his hand from my back to around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I still didn’t sit up, but it was nice to feel his nearness.
“He won’t win anyway,” Ella pointed out thoughtlessly.
“Ella!”
She waved off the rebuke implied in the way I said her name. “This has nothing to do with him being or not being sick, Miriam, so save the lecture. I was simply stating a fact. He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, no matter how handsome he is. Anyway, Uncle was about to order his execution the other day after what you told him happened in his interview.” I widened my eyes at her.
“Wait. What happened the other night?” Peter asked as he straightened up again.
“Oh. You didn’t tell him?” Ella
asked, ashamed of bringing it up.
“No. I did not. It’s official King’s Test information. If I tell him and not the others, it is an unfair advantage,” I snapped. Actually, I was really upset because I didn’t want Peter worrying about any alone time I would have to spend with Theo during the test.
“I don’t care if it gives me some kind of an advantage. Tell me, right now, Rose. What did he do?” Peter was angry and shouting at me. It wasn’t something he had done before.
“Peter, calm down,” I said.
“Not until you tell me!” he shouted.
“Fine! Just shush. Stop yelling at me.”
Peter snapped his mouth shut, but he was breathing rapidly through his nose.
“He –” I stopped to think about how to put it for him. “In a nutshell, he got kissy and handsy very fast and offered to take my virginity gently that night.”
Peter and Ella both looked at me with mouths gaping.
“Well, that’s one way to put it,” Ella said. “But it’s accurate.”
Peter turned to look at Ella now and she closed his mouth with her fingertip.
After a moment, Peter said, “If this illness doesn’t kill Theo, I will.”
“Peter!” I chastised.
Ella snickered.
“Can’t blame me.”
I shoved him playfully. “Yes, I can.”
We spent the rest of the morning visiting in the library. Things lightened up after our conversation and we were soon reminiscing. Since Ella and I had known each other our whole lives, we had a lot more stories than those about us with Peter. However, he didn’t mind hearing them. He was in hysterics by lunch time.
The three of us walked over to the Dining Hall to eat. Father and Mother weren’t there, so I figured they were still sitting by the phone waiting in anticipation for updates concerning the Cedars and Willows. Because I hadn’t received an update from them, I figured they hadn’t heard anything yet.
We ate our lunch in relative silence with only brief comments about the food. When we finished, we went downstairs and out the door to the field of wild flowers. I made sure to have a Guard inform Father and Mother of my whereabouts so they could easily find me if something came up.
A few minutes after we made it out to the field, the same Guard came out to give me a message. Apparently, the samples had arrived for Doctor Winston to examine. Once again, our concern for the Cedars and Willows consumed our conversation before it turned lighthearted again.
Our afternoon was peaceful. We continued to reminisce, which turned into Peter and Ella teasing me about my being the Rose of Petrichoria.
“Rose arose to peruse the garden of roses.” Peter said in an exaggerated Britainnian accent during his and Ella’s tirade of teasing me.
I laughed. “Peter, ‘peruse’ doesn’t contain the word ‘rose’ in it.”
He looked at me indignantly. “Well – it sounds like it, so it counts.” Ella was laying on her side with her arms folded over her stomach laughing harder than either Peter or me.
“It doesn’t really, Peter.” I pointed out.
Peter shrugged. “It kind of does.”
They continued to poke fun as we made our way to the Dining Hall for dinner. Father and Mother were still not there, so we didn’t feel the need for decorum. We laughed and teased each other all through dinner and remained in the Dining Hall long after the sun had set.
“So the salmon says to the anemone – ” Peter’s joke was interrupted by the sound of the sliding double doors. Father and Mother entered morosely and joined us at the table. Peter, Ella, and I looked at them with the same worried expression on all our faces.
I cleared my throat. “Is there news on the Cedars and Willows?”
It was Mother who spoke this time. “Yes.”
I waited a few beats for more information, then probed. “What is it?”
Mother took my hand. “Miriam, the Cedars and Willows died about two hours ago.”
Peter, Ella, and I gasped in shock. “At the same time? How is that even possible?”
“Their deaths were within minutes of each other.” Mother furrowed her brow. “It is quite concerning.”
Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. “This was an attack, wasn’t it? Some kind of biological weapon.”
Father responded, “That’s what we’re thinking, but we won’t really know anything until Doctor Winston examines the bodies. They should arrive at his lab within the hour.”
“He wasn’t able to get anything from the sample his assistant got for him?”
“No. He said it wasn’t a large enough sample. He was firing his assistant when we got the calls.” Doctor Winston was always firing assistants. They could never meet his incredible expectations.
“So, we just sit and twiddle our thumbs until Doctor Winston can figure it out?”
Father exhaled exasperatingly. “Regrettably, yes. I wish there was something more to be done. We will soon need to decide on new households to receive the honor of dukedom, but that isn’t something we’re going to deal with right now.”
“When was the last you heard from Doctor Winston?”
“About an hour ago.”
I stood up. “I am going to go pay him a visit and see if there is anything I can do or if he has any news.”
“Miriam – ”
“Don’t try to stop me with my real name, Father. This is not an argument you will win. I have just been sitting idly while everything is happening. If I am to be Queen someday, I need experience. I am going.” Peter and Ella both smirked despite themselves. Mother covered her mouth to hide hers. Everyone knew the stature and tone of voice I used and they all knew just as well that I would, indeed, be winning the argument.
Father exhaled loudly. “Very well. Let me know if you learn anything.”
Peter and Ella began to stand to follow me and I waved at them dismissively. “I need to do this myself. I will see you both later.”
Chapter 17
I quickly made my way downstairs and out the door, Guard in tow and wielding a light stick. When I walked in, Doctor Winston was standing in front of a microscreen with his hands braced behind his head and furrowed brows.
Without speaking, I walked over and stood next to him with my hands folded in front of me. I didn’t want to interrupt his thought process. I could see what he was seeing, but it meant nothing to me.
As he pinched the bridge of his nose, he breathed out a small grunt of exasperation, then gasped when he turned to leave his spot and saw me.
Apologetically, I put my hands out and said, “I did not mean to startle you. Are you alright?”
He tried to smile as he bowed respectfully, but didn’t really succeed. “No. It is alright Princess Miriam. I was just deep in thought. What can I do for you?”
“I was just coming to ask you the same question.”
“ – I do not understand.”
“Father told me about the deaths of the Cedars and Willows. You have been so hard at work. Is there anything I can do to assist you? I know I am not scientifically minded, but I thought maybe there was something else I could do for you.”
“That is very – unexpected.”
I looked down at my hands. “Maybe it is selfish, but I am just frustrated that all I can do is sit around and wait on news. I want to do something useful to the process, even if it is something mundane.”
Doctor Winston chuckled. “I am sure there is something I can come up with. Are you sure, though? It is already very late and I am nowhere near done for the day. I am more than likely going to be pulling an all-nighter.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “I am sure. Thank you, Doctor Winston.”
“No. Thank you, Princess Miriam. However, I am going to need to insist that you call me ‘Darrel’ if you are going to be here. I cannot handle the title all night, especially from someone near my age and higher up the social ladder.”
I scoffed. “The social ladder does not really mean much to me. E
specially in a circumstance like this. Look at Father, Mother and I right now. We cannot get our own answers at this time and it is not fair for you to be the only one working on this all night.
“But I will make a deal with you. I will call you ‘Darrel’ if you will call me ‘Miriam.’ I do not think I can take the title all night either, especially from someone so near my age and more intelligent than me.” I grinned at him.
He returned the smile. “I see what you did there. Alright. We have a deal.”
Just then, his holocomm lit up and he answered it. The palace Steward’s face appeared. “Hello, Steward. What can I do for you?”
“Princess Miriam has a comm from Count Stephan Oak. Is she available?” The Steward said, all business.
Darrel moved and gestured for me to go on over to the holocomm.
Thankfully, the Steward’s face was still up when I walked over. “Thank you for the information, Steward, but please inform Stephan that I will be unavailable for most of the night.”
He nodded and disconnected the comm. I moved to join Darrel, wide-eyed, across the room. When I was halfway there, the holocomm lit up again. Darrel answered it and it was the Steward again. We switched places.
“Yes, Steward?” I asked impatiently.
“I am so sorry to disturb you, Your Highness, but Stephan wanted me to ask that you comm him when you are finished, no matter what time it is.”
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “Let him know I will. Steward, please do not disturb me with anymore calls or questions this evening. Especially from any suitors. Just take messages and give them to me in the morning.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The comm was disconnected again and I blew a lungful of air slowly through pursed lips.
“Prin – Miriam, you did not need to do that. You could have spoken to him.”
I turned and looked at him. “I did not want to deal with it right now and it would have been rude for me to do so right after offering you my assistance.”
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