by J. J. McAvoy
I nodded again. “Okay.”
“I’ll get our tickets,” she said, getting up quickly. “When we get back, and when you are feeling better, we could go on a road trip. See all fifty states. Drive with the top down and wrap scarves over our heads like in the movies.”
I swallowed something stuck in my throat and smiled. “What about the bugs that would hit our face.”
“Ew.” She cringed. “Maybe we can keep the top up.”
I laughed. “There is no point in the scarves.”
“Fashion is the point of the scarves, my dear—fashion.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fashion for the highway? Why don’t you just get us a full costume so other drivers will be entertained at least.”
“Oh, don’t give me ideas. Because I can go full-on Tina Turner for the outfits.”
“Oh, God.” I couldn’t help but laugh, and it felt nice. I could see it now, me and her, two women on our own. It was funny.
“Maybe you could even have a comeback tour.”
“I haven’t been gone long enough to do a comeback tour, Mom.”
“It feels like you’ve been gone years for me,” she muttered.
I leaned forward. “Aww, Mommy, did you miss me? And here all you do is complain that I nag.”
“You do nag. Like an old woman,” she shot back. “But when you’re gone, it’s very quiet. And that is even more annoying.”
“So, you missed me.”
“Stop grinning like that. Of course, I missed you. I am your mother, remember, so of course, I do. So do some of your bandmates. They call me all the time. You should have called them more. Oh, we can have a dinner for everyone.”
“Okay.” I grinned as she went on planning my big comeback. There was a pain in my chest, but I focused on her. I couldn’t make everyone happy, but making my mom happy was good enough for me. And seeing her talk and plan, joke, tease, and nag helped me forget again.
I did not like being in this role.
I just wanted everything to be in order.
Inhaling deeply, I lifted my fist and knocked.
“Enter.”
When I did, he was seated behind mounds of papers, folders, maps, and everything that could possibly fit on his desk. It felt like the days right after Prince Arthur had died. When Prince Galahad would bury himself in work, so he did not feel whatever it was he was feeling. He’d once again taken to sleeping in his office, and from the tray of uneaten food in the corner, he was now not eating again.
“What is it, Iskandar? Where is Balduin? We have work to do,” he questioned, signing something before moving.
“I asked him to wait for a moment.”
“Why?”
“Wolfgang called—”
“Is Odette all right?” he asked, already rising and reaching for his coat.
“She is fine. She and her mother booked a flight. They are leaving Ersovia tomorrow morning.”
He froze and said not a word. His eyes held on my face for a very long time, which was not what I expected. I thought he would already be walking, rushing to her side to stop her from leaving. But he stood there for a moment longer then nodded before sitting back down.
“Should I call for the car, sir?” I questioned to make sure.
“No,” he whispered, shaking his head and lifting his paperwork again. “Please send Balduin in.”
This was not him. He was lost again.
I turned to leave. It was not my job to interfere with his personal life. My job was to follow orders. I was not his friend. So, I just had to accept him as he was and leave. But I could not leave. Turning back around, I asked again, “Are you sure you do not wish for me to get the car?”
“That is what I said, is it not?”
I cringed. That was what he had said. Why was I still not following orders? I did not like not following orders. However, I was going rogue against my own code.
“You should call for the car, sir.”
He glanced up at me, and I had to keep speaking, or I would smack myself and stop. “If she gets on that plane, sir, she will not come back. If you do not stop her, you will lose her.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“What?”
“I know she will not come back, Iskandar. But I’ve known that since the day she woke up and would not see me. I hoped I was wrong. I have been sitting here, working to pass the time, praying she would call me to come to her. But she hasn’t, and she won’t because I’ve lost her already. Now I know for sure. So, I do not need the car.”
“If you go after her—”
“What right do I have to go after her, Iskandar? What can I tell her? I could not even protect her in my home. The most senior, most trusted man—the man I entrusted her to tried to kill her. Oh no, let me correct that. He did not wish to kill her; he simply wished for her to lose our child, and she did. He wanted her to leave, and now she is. I left her with a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and now I should run and ask her to trust me again? What fucking right do I have? I can offer her nothing but stress and fear. I cannot protect her, Iskandar!” He slammed his wrist hard on the desk, and everything shook. “I’m letting her go. Please, do not push me. I want to go as it is, but I cannot protect her.”
“Forgive me, sir,” I said, turning to leave.
And this was—this was why we didn’t give our fucking opinions.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Why did I do that?
“It is hard,” Balduin said, cleaning his glasses.
“What is hard?”
“Not seeing them as family,” he stated, putting his glasses on his face. “Because the truth is, we see them more than our families. We dedicate our lives to them. So, of course, we want them to be happy. If we didn’t, if you only ever cared about the order and your own code, you’d be like Mr. Ambrose. He did not believe Ms. Odette was the right fit for the monarchy. He cared more about preserving what he believed the monarchy to be than the actual monarchs. That’s how he crossed the line. Order is good, Iskandar. But sometimes, we have to care about the people. So do not beat yourself up about it.”
“Since when could you read me so well?”
“Since you first came. Who do you think suggested you to Prince Arthur?” He chuckled, moving to knock on the door. “I may be small, but I’m very smart. And I will be smarter in the future to protect this family. I can never allow such a mistake as Ambrose to happen again. As will you.”
I nodded.
I would be. I swore it.
Chapter 29
She had tired herself out.
I think after hearing that I would leave with her, she had finally let herself relax, and she’d fallen asleep in the chair even though they had brought a small cot for her to stay on, and there was also a couch. However, she insisted on sitting right beside me until I fell asleep every night. Slowly climbing out of bed, I stepped into my slippers, grabbed a blanket from the couch, and placed it over her before walking to the door.
I wanted to walk—to see more than my hospital room. Maybe go outside, though I knew that wasn’t possible even if it was dark out.
“Miss?” Thelma stood from her chair, coming over to me quickly. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, thank you. And thank you for sitting here every day. You must be bored out of your mind.”
“Not at all. I am glad you are feeling better. Did you need the doctor?” She was already moving to get her phone.
“No,” I said, quickly sticking out my hands. “I was hoping to take a walk.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t know if that will be best, miss.”
“Please? I don’t know how much longer I can just sit here, and I’m not tired enough to sleep yet. Ten minutes. And of course, you’ll be with me.”
Her frown deepened, and she checked the empty hall. She reached up to speak into some super-secret microphone in her sleeve or something like a spy and said, “The Ademere wishes to take a walk. We’ll be going throu
gh the left.”
“Ademere?” I grinned. “Eaglet?”
Since I wasn’t the Adelina yet, that was my title? No one had told me that.
“Yes, miss. For security reasons, we needed a new code.” She nodded, stepping back so I could come out. “Fine. We’ve secured this side of the hospital so you can walk this way. But we will not be able to go outside.”
“That is fine. But secured?”
“Yes, miss, it’s how we change shifts without disturbing or drawing any attention while we are here,” she replied.
“How many people are here?”
“The Adelaar called for eight.”
“Eight?” I gasped. “That is a bit much. Don’t you think?”
“I do not seek to think. I follow orders,” she replied, reminding me of Iskandar. “And it is not as if eight of us are on at once. There are four during the day, and then four during the night shift.”
“Where are the other three?” I only ever saw her and one other man outside my room.
“One on the bottom floor. One at the hospital security room to watch the cameras. One outside your room, and one in the stairwell,” Thelma said, and to prove her point, she opened the stairwell, where a man with short, auburn hair stood. Layland was stitched onto his shirt.
“Miss.”
“Hi.” I waved. “Thank you for being here.”
He nodded and stepped out of my way. He did not seem like the chatty type, either. Was this part of their training?
“It is better for us to use the staircases over the elevators to go down.”
We were on the hospital's topmost floor, so there was no other way to go but down.
Thelma walked behind me. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was used to it or worried about me falling and wanted to catch me. Either way, I was fine on my own so long as I didn’t move too fast. And two levels below me was a giant window, allowing me to look into the hospital courtyard. I saw a few doctors talking, but no patients as it was night. The view of trees and houses in the distance were peaceful to look at. The view in my room was better, but it felt good to move.
“Oww. Vicky.”
The voice was soft, but it was a voice for sure. I glanced around to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. However, Thelma was moving to the railing, looking down and then back up, confused as well. She lifted her wrist. “Is anyone in the staircases?”
“All clear.”
“It is not all clear. I just heard a voice,” she repeated.
“Checking now.”
She frowned, carefully looking, and I became silent. I didn’t know why I felt so panicked. It was a hospital, so maybe it was doctors. I couldn’t expect no one to be around. Hearing a soft mutter, I glanced around, and I saw a pair of eyes peeking out of the trash in the corner of the staircases.
“Thelma.” I stepped back but nodded at the trash can.
Immediately, she came up from behind me, and I could hear the guy upstairs running down the staircases.
“Come out with your hands up, right now!” Thelma yelled in Ersovian, holding a gun as she kicked the side of the trash can hard, causing three different shrieks.
What in the world? I thought as Layland made it down. With his gun drawn and now pointed to the trash can as well, Layland moved to stand in front of me.
“I said now!” Thelma yelled once more. “Last warning. Three. Two.”
“Wait!” The lid popped open, and a tiny young girl, maybe six or seven years old, with light-brown skin and a baseball cap, popped out with her hands up. “Sorry!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.
“We got ducks,” Thelma said into her mic as she put away her gun.
Layland put his weapon down.
“I’m not a duck,” the little girl said as Thelma helped her out of the trash bin and on to her feet before lifting out two other boys, one with brown hair and the other with blond. The moment they were on their feet, they glanced up at Thelma like she was a mountain, and their eyes went wide.
“What are you children doing here?” Thelma asked them. “Where are your parents?”
The boys trembled in fear. But the girl put her hands on her hips and stood tall. “I don’t have to tell you that. It’s not your stairs.”
Well, excuse me. I grinned.
“Actually, the hospital gave it to us while we were here. So you’re trespassing. If you don’t tell me where your parents are, I will send you to jail.”
“You can’t do that,” the girl said, unsure, then looked behind her at the boys, scared silent. “Can she do that?”
They shrugged.
Thelma pulled out her phone.
“Wait!” the boy with brown hair said. “We just wanted to see the queen.”
“The queen?” Thelma repeated.
“He means the future queen.” The girl crossed her arms. “My daddy works here, and I know she’s here!”
“I don’t think you heard right. We’ve been looking for days,” the brown-haired one muttered, annoyed. “Now, you’ve got us in trouble, Vicky.”
“It’s an adventure, Leo!” the girl, Vicky, snapped back at the browned-haired one, who I guessed was Leo. “You can’t find the treasure on the first day.”
“Guys...” the blond boy muttered, speaking for the first time and looking directly at me.
“We are not looking for treasure. We are looking for the queen,” Leo shot back at her.
“Guys...” the other boy said, still looking at me, trying to get his friends’ attention.
“A queen is a treasure, Leo,” Vicky said with her hand on her hips.
“GUYS!”
“WHAT, ORIEN?” they both yelled at him, and I sort of pitied the poor kid.
He pointed at me and said, “Found her.”
Both of their heads whipped around Thelma’s body to look at me. I couldn’t help but laugh, waving to them.
“Gerchen,” I greeted them in Ersovian.
Their eyes went wide, and they rushed toward me, but Thelma caught them by the collars, holding them up.
“Hey!” they yelled at her.
“You’ve seen her. Now it’s time to find your parents,” she said down to them.
“Thelma, it is all right,” I said, stepping forward. “It would be a waste of an adventure if you could see the treasure and never come close. Hello, Vicky, Leo, and Orien. I am Odette.”
They stared at me as if I were magic, rushing up to me when Thelma let them go.
“Hi, Queen Odette.”
“You know our names?”
“Can you make me a knight?”
“Are you feeling better?”
“You’re really pretty.”
“Is the Adelaar here too?”
“Can he make me a knight?”
“Whoa!” I held my hands out to relax them. “I cannot answer so many questions at one time. And my Ersovian isn’t that good yet, guys—”
“I think it fine,” Vicky said and looked at Leo. “We can understand him, and he’s from another planet.” She stuck out her tongue.
“And you are from planet butthead.”
It was good to know the insults hadn’t changed since I was a kid.
“Is that the language you use in front of a queen?” Layland called out at him, and they all stopped.
“Sorry.” He held his head down.
I knelt in front of them. “How about we all leave the staircase and maybe get some snacks? Then we can find your parents.”
They nodded, and I reached down to take their hands.
The vending machine snacks did the trick all right. They were able to calm down and sit still in front of me. We weren’t in my room, as I didn’t want to wake my mom. Instead, we were in the playroom on the children’s floor. So far, I’d found out that Vicky was Victoria, the daughter of one of the doctors here and the ringleader between Leo and Orien, fraternal twins and whose parents worked in the hospital as well.
All of the parents were in surgery or busy right now, so I was
waiting with the children. Somehow, little Victoria had tricked her father into believing they only wanted to play with the sick kids here. And so, they came during the afternoon after first grade or year one classes. Then at night, they searched the hospital to find me. Leo wanted someone to make him a knight. Orien, the sweetheart, wanted to see if I was okay and just say hi. Vicky, well, Vicky didn’t say why she wanted to, but I kind of had a feeling I knew why. It was funny. They were these happy, bright spots, kids being kids, going about their lives for adventure and fun.
“When I become a knight, don’t worry, Miss Odette, I’ll protect you,” Leo said, lifting his fist.
“You have to be smart to be a knight,” Vicky shot back.
“Then I will be smart,” he shot back.
“Do they always like to fight like this?” I asked Orien as he ate his chips.
He nodded. “Daddy says it’s because they like each other.”
“No.”
“Ew.”
Orien ignored them and looked at me. “Do you and the Adelaar fight a lot?”
“No.” I paused, thinking back to when we first met, then smiled. “Well, we kind of do actually.”
“See,” Orien said to them.
And they made faces at him.
“When do you become queen?” Victoria asked me, smartly changing the subject. For a seven-year-old, the little girl was sharp.
“Why? Don’t you like Queen Elspeth?”
“I like her,” she whispered with less confidence. “But when will it be you?”
I sucked on my juice box, but for once, they stopped talking to look at me with their undivided attention.
All I could do was shrug. “I don’t know if I want to be the queen.”
“Why?” Vicky yelled at me angrily.
“Why do you want me to be queen?”
Her face puffed up, and she crossed her arms.
“Because you have big hair,” Leo said.
“What?” I laughed.
“It’s like a lion.” Orien giggled. “Roar.”
Was I being made fun of?
“Vicky’s hair is big, too, but our teacher said she had to cut it or wear it less dis-dis-sacting?” Leo looked at his brother.
“Do you mean distracting?” I asked and looked at Vicky, who held her baseball cap tight.