by Grady, D. R.
Gracia shook her head. “My son is ill. He cannot run Rurikstan, nor can I from London. I have arranged to continue my treatments here. My sister is bringing in a team for me.”
Tia nodded. “That’s probably the best solution for now.”
“I agree,” Emerson said, and sounded relieved.
“Between Emerson, and Maks, and me, we should be able to fulfill most of Aleksi’s duties,” Gracia said. She turned to Tia. “How long do you believe you will need to figure out why the wells are not clean?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Tia admitted. “There’s no reason why they’re not clean now. Unless there’s another source of contamination.”
“What we’ll do is tell everyone to continue to boil their water until this influenza virus that has struck the prince has passed through,” Gracia announced.
Tia stared at Aleksi’s mother. “Gracia, that’s brilliant.” Okay, technically they were lying, which is why she didn’t suggest it, but it would work.
“Thank you, I thought so.” Gracia grinned at her, which lit up her face and revealed a glimpse of what Aleksi’s mother must be like without all that lead in her system.
Emerson laughed. “Between the three of us, I believe we can run Rurikstan. But we should not mention there is continued trouble with the wells. The boiling is a precaution.”
“I think that’s entirely plausible, although the virus won’t come from the wells, it comes from human contact and through the air.”
“We know that, but we’re just trying to be careful. Besides, you have only finished one day of testing since the cleaning, correct?” Emerson asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Gracia stirred. “That’s not enough evidence, yet, so we’re being cautious. Which is something we should be all the time. These are people we all care about.”
“Yes.” Gracia and Emerson exchanged a glance Tia didn’t quite understand but that she appreciated nonetheless. They did care about the people of Rurikstan and she wasn’t going to let them down.
She stood. “I’d better get back to work.” She turned to Emerson and Gracia. “Make certain someone is pushing fluids on Aleksi. He needs to drink as much as he can stand.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Emerson said.
“I’ll help,” Gracia added.
***
Aleksi rolled over and bumped into the wall. He couldn’t remember the last time he had done that. He cracked open an eye and peered at the wallpaper. Yes, this was his bedchamber. So what had brought him this far across his bed?
Tia. He’d been dreaming about her. But she kept eluding him. Kept slipping out of his grasp and taunting him about not being able to have her. His frustration levels had risen to new heights, and that’s when he hit the wall.
Were his dreams mimicking life?
Because now that he was more awake he realized she had slipped from his grasp. All due to his mother’s revelations... when? What day was it? And why was he in his bed?
Squinting at the clock on the bedside table, he stared at it, not comprehending why it said eight o’clock but the sun wasn’t shining. Shouldn’t the sun be shining at eight? And why was he still in bed?
He should have been up an hour and a half ago. Peering closer at the drapes covering the windows, he saw they were definitely open. So if there was sun, it would be shining through.
Then he realized he felt awful. Sweaty and nauseous – he noticed he ached, too. Why was that? His throat hurt, while his head pounded, in addition to the muscles that didn’t seem to want to work properly. He was certain he was directing them to move.
Only they wouldn’t. Well, not without a lot of effort on his part. Just covering the expanse of his mattress expended far more energy than it should have. Now he lay panting on the edge of the bed and wondered if he’d be able to make it across the expansive carpet to the washroom.
He also remembered various people urging him to drink. Darn them. Darn them all. If they’d have left him in peace, he wouldn’t have to use the toilet on the other side of the world. Why did his water closet have to be so far away?
After his first unsteady steps across the room, Aleksi managed to find his balance. What was wrong with him? Hubert and Nadia could walk better than this when they first started walking.
When he finally entered the room and located the toilet, Aleksi made the easy choice to stay there for a while. No sense in expending more energy than necessary. He washed his hands and lay on the floor. The tile was cool and not that uncomfortable.
Yes, he decided stay right here. Maybe he’d figure out what was wrong with him while he was here. Was this what lead poisoning felt like? New thoughts of sympathy for his mother crossed his mind, right before he fell asleep.
***
“What do you mean he’s missing again?” Tia’s head jerked up from the data she still couldn’t figure out to stare in astonishment and disbelief at Emerson.
“The maid we sent to force more liquids on him couldn’t find him in his bedchamber.”
“Did she check the bath... water closet?” Abruptly she remembered Europeans didn’t call the bathroom a bathroom, but a water closet. Emerson would think she was talking about one of the huge tub rooms they had used when they couldn’t use the showers in their en suite lavatories.
Emerson frowned and Tia found herself copying his gesture. Quit that, she scolded herself. Surely he couldn’t have gotten far the rational side of her brain assured. The femme fatale side fortunately remained quiet. Yet her heart still pounded too hard, and her palms still dampened.
Tia followed Emerson so closely she nearly trampled the heels of his leather shoes.
“Of course...” Emerson started, but then he cocked his head at her. “I don’t know. Finding him in the water closet does seem logical, doesn’t it?”
“That’d be the next place I’d check if I couldn’t find him in his bedchamber. He should be weak as a kitten, right?”
“Should be, but Aleksi isn’t one to let something like a virus keep him down.”
They swept through his bedchamber door, past several maids wringing their hands, and crossed the room. Do something, Tia thought, but she refrained from comment. Right now was not the time to rile up the palace staff. She was in enough hot water with the still contaminated well situation.
She and Emerson trekked across the gorgeous carpet and he swept open the door of the bathroom. They saw a body slumped on the floor. With a gasp, she nearly ran Emerson over, but he was faster than her and sprinted to their fallen prince first.
“What’s wrong with him?” Tia didn’t recognize her voice, but didn’t care at that point. Aleksi groaned when Emerson hefted him and she grabbed one of his arms and draped it over her shoulders. Dead weighted, Aleksi was not a light man.
She heard Emerson grunt and they exchanged a quick glance. “Can you handle him?”
“I’ll try. Let’s get him back to bed.”
“We should call Maks,” Emerson decided. Maks was in a daylong meeting he couldn’t get out of, and it seemed Emerson was missing him.
“I’m here,” Maks said and traded places with her. For which she was grateful. Aleksi didn’t help his friends at all.
“Is he even coherent?” Tia fretted, and nearly wrung her hands, but the picture of the maids doing so stopped her. No, Aleksi needed her. She hurried forward and ripped the covers back so Emerson and Maks could lay Aleksi on the bed.
She popped the thermometer she found on the bedside table in his mouth. His forehead seemed hot.
“When he starts a high fever, he typically loses coherence,” Gracia said behind them.
Tia turned and watched as she took in her son.
“He is rarely ill,” Maks muttered, and stared down at his friend.
“Which is probably why we’re having such trouble seeing him like this,” Emerson added.
“I hate this,” Tia all but wailed. She hated seeing him so sick. She hated feeling this helpless and useless.
; “Why so many here?” Aleksi whispered, his eyes still closed, but he was frowning.
“Aleksi?” Gracia asked and smoothed a hand over his brow.
“Noisy,” he mumbled and rolled away from them.
Tia, Emerson, and Maks exchanged glances before they all three grinned. “I guess we’ve been told off,” she said through her still grinning lips.
Her heart had stopped its melodramatic pounding, and her palms started to dry. Aleksi sounded like he just wanted to be left alone. She could do that.
For now.
Chapter 23
When she turned the corner, Tia nearly took out Nick.
“Whoa,” he said, and steadied her.
She took a moment to catch her breath.
“Where have you been?” There was no accusation in his voice, just a general inquiry. Tia felt a stab of guilt for ignoring her brother. But then so much had happened in the twenty-four hours since he arrived she still couldn’t deal with it all.
“With Aleksi and in the lab.”
“Did I hear the prince is sick?”
He kept pace with her as she stalked up the hall. Normally a calm person, she now considered taking up running. This pent up energy was ridiculous, but with the wells not clean, Aleksi maybe not his father’s son, and now with him so sick, Tia wanted to curl up in a closet somewhere. Or run to the ends of the earth. She hadn’t decided on which option yet.
Instead, she had taken up a new sport – pacing the long hallways of the palace. “Aleksi has a virus, so yes, he’s pretty sick.”
“You’ve been sitting with him?”
“Sort of.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“We believe Aleksi just wants to be alone, but we’re trying to force liquids into him. So some of us have taken turns staying with him.”
“I see,” he said, and stared at the ceiling. He kept pace with her, which was nice. She had long legs, but Nick’s were longer, so this shouldn’t be a stretch for him as they approached a door. They swung around and paced back down the hall. “Could we find a nice comfy set of chairs in there?” He used his thumb to indicate the doorway to a small lounge about midway down the hall.
“Yes, we could,” Tia answered and followed him through the door. She dug into the beverage cooler and extracted two bottles before she plopped into one of the chairs.
Nick sank into the one beside her, accepted one of the drinks, and eyed her with brotherly concern. That was an expression she’d never seen before. “What?” Her voice sounded a little defensive, but then these feelings of surliness weren’t new these last few hours.
“So, what’s going on between you and Aleksi?”
If she’d have just taken a sip of the iced tea in her hand, there was little doubt she would have choked. “What?” ended up being the only word she could utter.
“What’s up between you and Aleksi?” he repeated patiently. Like he was a dad or something.
“That’s what I thought you said, but I’m not sure why you’re asking me this question.”
“Because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
There appeared to be a lot of that going around. Tia slanted another glance at him. “I don’t understand where you’re going with this questioning?”
“We want you to be happy. But none of us want to see you get hurt. You look like you’ve really fallen for this guy.”
“You could tell that?” She had to learn how to cover up her feelings better. The day an Ape could tell how she felt was the day she’d lost her grip on reality.
He rolled his eyes. “It was pretty obvious.”
A complete feelings makeover had suddenly become necessary.
“I like him a lot,” she said after a long pause.
“I could tell that. But what are his intentions toward you?”
“Intentions?” She repeated blankly.
“Is he intending to marry you?”
“I don’t know.”
Nick frowned. It was a fierce, brotherly frown. She hadn’t had much occasion to see that particular expression either.
“Why would you fool around with a guy whose intentions you don’t know?”
“Did you know Macy’s when you started fooling around with her?”
“Macy and I didn’t fool around,” he refuted piously.
Laughter welled from nowhere, but Tia enjoyed the merriment anyway. “Yeah, right. You were panting after her from the moment she moved in.”
“Actually, from the moment I first set eyes on her. But we didn’t fool around.”
“Don’t lie and tell me you never kissed her.”
His cheeks turned bright red.
“Right, Nick. Nice try,” she said and patted his knee.
“If you’re kissing this Prince Aleksi, he’d better have good intentions toward you.”
“Nick, I’m an American.”
“Yeah, so?”
“European princes do not marry Americans.”
“The Prince of Monaco married Grace Kelley. She was from Philadelphia.” Wow, she was impressed he actually knew that. Hmm, maybe there was hope for him after all.
“So what? I’m from Hershey, and I’m not graceful, I’m not pretty, I don’t have good social skills. Plus I hate pink, high heels, and makeup.” She still wanted Aleksi with every cell of her being. A ray of hope beamed through her gloomy thoughts. If Aleksi wasn’t his father’s son, then he wouldn’t be the prince any longer and that meant she wouldn’t be his princess.
He frowned at her. “What do all those things have to do with you marrying this guy?”
She gaped at him. Tia knew her mouth had fallen open, but for a few moments, she couldn’t seem to work the proper controls to shut her flapping jaws. When she did finally seal her lips, she couldn’t think of a rebuttal because his question was so ludicrous.
“What?” he asked again, sounding confused.
“Nick, this is Tia you’re talking to. Your sister. Me, marry a prince?”
“What’s wrong with you marrying a prince?” He still sounded confused.
An Ape was trying to convince her it was okay to marry a prince. She glanced around the room, waiting for her other brothers to leap out of the ornate wainscoting to remind her of what a geek she was.
When neither Bryan nor Josh showed, she peered at Nick’s face, trying to figure out whether he had just consumed a dose of cough syrup. It did funny things to him, which might account for this weird conversation. “Nick, I’m Tia Morrison, your sister, remember? I’m not princess material.” Even to her own ears her voice sounded disbelieving and maybe an octave too high.
“Why aren’t you princess material? You have a Ph.D. in microbiology, which makes you smart. Macy has pointed out several times that you look like a supermodel in hiding, which by the way, I’ve finally noticed. You’re kind to everyone, you know which fork to use at any meal, and you’re healthy. What part of that makes you a non-princess?”
This time, Tia forgot which muscles closed her mouth. She couldn’t do anything more than stare at him, mouth agape. Yeah, this was princess material. She might have choked, but she fortunately couldn’t remember how to swallow, either.
“Hello?” He waved a hand in front of her face.
“Nick, I hate the color pink, I’m allergic to makeup, and I can’t wear high heels to save my life.”
He waved a hand. “You could learn to wear high heels. A few minutes with Starla and you’d be a professional. By the way, we’ll be sending her to you once she hits puberty.” Nick grinned when she frantically shook her head no. But he kept up his litany, “I’m sure princesses can wear colors other than pink, and you don’t need makeup.” Her brother stared at her like she’d sprouted another head, with fangs.
Maybe she still hadn’t managed to close her mouth, but still. This was not a conversation she had ever imagined having with one of her brothers.
Was he endorsing her relationship with Aleksi?
Had al
iens come down and kidnapped her brother, leaving a nice guy in his place? Stranger things had happened, she was sure, but this seemed beyond even that realm.
“Honestly, Tia, Macy said you had some self image problems, but I didn’t understand what she meant until now.”
Gaping seemed the new norm for her. This was crazy. “Nick, it’s not like you and the boys were encouraging during my growing up years,” she blurted.
He sighed. “Macy also informed me a good portion of your problems were my fault. Tia, I had no idea you thought you were ugly.”
“I don’t. But I am a nerd, and nothing is going to change that.”
“We don’t mind nerds.” He sounded so serious. “But the thing is, Tia, you are beautiful. Truly. Macy said that like Savannah, you look good in most clothing, and you have manners that will see you through every difficult situation. That sounds like princess material to me.”
“I’m really attracted to Aleksi,” she finally whispered.
“That seals the princess bit.” Nick sounded firm. Tia had dubbed that voice his “dad” voice.
“Not necessarily,” she said, thinking about his mother’s declaration. Aleksi might not be the prince. Which left her where? She would marry him the minute he asked, but what if he didn’t want her now? With that kind of revelation, he might need to take a year off and reevaluate life.
Her heart seized at the thought and she pressed a hand against her breast, trying to stop the painful movements.
Nick’s face darkened. “What, you don’t think he’ll marry you? That skunk has been playing with you but won’t marry you?”
“No.” Tia reached out and grabbed his wrist, keeping him in his chair, when he half rose like he was going to go pound Aleksi. Not a good idea. “No, he’s a very honorable man. The problem is that he’s only just heard some news that he’ll have to deal with in his own time. Where before he might have been thinking marriage, this news might have altered that.”
“But he’s honorable?” Nick’s voice was hard.
“You’ve met him.” She sounded exasperated, which must have gotten through more effectively than her yelling, because Nick subsided.
“Yeah, I thought he was a good guy.”