Althena Book 2

85. Guesses

Cyrus rubs my back in the morning. I snuggle against him and shiver into the tingles. "I love you."

"I love you, babygirl. Let's take a shower. You have school this morning."

"Are we still on the boat?"

"Yea. Mike had school clothes delivered. We can eat breakfast on the deck."

I get to the table at the same time as everyone else. Me, Akmae, Conner, and Clayton are all in school uniforms.

Clayton pours some juice. "Was my mom pissed?"

Mike sits breakfast down. "No. I told her it took longer than we thought and offered to send you home. She said since you were already sleeping she would send your uniform. Akmae's mom said the same thing."

"What time did we get back?"

"It was about 11:30." Drogon rubs my knee. "You were all sleeping. It seemed pointless to wake you up."

Mike drinks his coffee. "I was surprised how easy it was to get them up this morning."

A couple guards come in. "Royal 1, 2, and 3 are on standby."

"Thank you. They'll be out soon."

Akmae stretches. "What's that mean?"

"Helicopters are ready to leave." Cyrus kisses my head. "Thena, Drogon, and Clayton are going in different directions."

I give him a kiss. "Did anyone think about my bookbag?"

"They're at the exit, baby."

"Thank you. You boys thought of everything."

Conner stands up. "Are we ready?"

"Yea." Akmae comes with us and we take the first helicopter.

10 minutes into the first period, my phone rings and it's Akley. I step into the hallway to answer it. "Good morning."

"Not so much. A bad batch of drugs got into Darkburn."

"What do you mean bad?"

"They're killing people. I'm already having them collected."

"You said they were safe."

"This can happen. It's rare but it can happen. I would always inform your dad as soon as I would figure it out. I figured you would want to be informed as well."

"What happened?"

"Someone sabotaged the lab. The chemicals were altered. I already dealt with it. Now it's about getting the drugs off the street. It's in progress."

"Do I have to do anything?"

"No. I'm dealing with everything."

"Ok." I hang up and stare at the wall. Why the f**k did he even tell me? There's nothing I can do.

I walk out the door and sit on the steps. I need some air. My guards follow me and stand around in the yard.

Katen comes walking up from her car. "What's wrong?"

"Bad morning. What are you doing?"

"I'm late. I can be later. Did you see the news?"

"No. What now?"

"Forget I said that. What happened?"

"I can't tell you. I don't want to pull you into it."

"I can tell you're stressed. I'll never be able to repay you for helping me, but I can listen. Maybe that'll help. I promise to never repeat any of it, I owe you that much."

I sigh. "My dad wasn't the perfect man everyone thinks. He had so many lives. Aliases. I took responsibility for one thinking he was always the perfect king. Now I can't get out. I don't want to do this."

"Can you quit?"

"No. I don't even do anything. They only needed my signature and they have it. Now I get to spend the money."

"Did you tell your mates?"

"No. I can't. They can't do anything, and I'll get in trouble. This is my problem. How did you know about them?"

"I'm smart."

"Really smart. You're only the 2nd person to guess it."

She smiles. "What did you sign for?"

"Importing some stuff." I shrug my shoulders. "My dad did it. I was doing what he did. I figured it was the right thing. Now I'm convinced I was wrong."

She smiles. "We all make mistakes."

"People are dying. This isn't running a stop sign and getting a ticket. I will be removed from the throne. They will probably kill me. My mates will leave me."

She rubs my back. "It's never as bad as you think. Our minds make us believe in the worst-case scenario."

I shake my head. "I wish I never made that stupid decision."

"Keep your head up. It'll get better. And I'm smart. I'll help you think of a way out. We'll figure it out."

"That actually makes me feel a little better."

"I'm glad."

"So, what's on the news?"

She sighs. "It's not on all the news. But some of them started talking about how you never made a comment about the terrorist attack. Then it snowballed. More stuff you never made comments about. Always staying hidden. Doing no interviews. Stuff like that. They're saying you're not really acting like a queen."

"I'm not. They're right. I never wanted the job. I wanted to go to school." I shake my head. "I was on my own for a long time. Then, suddenly, I had my boys. I had a grandma and a dad. A step mom and brother. For the first time in years, I could finally be a normal kid. I acted like a kid so much. I let my boys take care of me. They put me in school. They became kings. They're strong and good. They deal with everything. I'm allowed to be a kid and go to school. I don't really do anything for the throne. Only when they tell me I have to make an appearance somewhere. I just wanted to be a kid."

"There's nothing wrong with that. For the first time in years, you were able to relax and be taken care of."

"That's obviously not what the people see. They want a perfect queen like Mary was. I'm not that. I don't want to be her. I never wanted this job. Plus, I am 17 years old. Why do they expect so much out of a teenager? I'm not even out of high school, yet they expect me to act like an adult constantly. I feel sorry for Drogon. He's so fun when he acts like a teenager. But mostly, he's the perfect king now. It changed so fast for him. I don't want to change that fast. I want to be a kid. I haven't had this in so long. I want them to take care of me and watch me while I cheer at a hockey game. I don't want to comment on terrorist attacks or be made to seem crazy in interviews. I didn't even want to be queen. I had zero options."

"Honestly, some people are going to hate you no matter what you do. They'll say you'll never be good enough or as good as a previous queen. I say, be you. Who cares if some grumpy people decide not to like you? Let your boys be kings and take care of you for a while. They're doing a good job. I'm sure if they weren't, you'd step in and do something about it."

"Yea, I'd knock their heads together."

"Spoken like a true queen."

I laugh as Akmae sits my book bag beside me. "You ok?"

"Yea."

Katen shakes her phone. "The news isn't very nice."

He winks. "It's a bunch of 30 or 40-year-olds judging a high schooler. They're too old to even remember what it's like to be a teenager. You're doing fine. You should probably go to class though."

"Yea." I stand up.

Katen smiles. "Can I sit with you guys at lunch today? I thought I made new friends, but they never do anything. I need to try again."

"You can always sit with us. You know where the table is."

Akmae helps her up. "I'm gay."

She trips up a step. "Ok?"

I rub my eyes. "He's starting to tell people. It's a big deal."

"Oh." She smiles. "I'm happy for you. Good job."

"This is a lot easier than I thought."

"Are you telling people at random times?" She picks up her bag. "Cause it was a little shocking when you told me. I wasn't ready for such a serious and important moment for you. I would have said something different and more heartfelt."

He shakes his head. "What you said was perfect."

"Glad I could help."

I follow them in. I have weird friends.

I make it through my classes. Choir turns into a rumor spreading class. We talk the entire time. Some of the girls use it as a study hall. Then we go to lunch.

Lila sits across from me. "I'm having a birthday party next Friday. Only girls. We're having a sleep-over at my house."

"Oh yeah, Clayton wanted to know if he could buy you something for your birthday."

"What did you say?"

"I told him nothing expensive. It would seem like he's trying to buy you. But I told him I would ask you about it first."

She thinks about it for a minute. "I don't think so. I want to wait for my mate. Accepting gifts from other men isn't the best idea."

"You're right. I'll tell him to stop."

She seems like she might cry. "It's for the best."

Akmae, Conner, Amber, Jenna, and Katen sit down at the same time.

"Did you tell them yet?"

"No."

Jenna nearly sits on Amber. "Tell us what?"

He takes a deep breath. "I'm gay."

She rolls her eyes. "We already knew that. You stared at the basketball players more than we did."

Amber laughs and spits her drink out. "She's not wrong."

Lila rolls her eyes. "Anyway. My birthday party is next Friday. No boys. It's a sleepover. Do not invite any boys. Jenna, I'm looking at you when I say that."

Jenna smirks. "I'll invite Akmae. He can come now."

I shake my head. "He's still a boy."

"Yes. But he's not going to sexualize us, and we can talk about boys with him."

Amber nods. "She's not wrong."

I scratch my head. "I don't know." I look at Conner. "Can I spend the night with Akmae?"

He looks from Akmae to me about 5 times. "I'll get back to you on that."

Jenna slams her hand down. "WHY?"

Conner glares at her. "Because he has a working d**k. She's my mate. And I know damn well alcohol will be there."

Amber nods. "But her guards will be there. They're boys."

"They won't drink."

"But they won't let her get hurt either."

Lila looks around. "Ya know, I don't even see them anymore. They're invisible to me."

I take a bite. "Happens. I think they actually like it that way."

Jenna jumps a little. "I get it." She leans in and whispers. "You have 2 mates. Drogon and Conner. Everything makes so much sense now."

I smile. "People are really guessing multiple mates today."

Akmae crosses his arms. "And gay."

Jenna rolls her eyes. "Well, maybe if you wouldn't have drooled over guys. But fine. Tell us again. I'll act surprised."

"Tell what?" Josh sits with us.

Akmae freezes solid.

Then all of us freeze. I don't know why.

Finally, Katen sits up. "I need new friends again. That's why I'm here... again. I cannot seem to pick them right."

He tilts his head and gives her a weird look. "You get along with pretty much everyone."

"Yea, but I would like a group. So, I could be included in group messages, and we could get our nails done and things. My first group was a total failure. The last group only wanted to talk badly about everyone. It wasn't fun."

Lila looks up from her phone. "Come to our girls' club meeting Wednesday. Wouldn't hurt for you to meet more people, and we can always go out and get our nails done. And come to my party next Friday. You need to get out more and meet more people. You'll find your group. Or just join us."

"I'll do the girls club Wednesday. I might be able to come to your party. But my parents are kind of strict. I'll tell them no boys though."

"That's a start."

"I'M GAY." Akmae unfroze in a rather startling way.

Josh looks from his tray of food to Akmae then he stares at him. Now Josh is frozen. His eye twitches after a minute, then he gets up and walks away.

Akmae sits back and crosses his arms. "That didn't go well."

Conner pushes his tray at him. "Eat. He's collecting his thoughts. How long have you been friends?"

"Years."

"I don't think he had any idea."

Amber nods. "Josh isn't the brightest. He'll come around. Let him process."

"Where did he go?"

Jenna points. "Basketball table."

Akmae lays his head on the table. "He's probably telling them all."

She sits back. "Well, to be fair, you already told this half of the room when you yelled it."

Conner puts his arm around me. "It's alright. People don't even care anymore. I think it just shocked him."

I lay my head on his shoulder.

Lila laughs. "She's full. She entered the grope Conner stage."

"f*****g FAG. YOU LIKE WATCHING US IN THE SHOWER?" Some guy throws Akmae to the ground. Another one jumps on him.

Conner jumps up so quickly, I nearly fall into his chair. Then my guards have me. They pull Katen and Lila out of the way too. The others are far enough from the fight.

Josh busts some guys' face open on our table. Then an alarm sounds.

Penn jumps between Josh and the other guy. Conner and Akmae are standing at the end of the table. One guy isn't getting up. Another two are all bloody. School security is getting in the way of any other fighting.

Medical runs to the guy on the ground. "He's alright. We need to get him to the hospital, Mr. Penn. There are a few of them that need to go."

"Yea, emergency services are on the way. Get these kids separated. I'll review the footage and pull them one at a time." Penn spins in a circle. "END OF LUNCH. GO TO YOUR NEXT CLASS. SIT YOUR ASS DOWN RIGHT THERE. YOU DON'T LEAVE." A guy with a black eye tried to get away. Penn is pissed.

My guards push me out. I don't even get to talk to Conner.