The King

Chapter 4, Part 2

            The door had a small window, near the top, it was round but, from where I stood I could tell that it had a clear shot of the square we had just been in. The man was tall, he neither had to lift his head or bend it to see out the window. Well built, he was dressed in a suit, the jacket draped on the chair behind the desk, his shirt was a white button-down, and he had suspenders attached to pinstripe dress slacks.

            His voice was clear when he spoke, not revealing any emotions,” You followed my men. I would ask why, but I think I may already know the answer. There was an attempt against the life of your queen-to-be, you think my men did it.” He turns slowly, as he finishes his sentence.

            “Actually you’re wrong, we know you didn’t. Someone tried to frame you, as much as they meant to scare the Princess. No, we came because we need your help to find out who it was, as it is in both our interests to find them”. Victory looks at me with a question in his eyes, this is all new to him.

            The man clicked his tongue and motioned for us to take a seat at his desk, doing the same. After a small pause, he looks up, “ Alright, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ekon, no last name, just Ekon. Now, how can we help”

            “The Crown Prince is in danger. His to-be father-in-law plans to have him murdered the night of the wedding. The man we followed we know was not one of yours, the attack was all wrong, you go for defense, and if you do attack, never a scare.

            We’ve got word that you are to be accused of the murder of the crown princess, we need your help getting her to safety, after the wedding.”

“ What did you have in mind?”

“ We were thinking you could provide a haven, of sorts, for her. at which point I would take her place.”

Victor whips his head to face me so fast I’m stunned to think that he didn’t get whiplash. Or maybe he did, his face was as white as a sheet. Confusion, hurt, anger, loss...Blank

He turns back to Ekon.

Ekon breaks the silence, “ Easy enough, any ideas?”

“That part is up to you, as long as she is safe. There is one more thing, however, I was instructed for this part to be in private. “

All his men leave the room with a flick of his fingers.

“I must apologize but you as well Prince Victor” I instructed without looking at him.

He starts as if he is going to say something but thinking again and turns to leave the room.

When the door closes fully, I reach into the pocket of my coat and pull out a letter. Handing it to him I say “ She is okay, and so is your son. You three make a wonderful family.”

That night Ekon provides a place to stay the night. He tells us our rooms are next to each and that the bathroom is down the hall. He bows to Prince Victor, gives me a smile and leaves. Before the silence gets too heavy I blurt goodnight and slam my door closed, I just barely hear him say it back. 

Later in the evening, I’m in the shower thinking of all the changes that will occur in my life when all this blows over. Lady Caroline Ballesta will be gone to make way for Princess Caroline Adler. It does have a nice ring to it, but I can’t quite place why. I’m still lost in thought when I step out of the bathroom and almost run right into Prince Victor. 

“ Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse me” I say as I step around him.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” he startled me when he starts to talk, “ I don’t remember when you stopped being Cari and became Lady Caroline, but I think I will always remember the day that you become Queen Caroline Adler”. He never turned. 

When we arrived at the Palace, Prince Luke and Princess Stella are waiting for us at the gates. Luke and Victor give each other a quick hug and Stella tackles me. 

Through the hug, I tell Stella that Ekon is doing fine and slip a small note into her hand as she starts to pull back.

When she pulls away, Luke comes over and crushes every bone in my body, “ I’m glad you’re okay. How’d he take it?”

“I’ll tell you later”, I give him one last squeeze and step back. 

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            We arrived early, so I spent the rest of the day with my family. My brother and his wife, Karen, came over. While he and my father made us lunch, we helped my mother finish up some pieces she had been working on for the queen. 

“You know, Caroline”,  mom starts as she puts her sewing needle down, “I can tell when there is something on your mind”.

            “ I have a lot on my mind, like trying to get this needle threaded”,  I say, holding up my needle and thread.

“Mmm”, she pauses, “Did you fight with Victor?”

That shocks me, “ No, why would you think that?”

“No reason, just thought, since you just got home and haven’t really said anything about your trip.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ He was quiet, I guess, why does it matter how Victor took the news?”, I say, starting to get irritated.

“ What?”, Luke looks like he stopped paying attention. “Oh, I was just curious. How did everything else go?”

Finally, a topic that makes sense to me, I give him the full report, and the basic rundown of the plan. If everything goes well, Stella, Ekon, and their child should be together by this coming Christmas.

Clapping his hands, Luke says, “Great job. From here on out I want you attached to Stella by the hip, she moves you move. Yes?”

“ In between the time I work with you, no problem”, I say back to him.

His face turns grim and his voice very serious, “No, every second that you are on duty and then some, I want you with her. I have plenty of other guards that can watch me, is that understood?”

My face turns a light shade of pink, but nevertheless I say “Yes, sir”, and give him a bow at the waist. 

The dress that Stella chooses is gorgeous. She modeled it to her mother, twirling like a five-year-old. Her mother held her hands to her chest and tried to prevent a tear from rolling down her cheek. 

The shoes, table linen, bridesmaids dresses… food. which brought its own difficulties. Who is allergic to what, how serious, what fits the taste of the King and Queen and the Emperor and Empress. 

During one of the wedding cakes tastings Stella steps away from the buzz of people around her, “Will you be my maid of honor?’, she casually says as she joins me by the door. 

“ What”, that caught me off guard, “ I thought Karen was your maid of honor.” 

Rolling her eyes she says, “ Karen is a dunce and has no ideas of her own. For the last thirty minutes, she has been following my lead on all wedding details.” She takes a deep breath, the “But yes, she is the maid of honor.”

“You don’t really need two, do you?” I ask her.

A smile plays on her face, “I think I might. Just say yes and I’ll let you know when you need to complete your duty.” She waits for me to answer.

I think for a second and realize that Stella is the first friend I have, outside of Luke and Victor, and it seems like I might be losing Victor. “ If you ever need another bridesmaid, it would be an absolute honor”, I say, smiling and nodding over to the group of girls who have, just now, realized that she was gone. 

The wedding is only a month away, the attacks on the palace get worse and worse every day, but always stop short of breaking in. It seems that the goal is only to scare, but I don’t get why. My job is getting harder too. Even though I am down to only watching Stella, the amount of people around her increases. 

They rush to do last-minute fittings on her dress and then quick, to the kitchens, the menu needs looking at, again. Then, suddenly, run to the chapel, the decor has gone horribly wrong and an ice sculpture of a nude cupid is on display. I just don’t get how she moves so swiftly with heels and, I mean, her dresses are never shorter than ankle-high. 

I messed up. I didn’t see the knife in time, I was too slow. 

We were on our way to the kitchens, again, something about the cake and the wrong coloring of frosting. Stella sped off, me only a step behind. When we rounded the corner, a flash of silver, then Stella went down. My sword flies and hits flesh before I have time to think. The person goes down. 

They wear a mask, I know better than to move it but, can’t help it, I lift the mask. A boy, no older than seventeen lies on the floor. His eyes are open, they are green. A moan pulls me from my trans, and I remember Stella on the floor. 

Her pink dress has a growing bloodstain on the torso. Her face is pale and becoming worse. I take my jacket and press it to her wound, she groans but makes no move to stop me. Then, I pull out my phone and call the medics. 

“Hang in there Stella, help is on the way, okay”

She smiles, “ I was supposed to see my buy today. Can you go and tell him mommy is going to be a little late today?”

A tear rolls down my cheek, I didn’t know I was crying, but I nod. Stella closes her eyes and her breathing slows. 

Stella was in the hospital for three days. She was right, too, her son was waiting for her at the church. When he saw me, his little face dropped and his brows came together in confusion, “Where’s mommy?” he said.

Okay, deep breath, Caroline, “Mommy couldn’t come today but she sent me to let you know that she will visit you as soon as possible. For now, she had me bring you this” I pull out a stuffed bear.

His face looks confused for one more minute, then he grabs the bear and takes off running down the center aisle and into the back office of the church. “The fact that he took the bear means he likes you but he’s a shy boy. Doesn’t get too many new faces and I’m afraid that he needs a little more practice socializing”, it was the priest of the church, he had come out of the office as the boy ran in.

“That’s alright”, I smile at him, “ he hasn’t had the easiest life.” 

For a moment neither of us say anything, he turns as if to go but comes back,” I know what you are doing for Stella and her son. I just wanted to let you know that I think it is a very brave and selfless thing to do.” he reaches for my hand, a small smile on his lips.

 We stay unmoving for a moment, my hand in his, a small peace settling over us. Even though my faith varies from his, I get the feeling of togetherness that comes from gathering under faith. The priest then gently replaces my hand and turns to leave, I silently thank God that he has sent a person, such as the priest, to stand with Stella and her family. 

Getting back, the two things were on my mind, first, Stella must wake up, please God, wake her up. Two, The age of the assassin had left an impression. No more than seventeen, and with as much, or rather little, experience. His aim was random, not really aiming, no target. He was too easy to kill, he was there to take Stella out, not get out. Why would anyone send out such a novice?

Stella hadn’t woken up yet but the doctor ( brother) said that she was fine, she just needed some rest and he would send word when she woke up. Before I could argue, he spun me by my shoulders, pushing me to the door.

“Home, Caroline. I’m serious”, my brother yelled after me.

But I didn’t go home, instead I walked without direction, thought the palace, up the stairs to the bedrooms of the royal family. Not the first time I did this, what was strange was the door I had stopped at. I was in front of  Prince Victor’s door.  

“Umm,” I say out loud, “ why am I here?”

I turn around, but don’t move. I can’t get my feet to move, so, instead, my hand goes to my ponytail, swirling it around. I’m still doing that when I hear his footsteps.

Prince Victor is behind me because I turned but didn’t move from the spot I had stopped at; his door entrance. He clears his throat, “Can I help you with something?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, turning slowly, “Hmm? I mean, good evening, Prince Victor. “, I turned red. “I have  to go.”

“Oh. Okay”, his face fell a little.

“Actually”, I can’t seem to stop myself, “Yes, I need your help, there is something I don’t understand about the Attack on Princess Stella.”

He c***s his head to the side, steps back into his room, and holds the door open for me.

Inside his room, I quickly lay out my thoughts to him, my mouth moving a hundred words per second, but he doesn’t interrupt. When I’m done, he kind of just stands in front of me for a second then walks to the table in one corner of his room and gestures to the chair across from him with his hand.

“Well”, he huffs,” now we have another problem to solve, don’t we?”, he says it with a kind of deflated tone. 

Victory gets lost in thought for a minute, when his eyes suddenly snap to focus, with his eyes narrowed he asks, “How are you doing?”

This takes me back, “I’m fine, my problem is with the person who is manipulating seventeen-year-old minds into thinking that suicide is better than whatever situation they are in. If they really wanted to help, they would do something about the specific situations they come by, not turn them into WW2 kamikaze.”

He nods, “So you're not doing too good. Stand up,” he orders.

When I’m up, he walks over to me, turns me to face him, and hugs me. Just hugs me, then I feel my arms start to circle his waist and my head rests on his shoulder, then I’m crying. Victor lets me cry for what felt like hours. The whole time I kept repeating,” He was so young” and bursting into tears again. When my wailing turns into soft sniffles, he pulls back and hands me a tissue. After letting me dry my face, he gestures to my chair again, and walks over to his and sits. For the next few hours, he drills me on the assassin’s age range, skin tone, hair type, eye color, height, scars, or tattoos (he had a small scar on the top corner of his left eye), physical build. Everything and anything that might mean anything. Then he is drilling me on his attack, weapon, aim, speed, location, amount of blood drawn, I especially hate this part, it reminds me that Stella is in the hospital right now.