Page 38 of Learning to Rule

“Can we do that, Mrs. Harris?” Heidi asks. “We have those boring white walls over there. Can we put all the pictures that make us happy up there?”

“Of course, we can. I’ve got an idea as well. All of you move closer together. Miss Nash, will you join them? Let’s put our first happy memory on the wall.” Mrs. Harris pulls her phone out of her pocket as I sit with the children on the mats. We all pull some sort of funny yoga pose, and she takes a couple of shots.

“Can you make sure I get a copy of one of those?” I ask. “I want to put it on the wall at the palace.”

“Of course.” Mrs. Harris, disappears off to print the pictures as I turn back to the children.

My heart is full of hope, and for the first time, I believe I can truly be the queen Janastria needs. I have it within me, not because of my past but because of the experiences it has given me.

“Okay, who has more questions for me?”

All of the children put their hands up, and I spend the next hour allowing them to get to know me better.

Twenty

Dalton

“Thank you, Hinchbootie. For the next few hours, I’ll work through all these papers Clement sent over. Please ask Elodie to come in when she’s finished at the youth center. I don’t want to be disturbed until then,” I dismiss my personal secretary.

I want to study the information from my prime minister. I’ve looked through some of it so far, and it makes for depressing reading. My father has left Janastria virtually penniless in his efforts to take as much for himself as he could. The prime minister prior to Clement was in cahoots with my father, wanting to achieve the same thing. The two men have ruined the country, and somehow I’ve got to try to put it back together.

I don’t even know where to begin.

A knock on the door leaves me sighing heavily at the interruption.

“Come in.”

I ready myself to admonish Hinchbootie for disturbing me, but it’s not him. It’s a man I don’t recognize at the door. He’s filthy, unshaven and unkempt, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. His clothes are ripped and his shoes have seen far better days. I’m distracted from his appearance, though, when he pulls a gun from out of the long coat he’s wearing.

I prepare to die.

“Forgive me for coming to you like this, but I have to talk to you, Your Majesty. I would have dressed better, but I haven’t been able to go home for a long while now.” The man shuts the door behind him and comes over to my desk.

I slowly stand to greet him—I don’t know why. I should be pressing the emergency button under my desk, which would have every member of security descending on this room. I don’t, though. Instead, I hold my hand out for him to shake. Something in the way the man said he wanted to talk makes me think I might not die, not just yet anyway. He looks at my hand but doesn’t take it.

“I have to know before I make my decision. Are you going to be like him?” the man continues.

“Like who? I’m sorry I’m misunderstanding what you’re asking. Can you explain a bit more?”

I’m not sure where the calmness within me is coming. I suspect it’s from Elodie and the knowledge I want to get out of here alive to be with her. The man I was before I met her would’ve leaped over the desk and tried to rugby tackle this man with the gun. I probably would have been shot within a few seconds of him entering the room. But then, the man I was before I met Elodie wasn’t fit to be the king of a country.

“Your father. He took everything and left us all with nothing. I can’t even see my children anymore because of him. I’m an unfit father apparently, and my wife is having to do everything on her own. I’m not allowed to go near them, even though all we want is to be together. It’s the reason why I did it…I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to see what you’d be like. I saw you with that woman, and how she made you smile. How she helped that boy in the youth center. The pictures were everywhere. I needed to find out if you’ll be different. I know I’ve condemned myself to an even more worthless future as a result, but I’ve been so lost. I didn’t know what else to do…I had to kill him.” The man rambles on, waving the gun around as he speaks.

I try to take in all his words. They confuse me at first, but then understanding finally dawns…this is the man who killed my father.

Press the fucking button.

My mind is screaming at me to stop this now, but my heart takes over as I listen to his words. He’s been kept from his family—from the woman he loves.

It’s just like my father did with Elodie and me.

She ran because she couldn’t cope with everything my father was throwing at her.

She would have never succeeded in proving she was a worthwhile queen, because my father had already made his mind up.

She is…no,weare only now being given the chance to prove ourselves because of the man in front of me.

“You killed my father?” I question bluntly.

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