Page 107 of Trained Royal
“Brett, and maybe me. Commissioner Thomas is making the journey up here to be witness to anything.”
“He doesn’t trust us.”
“He does,” Kieren said. “He just wants to make sure Andrew is covered. No one wants the king accused of anything. How is everyone?”
Patrick gathered his thoughts. “Shaken. Scared. At a loss for what to do now. How are you?” He lifted his chin to stare at him, though Kieren’s gaze was on the ceiling.
“Same, really. I was scared we wouldn’t get you all to safety,” he whispered.
“But you did. You all did.”
They lapsed into silence, and as the new day’s sunlight began filtering through the curtains, they fell asleep, still wrapped around each other.
****
Patrick and Kieren made their way through the same corridors that held so much fear the previous day and stopped outside the dining room.
“Are you ready?” Kieren asked.
“To face the place where I took down a man I had no business taking down? Hell, yeah.” Patrick smiled, though it was strained.
Kieren grinned. “You did well. I’m an excellent teacher.”
Patrick snorted, and Kieren opened the door. Several family members were sitting at the table, eating lunch. Douglas came out of his seat immediately, enfolding Patrick in his arms.
“You kicked ass yesterday! I didn’t get the chance to tell you. How the hell did you do that?” He let go again.
Patrick’s cheeks heated. “Kieren’s been teaching me a few things.”
“A few things? Maybe I need to learn.”
“I think you can hold your own without any more training,” Mav said, sidling up beside him. “I don’t need you getting into more trouble.” He winked at Patrick.
Douglas slid his arm around Mav. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m the perfect royal nowadays.”
“Hmm,” Mav replied.
Patrick enjoyed the easy banter, and they sat at the table for their lunch. They’d missed breakfast because they’d slept in longer than they’d planned, but they didn’t care. Nothing was going to happen until this afternoon, and although Patrick knew they had to talk to the guards, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Charlotte’s plans were.
When the time came for Kieren, Brett and Andrew to question the guards, Patrick stayed with his brother and cousins. They chose the movie theatre to relax in and put on a Christmas film to try to distract them. It didn’t work because, within minutes, they were all discussing what had happened and what they thought Charlotte was going to do next. Patrick, however, stayed quiet, not wanting to think about what else she could come up with. He stared at the pictures flowing across the screen, letting the conversation fall to the background.
When would this end? They’d lived in fear for so long now, but he didn’t want to become accustomed to it. He wanted to live—for them all to live—without the hatred, the fear, the anger coursing through them all. He wanted to go back to how it was when they didn’t know about Charlotte and her schemes. He wanted Henry not to have experienced everything he had. He wanted a normal life. Well, as normal as it could be for a prince.
He had no sense of time passing, and he jumped when someone sat beside him. He glanced to the side and almost threw himself into Kieren’s arms, just like he had the previous evening. He had a feeling it would be a while before he could fully relax when Kieren wasn’t with him. When anyone wasn’t with him. He’d be worrying about his family until all of this was over.
Pulling back, he wiped his eyes. “Everything okay?”
Kieren nodded, though his smile was sad. “Yeah. We got next to nothing from Tobias, which is what we expected. It seems he had nothing against Andrew, he just needed the money, and Charlotte gave him the opportunity.”
“He did it for money?” Christian asked.
Kieren nodded, keeping his gaze on Patrick. “As for Aaron, well. He’s been very helpful, although he doesn’t have a lot to give us. Charlotte has been extremely careful, but Aaron has been pronounced dead.” Everyone started talking, but Kieren held up his hand. “Sorry, I should’ve added, he’s not dead, but we’re pretending he is.”
Douglas cursed. “Can you explain before our heads explode?”
Kieren chuckled. “Okay, basically, Charlotte, or rather one of her people, has been threatening Aaron’s son. He’s nineteen and is gay. Charlotte told him they would leave his son to live his life if Aaron did what they asked of him.”
“He did it to save his son,” Patrick said.
