Page 39 of Trained Royal
Victoria turned her innocent expression on him. “Nothing. You need some help, and Kieren is here.”
Patrick inhaled. Did his mother know what had happened to his family? “I don’t think he’s in the right frame of mind to look after me right now.”
“I think this is the best place for him to be.” Victoria wandered over to the side table and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge beneath it, bringing it back. She cracked it open and held it out.
“Thanks.” He drank, then asked, “Why?”
Victoria sighed and sat down again, smoothing the front of her skirt. “He’s worried about you, and if he’s left to wallow in that by himself, he’ll drive himself crazy. If he’s here with you, he’ll see you’re fine.”
Patrick stared at her. The pain in her eyes was visible. “You know about his family.”
She nodded. “Poor boy has had much taken from him, but he takes too much weight on his shoulders. He needs to realise not everything is his fault.”
“I agree. I’m working on it.”
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Are you now?” Her mouth curled.
Patrick snorted. “If anyone knew you behind closed doors, they’d know you weren’t the prim and proper princess they all think you are.”
“Ah, but they don’t, do they?” She smiled and lifted her chin. “A woman has to keep some parts of her life a mystery.”
He chuckled and winced, removing the ice. “God, it hurts.”
“Have you had any paracetamol?”
“Not yet. We didn’t get that far.”
She stood and bustled over to the bathroom, coming back with two boxes. “Keep this handy because you’re going to need it.” She helped him take two tablets. “What happened anyway?”
“We were sparring, and I fell wrong.” It was only after he’d said the words that he realised she hadn’t known about his training sessions. Although, peering at her showed no surprise at this supposedly new knowledge. He decided to come clean. “I’ve been training with him for months. I want to be able to…” He paused, swallowing hard as images of his aunt came to him. “I want to help however I can.”
His mother rested a hand on his leg. “You do help. You don’t need to fight to help anyone.”
“What else can I do? Hypnotise them with my music?” He scoffed and looked away.
Victoria shifted closer. “My boy. Do you not realise what you do with your music?” Patrick didn’t look at her. “You bring peace, contentment, happiness, joy, rage, anger, grief. For every single emotion there is a word for, you capture and bring it to life. When people want to be cheered up, you play for them. When someone needs a tribute to them, you play for them. When someone has something to celebrate,you play for them. That’s not something small. That’s an exquisite gift that few people have. The gift of being able to alter the mood of a room, of bringing memories to the forefront of people’s minds, of giving yourself over to those who listen to you.” During her words, Patrick had faced her, seeing the honesty in her expression. “Because that’s what you do. Every time you play for someone, you give them a piece of yourself. You show them who you are, how you can help them.”
Tears overflowed, and Patrick swallowed against the lump in his throat. No one had ever said something like that before. Sure, they’d told him he played well or that they loved what he’d played, but nothing so eloquent. But then, his mother had always had a way with words, just like George.
He sniffed. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t change that I can’t do anything to help in our fight.”
“Sometimes, we need distractions in the fight. Time to recuperate. Time to rest. You give us that.”
Patrick wasn’t sure he agreed, but he didn’t argue. “I won’t be doing that for a while.” He glared at his arm.
“You could play the piano one-handed,” his mother said before laughing.
“I suppose I could. The violin, clarinet and flute are out of the question, though.”
A knock sounded, and she stood. “Not for long, sweetheart. You’ll be back to normal in no time.” She opened the door to Kieren and Grace, a member of the household staff. “Thank you, Grace. Could you please put it over by the window? Thank you.”
Grace did, and Kieren hovered by the door, not meeting Patrick’s gaze.
“Thank you, Grace.”
“You’re welcome, Your Highness. Have a wonderful evening.” Grace nodded her head as she left, closing the door behind her.
Victoria bustled over to the trolley Grace had brought in. “I ordered some food for you both. I thought you might be hungry after your training.”
