Royal Threat Read online

  13

  Byron

  I received a notification mid-afternoon to come to the palace’s main entrance. I’d been checking up with my soldiers regarding the interrogations that were finishing up, when I was asked to come upstairs.

  In the foyer, a messenger drone hovered quietly.

  “I’m Prince Byron Dufour,” I said. “I was told you asked for me?”

  “Please stand straight and still for authentication,” the machine said. A laser-like beam of red emanated from its central eye, then fanned out and moved slowly down my body. It did one more upward pass before turning off the scanning light and saying, “Authentication confirmed. Good afternoon, Prince Byron Dufour of Easteria. The message is for you only. Where can it be confidentially delivered?”

  There wasn’t anywhere safe in the palace that I knew of. But I knew these machines had built in blockers as well, and as long as we were in a confined space, it would remain within the walls.

  “My room would be best,” I said and guided the flying insect-like machine up the stairs.

  Once we were inside and I closed the door behind us, the messenger drone circled the perimeter of the room, shooting more red light at the walls.

  “There are recording devices present in this room,” the machine said in its monotone voice. “I will block them for this transmission.”

  “Do whatever you have to do,” I said, finally getting confirmation that the Queen had put cameras in my room. I definitely needed to have a talk with her about it.

  “The room is now secure. Would you like to begin the transmission?”

  “Who is it from?” I asked. When the drone didn’t answer, I added, “Yes; I’d like to begin the transmission.”

  “Very good,” it said, positioning itself near the television. This time, a pale green light shone from the central eye and two small figures appeared, standing on the coffee table.

  I immediately knew this was a conversation I should sit for and walked over to the couch.

  “Good afternoon, Byron,” my father said, echoed by the sweet sound of my mother.

  “Good evening to you both,” I said, knowing the time difference, along with the fact that this was not a recording, but a live call. “Thank you again for the extra soldiers. They’ve been a big help with taking care of the situation here.”

  “When do you expect we can have some or all of them back?” my father asked. “I don’t expect the front to stay quiet for long.”

  “Please give me a few more days, then I’ll send at least half of them back—at which time I can better assess our necessity for the rest. I know you need them, but we need control here first or our backing could be rescinded.”

  “Then you’re not aware that it already has been,” my father said.

  I couldn’t have heard him right. “What are you talking about?”

  “The Queen has cut off all aid to Easteria. We received word this afternoon.” My father waited for me to process the news, but then added, “What has happened that would cause her to do that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, sincerely perplexed. We seemed to be on better terms now more than ever. We seemed to be on a more level playing field. “I don’t know, but I’m sure I can fix it. She needs our help right now. There is no reason to not uphold her side at a time like this. I’ll talk to her. Did she give you this news directly?”

  “No; it was a male ambassador I’d never met before, sent by way of video message,” my father said.

  “Who?”

  “He identified himself has Mr. Calderon.”

  The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put a face to it.

  “I’m sure there’s a simple misunderstanding,” my mother said. “How are you during this turbulent time?”

  “I’m well, all things considered,” I said. “How about things at home?”

  “The Capital is still in good shape, but an entire section of the northern border has been burned to the ground—many innocent lives lost. We’ve pushed their armies back temporarily, but not for good. We still have a struggle ahead of us. Getting enough food to our troops is a concern.”

  “I knew things were bad, but not—”

  “We didn’t want to burden you with the details when you’re so far away,” my mother said. “We don’t want to distract you from your tasks in the west. We’re safe. Your brothers and sister are safe.”

  I took a deep breath. “I hope I’m doing enough. Much of the time, I don’t feel like I am.”

  “If you can ensure our funding is still in place, then you’re doing just fine,” my father said. “That’s why you’re there, after all.”

  “I know,” I said. “And I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  “Or come home,” my mother said. “If Queen Dorothea is truly cutting us off, then you need to get out of there.”

  I nodded. “Well, hopefully I’ll be in a position to at least visit soon.”

  “We’d all like that.”

  “Take care, son,” my father said. “Let us know what you find out after talking with Queen Dorothea.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The small green figures on the coffee table winked out of existence.

  “The transmission has ended. Thank you for your time,” the messenger drone said. “Please open the door so I may leave.”

  I wasn’t ready to stand yet, always feeling homesick anytime I spoke with someone in my family, but drones were not programed to be patient. So I did as the machine requested, opened the door, and let it fly into the hallway. I’d let a staff member deal with allowing the machine out of the palace.

  My eyes stung and I wiped them with a shirt sleeve. It seemed everyone I wanted to see, I couldn’t. I was alone. After nearly two months of being in Westeria, it hurt to think of home. I wanted to build a new life with Victoria—I really did—but I’d much rather take her home than stay here. Nowhere was safe, so—that being the case—I’d rather be with family.

  I paced the room to regain my composure, then took out my phone to request a meeting with the Queen.

  “Tabitha, where’s the Queen right now?” I asked, bluntly.

  There was a pause as she checked her planner, and when she spoke there was static due to her headset. “She’s scheduled to be downtown right now.”

  “But she didn’t really leave the palace, did she?” I asked. “Not in the middle of all this. Can you find out for me? It’s a matter of some importance.”

  Give me a minute and I’ll make some calls,” she said and hung up.

  I think I actually stumped her, I thought with a chuckle. She prided herself on always knowing where the Queen was, even when her location was confidential. But Tabatha had sounded as if she genuinely didn’t know.

  I went back to sitting on the couch as I waited for a return call. The coffee table looked so empty now without figurines of my parents acting as a small green centerpiece. The walls also looked very bare. All the girls’ rooms had artwork or pictures adorning the walls, but mine were bare. All I had was the oversized television across from the couch. Then I thought of what cameras might be embedded into the walls. The drone had said as much, and it had blocked them for a time, but they were back on now. Once again, I was on display.

  My phone buzzed in my hand. “Yes?”

  “You were right; the Queen is still here,” Tabitha said. “She canceled her meetings without updating her calendar or telling me to.”

  “I’m sure she has a lot on her mind,” I said. “As we all do. So where is she?”

  “She doesn’t want to be disturbed right now.”

  “I don’t care if she doesn’t want to be disturbed right now. I need to speak with her,” I demanded.

  There was a long pause on the other side of the line.

  “Oh, come on; I’m not just anyone. We should be beyond this.” I knew I sounded angry, and due to the continued silence, decided to change tactics. “Tabitha, I need your help here. I received news that concerns the Kingdom, and the
Queen would want to know.”

  “All right,” Tabitha sighed. “She’s with the Princess.”

  “Was that so hard?” I tried to sound lighthearted, but I didn’t believe it came off as such.

  “Will that be all, Prince DuFour?” Tabitha asked, sounding all business.

  Now I was the one to sigh. “Yes, Tabitha. That will be all.” The line went dead before I even finished speaking.

  I hurried down to the second floor and stopped before the guarded Yellow Room. They stopped me immediately.

  “The Queen does not wish to be disturbed,” one of them said.

  “The Queen called me here, so step aside,” I commanded.

  They looked at each other warily and I simply walked past them and opened the door. The Princess lay in bed while the Queen read to her from a hardbound book, like she was still a small child. Upon hearing the door, the Queen looked up. Her expression turned to a scowl at the sight of me.

  “Tabatha can’t keep her mouth shut,” she said, exasperatingly bookmarking her page and setting the book on the nightstand.

  “We’re supposed to be working together,” I said, walking into the room. “I’d done nothing but help you since everything erupted.”

  “And I appreciate that, but I should still be allowed some uninterrupted private time with my daughter.” She stared intently at me. “I can’t even get through a single chapter without excessive badgering from very confident and capable individuals. You, Prince Byron, are one of them. What is so urgent that can’t wait another half hour?”

  “Why did you withdraw all funding from the Easteria war effort?” I asked, stopping halfway across the room from her.

  “Where is this coming from?” she laughed. “Why would I do that?”

  “Exactly my thought. I couldn’t understand why, either.”

  “Then explain.”

  I grabbed the wooden chair from the nearby desk and pulled it closer to the bed before sitting down. “My parents received a message from a man by the name of Mr. Calderon, claiming to be an ambassador of yours.”

  “The name sounds familiar for some reason, but he’s not an ambassador of mine,” the Queen said.

  “I thought as much,” I said. “So, this wasn’t a message coming from you.”

  “All recent messages going to Easteria have gone through you. I have allowed you to be the liaison to your family.”

  “Then who would be speaking on your behalf, claiming to withdraw funding from Easteria?”

  “The King,” she said. “He’s trying to start a war.”

  “We’re already at war.”

  “But he’s turning my sovereignty into the target, so I’m attacked from all sides—outside and within. Again, he’s flexing his muscles, showing us how powerful he still is—what damage he can still cause.”

  “But he hasn’t caused any damage yet—not with this. If you didn’t change anything, then the supply chain should still be intact.”

  “I’ll check on it. Hopefully, it’s not something he’s been able to disrupt.” The Queen thought for a minute. “I believe there is a supply convoy scheduled to leave in two days for Easteria. I’ll ensure it’s still on schedule.”

  “I can check on it as well. I’d like to become an active part of this process,” I requested.

  “I see no harm in that now,” she said. “You have the biggest vested interest.”

  “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “He’s creating chaos,” Queen Dorothea said. “He wants to create doubt, which will create mistrust, and potentially lead to sabotage. Let’s not let that happen. We had our differences, but know that we are on the same side.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” I rose from the chair and carried it back to its rightful place. “We won’t let him win. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”

  “We will not. Will Victoria be returning soon?”

  “She’s safe, but I told her to stay away temporarily. Things seem to be settling, so I’ll have her escorted home soon.”

  “Has there been any luck with finding Bethany?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “And the other girls who were taken?”

  “No news on them either, I’m afraid.”

  The Queen gazed down at her daughter, lying peacefully in bed, who seemed to be falling asleep. “At least I got my Amelia back.” She leaned over and kissed the frail girl on the forehead.

  14

  Victoria

  “Stop the car!” I shouted.

  “What’s Bethany doing?” Constance said. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “That wasn’t Bethany,” I said. “There’s no way. Stop the car!”

  “Then who was it? There aren’t many of us left.”

  “The others are alive. I saw them,” I said to Constance, then whipped my attention back to the soldiers. “Stop this car!”

  “There is no stopping now,” the soldier who’d addressed me earlier said. “I need you to calm down.”

  “What’s happening?” Kale asked.

  “Please hand over your sidearm,” the other soldier instructed.

  “What? Why?” Kale asked. “We’re on the same side… aren’t we?”

  The soldier was insistent, forcing Kale to comply, finally. Kale scooted closer to me, trying to get some distance between the soldiers and the rest of us. Unfortunately, the limousine wasn’t that big.

  “What are you talking about with the other girls?” Constance asked. “Danielle? Jane? Eleanor?”

  There was no use keeping what I’d seen to myself any longer and told Constance and Kale what I’d seen. Even the soldiers seemed interested in our conversation. Then Kale complimented Constance on her new look—the full augmentation the doctors had put her through. She smiled shyly, providing a glimpse of a softness that still existed, buried deep beneath her tough exterior.

  “And you think the one posing as Bethany was one of them?” Constance asked once I was finished.

  “That, or there’s more of us than we know about,” I said. With how careful and contained the Queen wanted to keep us, I couldn’t believe there were more of us simply roaming the countryside. But maybe there were more of us locked within the catacombs of the palace—the ever-changing Sub-levels. More replacements.

  Kale removed his cellphone from his pocket. The device was buzzing angrily.

  “No,” the soldier across from him said and held out his hand.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kale complained. “My family is in danger. You have to let me take this.”

  The other soldier unholstered his handgun and leveled it at Kale’s head.

  As his last act of defiance, Kale threw the still buzzing phone on the carpeted floor of the car, forcing the soldier to pick it up. He hit the button on the side of the phone to stop the vibrating.

  “I don’t really want to go back to the Queen, but anything’s better than being with my original family,” Constance said after we’d been sitting in silence for a few minutes.

  “We’ll work something out,” I said. “I’ll talk to her.”

  “As yourself or Bethany because I can’t see that going over well.”

  “Oh… you probably don’t know that she appointed me to be Princess Amelia. We’ve worked out an arrangement.”

  “When did this happen? I haven’t been gone that long.” Constance stared at me incredulously.

  “At the Foundation Day celebration,” I said. “She knew it was me when I posed as Bethany—I don’t know what gave me away—but she allowed me to continue with Prince Byron anyway.”

  “So you got your prince. I’m happy for you.” And she didn’t even sound sarcastic.

  “Are we going straight to the palace?” Kale asked the soldiers.

  “We just have to make a quick stop first—then straight to the palace.”

  And as if on cue, the limo slowed and came to a stop.

  “That was fast,” Constance said.

  “It will be,” the first soldier s
aid, making his way for the door.

  Once he stepped outside, the second soldier nudged Kale on the shoulder. “Outside.”

  “All of us?” I asked.

  “No; just him.”

  “What did I do?” Kale asked. “I complied with all your ridiculous demands.”

  “And you’ll comply with this one. Out of the car.”

  “Whatever,” he said and scooted toward the open door.

  Once Kale stepped out, the second soldier exited after him, and finished by slamming the door.

  “What’s that about?” Constance asked. “Not-Bethany and her entourage sure aren’t fond of your friend.”

  “Screw it; we should find out what they’re up to,” I said and went for the door handle. But just before I managed to tug on it, there were two quick gunshots, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

  15

  Victoria

  My hand stopped at the awful sound outside the limousine. I was momentarily frozen in place, but in my head, I was screaming. “Kale!”

  “Don’t do it,” Constance said, grabbing my arm. “We need to look after ourselves. Don’t give them reason to…” She couldn’t finish. Her lower lip was trembling.

  I couldn’t speak, but regained enough of my motor functions to pull away from her grip. Then I went for the handle and pushed open the door. I didn’t jump out of the car, but warily peeked through the opening. I knew what I was going to see, I just didn’t know if I could handle seeing it—seeing him blood-spattered and sprawled out on the ground. It was one thing to see Ramsey like that, but quite another to see…

  Kale came into view—leaning in from the open door. I jumped back in surprise, letting out an embarrassing squeak in the process.

  “It’s okay,” he said, now ducking his head into the back of the car.

  “Kale… I thought you were…”

  “I was about to be,” he said, stepping back and straightening up.

  Constance climbed out of the limo and I followed her as soon as my heart didn’t feel like it would explode.