Chapter 67
Ryker and I were on our feet in an instant. He had to put Aurora down first before we made our way to the front of the palace where the message lay. I was expecting a box or something to point out that I had gotten a parcel but instead, there was a page glued to the wall on the side of the palace. I ripped it off and skimmed through the contents and it took me two lines to realize that it was a page from a journal.
“Does anyone know how it got here?” I asked but everyone stayed silent. I could feel Ryker quietly hovering over me so I handed him the letter. He read it through in a quick second and I could see his brow furrow. “How did he get his hands on this?” he kept his voice deliberately soft so only I would hear. I shrugged and he turned and handed it over to Kevin. “Take this to the elders and tell them to figure out how authentic it is.” Once Kevin had disappeared, it was just us and the guards who were manning the front gate. Everyone kept their eyes to the ground because they knew we were pissed. I didn’t- couldn’t- form any words because I was too busy thinking about the contents of that page. Judging by the signature at the bottom of the page, it belonged to my father and in it, he spoke about his son and how he was happy that he had one seeing as my mother could not grant him one.
“How the hell did he get in?” you could hear the barely restrained anger coming off from Ryker and everyone knew better than to respond. “You have one job and that is to keep the people in this building safe. How do you expect to do that if you cannot keep people out?”
There was a chorus of apologies but I wasn’t bothered with listening to it. I wringed my fingers together wanting nothing more than to get out of there. While Ryker was talking to them, I turned on my heels and walked away. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I made my way to the private living room and I saw Christine there. She looked like she was searching for something and when she saw me, she jumped.
“Is everything okay?” she asked and I nodded. “I heard that things aren’t exactly going well today.”
“I have a theory that I want you to listen to,” I began and she immediately settled into a chair.
“I’m listening.”
“Frederick is getting into the palace somehow. If he isn’t using the doors, then how?”
“Does he have someone on the inside that’s helping him?”
“I thought about that but it can’t be. He would need more than one person to get through the number of guards. I have thought about everything but I can’t seem to stump that. It makes no sense. He didn’t grow up here so how can he comfortably get in and out?”
“I understand you clearly,” she chuckled dryly. “I grew up here and sometimes I still find rooms that I didn’t even know existed. I’ll see if N can pull up the blueprints of the palace and find anything. I’m not making any promises but if I do find out something, I will let you know.”,
I thanked her and she just gave me a small smile in return. She reached out to grab what she was looking for and it was a small book I couldn’t see the title because it seemed like she was trying to hide it. Just as she walked out of the room, Ryker walked in. He looked genuinely concerned as he made his way over to me.
He sat next to me but he didn’t say any words. I was the one who broke the silence first. “I just wanted to be alone.”
“I know,” he admitted. “I increased the guards around the palace. We still have no idea how he is sneaking in but we will find out soon enough.”
“We better because we have six days before Frederick makes good on hist threat.”
The rest of the day was spent in and out of meetings and by the time. evening rolled around, I was exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to sink into the comfort of my bed and pretend like this was all a fever dream but I couldn’t. I had one more important event of the day and I couldn’t miss it for the world. As I made my way into the dining room, Audrey rushed up to me and wrapped her arms around my legs.
I felt some of the tension bleed out of me as I looked down at my daughter. She was smiling from ear to ear as she told me everything about her day. Despite how exhausted I was, I listened and hung on to every word. I hated that I couldn’t be with her before she went for her lessons or right after she finished due to a meeting but I tried to make up by promising to be there tomorrow.
According to her, she was learning about the kingdom history and she seemed to enjoy it. Dinner was the highlight of my day because I was surrounded by family and I could push everything away and just focus
on them. By the time it was over, everyone was half asleep and ready to call it a night but I was stopped outside the dining room by one of the elders.
“Your majesty,” he bowed. “I know it is late but we found your father’s journals.”
He pulled his hand out of his robe and in them was a stack of journals. They were leather bound and there looked to be at least six of them. I knew it would take me ages to get through them all. I hesitantly took them from him but I knew there was more that he wanted to say.
“What is it?” I asked finally and he swallowed deeply before continuing. “The page found in front of the palace matches his writing and his signature but we cannot find the journal it came from. It is possible that your father had another journal that we don’t know about.”
I realized what he was saying. My father may have left the journal with Frederick as some form of memorial. I forced a professional smile on my face. “Thank you, if that is all.”
He bowed and disappeared. I turned to see Ryker waiting in the hallway for me. I showed him the journals with what I hoped was a dismissive shrug. He took them out of my hands and led me up the stairs and towards our room. I couldn’t wait to delve into them because the quicker I finished them, the better it was for me. I needed to know what and who we were dealing with.
As soon as I was dressed for bed, I picked up the first one. It was dated the year that he married my mother. I started reading when I felt eyes on me and I looked up to see Ryker staring at me weirdly.
“What is it?” I asked and I noticed him staring at the journal. “Come on, Ryker, do you see how many there are? Six days is not enough time to finish it. I need to start as soon as possible.”
He sighed and picked up another one and settled next to me in bed. “We better get started then.”
I read well into the night with nothing much to show for it. As a young prince, it was obvious that my father was spoiled but at the same time wanted nothing to do with the life he had been given. He spoke about it disparagingly and always mentioned how he liked to escape into the woods just to get away from all the meetings and the people. I would have felt bad for him if he wasn’t the reason I was in the mess that I
currently was.
I enjoyed the parts where he spoke about my mother but there was something that stood out to me. He acknowledged her beauty and her ferocity but he never spoke about her as anything more than a business proposal. It was clear he had no feelings for her but it was also more than that. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone else that he was in love with.
I turned to Ryker. “Did he mention any girl in there?”
He looked up at me with scrunched brows. “Not really, he just moans about how constricting marriage is and how he is being hassled for an heir.”
“What year is that?”
He checked the date. “Four years before you were born. Frederick’s mother should be pregnant around this time. If he mentions anything about it, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Okay,” I nodded and I went back to reading.
I continued for what felt like hours but in reality was only a few minutes. I was about to call it a day when I saw it- what I was looking for. It was a simple phrase but it solidified everything I thought.
I wish Leanor were her, maybe it would be easier to marry her.
