Chapter 206

“It’s just strange,” Julian said, as he escorted me from our room for one of our dates. “I guess since pretty much the time the King saw you and Nicholas, he’s been locked up with his advisors. I’ve seen him many once in passing, but he didn’t stop to talk to me.”

To me, that didn’t seem all that strange. Up until the event began, the royal family were reclusive. Even the King himself was not typically seen. However, for Julian to be so worried about it that he would bring it up with me, indicated a deeper problem than I would have otherwise assumed.

“Is that so unusual for him?” I asked. “He doesn’t seem like a big family man.”

“Maybe,” Julian said. “But usually he keeps us three princes in on the plans. Whatever ideas he and his advisors are coming up with now, I don’t think he’s even talking to Nicholas about…”

Watching his puzzled expression, I frowned in solidarity with him.

“My parents think I’m a wildcard, they might not tell me everything,” Julian said. “But to keep Nicholas out of the loop, too? It’s troubling. God knows what kind of plans they are concocting without our input.”

“Surely the advisors would know what they are doing?” I asked.

Julian sighed. “I wouldn’t trust those guys with my lunch order, let alone the sake of the whole nation. I guess the fact that nothing has happened yet is a measure of comfort. Some of those advisors, I’m sure, want to chase away the protestors with violence.”

My nerves prickled. “Wouldn’t that just make the protests worse?”

“Protests?” Julian huffed a sharp laugh. It had no humor in it and died quickly. “That kind of act might trigger a civil war.”

My heart jumped once with sharp worry.

Julian noticed, maybe from the look of increasing worry on my face, and lamented. “I’m sorry, Piper. I shouldn’t talk to you about these things.”

“You can talk to me about whatever you like,” I said.

He shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s cruel of me to put all of this on you. Besides, maybe you are right. Maybe the advisors are actually coming up with good ideas this time. Or my father is. Anything is possible.”

I let the words settle in around me. Perhaps Julian was needlessly worrying, but… he was always so observant. I had trouble believing he could be wrong about anything he’d witnessed.

“We haven’t seen much of Prince Joyce either,” I said, just to make conversation, and hopefully, to pull the conversation away from more ominous worries.

“He does stay cooped up in his room most days. He loves to read,” Julian said. Though, as my words lingered, he said, “When was the last time you saw him?”

I tried to think back. We’d had no formal dinners in a while, nor events.

“The last time I saw him was that night on the balcony,” I said. “When he’d given me that letter.”

“And locked you out there,” Julian added. He sounded suddenly pensive.

I didn’t really want to think about that part, but, “Yes.”

He’d never apologized for that, though perhaps he never realized that he’d done it. If he’s been locked up in his room, then who would have told him? The only other people who knew about it were Julian and Nicholas.

“You haven’t spoken with him, either?” I asked Julian.

“No. I haven’t even seen him myself.” Julian sighed. “But that’s not so unusual either. As I said, he oftentimes stays in his room. And if father hasn’t summoned us…”

I nodded.

“Sometimes I think about that night,” Julian said.

“Me, too,” I said. What almost happened to Nicholas stayed with me all the time. I clutched it close. That memory was what would help me, when the time came, to deal with my sister.

“I don’t just mean what happened after we went after Nicholas…” Julian added. He seemed far away for a moment. I wondered where he went.

“Then, what?”

He glanced at me. Slowly, he stopped walking. We were alone in the hallway though there was talking up ahead. Around the corner was the dining room. Some of the girls must have gone down to lunch early.

“Joyce called you out to that balcony,” Julian said. “He said it was because you are too reckless, but when has he ever cared about something like that before or since. You aren’t one of his selected candidates, and he’s never taken an interest in any of Nicholas’s or my relationships before.”

“You can’t think… he had ulterior motives?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Julian admitted quickly. “It does seem unlikely. Joyce has never been rebellious. He’s always done just enough to stay within the rules our parents set for him. I suppose he could have seen, as I did, how fond Nicholas is of you, and wanted to step in, but…”

My throat went dry. “’But?’”

Julian squeezed my arm. “The timing is what concerns me. He locked you out there the same night Nicholas was almost taken. It felt wrong to me, even then I felt something was off. That was why I was so insistent we check on Nicholas.”

My worries culminated into a dark jagged swirl that sliced mercilessly inside my chest. I had to voice an unhappy question. I felt guilty even thinking it, so I whispered it to Julian rather than saying it too loudly, “Could Joyce be working with the underground?”

Julian looked at me. There was a hard edge to his gaze. “You should be careful around him.”

“You do suspect him, then?”

“Piper,” he said, and for a small moment, he sounded so very tired. “I suspect everyone.”

I had no reply to that. He rendered me speechless.

After a moment’s more quiet, Julian urged me into walking again, and we finally turned that corner into the louder hallway.

Only it wasn’t the candidates in the dining room making the noise. Instead, it was two different camera crews trying to capture every angle of Nicholas and Olivia as they stood in the center of the hallway. A producer was holding a microphone in Nicholas’s face and asking Nicholas questions.

In the chaos, I couldn’t make out the question, but it made Nicholas dip into his reservoir of unpleasantly cold princely faces.

Julian might have heard it better than I did, because in the next instant, he called out, “Nicholas! How funny meeting you here!”

Suddenly every eye in that crowded hallway turned to look at Julian instead, and then, in turn, looked at me.

I half wanted to hide, but Julian’s hold on my arm was fierce, like an unrelenting vice.

Julian led me straight in through the crowd until we were standing directly in front of Nicholas and Olivia. Both wore matching faces of cool indifference, while their eyes burned with displeasure. It was eerie how similar the glances were.

It made my heart ache too. Maybe they truly were perfect for each other. More perfect than Nicholas and I had ever been, perhaps.

“Are you also on a date?” Julian asked.

Nicholas frowned deeper. “Yes, Julian,” he said it like it was obvious. Which, honestly, it was.

“About to have lunch, then?” Julian asked.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

“Great!” Julian brightened, smile wide. “Then we should eat together.”

“That’s not…” Nicholas began.

Julian spoke to the camera crews now. “Surely you guys would love to see a double date with the princes and their favorite candidates, right?”

The crews cheered, vocalizing their agreement.

Looking at Julian, I wondered if he had somehow planned for this entire arrangement, just to upset his brother. I had no idea how he would have pulled it off, but that didn’t ebb my suspicion. If anyone could have figured it out, it was him.

“What do you say?” Julian asked Nicholas.

Nicholas glowered. “I guess.”