Chapter 245

That night, I left Elva with the nanny, and met with Nicholas, Julian, and Veronica in one of the sitting rooms.

“Why are we meeting here?” I asked as I entered the room. “Wouldn’t it be easier to meet near the royal family wing?”

“It would be, if that’s where Joyce was,” Julian said.

I blinked, surprised. Julian stuffed shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He didn’t seem likely to explain so I looked to Nicholas instead.

It was so nice to see Nicholas without his Bridget shadow. I wondered what he had to do to escape her for this long. But he didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. I wanted to enjoy him on his own for as long as I could, without bringing Bridget into it.

Plus, talking about her in front of Julian would hurt him.

“Joyce isn’t in his rooms,” Nicholas said, bringing me back to the matter at hand.

I pulled my brow together. “Then where is he?”

“He’s in the dungeons,” Julian said finally.

Now I was even more surprised. A direct member of the royal family locked in the dungeons? It seemed so unheard of. Sure, that’s where they had put Terry, but he’d never been a true royal by blood. Only his relation to his sister kept him close enough to gain the royal benefits.

Joyce was a prince, the son of the King.

Nicholas must have seen my confusion. “He kept trying to escape.”

“Don’t worry,” Julian said. “His cell is not like you are imagining.”

I didn’t know how Julian knew what I was imagining, but… yeah, I was imagining something pretty bad. Dark and cold with water dripping down and a bucket for the bathroom. Dirt floors. A straw bed. Maybe chains connecting him to the walls.

“You’ll see,” Nicholas said. He held out his arm for me, and I slid my arm through his.

Julian did the same for Veronica, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn’t sure she was even listening to our previous conversation. Though from her plainer-than-usual clothes, it was likely she had already guessed where we were going.

As a group, we moved slowly and stealthily to the dungeons. We couldn’t sneak past the guards stationed at the dungeons, but when they say the princes with us, they waved us through. No, when we had been stealthy, it was mainly to avoid the cameras.

The very last thing that we needed was the public wondering why two princes and two candidates were descending down into the dungeons.

The dungeons were housed under the barracks where the guards stayed. We went down two flights of stairs before we went through another checkpoint and then entered the dungeon proper.

It was nothing like the medieval torture rooms I had imagined. No, this facility was entirely… modern. Cameras and clean concrete floors, and glass everywhere. The doors were metal, but there were no bars. Guards patrolled the hallways. Others were stationed in watch rooms with monitors that viewed every corner of this place.

“This is his room here,” Nicholas nudged me as we passed. The room was empty presently, but… wow!

It looked like a prince’s room: a plush bed, a wooden desk, and tall-back sitting chairs. Dozens upon dozens were scattered throughout. He had his own personal bathroom with a door.

It was the nicest prison I’d ever seen, and so far beyond even the nicest thing I could think of.

“He’s not there,” I said.

“We moved him into one of the discussion rooms, in preparation of our visit,” Nicholas said.

Discussion room seemed like a nice way of saying interrogation room.

Farther down the hallway, the princes led us into a small room with a giant glass window on one side. In the room beyond the window, Joyce sat at a simple table, waiting.

“He can’t see us in here,” Nicholas said. “But we can see him. We can stay here and watch, if Veronica needs our help.”

Veronica was still quiet.

I wished I could give her a hug, but I didn’t want to disturb her train of thought. She had personally asked me to come with her.

“I don’t need you to do anything,” she had said then. Her eyes had been downcast, like she was embarrassed to be asking for help. “But I would feel better if I knew you were there, supporting me.”

“I’ll always be supporting you,” I had said, thinking about what would happen when the competition was done and we all went our separate ways.

Coming here tonight was the absolute least I could do for her.

“I’m ready,” Veronica said now.

The rest of us waited in the observation room, as Veronica went alone through the door into the interrogation room.

Joyce glanced up as she entered. He seemed confused.

“What are you doing here?”

“Do you know who I am?” she asked.

“From the competition…” he said. He didn’t know her name.

“I’m Veronica,” she said. “And I was just like you. I was recruited into the underground organization from a very young age, and was raised to do their bidding.”

Joyce looked at her again in renewed interest. “How old were you?” he asked.

“Too young.”

Joyce dropped his gaze down to the table. “And you’re out now?”

“Yes. It took a long time, but I was finally exposed to their true colors. They never wanted to save the world like they promised. They trained me to do magic, and then used me to do terrible things.”

“I’m not like you,” Joyce said. He crossed his arms. “Is that why you are here? You think you can just feed me these lines and my life will change?” He looks at Veronica again, and there’s something dark in his eyes. “I may have been uncovered, but I will never be a traitor like you. I believe in this cause.”

“They lied to you,” Veronica said at the same tone and cadence, seemingly undisturbed by his insults.

If being a traitor to a crime organization could be considered an insult.

“I don’t believe you,” Joyce said once, and then louder, “I don’t believe you!”

“Whatever darkness you are facing, I promise there is a way out of it for you, just like there was for me,” Veronica said.

Again, this time screaming himself horse, Joyce repeated, “I don’t believe you!!”

Hearing raised voices, guards went into the room. Veronica turned and left, returning to the observation room with us.

I went toward her. “I’m so sorry, Veronica.”

“It’s not over,” she said. “This is only the beginning.” She looked to Julian. “I’d like to come back again.”

Julian nodded. “Alright.”

I didn’t understand. “He didn’t seem… receptive?”

“You saw him lose his temper,” Julian said. I did. “He wouldn’t have done that if Veronica’s words didn’t touch a nerve. He has doubts. We’ll have to be resilient.”

Nicholas stepped closer to Veronica now too. “You shouldn’t overly trouble yourself, Veronica. We appreciate what you are doing, but –”

“I want to do this,” Veronica said. “It feels like this is healing some of the damage I’ve done to people in the past.”

No one dared to argue with that.

As we were leaving the dungeons, a shiver ran through me. Though modern, the facility did seem to have a sterile, cold feeling too it.

Suddenly, Nicholas removed his jacket and placed it around my shoulders. I was instantly warmer and snuggled into it, knowing it had been warmed by Nicholas’s skin.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Anything for you,” he said.

I smiled and lowered my face closer to the collar of the jacket. There, I smelled Nicholas’s comforting, masculine scent.

Yet under that… faint… was the smell of flowers.

Bridget.