Deadly Lovers (The Prussia Series) (3 page)

“Excellent,” said the Queen, “Sebastian, you’ve met John Campbell. John, you’ve met Princess Prussia, his new wife. Prussia, this is John Campbell.”

I nodded, impatiently, as the introductions went in a pointless circle. I didn’t care what the name of the guard was. I wanted to know what was going on that the Queen had decided to call Sebastian and I for a secret meeting in the dungeon with a guard I had never met or seen before.

“The list,” said Sebastian, handing the Queen a scrap of paper.

I tried to peer at the handwriting on the piece of paper as Sebastian passed it to the Queen but I couldn’t make out any of it.

“You’re certain?” asked the Queen as she looked over the piece of paper.

“Yes,” said John Campbell and Sebastian at the same time. Both men looked at each other for a brief moment and then back at the Queen, waiting, silently.

“What is going on?” I asked, the silence started creeping in and sending my mind on wild paranoid adventures about what it could be a list of.

I watched as the Queen chewed on her bottom lip and made a slight
tsk
sound every few seconds. The paper wasn’t very long and the Queen wasn’t a slow reader. In fact, she probably read it five times before she looked up again.

“This is what is going to happen,” said the Queen, the shadows doing nothing to add kindness or youth to her features in the harsh candle light of the dungeon, “Sebastian, no one leaves. 24 hour surveillance. They will be watched wherever they go on the grounds until this has been sorted out,”

“Everyone?” asked Sebastian.

“Yes,” said the Queen with the deepest frown I had ever seen on her face before, “I am not authorizing anything outside of questioning until we know more,” said Victoria very firmly.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, still unsure of what was going on. I didn’t like that the Queen had simply started barking orders. It didn’t seem like I was needed at all. Actually, it seemed like the opposite. It seemed like another way for the Queen to stop me from leaving.

“What is going on and what does any of this have to do with me?” I demanded, arms still crossed as I looked back and forth between the three of them.

After a pause, the Queen handed Sebastian the list he had given her before and looked at me.

“There is a spy in the court,” said the Queen, a great deal of sorrow settling onto her face, “And I need to ask you a favor,”

My mouth fell open as she spoke, giving me very little detail and explaining what I would need to do. The Queen, Victoria, had asked me for a favor. She wasn’t ordering me, she was asking.
Be still my beating heart,
I thought. She didn’t ask much but she also didn’t tell me much either, Just that one of the people on the list would need to be questioned.  She claimed she couldn’t do it because of a conflict of interest.

While I knew how unprecedented it was that the Queen would ask me for a favor rather than command me, I still hesitated. I had no way of knowing when Josephine might come looking for revenge for the death of her brother. And there was no telling when the war would actually start, officially. Friday at the latest but the castle could be under attack by evening. There was a very real chance that this could be my last window of opportunity to escape and secure my safety and freedom.

“I can’t do this without the Chancellor,” said the Queen, “I know you’re planning on leaving and I understand. But I can’t go to war with a spy in my mix. And if I am seen as heavy handed in seeking out the truth…they won’t rally behind me and go into battle.”

“We,” said Sebastian, “We are leaving. I’m going with Prussia,”

The Queen’s eyes grew wide with rage and surprise. The guard, John Campbell, took a step back, with his eyebrows raised high. He didn’t seem to want any part of what might follow.

“You’re going to leave me to go to war by myself? Asked the Queen.

“I just got married. And this is not your typical war. You said she’s your sister. She’s family.” said Sebastian.

“You don’t know what she’s like,” said the Queen.

“I may not have ever met her, but if she’s family I can’t imagine she would want much more than to be included in the court,” said Sebastian.

“She wants to take the throne for herself,” said the Queen.

“Fix your feud. It’s not as if your own sister would drive a spike through your chest,” said Sebastian.

“So you leave me without an army, then?” asked the Queen.

“I am not the whole of your army,” said Sebastian.

“You are the commander,” said the Queen, “without you, there is no army.”

“I don’t understand why I’m needed,” I said.

I witnessed, for the first time ever, the Queen roll her eyes at me.

“Because I transferred, not just the position of the Royal Chancellor to you, Prussia. I relinquished justice of the court to you, entirely. Without you to oversee it, there’d be no verdict until you return. If there is a spy in my court then I need them removed immediately. It can’t wait. I can’t go into a war like this.”

I covered my face with my hands and stifled a frustrated scream. I looked up at the Queen, her eyes soft and seeking sympathy. I was angry the moment that guard had called my name because I knew I wasn’t going to be going anywhere. And here my anger proved justified. I wasn’t going anywhere. What was one more delay? And I was sure that if push came to shove, if I really tried to leave, the Queen would drag me back. With every new reason she found to keep me here I became more convinced than ever that she never intended to let me leave.

“Fine,” I said, “how quickly can we get through it?”

John Campbell spoke up, raising his hand and looking around timidly.

“I think we could get this knocked out today,” he said after no one called on him to speak, “a few things, a few tools, and a chair and we are ready to rock ‘n roll,” said John Campbell as he looked around at the straw covered dungeon floor.

“Start bringing them in. As soon as possible,” nodded the Queen.

My face was frozen in horror as I realized what John Campbell was talking about. He was talking about bringing people in here, the dungeon.  I was guessing to torture more than question. I looked at Sebastian and then to the Queen. Perhaps I had agreed too readily to this. Either way, there was no backing out now.

I made it to my room, escorted by John Campbell as far as my door. And then he left to find Sebastian, to do as the Queen had instructed and gather up those suspected of spying for Queen Patricia. My suitcase hadn
’t opened when John had tossed my things in earlier but my purse had spilled.

The items had cascaded all over the floor but as I looked down at the items, wallet, keys to a car that hadn’t been found since Robert had tried to kidnap and trade me, a cell phone no one ever called me on, I realized I didn’t use any of it. I didn’t need any of it. Even my suitcase was too light to matter. What I had packed could have been easily replaced. Even the suitcase was replaceable. I had come back time and again for the things I had packed and each time it had been my undoing.

I went over to my purse and fished the only thing still in it - the crumpled up copy of notes that Tommy had made for me. Anyone that would have wandered in would have been privy to information that could have changed my life. I crouched there on the floor, smoothed out the pages and tried to read the barely legible handwriting.

“You’re going to end up dead,” said Lydia, a pity in her tone and a touch of amusement.

The unexpected sound of her voice startled me so much that I jumped. Hearing Lydia behind me, I quickly folded up the papers and shoved them back into my purse. Leaving the rest of the items on the floor, I held firmly onto the straps of my purse and retreated to my bed.

“No, I’m not,” I said.

I didn’t believe the words even as I said them. Regret echoed in my heart as I faced the reality that I had, technically, already died and come back - as what I was now. Immortal.

Lydia leaned casually up against the door frame of my room. I don’t know when the relationship between Lydia and I had transitioned from a fiery hate to a slow burning and smoldering hate but I still hated her. Just the sight of her put a scowl on my face.

Whenever possible, I avoided running into her. It had been nice not seeing her in a while, but here she was to pop her head back up and to be a pain in the rear again. She wore her signature skintight dress, no straps or bra for that matter. Her heels were black and high, very high. Her face with that permanent smug aloof look. Everywhere she went, Lydia was judging the world. I glared at her from where I sat on my bed, holding tightly to the purse and wishing that Lydia would leave. She had to have more important things to be doing with her time right now…like trying to steal somebody’s boyfriend for fun or, you know, murdering them when she doesn’t get her way.

“How
aren’t
you dead yet,” asked Lydia, “Seriously, because…you’ve done your share of stupid things. Statistically speaking, one of those stupid decisions should have ended you,”

I let out a deep sigh, laying back on my bed and staring at the ceiling. I didn’t want to explain it to Lydia. It wasn’t any of her business, anyway. And if I thought I could count Lydia as a person I could trust, I would need to check myself into a mental institution. It had been few and far in between occasions when trusting Lydia had been the right thing to do. But she had a point.

“That’s my secret power,” I mumbled up at the white ceiling, too caught up in my situation to even care that Lydia was still being Lydia, nosy even when I clearly was not in the mood to entertain her annoying questions.

“You wait around much longer,” said Lydia, her voice trailing off, “I don’t think you’re super power is going to do you much good,”

I lifted my head up off of the bed high enough to give Lydia a dirty look. She was being particularly negative tonight. I didn’t really need it. I had come to realize that Lydia took great pleasure in other people’s failures and pain. And I happened to know that Lydia didn’t hang around just for the sake of hanging around. Which made me suspicious.

I still blamed her for Robert; even though I knew she wasn’t the reason Robert had become a vampire. She had still left him for dead. When I think back to that night, the night Jasper, Josephine, and Robert and I met in that dark cemetery, sometimes I wished that Lydia had killed him. If she had, it would’ve saved me a lot of pain. But Lydia wasn’t about doing anything that wasn’t to benefit her, that much was obvious. And I was tired of politics and riddles.

“You know what,” I said, sitting up with a big smile plastered on my face, “You’re right,”

“I am?” asked Lydia.

“But here I am,” I said, flailing my arms, “So I might as well just buckle up and enjoy the ride,”

“Well, with that attitude you won’t last ten minutes when this war finally gets going,” snorted Lydia, “I know you get lucky, really lucky, but luck isn’t going to help you when vampires are ripping you limb from limb,”

“I'm not fast. I’m not strong. I don’t stand a chance. I’m as worthless as a human,” I wailed.

“Honey, I hate to break it to you but you are human,” said Lydia, looking at me sideways.

I started crying. I had no idea what I would do but I could absolutely see something like that happening to me. I could see me spending eternity without arms and legs. Tommy and I had barely scratched the surface of my real weaknesses. That’s all there seemed to be, weaknesses.

“You could always…hide, I guess,” muttered Lydia, obviously uncomfortable about the Niagara Falls situation on my face.

“They would find me,” I mumbled through tears, “They always find me,”

“Well, then you better learn to fight. You have to learn to stand your ground and…” Lydia sighed, “You know what? You’re pretty much screwed.”

“At least I have Sebastian to watch out for me,” I said.

“Fat chance,” said Lydia, “He’ll be in the thick of it. He’s a Prince second and a war hero first, groomed for war since he was born,”

“He’s not going to fight. We’re supposed to leave but…I’m pretty sure the Queen will come up with yet another reason to force us to stay.”

“Sebastian’s leaving?” asked Lydia, quietly.

“We’re supposed to be going on our honeymoon,” I said, looking up. But she was gone. What a relief.

I dried my tears and quickly retrieved Tommy’s notes from my purse. I hated that Lydia was right, but she was. I needed to leave. But first I needed to make sure I wasn’t leaving a trail. I couldn’t risk that these would fall into the wrong hands. I scanned the pages. Most of Tommy’s notes were illegible. His handwriting was scrawling in some areas and chicken scratch in others. I could only make out a few words and phrases. I didn’t have much time as I tried to focus on what looked important, paying special attention to the parts that he had circled or underlined.

Can be completely drained. Water introduced; will rebound quickly,
Tommy had scrawled on half a page,
cure and the weapon
was written clearly in the margins of another page, with ‘weapon’ circled several times hastily. I had a moment of pause as I looked at the notes as a whole. They were rushed and detailed. There were entire pages I couldn’t make out for the life of me. And there were little notes in the margins of every page. Tommy had been thorough but his notes made me wonder where his mind went as he studied me.

Each phrase that was circled or underlined had been so hastily written that it was nearly impossible to understand. I began to wonder if that had been his intention. I didn’t have time to try and decode Tommy’s poor handwriting.

I crumpled all of the pages up in a large ball and looked around on the floor for the lighter that had scattered along with the other items that had been in my purse. I fished it out from just under the bed skirt of my bed and headed to the decorative little waste can next to my desk.

I flicked the flame to life on that little lighter and lit the corner of the pieces of paper as the fire sprang to life, hanging on the edge of the page and working its way quickly across the paper. Before the flame took it, my eye caught on the two words that were written in the corner of that page. No sooner had I read them than the entire ball of Tommy’s notes became engulfed in flame. I could barely make out the handwriting.
Human trials
had been written in that corner with an enormous question mark and the hurried swirl of three circles around the scribble. My mouth fell open for a moment as I contemplated what might have been on the rest of that page, or near it. But the ball of notes, lit into a blazing furnace in the small waste basket, had consumed the answer to my curiosity. Perhaps when I next saw Tommy I would ask him. But now, at this moment, I had to focus on more pressing matters. I had to leave before anyone noticed, before the castle calmed down enough for anyone to notice that I was gone.

I left the fire to burn unattended, not wanting to wait around for someone to get curious about the origin of the black smoke that had begun to billow up out of the waste basket and would no doubt spread throughout the room and down the hallway. Someone would come to investigate and I wasn’t going to be hanging around to answer questions or be pinned down with anymore requests or demands.

I tossed the lighter on the desk and made hurried steps past my bed. I didn’t pick up my suitcase. I left my purse on the bed. I kicked away the discarded items from my purse that still remained scattered on the floor as I made my way to the hallway. My heart picked up a faster beat as I neared the door.

The last time I had been sneaking around I had seen Jasper walk past the door and ended up in a fight for my life. Now…I hesitated a moment. I held my breath and listened, trying to be as quiet as I could. No one passed. I couldn’t hear anyone moving down the hall.

I strained to hear as best I could. I cursed the softness of the hallway carpet which made it nearly impossible to hear the steps of anyone approaching. After a moment, I pushed aside my anxiety and let my fear fuel my courage. It was false courage but I would take whatever I could get. I stepped out in the hall and braced myself, waiting to hear my name called expectantly. But nothing. No one rushed to my side. No one stepped forward to drag me off.

I looked behind me, down the long hallway that led towards the Queen’s chambers and the office of the Chancellor, my office. There was no one. I looked ahead of me, down the hall towards what I knew would eventually turn into the entry way, and finally the front door manned by Charlie. I saw no one. I could hear a few voices rising, echoing here and there, but I didn’t see anyone. I let my breath out and began making my way hastily towards the front door.

I tried to stay calm, to avoid looking suspicious, as I made my way towards where I knew Charlie would be standing, offering a polite smile and a little nod as he would open the door. I braced myself yet again as I stepped out of the safety of the corridor and into the more open walk way that led past the sitting area and towards the entry way. I was within a few yards of the entrance. No one noticed me. Not even Charlie had noticed me.

I took a few cautious steps as I scanned the sitting area to my left and not a single vampire looked over at me. There were a few, milling about gossiping. Whatever they were talking about was far more interesting than me, looking like an escaped mental patient as usual, I was sure.

My shoulders, hunched high with anxiety I didn’t realize I was showing, relaxed as I realized that no one was paying me any attention. I even felt a smile crease my face and turned my attention back to looking as inconspicuous as possible. I continued to walk towards Charlie, manning the front door as vigilant as ever.

Charlie gave me only a passing glance when he moved to open the door. But I frowned. I was still 20 feet or more away from the door. Charlie never opened the door so early. He always waited until I was closer and I usually had to ask for my coat or a driver.

My footsteps slowed as Charlie opened the door, his back to me, as I realized that Charlie was not opening the door for me. He was opening the door for someone else. And when I saw him my heart plummeted to my stomach and my feet became stuck like quicksand in the silent, plush carpet. My face twisted in mortified horror.

Charlie stood with the door open and his back to me, taking the coat of the one person on earth I had both loved and hated deep in my heart and soul. Robert wore a smile that made me sick. I felt my desire for self preservation kick in before reason or sanity. Without another second of thought, I turned and sprinted, not wanting our eyes to meet.