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“What is wrong, sweetheart?” the king asked, soothingly rubbing her raven hair, as she continued to wail like a siren. Never in his three hundred years would Felix have believed that King Delton was capable of such gentleness. But Queen Xara had been a softening influence on him.
The queen sighed at Princess Blanche who gripped fistfuls of her mother’s gown and pointed an incriminating finger at her twin sister. “Mummy, she pulled my hair!” she shrieked.
For a four-year-old, she spoke an awful lot. The princesses were constantly running around the palace, listening in on servants' conversations, and picking up new words. The last time Felix had visited, they’d called him a ‘bastard’. King Delton had gone red with embarrassment and Queen Xara had given the twins an earful, after which they apologized to him. They were back to their antics again, from the looks of it.
“She pinched me,” Princess Noire retorted, gripping the king’s lapels tighter. He held her close and looked at the queen who held Princess Blanche’s hand. Someday, these princesses would be the heirs to the thrones of Escayton and Inferno. Felix could only hope they’d grow up to be more responsible adults. Having no grandchildren himself, he hadn’t a clue how to deal with them.
“Where is Arya?” she asked.
At that, both the twins turned a bright shade of red. Their complaints stopped and they looked away.
“Noire. Blanche.” The queen’s voice was severe. “What did you do this time?”
The twins grew stonily quiet. Suddenly, all the pinching and hair pulling was forgotten and they eyed each other guiltily. King Delton stopped stroking Noire’s hair and held her small fingers. “It’s okay, you can tell daddy.”
Her sister shot her a glare, but Blache aimed her teary eyes at her father and said, “We locked her in the room—”
“What!?” Queen Xara edged forward, holding Blanche’s arm. “How many times have I told you both that she’s not a toy to play with.”
“It was Blanche’s idea.” Noire wailed.
“But Noire did it,” Blanche said, gripping her father’s knee. “Daddy…I didn’t do it.”
“It’s okay, dear,” He hoisted Blanche up and sat on his other leg. “You made a mistake didn’t you?”
“Hmmmm…?” The twins looked at each other and began crying in unison. King Delton moved to soothe them, but Queen Xara glared at him and his fingers froze midway. They had their father wrapped around their little fingers.
“Get off right now, you two. You’re going to unlock Arya. Then, you’re going to apologize for what you did,” the queen announced. She grabbed the twins’ hands and pulled them down. “What did I tell you about locking people?”
“That we shouldn’t do it,” Blanche said in a small voice.
“That’s right. Why did you do it, then?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“It’s not fun for Arya. She is all alone in there. Would you want to be locked alone in a dark room all day without your sister?”
“No….”
“I’m sorry, mummy.” Noire made puppy eyes at her.
“You say that every time,” Queen Xara said with a resigned sigh. “You need to stop coming up with inventive ways to torture people.”
“Your mother is right,” King Delton said. “We can’t have more maids quitting.”
With a resigned expression, Blanche and Noire got in line, ready to follow their mother out.
“Come on now,” Queen Xara led the way, holding the twins’ hand, making sure they didn’t run away again. “Let’s go save Arya.”
She marched out with the twins, leaving Felix and the king alone. Immediately, he turned his attention to work.
“Our spies in Terra have made progress. Amara and Tranagard caught the person who was responsible for the human trafficking.” As he delivered his weekly report, Felix felt calm and peaceful. It made him feel less abnormal, less incomplete. He sometimes felt out of place in interactions. Though he always said the right thing, he hadn’t been able to relate to people for a long time. Mrs. Dane had talked about feeling isolated in her letters. Ever since, he’d come to accept his situation. He was comfortable with reports, strategies, and routines. Not people. He could observe them, capture them, know their psychology inside out, but he’d never relate to them, never feel like he was one of them.
“That is good news,” the king said.
Felix smiled. He left out the part where Darius had questioned him why Amara, one of his spies, had flouted his orders and escorted the criminal to prison herself. She had the day off today but he’d have to speak to her first thing on Monday morning. She was a talented spy, which was why he’d brought her to Sigilis, but she had trouble following orders. It had gotten worse since they moved to Sigilis. The king didn’t need to know any of that, though.
“That is all I have to report, Your Majesty.”
