I knew today was going to be a bad day when Reggie appeared extra jumpy as he fetched my morning coffee. To watch his extra weight jiggle as he jumped at the sound of my voice did help a little in improving my humor for the day, but I was wired tight for any news about Jayde. I walked into my first meeting and they were harassing me about the whereabouts of Jayde, making my day increasingly worse. I had Arthur on the job that meant everything should be going according to plan, but he hadn’t checked in for hours and it was starting to worry me. I couldn’t lose Jayde to Kohl. If he got Jayde to believe his lies, this will be a losing battle. I don’t want to even think of conceding to Kohl and losing my power in Encante. I deserved it. Kohl’s family were manipulative liars and I couldn’t lose to that. Encante would destroy itself.
“Majesty,” Reggie rushed in, his full face red in embarrassment or anxiety. “Arthur is back.”
“And?” When he didn’t say anything and just reddened, I continued. “Is Jayde with him?” Reggie rushed out of the doors and came back in a few seconds later with Arthur and Antonio dressed in robes.
“Your Majesty, I’m sorry to inform you that Kohl has custody of Jayde.” Arthur said genuflecting in front of my seat. “I will infiltrate enemy lines to retrieve her if that’s what you need of me.” Arthur continued. Even though I was pissed beyond reason he was trying to remedy a situation I could tell was mostly Antonio’s fault. I willed myself to stop seeing red, I had work to do. I couldn’t let my temper blind me to what mattered. I needed Jayde.
“What happened?” I ground out trying to not let any of the men know how angry I really was. Antonio looked at Arthur before he began speaking. He wasn’t as confident as he was when he had previously entered my chambers.
“Today is Jayde’s birthday. She was having a birthday party so we attended. Kohl was there and recognized Arthur quickly. I tried to convince Jayde to come with me but I believe Kohl had already begun brainwashing her. She wanted to stay with him.”
“Explain the bruises?” I continued looking at Antonio’s swollen lip, black eye, and Arthur’s bruises. They had taken a beating by who was the more important question.
“Well I got into an altercation with one of Jayde’s friends Julio and Kohl. Arthur was also attacked by Julio and Kohl.”
“Jayde is the one we are looking for she hexed us to stop the altercation.” Arthur interrupted. “I had custody of Jayde until I was attacked. Kohl hexed me and ran off with Jayde. Antonio and I followed them to the river, where Jayde successfully transformed, to the start of Encante-North territory.”
“So Kohl has her. Reggie, get in touch with his assistant. I need her back before Kohl does anymore damage.” Reggie with a terse nod, waddled out of the room to complete his task.
“Arthur, I’d like you to arrest Antonio for the same charges we had previously discussed. He failed his mission and will now be reprimanded for his actions.”
“But I couldn’t have done anything different!” Antonio angrily retorted.
“You could have brought her to me years ago!” I snapped back. Antonio could never take a hint. “Get him away from me Arthur.”
Arthur quickly obliged and had two guards escorting Antonio away from my quarters in a matter of moments. I watched as Antonio fought and attempted to squirm out of the guards’ grasps but they maintained a grip on him and he was quickly gone.
“Arthur, what the hell happened?”
“I don’t know what Jayde and Antonio’s relationship is but it is clear that it was over. She didn’t even want to look at him when he greeted her.”
“So in other words he screwed it up.” I grumbled.
“I’m afraid so. If it helps I don’t think she is anymore trusting of Kohl now that she knows the truth.”
“If that were true, why is she in Encante-North?” I snapped back not even suppressing the contempt I felt for this situation.
“Maybe we can set up a meeting with Jayde and Kohl. He will want to keep up with the guidelines that have been set in place regarding this situation.” Arthur offered.
I wanted to laugh. Kohl had won, he had Jayde. If I was him, I would never agree to let Jayde visit or meet with the competition.
“Maybe,” I said trying to ease the tension Arthur and Reggie were feeling in my presence.
Kohl
Isodora had dressed Jayde in a dress that made me forget my name.
“Do you like it?” Jayde asked self-consciously when she walked into the smaller dining room.
“You are certainly ready to impress.” I said trying to conceal the feelings I shouldn’t have been feeling for her. Sure, she was beautiful and I was almost sure she’d be a great ruler, but I had to keep in mind the kingdom came first. I couldn’t afford to think with anything other then my head.
“What are we having?” Jayde asked as she sat in the chair beside mine.
“It’s one of the chef’s signature dishes. It’s a grilled tuna steak with grilled and marinated vegetables and usually potatoes, either mashed or roasted.”
“Sounds delicious.” She said showing a relaxed smile. She was getting more comfortable the longer she was here. I thought this would all be too much for her but she was taking this better than I could have imagined. She hadn’t remained angry and even seemed to be getting along with the maid I had hired for her.
“What would you like to drink?” I asked when Davis came bearing multiple wines and juices on a tray.
She pointed at a bottle of water and Davis poured it into a glass laid out before her.
“So what is your meeting about?”
“Well to be honest we have to start building our defense now that you are here.”
“Because of Sy?”
“Yes, I’m not sure what exactly he’ll do when he finds out you’re here but he will be up to something.”
“Do you still want me to sit in on the meeting?” She asked nervously. Her hands were on her lap twisting a cloth napkin. She was trying to hide her anxiousness.
“Technically it’s your meeting too.” She smiled at that.
“You can keep saying I’m some sort of queen, but I just can’t believe it.”
“Like I said I don’t want you to do anything until you’re ready. Just watch this meeting. Try to grasp an understanding of what’s going on in Encante. Learn the protocol and we can go from there.”
“I thought I had to choose which territory I wanted to be a part of before I ruled?”
“Technically, without even marrying this was your parents’ territory and it’s yours now, if you want it.” She leaned back into the massively ornate dining chair making her look small.
“Maybe I’ll just take it one day at a time.” She said sounding wiser than I would have previously guessed about her.
“Did you have any other questions for me?” I asked when a silence fell between us when our salads came out.
“Why didn’t I grow up here?” She asked her piercing gaze enthralling me.
“Your parents didn’t think it was safe for you here. You were only a baby, Sy and I are four years older and could at least listen to our parents. They were taking you to a particular friend we keep on the other side, but they never made it there. They were ambushed and killed by some of Syrus’s soldiers. Your parents must have hid you right before the ambush, because they didn’t kill or kidnap you.” She nodded trying to blink back tears. “After the meeting I could show you some pictures of them.” I said knowing what she was feeling. She probably didn’t even know her parents’ names.
I watched her wipe away the few stray tears she had shed. “I’m sorry, I just….”
“Their names were Christoph and Sarah.” She nodded new tears coming to her eyes.
“I didn’t even know that.” She said this time not able to stop the waterworks. Before I even thought about it I was beside her hugging her, consoling her. Ignori
ng everything I had tried to drill into my head only a few minutes before. “I’m sorry,” she said dabbing at her eyes with the cloth napkin that was on her lap. “You must be a great king.” She finished with a sad chuckle.
“Why is that?” I asked returning to my chair.
“You care. Even though I don’t know a single thing about you, I can tell, you care.”
“You know about me.” I replied defensively thinking about the conversations we had when she was still oblivious to our world. I had spent an entire weekend sharing what I could with her.
“What?” She asked slightly returning to her usual cheerful mood.
“When we talked I was honest.” She rolled her eyes not buying anything I said.
“You are a businessman?” she asked coyly.
“No, but the personality traits I was honest about. I like to swim. I was raised by my uncle. I came into power at nineteen, which I didn’t mention. My parents died when I was six. I really do keep to myself after what happened, it’s really hard to trust knowing there are people out there out to get you.”
She looked at me her eyes wide. The butlers set our food in front of us in unison.
“There’s no point in lying.” I said taking a huge bite of the steak that was placed in front of me. She looked at me for few minutes more, she wanted to say something she just couldn’t figure out how to say it.