Page 41

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

A ZALEA

Later that afternoon

We’re sitting on the cellar floor, sifting through documents and photographs of the orphanage children. Tandi hands them off to Abbie after she’s done examining each one, and Abbie re-stacks them back into the boxes. Yet, the deeper we delve into everything, the more disheartened Tandi becomes.

“How old would Paige be now?” I ask.

“Seven in February,” she replies with a sigh.

“Well, that rules these kids out,” Abbie comments, passing me a pile full of toddler photos. “We might have to do a DNA test. She could look different from how you remember?” Abbie suggests.

“I will recognize her,” Tandi asserts confidently.

“How can you be so sure?” I question.

“I’m her mother, and she has a scar. It runs down one side of her face, from her chin to her hairline.

She fell off the stairs when she was three and landed on a glass table,” she explains.

“Brock beat me good for that one. I wasn’t even watching her at that time, she was with the sitter because I had to work since he provided nothing.

He broke three of my ribs that night and I had to borrow money for her cough medicine of Crux,” she says, her mind taking her back to some god awful memory that makes her shudder before she returns to us with a shake of her head. “I’ll grab the next box,” she states.

My stomach churns as I hear this while she continues to sift through the photos.

“Well, I’ll start with this pile then,” I tell her.

Tandi talks about such tragic circumstances so casually; it’s as if she’s become desensitized to her own trauma. It saddens me how much suffering she’s endured since our days at the orphanage when she was still Taylor.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Abbie admits, rubbing her arms as she sets the box back on the shelf.

I glance over my shoulder at her and nod. We spend hours in the cellars combing through every child’s information until Tandi tosses the last document into the box - none of them are Paige.

Just as Damian walks in to check on us, Tandi gets up and starts walking towards the stairs, looking defeated.

“Hun?” he asks as she heads for the stairs, he reaches for her, but she pulls her arm away before he can grab her and dashes up the stairs. Damian turns to look at Abbie and me, confusion in his eyes.

“None of them were Paige,” I tell him, heart aching for Tandi.

Damian swallows hard, staring after Tandi as she disappears upstairs. “Go, Damian, take the afternoon off. I’ll speak to Kyson and let him know,” I reassure him.

“Thank you, Azalea,” he says gratefully, then rushes off after Tandi.

Abbie and I pack everything up before climbing the stairs and emerging from the pantry. As we do so, Tanner is standing in the kitchen looking rather lost, clutching his wide-brimmed hat in his hands.

“Tanner, what can I help you with?” Clarice asks, entering the kitchen from the foyer.

“I was going to see if you could ask the King or Queen for a few moments of their time,” Tanner says, addressing Clarice while looking at me.

Clarice growls - something which surprises me since I’ve never heard her growl at anyone in anger before. “I told you yesterday this wasn’t your issue. Leave it be,” she snaps at him.

“It’s fine, Clarice. What is wrong, Tanner?” I ask.

“My Queen, I will sort it out and speak with Kyson. You don’t need to handle this one,” Clarice insists, trying to usher me out of the kitchen along with Abbie.

“It’s your brother, my Queen,” Tanner blurts out, causing us all to freeze in shock.

“You dare mention him to her after what he has done?” Clarice snarls, turning on her heel and pointing an accusing finger at Tanner, who looks defeated but defends Peter anyway.

“He’s just a boy, Clarice. How can you say that when you've helped raise him with me? You know how useless his grandparents are with him and Ester, well.”

He shakes his head.“I’m sorry, my Queen. I just worry about him.”

I swallow and nod, Tanner turns to leave. Clarice watches him go, and I can see his words upset her deeply.

“Wait, Tanner. What of my brother?” I ask him, and he stops.

“My Queen, you don’t have to deal with this, the King can,” Clarice says, but I shake my head. Kyson has enough going on, and he is my brother.

“His grandparents kicked him out, and he…” Tanner tries to explain.

“He what, Tanner?”

“I have been sneaking him into the stables at night,” Tanner says, while dropping his head in defeat.

“You’ve been what?” Clarice screams at him. Tanner flinches at her anger. I hold up my hand.

“Where is he now?” I ask.

“Hiding down by the river until it gets dark so he can cross the river without being seen, my Queen. I know what he did was wrong, but he is just a boy. He has no one else and nowhere to go.”

“He has Ester,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.

“Ester, that woman is trash. She doesn’t give a shit about him. The moment you kicked them out of here, she left when no one was watching, he has been on his own since,” Tanner tells me, and I swallow.

“Wait, when did Ester leave?”

Tanner pauses to think for a second, counting on his fingers.

“The night Elder Larkin left. Peter came to find me. Ester was fired from the fruit market she worked at, and he asked for food. I asked him why he couldn’t go home.

His grandparents tossed him out, and his mother once again abandoned the boy,” he tells me.

I sigh, looking at Abbie, who nervously chews her nails as she listens.

Looking back at Tanner, he stands nervously waiting for me to say something. “Take me to my brother,” I tell him, and he nods.

“Clarice is coming and–” I sigh.

“I need to get the King. I am not making any decisions without him,” I tell him.

“Thank you, my Queen. I can bring him to you, I can bring him here if you like while you get the king?” he says.

“I’ll make him something to eat,” Clarice says, grabbing the bread, and I nod to her.

“Okay, I will go find my King,” I tell Tanner before turning on my heel to go searching for Kyson. We have come too far now just to start hiding things from each other again. Looping my arm through Abbie’s, I tug her toward the door, and we head toward his office.

As soon as we step out of the kitchens and move up the corridor, Trey and Dustin come out of the staff lunchroom and trail us.

They had left us to sift through the paperwork, knowing the guards in the cellar would watch us, and it felt good giving them some time off.

They must get rather bored following me all day, not that they ever say anything.

Walking into the room, I hear Kyson’s phone ringing, and we enter silently.

“Crux!” Kyson states, answering the phone and placing it on loudspeaker, so I can hear. Kyson pushes his chair out and pats his knee, wanting me to come sit on his lap. I walk over to him, and he pulls me onto his lap, wrapping his arm around my waist and pressing his lips to my shoulder.

“My King, I was wondering if you have seen Elder Larkin?” I hear Crux’s voice. I look at Kyson, who motions for me to remain quiet.

“Why?” Kyson asks him. I can tell that Kyson finds his call rather suspicious.

“Well, he has been missing for several days, that is why. He is unreachable, and I checked his car coordinates, and it says he is in your kingdom, My King, so one would assume you had seen him considering he has been there for a week,” Crux answers. Now that makes no sense at all.

“I want this tracking information you have,” Kyson tells him.

“Of course, I can email it through. Is everything alright in your Kingdom? I have been hearing some startling rumors,” Crux asks.

“Rumors like what?” Kyson asks.

“That your men stormed through one of my businesses for one, that one of my workers was kidnapped by one of your guards and eight of my security personnel were killed. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

I’ll look into it, but someone wiped my security footage, which I find rather odd.

Then Larkin was tracked there, so I figured it was to speak with you? ”

“Well, Crux, I would be less worried about my kingdom and more worried about yours. Rumors are circulating, and I'm beginning to notice something.”

“What is that, my King?” Crux asks in a tone that almost sounds mocking.

“Everything leads back to the council,” Kyson says.

“Doesn’t it always. I will send you the tracking data. When you find Larkin, ask him to call me, please,” Crux tells Kyson.

“Will do,” Kyson replies, hanging up on him and glaring at his phone screen.