Page 20

TWENTY

I wondered if she had suffered through a dream or a memory.

At a little after two in the morning, a whimpering May crawled into bed with me. Fortunately for both of us, her weight hitting the foot of the bed woke me up, and I’d roused enough to comprehend I had a child crawling my way before reacting. A glance at the clock beside my bed confirmed the hour, and moving shadows in my room indicated RPS agents had handled guiding her my way. Aware she might react poorly, I freed an arm from my blanket and lifted it just in case she wanted to cuddle.

We were still uncertain what we could and couldn’t do, but much like her sister, May craved being held.

She flopped against my chest, buried her face against me, and cried.

I eased my arm around her, fought the urge to sigh, and kissed the top of her head. “Bad dream?”

With a bob of her head, she burrowed closer.

I wondered if she had suffered through a dream or a memory. In either case, I appreciated that she had come seeking me out, and that the RPS agents had been able to figure out what she needed. My past haunted me, and I remembered the many nights I’d been in her shoes, wishing I had someone I could hide with. Instead of crawling into my father’s bed for comfort, I’d hidden myself under the blankets and used my pillow to muffle the sound of my tears.

If the RPS agents heard, they would tell, and if they told, the cycle would continue, and I would pay for the transgression of being a child experiencing emotions.

I had no idea if May needed what I had, but it was the only thing I understood to do, so I gave her the hug I’d always been denied and said, “You can stay for as long as you need, and if you can’t go back to bed, we’ll sneak into the kitchen and have a snack.”

She stilled against me. “We can have a snack?”

Then, because we’d been feeding her soup and only soup, her stomach grumbled its discontent.

“That sounds like it’s snack time.” I lifted my arm, waited for her to move, and reached over to my nightstand to turn on the lamp. A pair of the new Hawaiian RPS agents, both women in formal suits, lurked in my doorway, and I ignored them, rolling out of bed and offering May the opportunity to be carried if she wished.

She did, and once I had her settled on my hip, I strolled towards the main room. “You may as well turn on all the lights. It’s snack time.”

Both women smiled and scurried off to do my bidding. One handled the lights, the other went into the hallway, lifting her hand to her ear, likely to inform the RPS I was on the move with a distressed child in my arms. I paused long enough to read the woman’s name tag, which informed me she was Barb. “Thank you, Barb. Empath?”

She nodded. “Danielle is also awake, but she is bouncing on her bed. Celeste is my partner, and Marjorie is with her, ready to catch her in case of an accident. We’ll work on late night bed bouncing later, but you’ll need to keep an agent in the room with her until she is over this phase.”

As far as phases went, bed bouncing would give me my first gray hairs, but I’d look the other way.

I wouldn’t have been able to sit for a week had I bounced on my bed as a child.

May stiffened against me. “We’re not supposed to bounce.”

I adjusted my hold on May, leaned, and kissed her forehead. “Your sister is okay to bounce on the bed with supervision for now. If you want to bounce on the bed, ask one of the nice agents if I’m not there. We don’t want either of you to get hurt, but you can bounce on the bed now and then. Once you’re a little older, we’ll have to relocate you to a trampoline, as it won’t be safe to bounce on the bed, but if you want to jump around, we can find a way for you to jump around. Are trampolines possible, Barb?”

“We can install one safe enough for the children with medical staff on hand should anyone be injured. We will use one installed at ground level, and there will be padding beneath the trampoline in case it breaks, padding around the springs, and cushioning on the ground surrounding the trampoline itself. We have a system that’s rated to be safe for royals, so if you would like a turn with a trampoline, arrangements can be made.”

“Please start the process of installing one and hide your activities from my sister. I want to see her face when I’m using it and she realizes we have one.”

Barb grinned at me. “I can do that, Ian. And yes, we’re on standing orders to avoid titles around the children, and all visiting royalty are notified that we are using first names until further notice. We will not be able to do this in California, but we have processed the necessary paperwork for within New York’s borders.”

“Excellent.” I headed across my suite and into the hallway, where Celeste continued to murmur into her microphone. “Please inquire with the doctors about sports and leisure activities they might enjoy. Bring trainers for solo activities so they can play and test out what they like. If they like group sports, figure out who can call around to get them enrolled into a program. Ideally, we’ll start socializing them with other children after they’re vaccinated.”

“I’ll look into some programs,” she promised. She stared at her partner, waited for her to finish talking, and said, “Celeste, we’re going to need a physical fitness program and social programming. It seems we have a sensible principal for once in our lives.”

Celeste snickered. “That depends on how often he attends practices and meets.”

“Likely more often than the other RPS agents prefer.” I’d been there and done that; my attendance on a frequent basis would do more good for the girls than anything else. “If they’re in separate activities, I’ll make sure they get equal time. I can always bring work with me if I must, but make it clear that during any actual events and matches, I will not be available. Celeste, tell the accountants that I’m authorizing any purchases of equipment they need for their activities. If you want a breather, just tell the on duty agents I’ll be in the kitchen with May—and if Danielle gets tired of bouncing on the bed, that I’ll be making enough soup for her, too.”

“Roger,” the woman reported.

Then, to my relief, the women scattered to handle their duties, leaving me to make the hike to the kitchen without much of an audience. A yawning Monty came down the hall, dressed in dark plaid pajamas. I waited for him to get close before asking, “Did that mean Terry make you sleep in the palace tonight?”

“Honestly, Olivia started to cry because she couldn’t decide if she wanted to go home and fetch Pink Lady’s cage or roll around on her bed and have a chance to bounce on it, too. I offered to stay at the palace so the pregnant woman could test bouncing on her bed and play with her squirrel. My current attire is my work uniform until ten in the morning, so says your sister.”

I could see my sister issuing an edict of that nature. A quick check on May revealed the little girl was about twenty seconds from falling back to sleep. As such, I slowed and took care with my steps so I wouldn’t startle her back to fully awake. “Is there even a safe spot we can stash her in the kitchen?”

“There is,” he confirmed. “We anticipated tired children sitting on the counters earlier, so we did weight and safety checks. There are a few spots where the girls can sit and watch, and the on duty agents will serve as extra hands to make sure they come to no harm. Danielle will be along shortly, as she’s rapidly running out of energy to bounce on the bed.”

“Soup or protein shakes?” One day, I might better understand what children needed, but nothing was normal about their situation.

“Try for both. We’ll give them each a protein shake while you make them soup. I’ve been told to warn you not to worry if they don’t eat much to start with. It’s normal. We’ll work on getting them to a regular eating schedule over the next few weeks. Right now, we’re more worried about getting their weight up and giving them a chance to heal. Both are at risk of eating disorders, but the Hawaiians are trained on how to handle it, and they’ll teach us what we need to know.” Monty took the lead, handling the doors so I wouldn’t disturb May and otherwise made certain we made it to the kitchen in one piece. “Expect a lot of RPS agents sleeping in the palace of their own volition for the next few weeks. We’re also getting clearance to bring our spouses and kids in. We threatened to pitch a fit if we couldn’t help socialize the girls using our own children.”

I foresaw needing to hire more than a few nannies to help contain all the kids that would be underfoot. “Pitch a daycare for RPS agents to Terry and tell him it’s my idea. If you’re threatening a revolt based on wanting your kids to come play with our kids, I see no reason why we can’t just up the number of nannies and spare the RPS agents the daycare bills. It works well for everybody, and if there is an emergency, the agents will know exactly where their kids are at.”

Little things, like royalty understanding RPS agents were real people with families, made a big difference.

“I’ll talk to Terry and Olivia in the morning. I bet we can contain the Iron Beast and Her Royal Hormones in one fell swoop that way.”

I snickered at the nickname. “Who started calling her that?”

“She did. She self-addressed herself as Her Royal Hormones, and if the subject of her wrath didn’t like it, he’d pay. Terry had no idea what sort of payment he would be issuing and finally gave up, asking her if he was supposed to like it or not.”

Poor Terry. “Do the Montana women ever settle down?”

“We think it’s part of her bloodline magic. Most Montana princesses have a few kids by now, and her magic has been cooking for years. Dr. Stanton is concerned she just will not hit menopause until she has at least a herd of ten to fifteen. There is talk of taking Olivia to the hospital for testing to get an idea of how strong her egg supply is. In good news, Terry volunteered to match her and have his fertility tested despite the evidence he has zero problems with his fertility.”

I fought the urge to burst into laughter as I didn’t want to disturb May until I had something to feed her and be in a position to offer her comfort should she wake frightened. The possibility existed that she feigned sleep as well, fearful of retribution.

She would learn with time.

Until then, I would be a predictable and reliable haven. If she needed to crawl into bed for comfort each night, so be it. I would miss the sleep, but I would catch naps as I could until she settled. If her sister needed the same, I foresaw them running me ragged within a month, but I would do my best to hide my frustrations—or relieve the stress in safe fashions.

I foresaw spending an absurd amount of time conquering the mud run.

In the kitchen, I settled her on the counter Monty gestured to, taking care with how I woke her up. “It’s snack time,” I whispered, aware of how I had flinched every time my parents had raised their voices, even when I hadn’t done something wrong.

May went through the motions of yawning and rubbing at her eyes, and I suspected she worked to trick me into thinking she’d slept. As I wanted her comfortable with me, I played the game her way, and once she was settled enough to sit on her own, I went to work in the kitchen, retrieving the containers of soup from the fridge I’d stashed it in after making the batch with Vincent’s help. I also grabbed one of the chocolate protein drinks, twisted off the cap, and gave it to her.

The girl abandoned her sleepy ways to get the chocolate treat into her belly where it belonged. One day, we’d work on her taking her time with the drink, but as long as she didn’t choke, it could wait. Within five minutes, a pair of agents I didn’t recognize wearing Hawaiian RPS pins came into the kitchen, and one of the women carried Danielle.

I returned to the fridge, got another bottle, and waited for the agents to settle the toddler next to her sister before making sure she had her drink, too.

Unlike May, Danielle took her time with the chocolate, savoring every sip with the sort of open enjoyment I wanted her to experience for the rest of her life.

“We’ll have our snack in the dining room once I finish warming it,” I told the girls, making sure to take the time to smile at them. “After we have our snack, we’ll go to May’s room, and I’ll read a story to you.”

My sister wouldn’t mind me stealing a few of the picture books from her tigers until I had a chance to raid a local bookstore for a stash just for them from me.

Storybooks had been provided, but I wanted to share the ones I enjoyed.

Judging from the puzzlement on their faces, they had no idea what I meant. They’d find out soon enough—and in a few days, I expected to have a pile of little girls and tigers to read to, and I’d ask the RPS agents to take pictures for me.

“A story?” Danielle asked between sips of her drink.

“You’ll see,” I promised. “If my sister’s kitties are awake, I’ll read to them as well.”

Monty snickered, turned to one of the new Hawaiian agents, and said, “I’m off set. Can you relay that Amisha and Endah will be needed? Sneak in and wake them up. It’s a good time to do the introduction, and Ian could use some quality time with them, especially as he isn’t getting to work Thunder as much as he’d like. Also, request they block out an hour for him to work with his horse. We need to cultivate their bond better before we load them up, else we’ll be stalling Ian to keep everybody happy.”

I snickered at the thought of riding in the plane with the horses. “I’ve always wanted to ride cargo in one of those planes.”

“There’s no reason he can’t ride in the cargo bay with the horses,” the elder of the two women replied. The hints of gray in her hair put her as one of the more senior agents. I peeked at her tag to discover she shared her name with my sister. “His Royal Majesty of Montana insists on riding in cargo if he has an injured horse on board. It’s troublesome. We do have some protocol changes for landing if we have a royal in the cargo bay, though. We have emergency crews on the ground and ready to roll in case of any issues. If the crews are in place, if there is an issue, location on the plane makes little difference. The cargo bay is made tough, as most of the horses on board are priceless.”

“I love your name, but if I say it while my sister’s around, I’m going to confuse everyone.”

The RPS agent grinned. “Call me Misty. That’s my middle name. Actually, I’ll get a new name tag for this, as you present a good point. We try to be first name in cases like this. Monty?”

“Make the request, and tell them I’ll update your notes after ten, else the queen will get mad I’m doing work unsuitable for when I’m in my pajamas.”

I doubted May or Danielle understood why they laughed along with everyone else, but it beat flinching any day of the week. Within ten minutes, I had the soup warmed, and Misty and her partner, Marjorie, handled wrangling the girls while Monty and I took care of ferrying the meal into the family dining room.

All I could do was hope I did all the right things to break the cycle of abuse plaguing New York and infecting every level of its twisted society.

* * *

Within twenty seconds of introduction, my sister’s tigers stole my children, and the quartet took over May’s bed. Fortunately for my sanity, all beds in the royal wing had been replaced with frames capable of withstanding a minimum of two tigers and two adults.

We’d learned early on that the therapy felines did as they wished.

Then, to add complexity to the situation, my sister’s demonic therapy dog discovered I existed, and Angel wanted me to know he loved me the best. As such, I held the fluffy pooch with one arm while reading a story to everyone with the other.

Rather than read one of the old favorites, someone had picked a story about a little pony with butterfly wings who went on adventures, and I had a collection of thirty of them to start with. Apparently, the complete collection had over three hundred titles, and the palace had purchased the entire set for my girls.

Amisha loved the little pony with butterfly wings, and she enjoyed admiring the pictures.

Fortunately for my sanity, the girls, the tigers, and even the dog were willing to listen to the story being read without spending much time staring at the pictures. I assumed the late hour had something to do with it. Danielle crashed out first, making use of Endah as a pillow. As I couldn’t read to May and keep Angel contained and tuck Danielle in, Barb and Celeste handled the work, making sure the toddler stayed warm.

May didn’t last much longer, nor did the tigers, which freed me to attend to Angel.

As the husky would wake the entire palace if he thought I didn’t love him, I handed the book over to Celeste and went for the route of least resistance. I tossed the dog over my shoulders in a fireman’s carry, tiptoeing from the room while the RPS agents took care of tucking May in, checking the tigers, and turning off the lights.

The dog beat me with his tail, and as he liked when people hauled him around, he opted against vocalizing.

With a little luck, the husky would take mercy on me, although I doubted it. Angel ran around like a maniac after hours. He indulged in lapdog behaviors while working. As I had no idea what Angel’s signals actually were, I waited for the Hawaiians to join me in the hall before asking, “He’s not signaling, is he?”

“He is not alerting,” Celeste promised, and she reached up to give the husky a hearty scratching behind his ears. “He will bark, paw, and go to anyone in a suit that looks like an RPS agent if he is wanting to alert us. If he smells alcohol, he will forcibly interpose between the source of alcohol and the queen. If she tries to go near the alcohol, he will take her wrist in his mouth and guide her away. As we were briefed on his behaviors, he would like to have quiet time with someone, and you have been chosen. Sometimes, he will sleep on the foot of the monarch’s bed with the tigers. Other times, he just wants to be nearby his selected human.”

“All right. Good. I’ll just take him to bed, then. If my sister wonders why her service dog is late for work, just blame me.” I checked the hall to find it devoid of any of the empaths I recognized as part of my rebuilding team. “Do I even have a detail right now?”

“Actually, no. You don’t. We’re keeping an eye on you for the moment, as your detail is doing some foundational work tonight. Monty will get out of bed if you head out of the family wing, but we’re on hallway duty and general observation duty while your detail is being reformed. We’re helping with the assignments and making recommendations. You are also receiving at least one agent from North Dakota, so we’re in a waiting pattern until arrival.”

“Right. Zach and possibly Peter.” I went to my suite, managed to open the door without dropping the dog, and sighed. “Please try to wake me up by eight. If I let my schedule go now, I’ll regret it next week.”

“Of course. Sleep well.” Celeste waited for me to clear the doorway before closing the door behind me. She locked it from the outside, something they only did when they felt the principal in question needed some privacy. If she followed protocol, she’d notify the other agents she had sent me to bed, locked the door, and wanted me to be conscious for eight.

I crouched and lowered Angel off my shoulders. “All right, boy. Let’s go get some sleep. I have a feeling we’re both going to need it.”