Page 7

SEVEN

“Ian, you idiot.”

Somehow, fevered me outwitted two tigers, an entire flock of RPS agents, Terry, my sister, my sister’s husband, and the two doctors out to make certain I emerged from the mud run incident in good health. The memory of how I’d done it remained a mystery, one I suspected the palace security system would solve in time.

One fact remained: sometime during the night, I had managed to get dressed in one of my better suits, put on my socks and shoes, and escape from the palace without anyone accompanying me. I recognized the forested path and the stream as a section of property belonging to New York but not technically on palace grounds.

New York liked protecting the Royal Family, and having unowned land buffering the palace from potential riffraff pleased the RPS. Before my sister had become the queen, I’d enjoyed sneaking off and losing myself in nature. A mile from the edge of the grounds, someone in the RPS had built a stone picnic table and benches for runaway royals to enjoy.

I’d arrived just as the sun crested the horizon, and I wondered what I’d been thinking while fevered. Had I wanted to revisit the past? If in my right mind, I wouldn’t have minded taking Madelyn to the spot to introduce her to one of the more pleasant parts of my childhood.

Once upon a time, when I’d still believed my parents had loved me, they’d taken me to the spot a few times, fed me my favorite food, and acted like they cared.

The memories hurt, but I clung to them as one of the few happy moments I had when a child.

They’d left my precious baby sister and the rest of my siblings at the palace with the kinder RPS agents and the nanny. It had been me and only me with them. For a little while, I’d been able to protect them.

After my sister’s rise to being the queen, I’d either stayed at my junkyard or my apartment, dodging where I’d grown up.

As I hadn’t gone for a swim to cool off, I viewed the escape as a victory. Once I made my way back, Terry would have a meltdown, as would the RPS agents in charge of making certain I stayed put. Had I used the nastier parts of my talent, knocking out those nearby through controlled deoxygenation of the air? I eyed my wrist, which still sported the suppressors Melody had given me.

My phone rang, and I blinked, wondering when I’d picked it up. I rummaged through my pockets until I found the device, and the screen informed me my sister would like to speak with me—and that I had missed over a hundred calls.

Damn.

Groaning, I bowed my head, pressed the button to accept the call, and held the blasted device to my ear. “It’s not my fault, Rachel.”

My sister sighed. “Ian, you idiot.”

“Blame Melody. She was supposed to keep the fever from making me do something stupid, but here I am doing something stupid. Please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid with my talent.”

“You did not do anything stupid with your talent. You waited until my babies fell asleep, got up, acted relatively normal, got dressed, and then decided you were going for a stroll. One RPS agent went to fetch Melody, because it was obvious you were on autopilot and running a fever. Then something agitated you, and rather than possibly trip your trigger, Terry ordered the agents to shadow you at a safe distance and only intervene if you did something dangerous to yourself or someone else. Melody backed him, so here we are. You went on a wander, and as you didn’t decide to go swimming in a storm drain, you were left to your devices. After I got up, I was given the job of calling you every five minutes until you got with the program enough to realize your phone is in your pocket. They didn’t bother to wake me when you first started fussing. They did wake Ethan, but he told them to just double your security while you were on your stroll, fetched my babies, and told them I was getting cold and that you were doing things with your agents, so my babies aren’t upset.”

All right. As long as my sister’s tigers were happy, she was happy, which meant everyone in the palace had no reason to be unhappy. I reevaluated my situation, which was better than my initial impression. “Fevered flameweavers are given space?”

“Yep. We haven’t done your evaluations on stuff like this. They know how to handle me because we had to deal with it, like it or not. You’re generally healthy, but you have a history.” My sister let loose a gusty sigh. “I’m far more trouble than you are.”

No kidding. “I just have a history of losing my mind and wandering off.”

“You did try to go out the window once, but one of the agents suggested that you try the door. You had no idea what a door was, Ian. The poor guy had to show you how doors work. You understood the whole idea of a window, but a door?” My sister burst into laughter. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing, but I got to watch the footage from the body cam. You just wanted to go on a walk, and you were trying so hard not to be a bother.”

Goodness. I supposed entertaining the RPS agents for a change beat them quitting due to boredom. “Yet here I am, being a bother.”

“But you’re an amusing bother. The RPS agents are having fun. However, it would be a good time for you to wander back to the palace. You need breakfast, fluids, and Melody wants to check and see how your poor brain is doing. And yes, you do have RPS agents shadowing you. Terry is quite pleased, as you interacted well with the staff in your fevered state, you didn’t view them as a threat, and you even had a very confused conversation with one as you started your stroll. Something about salmon with honey glaze?”

Fuck. Fevered me must have fixated on the limited good experiences with our parents. “You know that was one of my favorite foods growing up.”

“It doesn’t contain alcohol, so when you had it, you didn’t get sick. Our parents never understood your absolute love affair with honeyed salmon. I remember you loved the dish as a kid, I just didn’t realize you were trying to tell the RPS agents about how much you loved it. We haven’t made hardly anything that we had growing up. I’ll ask the kitchen if we can get salmon for tonight and do it. I liked it, too.”

It hadn’t gotten her ill, either. “It appears that in my fevered state, I came out to the woods in search of salmon.”

“Oh, Ian. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Well, unless you ordered me to get out of bed and go look for salmon. If you did, I’m impressed with your ruthlessness.”

My sister giggled. “I’m innocent of that. Still, I feel like we could have done a better job of handling this.”

“Rachel, I got out of bed in the middle of the night, while fevered, put on one of my best suits, and went on a walk in search of salmon. I don’t even know what day of the week it is anymore.” Melody, upon hearing about the salmon, would hug me into submission.

She knew my history with the dish, and whenever I went to Maine, she made certain the chefs made me salmon smothered in honey.

“It’s Friday. You’ve been a mess all week, and every time Melody thought she got your concussion under control, you’d suffer from some sort of setback, she’d use her talent, your fever would come back, and it was an endless cycle of misery. Mostly for you. We’re going to have a flock of Californian RPS agents incoming, as it’s good practice for them to deal with you in this state. I’ve been told, repeatedly, that it’s not my fault you have scrambled eggs for brains. Melody does think you’ll actually recover after this bout. She figured out the primary source of your woes and plans to deal with it.”

“Dare I ask?”

“Melody can explain it to you. She is taking a wander your way with Madelyn in tow. Madelyn is horrified you went on a stroll. Apparently, princes do not go on strolls in the middle of the night. She’s never going to sleep again if you insist on going on fevered strolls.”

I raised a brow at that. “Why can’t princes go on a stroll in the middle of the night?”

“She’s not quite clear on what it means to be an aide, and we started her off keeping an eye on you in your current state. I’ll have Terry get her situated and show her how aides actually live their lives, which does not involve following their royal around all the time.”

“But what if I want her to follow me around all the time?” I complained. “I really do not mind if she follows me around.” If Madelyn followed me everywhere, I could keep an eye out for the asshole who’d abused her. I’d have Terry show me the bastard’s picture until it was burned into my memory. “What about her ex?”

“She has been successfully moved into the palace. You don’t remember this, but you already met her cats, and to her dismay, you ended up taking a nap in the living room of her suite with them. You were introducing yourself and passed out. Her cats like you, and you like them, so as far as Madelyn is concerned, you can’t be that bad. Her cats hated her ex.”

I could work with being liked by her cats. “Is now a good time to confess I actually like cats?”

“Ian, I had that figured out after the first time you got a chance to be with my babies without an audience. The empaths tattled on you. All we have to do to improve your mood is give you some reading or puzzle time with my babies. You even perk up after taking care of my rats. You are busted.”

Damn. My sister must have been upset upon finding out the fever had sent me off on an adventure. As I’d already gotten into trouble, I headed for the stone picnic bench, checked it for dew, and once I determined it was dry, sat on the table. “To make it easier on everyone having to deal with me, I have decided to sit and wait at the picnic table.”

“Good call. Now that you’re back with us, could you try to feel better by Monday? If I can send you off to California on Monday, the RPS will like both of us. They’re edgy about Madelyn. Can your junkyard wait?”

“I have some fairly valuable metals in there right now, but if someone is watching over the place, I don’t mind leaving it until I’m back.”

“Excellent. Terry might want to send you over to your place anyway, but we’ll see. It depends on if Melody has finally gotten your brain to cooperate. Apparently, handsome princes are challenging.”

I raised a brow at that. “Why are you calling me handsome, Rachel?”

“Because you are, and it riles Ethan up. He’s glaring at me. Ethan, do I have to call you an idiot, too? He’s my brother. He’s handsome by default. All my brothers are handsome.”

I wondered if the pain of our broken family would ever heal. “They’re also assholes,” I reminded her in a mutter.

“Oh, but they’re beautiful assholes, and we all know it, Ian. Ethan, I’m allowed to call my brother handsome all I want. If you don’t like it, I’m going to call Mackenzie, and we’re going to look through binders of handsome princes so we can plan visits! Maybe we’ll go to Italy and leave you asshole kings behind.”

Uh oh. Ethan must have done something to get on my sister’s last nerve. “My most beautiful sister, what heinous crimes must I make my best friend pay for now?”

“He keeps telling me it’s not my fault you got hurt.”

I raised my hand, rubbed my temple, and sighed. “I’m pretty sure that you were an equal participant in my injury. After I talk with Melody and Dr. Stanton, I’ll talk to him about it, all right? It’s okay to accept equal responsibility for my concussion. It’s not okay to wallow about having equal responsibility for my concussion. Actually, is Terry there?”

“He is.”

“Could you put him on, please?”

“Sure.” A moment later, my sister said, “Ian wants to talk to you, Terry. Also, he told me I am his most beautiful sister, and I didn’t protest it. I feel I deserve a chocolate milkshake for second breakfast.”

The RPS agent chuckled, and a moment later, he said, “Are you comfortable with your current situation, Ian?”

“Outside of a moment of worry I’d used my talent on some RPS agents, it’s all right.”

“I can confirm you did not engage in any inappropriate talent usage. Melody and Dr. Stanton will be there shortly, as they were following at a distance to make sure they could reach you in case you required assistance. Madelyn is with them, and I feel you should be aware that she’s particularly alarmed over the situation.”

Odd. “Why is she alarmed?”

“Well, you were fevered enough to forget how doors work. We made the mistake of discussing that where she could hear it. Do not be surprised if she hovers, as she has reached the limit of her tolerance. She actually got into Dr. Stanton’s face about the whole thing, demanding to know how you could have possibly gotten to this point.”

Uh oh. I foresaw a great deal of trouble brewing between the women. “How did Dr. Stanton handle that?”

“With admirable grace. She calmed Madelyn down, went over your medical record with her again, and indicated that you should be over the worst of it. They’ll do some work on you today, and you’ll be sedated tonight to make sure you don’t go on another wander now that they won’t be using any of the other drugs on you.”

That was something. I could handle some guaranteed sleep. “I appreciate the warning. I’m not sure why she got upset. I mean, this is a thing I do.”

“Normal people do not forget how doors work, Ian.”

In the background, my sister lost her shit and broke down into hysterical laughter.

“My sister’s reaction is more in line with my expectations,” I replied.

“We are going to have to educate Madelyn on finding the humor in situations like this, especially with your known history when fevered. However, we have made a note in your file that you might be convinced to wander to the kitchen if promised food safe for you to eat.”

If every problem involving a royal could be solved with luring them to a kitchen for food, the world would a better place for everyone. “The only person who would be upset with this is the poor chef.”

“I believe I will be having a chef teach your team of agents how to cook so you can watch. Rachel is fascinated by the preparation process of her meals, especially when they have to modify recipes to remove the alcohol. I suspect most royals will be easily contained with such a method.”

Terry’s amused tone went a long way towards convincing me everything would work out one way or another.

I forced myself to relax and adopt an approachable pose, something I’d learned early on helped when dealing with anyone who wasn’t also of royal rank. While I didn’t particularly care if the RPS agents were at ease, I wanted to convey the illusion I was completely unbothered by my evening stroll. Until Madelyn understood and accepted fevers removed my ability to comprehend general reality, tricking her into being comfortable with the situation served me best.

The doctors, a handful of RPS agents, and the woman I admired didn’t leave me waiting for long, and Melody led the charge, clucking her tongue at me in open disapproval. “I can’t leave you alone for ten minutes, can I?”

“You really can’t, Melody. You should know this by now. If there is any sign of fever on the forecast, I will eventually go on a walk, and I won’t remember anything about it afterwards. I hear I fell prey to honeyed salmon again.”

The woman burst into laughter, shook her head, and placed the back of her hand against my forehead. “In good news, the fever has broken. Considering you haven’t had any medications since late last night, maybe it’ll stay broken this time.”

Dr. Stanton snorted, and I grinned at the older woman’s indication my fever would be back to bother us, probably by the evening. “Don’t get your hopes up, Melody. This is Ian we’re talking about, and Ian’s difficult at best when he gets fevered. In good news, we are fairly confident we’ve figured out the primary cause. You can thank Jack for that later. He made the suggestion that we check your spinal alignment, as he’s had to have his spine adjusted a few times after search and rescue incidents. He still has some problems with his back from time to time, especially after doing questionable work.”

“He got to go on a search and rescue dive last month,” Melody informed me. “He was supposed to stay in the helicopter, but the primary diver ran into trouble, so he went on in and screwed his back up. The diver emerged relatively unscathed, and they rescued the distressed boater, but I have gray hairs now.”

Yeah, right. “Did you get to observe the RPS footage?”

Where Jack went, a second RPS helicopter followed, and the man’s track record for rescuing people inched ever upward, as the kingdom paid all RPS fees when their future monarch decided to do his job. As far as I was concerned, I thought it was the perfect use of resources. Jack got to do the work he loved above all else, and lives were saved.

“I did. I had to excuse myself.”

I bet she did, well aware my friend got the hots whenever her man displayed even a hint of general competency. I gave it only a year or two before the pair joined the pool of men and women having babies, although she’d likely wait until after Olivia and Terry welcomed their little ones into the world. Rather than tease her about it, I chuckled and replied, “Mind sending me a copy? I’d like to see how he works.”

“Sure. But he twinged his back fairly hard, and it turns out you have a similar problem. We’re guessing you either twinged it during your sister’s assault or you twisted something while playing on the course. In good news for Terry’s mental health, we were able to explain that it wasn’t anything the matter with the course that caused the problem, so once they fix the edge to be a little safer, they’ll be letting your sister rampage on it to her heart’s content. You’re banned from it until we’re sure your back isn’t going to cause a problem again or we give permission. In bad news, outside of going over to do an inventory and maybe doing some melting work, you won’t be working in your junkyard for at least a few weeks, which means you’ll get to visit and that’s that.”

Damn it. I raised my hands in surrender. “I accept your terms.”

“There. I told you he was easy to work with.” Melody placed her hand on my neck, moved her thumb around, and then jabbed the hell out of me.

My neck and shoulder snapped, crackled, and popped, and I yelped at the unexpected assault, got off the table, and warded the woman away with crossed fingers. “What the hell was that for?”

“I was adjusting your spine.”

“Warn me next time!”

“If I had warned you, you would have tensed, it would have hurt more, and we would have been dealing with whining all day. Whine, whine, whine,” Melody muttered, and she threw her hands into the air. “Dr. Stanton, he’s all yours.”

Without another word, Maine’s heir headed off, likely seeking out Jack, as she loathed, abhorred, and protested any separation from him.

“Don’t you go rubbing your neck,” Dr. Stanton ordered, and she glared at me.

As I’d been about to do just that, I decided to fiddle with my suit cuffs, adjusting them and pretending I was appropriately presentable. “I messed up my back and it caused a fever?”

“It happens. It’s a combination of medication, your back being misaligned, and stress. I did run blood tests and had Melody also check for any signs of meningitis, but you’re clear of every single illness we could think of that might be responsible for your episode. You’re just a delicate little flower, Ian.”

I laughed. “But do I recover when I’ve been properly watered?”

“Your care requirements are not as drastic as some royals I know. I’m talking about Terry. Frankly, the fact you didn’t try to store your lunch in your lungs is putting you far above that walking disaster.”

“I will enjoy teasing Terry over that for months to come,” I confessed. “Rachel freaked. I thought she was going to lose her mind upon finding out he had pneumonia.”

The unexpected trip to Texas had thrown the entire palace staff for a loop, but fortunately for me, they’d managed to handle most everything without needing me to come in and help them. The palace staff’s ability to work around the situation had left my sister relieved. If something did go wrong, she understood she could handle it without everything falling apart at home.

During our parents’ reign, unless they were present to do the equivalent of whip the palace staff, things soured in a hurry. I understood the reasons why.

The palace staff worked because they adored Rachel, and they wanted her reign to be pleasant.

Before, they’d worked out of a mix of necessity and fear of consequence.

Change had come swiftly to New York.

I still regretted my part in making certain my sister took the throne as the people wanted.

“Rachel handled the situation much better than I anticipated. I was concerned I would be headed to Texas rather than waiting for Terry to return to New York. She’s progressing well. As being outdoors is good for you, and you were clearly thinking about honeyed salmon, I asked the kitchen to go ahead and make you dinner for breakfast, and someone will bring a basket out for us. Madelyn has mostly hammered out your schedule for in California, and the RPS has begun teaching her risk assessment.”

Uh oh. “I spy with my little eye a great deal of trouble brewing on the horizon.”

“That is because you’re an intelligent man. Sit at the table properly, go over your schedule with Madelyn, and wait to be fed. Then you can take a proper wander back to the palace without alarming the RPS. Let’s try to keep your trouble manageable today.”

“Just today?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity from reflecting in my tone.

“I know better than to ask a New Yorker to stay out of trouble two days in a row. I might need a doctor should that happen.”