“Camera?” I asked in puzzlement.
“Yeah, we will get a portable camera and place it in her room. That way whoever her lover is, when he enters her room, it will capture them together during all the act.” He leaned forward until our heads were almost touching on the table and whispered, “That way, the King wouldn’t need to waste so much time trying to convince her father about him not marrying her. Once we have the video, he can use it to threaten her, and she would leave even before her father arrives, so as not to be shamed.”
He had a very tangible point. My eyes danced in their sockets. How come we didn’t think of it all this while? It would have spared me the pain of going to the length of being her friend which inordinately led to our missed tryst. Oh, this brain.
“Oh, I see…” I sat up and took a miserly bite from my burger that would afford me to talk. “How can we get this gadget? I want this thing over with within this week, please…” I sagged in mental fatigue, chewing slowly.
“I will get it. The problem is how to place it in her room since it appears you guys are no longer on good terms.” He had a very valid point. Albeit, I have come too far, and Paisley is an enormous threat I need out of my way.
All my life I have been afraid of so many things. I stood by and watched people trample on me. This one thing I have always wanted- a mate- everyone seems to want to make me suffer with. Now, I am no longer that Danika. That Danika that had to stand and watch her sister make out with her first mate and instead of doing something about it, only cried and got rejected. No! I am a new being and so would act differently. “I will place it. Just get it,” I declared.
“Sure?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“I can also place it if you want. After all, I am a maid. I would have suggested involving her maid but I recall Mrs. Dolly saying she is not to be trusted, so I can do it,” Nadia volunteered timidly.
I smiled and touched her. “Don’t worry. I got this. This is a win for me. I want to be the one to finally put an end to the devices of that bitch!” There was steel in his voice as he concluded.
We agreed that he would get it and bring it to work the next day to show me how to use it. After that, Nadia and Mary waited in the reception while Roland and I went back to finish our day’s work at the infirmary.
After that, we all went to the library to see Mrs. Dolly who was all merry when she saw the ring on my finger-all thanks to my wide-mouthed friends.
“I told you that at the right time, everything would work out fine. Look at you now. The future Luna Queen of this great Kingdom,” she said as she brushed my hair fondly.
“I am still in shock myself,” I told her frankly. “I know he told me he won’t marry her, yet, I… I thought he was just saying it, until he knelt down to propose in front of his family. I can’t describe how I felt yesterday. It was simply overwhelming.”
“I know the feeling,” Mrs. Dolly said, looking up at the walls. I followed her gaze and for the first time since we started coming to the library, I saw the picture of a man hanging on the wall. From the manner she was looking at him with remote pain in her eyes, I could tell he must have been dear to her.
“You must have loved him…” I aired my thought.
“He was the best thing this pack gave to me… he wasn’t anything like his family.” She sniffed, bringing my attention back to her. Roland came forward and offered her a napkin which she used to dab her nose.
I smiled crookedly and looked back at the man. Why does he seem to look so familiar as if I have seen him somewhere before? Or perhaps he looks like someone. Particularly his significant blue eyes.
“You know, the first time Roland brought you here and I saw you, Danika, I knew that you will not be anything like them…” she continued in a detached voice.
“Be like who?” I asked, getting confused.
“His family.” She nodded towards the dusty frame.
“His family? What have I to do with your husband’s family? I don’t even know him…” I asked with a nervous chuckle, drawn to look at my friends whose faces have changed to something that looked like pity and something else-guilt? Why are they looking at me like that? It’s not like I’m the one whose husband died.
“You recalled the other day when you came back to ask me about the beef I have with the Queen and I refused to tell you?” I nodded. “Well, I needed to make sure that your position is secured in this pack before I can apprise you… You have a good head on your shoulder and I believe you will understand…” She stood wobbly from the seat and went to the inner part of her office, and I took the time to check out my friends again and they were abnormally quiet.
“Is there something you know that I don’t?” I asked them quietly.
They didn’t make any sound.
Exasperating!
I was about to tell them how I felt about their silence when Mrs. Dolly came out, this time carrying a big book… just like the one in the palace library!
My eyes were like saucers. “I have seen that before!” I faced my friends. “Mary, Nadia remember? At- Oh, you weren’t even there.” I palmed my face.
“It’s in the library at the palace. We know,” Nadia offered. I looked steadily at her, then Mary, before finally settling on Roland.
“There is a lot you don’t know about the family you are about to be married into, Danika. But this one is very important and I can tell you, something you should never mention in the presence of the King if you envisage remaining his sweetheart forever.” Mrs. Dolly garnered back my attention.
I was just standing there, my mouth open, gawking like a statue at her, waiting for her to tell me this thing that seem like an aberration. Perhaps, it might answer one of the many questions I have about my mate’s family. Particularly since I encountered that book in the library.
She opened the book to the first page. “The former King is not the real father to Alonso and Alfred. The Queen pinned her pregnancy from her lover, on the former King. I am the reason he found out after I married his brother.”
My stomach flipped. I staggered back.
Unbelievable!
…