Royal Obligations

Chapter 30: Dangerous Territory

"Are you sure you don't want to go to breakfast?" Elise asks as she braids my hair.

"I'm positive." I sigh in defeat. "That's a disaster waiting to happen."

Elise bites her lip. "Well... Um... Okay. If you're sure. I'll go bring something up for you."

I shake my head. "I don't need to eat breakfast, Elise. I'm fine."

She ties the end of my braid with a band to hold it in place. Elise then makes eye contact with me in the mirror. "Are you just going to sit up here all day?"

"I have a book to keep me company." I give her a reassuring smile. "Really, Elise. I'll be fine."

After a little more coaxing Elise leaves me alone in my room. I hid the journal I found with Forrest with my own journal in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. No one looked in there because there was nothing to look for.

I sit on my bed and flip to the second entry of Queen Amberly's journal. This is only a few weeks after her first entry.

Clarkson has been acting relatively normal lately. He even wanted to spend some quality time with Maxon. I feel like this is a pattern. He seems like a normal husband and father for a while, but then the next day he snaps. He either lashes out at me or at Maxon for making the simplest of mistakes. I probably should have spoken with him about this a long time ago, but I can never muster up the courage to do so. Clarkson gets defensive when I question his motives when it comes to making decisions for Illéa. How will he react when I question his sanity?

Some days I hope this odd behavior will just disappear. That one day, it will be gone and stay gone. But that is such a large wish to make I'm afraid it will never come true. I have been trying to do some research and find out what this weird condition might be. His childhood wasn't all that peaceful so at first I figured that was the reason. But the haze that glazes over his eyes when he yells at me... It has to be bigger than a rough childhood. It's like he checks out on himself-

A knock on the door disrupts me from my reading. I rest the journal on the bed before reluctantly approaching the door. I always have a weird feeling of dread and excitement at the same time, when I think it could be Forrest on the other side. I know if it's him trouble will only follow, so I'm leaning more toward the dread part.

I open the door and the person on the other side had to be my strangest visitor yet.

"Hello... Lady Cordelia, is it?" Prince Romeo asks.

My entire body tenses as I pop my head out the door and look down both hallways. If I'm caught with him in my room I would be kicked out of this selection, no matter how hard Harlan advocates for me.

"Yeah, that's me. What are you, uh, doing here?" I ask a little nervous.

Romeo gives me a confused expression. "You seem nervous... Can I come in?"

I blink a few times. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Romeo's face falls. "Did she tell you to not let me see her?"

This time I was confused. "Excuse me, what?"

"I am looking for Elise," Romeo says. "Forrest told me she was your maid so I thought she would be here. My apologies."

"It's alright... She is my maid. But why are you looking for Elise?" I ask.

A soft smile spreads over his face. "We're old friends. I haven't seen her in a while. I wanted to check in, um, after Michael." He clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable.