Nadine

14. Autopsy

"Morning Princess. You ready to fish?" He's leaning on the dining room door frame looking at me.

"Good morning Advisor Tre, yes I am ready." I'm really not happy about it though. Why should I have to spend time with someone who doesn't want to be there? I'll just make a fire when we get there and then stare into space until the 3 hours are up. "I'm riding Butter out. I'll see you there."

"Yes princess." He gives me a smirk and walks back out the door.

I get to the barn and Zacier still isn't there. He wasn't here yesterday night either. He may have just went somewhere overnight though. I'll ask Tre if he knows anything or maybe he'll will be back in 3 hours. It's only 1 night and he is a grownup.

I hop on Butter and ride him out to the water. It's so peaceful this morning. No one else is here. The water is slowly going by. I look over and Dipak, Gunner, and Tre are all walking towards me. I didn't expect that.

"Good morning advisors. Do any of you know if Zacier left for the night? He wasn't there last night or this morning."

Gunner looks at me. "Who is Zacier?"

Tre shakes his head no. "He's the stable man for the horses."

"No didn't hear a thing princess." Gunner answers and Dipak shakes his head too.

"I'm going to make sure the horses have food and fresh water before I start fishing. It will not take me long." I ride off without looking at them.

I get to the barn and it just doesn't feel right. I check the horses and they didn't get any new food or water. Zacier's dinner plates from the night before are still on the table. He never does that. "What is going on?" I'm just talking to myself at this point. The horses are all worked up and won't calm down. I don't know how I missed that earlier. I walk outside and signal for the alarm to go off.

The 3 advisors are at my side nearly immediately. Right at my side. Guards are all over the place. At least 30 showed up.

"What is it princess?"

"Back up guys." They all take a step back and look at me. "Zacier wouldn't have left the horses without at least telling me I had to feed and water them. Something is wrong. And how do you shut that alarm off?"

"You don't when something is wrong princess. We will search the place. Just stay here." Dipak leads Gunner and Tre into the barn.

I send a few of the guards to get buckets of food and water for the horses and I just sit down and wait. After a few minutes the alarm shuts off Tre comes back out to me.

"He fell and was injured. He'll be fine. He just couldn't move princess."

"But he's ok?" I jump up and try to run to the barn.

Tre grabs my arm and stops me. "He's fine and the horses are getting fed and watered. We can go fishing now. Hop back up on Butter. I will be there in a couple minutes."

"But."

"No."

"But."

"No."

"Why?"

"They are unpinning him and it's not pretty. But I promise you," He tilts my chin up and looks in my eyes. "He's going to be fine."

I stare into his eyes for a few seconds. I do miss them. I look at his lips. I miss those too. I nod slowly and walk back to Butter. Stupid boys. I look back at him and he's just standing there smirking at me. Stupid warm boys.

2 hours later...

"FISHING IS SO STUPID."

The boys are sitting in the grass watching my full breakdown. I start hitting the water with the pole and they all start smiling.