EPOCH: Expiration Date Series Fanfic

Wishing I was Back at the Pool

(Inspired by chapter 41 'The Chapter in Which Iris Steals My Clothes' from book 3: Exported)
Takes place right after, 'At the Pool':

Josiah~~

     I curse to myself but reluctantly slip my switchblade into my waistband, "Come on, Ines. Let's go."

My sister sighs and follows me into the palace. It's large, and extravagant. I'd also say that the decorations are slightly tacky. The king, our 'Uncle' Alix, has no stylistic taste. At least at the estate in Elleany we have a theme of silver.

     Ines groans, then asks in English, "Why do we have to go? Don't we have konkursi that can talk to our needy uncle?" One of my sister's main things is that she complains about everything. But I can tell she'll be a great part of our order when we're older. She knows exactly what she wants and how to get it.

We've been primed for our roles in the order. She'll be tresais, I'll be beta, and our cousin Athena will be the preeminence. And I'm content with that. I'm better at what Uncle Colton does anyway; being straightforward, initiative, working on the stuff that the preeminence is unavailable for, torturing prisoners into providing information, and other stuff like that. I spend a lot of time with Uncle Colton. Maybe even too much. The only difference between the two of us is that I prefer vampire novels.

     Ines snaps her fingers in my face, "Hello? I asked you a question? Earth to Jojo? Or would you rather Amoria be calling?"

     I shoot a glare at my sister, "Don't mention Amoria out here... you don't know who could be listening."

    Her eyes narrow as if to pin me,"If you don't want me to mention Amoria, then stop speaking in the language!Do you not speak English anymore?"

      I only now realize I've been speaking in amorian, "Sorry," I say in english. I've always been more comfortable with amorian since my best friend back home speaks it. It's also how mom and dad speak to me too.

Growing up they mixed in English, Amorian, and French so that I'd learn early on. Eventually I chose one language to speak by primarily and it also just happened to be the one that wasn't of earthly origin. But it's not like I knew that when I was five.

That's why, back in Elleany, I'm seen as the 'mysterious-Elleanian-prince-who-has-an-enchanting- accent-even-though-I'm-from-an-english-speaking-country'. Yeah it's a long title.

    "Ugh I'm so cold." She rubs her arms. We're both still wet and in bathing suits. We walk the rest of the way to the king's room in silence. She scrolls the screen of her phone while I'm on high alert. I don't get a good feeling from this castle, it's throwing me off.

     "What do you think he wants? Why do you think he wanted mom specifically?" she wonders suddenly.

     "He didn't specify in the text, and I don't know much about him beyond his political footprint." It's a big footprint, but not a good one. So far in his rule, he's horrible with economic decisions, is in hot water with nearly everyone, has a horrible attitude, is a coward, and faces a lot of scandalous accusations back when I was an infant.

      "Hm. Oh well, does that make this our first one on one—err, one on two— with him?"

I look at her. We both have no clue what to expect of this man. Finally we reach his extravagantly large doors. I force them open and an disturbed by the scene in front of me. I instinctively clap my hand over Ines' eyes.

Our uncle, the scandalous king, is perched on his bed. Candles and rose petals are scattered around him. His velvet sheets are red but lack pillows. The robe he fashions is a thin silk, open to showcase the last remnants of a six pack. At least he wears his boxers?

     Immediately, he gathers himself and slips off the bed in a clumsy manner, "Kids?" He sounds extremely worried.

      "Sir... what the hell?" I speak in french.

      Ines gets angry about my palm on her face, "Josiah, get your hand off my face! What  is it that I can't see, because I'm not a little kid—" she pulls my hand off and sees the undesirable sight, "Nevermind, you can cover my eyes again."

      I pay no attention to her and focus on the king, "What were you doing??"

     Ines raises her phone. He splutters and shakes his head, "N-nothing! I uh— please don't tell your father," he presses his hands together and pleads with us.

     My sister finally connects the dots, "Ew! You prepared this for our mother?!"

      The flustered man clasps his hands together and shakes them, "Please don't tell Preeminence Jonas!"

     "I don't know... I think we will." I tease, a hundred percent going to tell both our parents. Though, I think they already knew. Which is why they made us go to this scumbag of a king, to expose his dirty truth to us. I know Ines is recording; maybe we can expose him to the world too, with proof. I'm sure Aunt Abella would love to take the role as queen.

      "This. Is. Appalling," my sibling concludes as she moves her camera to get the full scene. I watch her zoom in on his face. His expression is fear, entirely dreading our dad's wrath. Most likely, dad might cut off our alliance with the French. Which would be entirely devastating to Alix since we're his last remaining allies who have tolerated him.

      "I can't"—actually I can—"believe you would attempt this on our mother," I say with disappointment. The man looks like he would drop dead. He's probably hoping he could. Though I inherited the Amorian ability to be able to tell that he won't be anytime soon.

      He whimpers, "Stop it! Stop recording!" Alix orders flimsily, pointing to her.

      "Nah. You can't tell me what to do," she smirks.

      "I'm a king!"

      "Not our king. We're royalty of another country."

       "And you were going to try something with our mother, a queen," I keep nailing the point into him.

      He whines more like a child than Ines does, gripping his blond hair. I text my parents to come over, maybe call media, but then Ines giggles, "Can I post this?"

      I look at the video she reviews on her phone and then at the distraught ruler who pleads every plea he can. He's on his knees. Damn. I raise an eyebrow at him, "Post it."

She also glances once at the sorry man then slowly, dramatically, presses post. It publishes, on all her accounts, under her very popular username XpiredTr3sais. Alix looks broken. He finally stopped pleading. He just gazed silently on his knees, his robe still open.

      "See ya! Definitely wouldn't want to be ya!" My sister sassily walks out, flipping her hair behind her. I'm smiling watching her.

      I decided to state one last thing. I crouch to his level condescendingly, "By the way," Alix looks at me, "My dad's abs are way better looking than yours." I grin, laughing menacingly.