The Royal Curse

Twenty Nine - Harboring Fugitives

Zian Austruc

I shoved the file into the final cabinet. Nothing again. "This library is useless. Humbling," I muttered to Mother, who sat in the corner observing me. "We should invest our money in creating a better one for the Aldorbans. Clearly their civilian taxpayers aren't giving enough."

"You know what Prince Thresan said." She continued reading, not looking up as she talked. "Besides, you're smart. Figure it out."

"I'm an intellectual, not a magician. I can't will information into my hands." Though if I had powers, those definitely would be mine. Not many people could wield various pieces of information in one brain.

A knock startled me. Before I could even ask who it was, Prince Thresan helped himself in, a cat sprinting in after. "Good evening, Austrucs," he said, smiling.

I leapt and dropped the book as the cat scurried between my legs. "Get this monster out of the room right now," I shouted, shuffling to the nearest chair.

"It's a cat." Thresan went to a knee and echoed a series of high-pitched, obnoxious sounds to call the vermin to him. "Sylvester, come here, kitty."

"How horrid. You named it, too?" Grimacing, I adjusted my chemise. "Not even a good name, either."

"You have a lot of opinions for someone practically forced into creating a massive army." What an idiot. Thresan curled the cat thing into his arms and stood back up. "He doesn't bite or scratch. Very sweet cat."

"Right, just like its owner," I muttered, redirecting my attention to his hard-to-miss swagger as he plopped himself down on the chair to my left.

"Scared of cats, Zian?"

"Only yours." Pesky thing stared up at me.

Another one of the infamous Aldorban brothers sauntered into the library. Why was it only my places of solitude that they decided to invade? "Evening, Zian," Prince Adrie announced, quickly coming next to me. "How's the Warrior Program report coming along? Father needs it by tomorrow afternoon, if you recall."

"I do recall." Unfortunately. And all these people were starting to give me a massive migraine. "Did you come to remind me or add to the list of things to do?"

"Yes, well"—his tone already told me it was the latter—"my sister is on the ship back, and I would like some paperwork done on her behalf."

"I'm a scientist, not a writer," I deadpanned.

"Yes, yes, but she needs some scientific work done for her. A speech, if you will. For some reason, she won't get it done on her voyage here, and Thresan, my beautiful brother, refuses to help." A not-so-subtle glare was exchanged between the brothers. "So you're my best option."

"What about Prince Alice?" Alice was always my personal favorite. He joked enough to make me laugh and left me alone enough so I wouldn't get annoyed at his overstay—something these two could try learning.

"He can't. Once Senna gets to Kandose, he's taking that same ship back to Entorre. There's a Superior Court meeting, haven't you heard?"

Now I was the poor soul stuck having to write a sheet of lies to tell the public. "I'm not exactly the best liar in the world," I told Adrie.