The Deadliest Game

Fifteen - Who's Responsible?

Prince Axel Bishop

"Go! Get out!" I shoo away the press team, blood covering the floors we walk on, leaving bloody footprints. These people have no boundaries. The King has just been murdered, and all they care about is getting it on camera. "Show them to the Press Room." I snarl. "And that's an order from the HEIR." I use my new title to let the guard know that Father has died and now I've moved up, but I'm not in a good mood.

"Axel?" I hear Sayer's voice before I see his tiny form rounding the corner. I pick him up, trying to shield him. Rae follows behind him, the red in her eyes all too familiar. However, Aunt Catalina and Aunt Loral don't dare show their faces. It makes me hate Aunt Loral especially more now. Her brother has just been murdered... and she doesn't even care. Not one bit. I take Raelynn's hand, and walk them back. You can hear Mother and Velvet's sobs from out here. I guess now the responsibility of clean up falls to me. I've never been as close with Father, or anyone besides Velvet for that matter. It's easier not to love, not to care.

"Do you want to see Father?" I ask my younger siblings. Sayer's tears stain my shirt, but Raelynn doesn't cry. Her eyes say she cried hard, fast, and now has nothing left to give.

"We saw the worst of it." Raelynn nods back, her voice barely above a whisper. "I want to see him."

"Sayer?" We've reached the room, and I send Raelynn in, but wait for Sayer's answer. He doesn't speak, just nods his head up and down. I take it as a yes, and carefully put him down. "You'll take care of Mother, right?" I smile at Sayer, and he nods before entering as well. I shut the door softly behind him, having never seen the body myself. I want to remember my Father as he was, not as he looks now.

"Hey! Listen up!" Everyone stops in their tracks. This new power gives me a surge of pride. "Clean up the blood. It's scaring the Prince and Princess." They all snap to attention, and rush to do what I ask. Only once that happens do I let myself start to feel. The emptiness that my brain tells me to feel starts to spread. The dead and dying guards litter the floor, some still crying out for help. Workers are helping them up, and leading them into rooms farther into the Medical Center.

"Prince Axel..." A guard limps by, daring to speak to me. It doesn't look like he's going to make it. Maybe that's why he speaks up.

"Yes?"

"Please tell Queen Velvet..." He takes a shaky breath. A nurse is trying to urge him onward, but the guards shoos the man away. "Tell her that if I make it, she saved my life."

"What? How?"

"I was going to take my gun and shoot myself. Just end the pain. She took the gun from me." Now the man lets the nurse drag him away, a trail of blood in his wake. I don't have the heart to tell him that saving his life wasn't Vel's goal.

Not knowing what to do, I turn and face the door. I don't want to see him. I don't want to see Father... but I need to be there for my whole family. They're all in there. Taking a deep breath, I push the door open.

Princess Loral Bishop

"What a shame. A tragedy." I smirk as Cashmere and I walk back to our chambers, fake tears forming in my eyes. I think Cashmere may actually be sad about her uncle's death, though. The thought of her pitying the Immediate Royal's disgusts me. I should be Queen. Siaren has no Royal Blood, and Velvet is just a mere child. "I wonder who could have let that monster out of her cell?" My plan was flawless from the start. I had hoped, of course, that Sona would have taken care of both Siaren and Kylan for me, but one is better than none I suppose.

"You didn't do anything, did you?" With all guards attending to more important things than our safety, Cashmere speaks freely. I feel the coldness in her words, and I can't fathom why she's not applauding me. If I become Queen, one day she will be too.

"I did what was best for us." Lying will do no good. I can't seem to even act sad about my brother's death.

"You did what was best for you." Cashmere snarls back.

"If I am Queen you will be too!" I hiss at my incompetent daughter, the tears in my eyes disappearing. I am only angry now.

"I do not want to be Queen." We arrive at Cashmere's chambers, but she doesn't go inside yet. "In fact, I wish I wasn't Royal at all."

"You don't mean that!" I shout, knowing no one will hear us. Everyone's so busy, no one will be coming to the Royal Chambers. Especially ours, which are closest to the Servant Quarters.

"I mean every word of that." Cashmere doesn't raise her voice, and somehow that makes the words scarier. "You're brother just died, because of you no less, and you're happy! Now security will be heightened, and you won't be able to kill Siaren, Velvet, Axel, Raelynn, and Sayer! It can't be done, Mother. You'll never be Queen." Cashmere puts her hand on the doorknob, still shaking her head at me in disgust. I'm too shocked to respond, but I raise my hand to slap her. Cashmere ducks, and my hand falls useless at my side. Cashmere is crying hard now. "I wish you died instead of Father."

"Cashmere! You don't know what you're saying!"

But it's too late. My daughters door slams in my face. I turn and keep walking. She has no idea what her words mean. I loved Kaus too, but he was rather useless. I, however, know strategy better than anyone in the Royal Family. Better than anyone in Alkali.