Insurrection [On Hold]

34 Sneaking into Rooms

I'm woken by a clammy hand on my mouth.

            "Shh. . ."

            My heart stops, and I flip the intruder onto their back. From on top of them, I push my arm into their throat.

            "It's me, Every."

            Breathing deeply, I don't move. Every. . . Prince Every. . . in my bedroom. . . on my bed. . . Slowly I realize I'm breathing on his face and that my breath must smell horrible. Serves him right though for sneaking in here. No lights are on so I can't see him. 

         "What are you doing here?" I ease off of his throat a little so he can respond.

         "You told me to tell you if anything came up on that rebel."

         Nate. Fear grasps my heart. He's going to tell me Nate's dead. I sit back on his waist, clenching my hands to keep them from trembling. "What did you find out?"

         "Nothing."

         "Then why did you sneak into my bed let alone bedroom in the middle of the night? Do you have any idea what would happen if people started assuming things?"

         "Relax."

         My eyes have adjusted enough to let me see part of his outline, but he's still a blur. A blur whose waist I'm on. 

         "Your fatal flaw is that you're quick to anger." He clicks his tongue. "How do you survive with that temper?"

         "People don't take you seriously if you just easily accept anything. You have to put up a fight, otherwise they use you."

         The mattress dips and creaks, Every sitting up, causing me to slide over his waist, down to his legs. He places his hands on my hips. "Come on. Get up."

         I try to ignore how close he is and where his hands rest. "What time is it?"

         "Two."

         "So why do I need to get up?" Don't I have four or five hours until breakfast?

         "Like I said, you asked me to let you know about that rebel."

         Didn't we have this conversation? "And you said you knew nothing."

         "I don't, but your father is having a live broadcast."

         I rub my eyes. "At two in the morning?"

         "Blanair is two hours ahead of Caleela. It's four in the morning for them. Excuse me, oh four hundred. I know you Lumierians prefer to speak in more military terms."

        "Still, oh four hundred is a strange time for a broadcast." I climb off him. Perhaps I could have used a more graceful word to describe that. No, I couldn't. "What is it about?"

        He gets off the bed. "I don't know."  He turns a lamp on, casting shadows and light throughout my room. Standing beside the nightstand, Every drops his hand from the switch.  He's dressed in brown trousers, boots, and a white shirt hidden underneath a brown robe. I only have on a white nightgown that I found in the dresser. I cross my arms in front of my chest aware I'm not wearing a bra or corset.

         "So you're going to show your hostage a video from her father, and you know nothing about this video?"

         "Yes." He slides open the closet.

         "You aren't worried he'll give me a code word, and I'll slit all of your throats?"

         Reaching to the top shelf, he pulls down a quilt and tosses it to me. "Nope."

         I unfold the quilt.

         "It's to wrap around you. The palace is chilly at night."

         I drape it over my shoulders and slide on the blue slippers from my servant uniform. I wiggle my toes. They're so much more comfortable than Jocelyn's shoes.

         He holds open my door. "We're going to miss it if you don't hurry." In his hand he holds a small rectangular device about the length of a brick. He flicks a switch on it and it glows blue. Outside my door it's dark. "After you, Princess."

         Nate always called me Princess. I never thought I'd miss it.

         I step past Every, wondering if I'm about to see Nate's dead body.

I know it's super short, but I ran out of time and still wanted to be able to post something for you guys. I had finals this week so I was busy, but that also means I'm done with high school! Next week I should have a lot more time to write.

Insurrection also hit ten in science fiction! I can't even begin to say how grateful I am to all of you!