Here Comes Trouble

3

When I was eight, I sneaked out of my bedroom in the middle of the night to raid the palace's wine cellar. There, I caught my mum shagging the butler. I've seen horses mate before so I had a fair understanding of what was happening before my young virgin eyes.

Although I thought his... appendage was quite small compared to a horse's.

As quietly as I could, I tried to leave, but my mum had seen me. She'd clamped her hand between my cheeks and told me that if I told anyone of her indiscretion, she would kill my dog.

I was terrified and she must have seen that on my face because she started laughing and warned me that if there was one thing permanent in my pointless, wretched, pampered life, it was death. Death would come for me as it would come for everyone I loved.

She was right.

Death introduced itself to the Royal Family when my eldest brother Robert died in war. I thought Death would move on to its next victim and leave us alone for a while.

It married itself to my family instead.

My dad, the King of England, disenchanted of what the crown has brought to our family and the nation, had decided to ask Parliament for a referendum to abolish the monarchy. The night before he was to sign the referendum, he was murdered. Shot in cold blood.

One would think Death had gotten its pound of flesh after that.

It only got hungrier. Thirstier.

I could pretend that it wasn't there, even forget it sometimes. But every now and then, like an errant spoiled child, Death demanded the acknowledgment of its existence. Sadistic and evil, it whispered its malevolence in unexpected moments.

I felt its presence before it showed itself, its pale icy fingers caressing my neck before it grabbed me in a chokehold.

It whispered Liam's name in my ear.

I shivered with foreboding as I watched Jasper, with his calm but alert eyes so focused on Liam, pull out his gun and aim it at my brother. There was a second where my brain rejected what I was seeing before I realized what Jasper was about to do.

"No!" I screamed. "Liam! Run!"

Helpless, I whipped my gaze to Liam's direction, but something to his right caught my attention. There was a man in a nondescript dark jacket pointing a gun at Liam. Before the man could fire it, a gunshot reverberated in the room. The man slumped with force against the wall, his gun clattering to the floor.

Jasper had shot him.

Pandemonium broke. Terrorized screams filled the room as people started to brutally shove at each other to get to the exit. But I just stood there, like a deer caught in headlights, watching the scene unfurl before me.

The man recovered quickly, holding his arm protectively as he disappeared into the crowd.

There was a severe calmness in Jasper's face as he moved into action, as if he had done this a thousand times before. His eyes shifted to mine and the blankness disappeared, replaced by an intense emotion that flickered so fast I wasn't sure what it was. And then he turned and ran after the killer.

Jasper wasn't trying to kill Liam. He was trying to save him. Liam was safe.

"Eleanor, let's go!" Ophelia grabbed my arm, pulling at me. Among the panicked crowd, I spotted my security detail struggle their way to get to us.

I looked at Ophelia, feeling the determination and adrenaline pumping in my veins. "You go. I have to find Jasper."

"No! Len!"