When The Stars Align

chapter thirteen | political decisions

THEY ALL KNEW who I was now. They all know Vera Annalise Carmicheal, the queen's sister, the Captain of the Guards' sister, the younger daughter of Lyra and Nathanial Carmicheal, was the same person as the person that killed people. That killed her parents.

The kingdom wasn't happy.

The symptoms of the fever caught up to me, and right after the broadcast, I headed back into my room and stumbled into my bed. No one tried to follow me up. I needed time to process the king's words, because they weren't what I expected. Not at all.

I'm free. I'm free, as long as I don't plan on doing anything illegal. I'm free, as long as I have someone watching me. It was better than lacking any freedom at all.

But at the same time, everyone knows. They were bound to figure out sooner or later, but now, everyone knows who I am. They know where I am. They know of the lies my family has been keeping from them in order to keep my missing case away from the public.

I stayed curled up in my sheets as the day dragged on. Victoria came in once to check my temperature again. Lysander walked in when he came back from the castle, kissing my forehead and sitting with me in silence until Aurora dragged him out. I didn't stir as I heard angry people crowding around the gate, not even to look outside. I let my family deal with this one, because I was the one who warned them about this.

A soft knock comes from the door, I groan, turning towards the door but I don't say anything. I just stare, and they knock on the door again. I groan, annoyed, and buried my face into my pillow. They took that as the sign to come in.

Atticus limped into the room, the king behind him, and following him, a middle aged woman in a white doctor's coat and stethoscope around her neck. She had a small kit with her and walked over to my bedside.

"Vera, this is one of my trusted doctors, Dr. Maxwell," King Pheon started, gesturing to the woman. "Your sister asked her to come and check on you and how you're doing, and don't worry, she knows of your condition."

"She just finished checking on me," Atticus piped in, trying to help.

I rolled my eyes. "If Tori asked her to check on me, why are you the one in the room?" Nonetheless, when the older woman asked me to put the thermometer in my mouth, I politely did so.

"Vera, I said I was going to talk to you, and here, now we're talking. And Atticus is here because I could use some valuable information out of both of you." He eyed Atticus, who returned it with a nervous smile. There's been a breach of trust, I could tell.

I take the thermometer out of my mouth and hand it to the doctor, She continues by letting me know that she was going to do a blood test, and was going to take samples. I gulped at the thought of that, wondering how many people knew that currently my blood was a totally different colour than the normal person. But the king just nodded, even if I didn't approve. The rubber band goes around my arm and I'm told to squeeze my fist.

The dark liquid fills not one, but two vials, and is placed in her little briefcase, next to two vials of white liquid. I look back to Atticus, who rubs his neck nervously. This could easily be a blood test run for the king, not our benefit. Honestly, that was more likely.

"What are you going ot use that for?" I asked, as she closed the briefcase. "Are Atticus and I just lab rats, now that you know who we are and what families we belong to?"

The doctor smiled kindly. "Maybe we are going to be using it for something more than whatever illness you're facing now, but whatever questions you have, I'm obligated to tell you, Vera. This is your blood, your body, and I can't hide that from you."