Royalty vs Rebels

Chapter 9

Reidan hadn’t moved at all in the last couple minutes. He just sat there, on my sofa in the office, staring at the opposite wall with a blank expression on his face. Then, slowly, his hand, which rested on my knee, tightened into a fist.

 “Not you too,” he whispered, more to himself than to me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, scooting closer and taking his fist in my hand. “What’s wrong?”

He finally turned to look at me. “This has happened to all the other kingdoms except the Opal Kingdom. Well, something like this. Except all of them are getting the limbs of a different person. Can I see the picture?” I nodded, and Colby got it for me. Reidan took only a glance and then he let out a sigh. “It’s true.”

“What is?”

“The rebels are finding the Royal’s old families and sending them body parts.”

I was repulsed. “Why? We don’t even know our families, what effect could they possibly have on any of us?”

“Don’t you feel affected? This girl, she’s probably your sister. And when the crazy scientist comes back we’ll know that she’s your sister. Knowing this, how do you feel?”

Well, to be honest, the only feeling I had was sympathy for the girl who suffered. It wasn’t a special feeling, though – it was the same feeling I would have gotten if I’d heard about this in the news.

Hesitantly, I told him, “We don’t know for sure if she is my sister, and even if she was, I never met her before…” I wasn’t sure how he would react. He was obviously expecting a different answer – one that was more poignant.

Instead of the scolding I expected to get about not having more feelings about this, I saw a touch of sadness in his eyes. “You’ve never experienced the love of a family. I forget sometimes.”

I bit my lip. He was pitying me! And I did know – Mariah was practically my sister. “Well, I’d consider that a good thing in this situation. Since I don’t, I’m not overly very emotional about this.” Except I am. A little. This girl’s poor body….

A sudden nock on the door surprised me, and Colby got up to see who it was. Clarence. “He’s done. It’s the girl from the paper, and she is for sure your sister.”

Reidan pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Apparently this has been happening in all of the kingdoms,” I informed Clarence, and his face twitched.

“Except the Opal Kingdom. But it shouldn’t be too long until Mariah is into this as well,” Reidan said. Clarence came in and shut the door.

“What are you going to do about it?” He asked Reidan as he collapsed in a chair opposite us. His eyes flickered down to my hands, which held Reidan’s, before flickering back up to Reidan’s face. There was a harder edge to his gaze.

“Well, I was arresting everybody who was suspected of being a rebel. There haven’t been any more of this…anonymous chopping-up-of-body-parts business… in any of the other kingdoms since. Except here, because the suspected rebels here never did get arrested. Because some queen, who thought she knew better than her superior, forced them to be let free.” Reidan looked pointedly at me.

 “You gave the order? I thought one of your advisors did,” I said.

“One of them gave the order under my order,” he told me. “As always.”

 “Oh.” I settled back into the sofa, wishing it would swallow me up. Like the Coop’s chairs did. I bit my lip and looked off to the side, not wanting to meet Reidan’s eyes. Could I never do anything right according to him?