famously unfamous | jaron artolius eckbert iii

Twenty-One

Before either of us could answer, she disappeared through the window. By the time Jaron climbed through after me and shut it tightly, she was already gone. Her message was clear. We were a prince and a noblewoman now, and she had returned to being Imogen the mute.

Morning came early. We'd barely slept, if at all. One thought after another had tumbled through my mind faster than I could make sense of it. For most of the past eight years, I had accepted the idea that I would be Leta for the rest of my life. Letting that go and allowing myself to be Charlette again was more difficult than I had anticipated.

We were already awake when Conner tried to kick us into consciousness, so his foot hit our hands and nothing worse. Then he called for Imogen to wake up and go downstairs to get us a breakfast from the other servants. Ours was to be served in our room, then she could take something to other boys in their rooms. He gave her no instructions on when she could eat.

"We'll stay here in the room until it's time to leave," Conner said. "I've got only hours left to prepare you two for presentation."

"We are prepared," Jaron grumbled.

Conner smirked at him. "I would have expected more humility from you today. Our highest priority is to rehearse the order of action tonight. And don't try to tell me you know about that."

We didn't. "Tell us, then."

"Get dressed and straighten this room first, or else the servants will wonder about your arrangement last night. I have a few duties for Mott to attend to this morning that I must speak with him about."

By the time we'd dressed and replaced Jaron's pillows and blankets to my bed, Conner was returning with Imogen behind him. She carried a tray that she set on a table in our room. I wondered if she had risked speaking to the staff to get our breakfast, or if not, how she had communicated our order to them.

"Maybe it was a good thing you brought her along," Conner said. "It's handy to have a traveling servant."

"I thought that's what Mott is for," Jaron said.

"He's more than a common servant. Surely you've noticed that by now."

I rolled my eyes. "What about your servants here?"

He shrugged.

Imogen left as quickly as she could, and Conner handed us each a plate filled with hot cakes, eggs, and thick slices of bacon.

"It's a large breakfast," Jaron said hungrily.

"This is nothing compared to what lies ahead for you," Conner said. "Once you're the prince, you may tell your servants anything you wish to eat and they will provide it. They will feed it to you if you desire."

"I don't. There's no need to tempt me for this position, Conner. You have me. Now tell me about court tonight."

"All twenty of the king's regents will meet in the throne room at five o'clock. Also there will be the king's closest adviser, the high chamberlain, Lord Kerwyn. No need for you to know all of their names. Jaron and Charlette likely would not have known them, so no one will expect you to."

We didn't know all of them. But there were some we would be expected to recognize. Kerwyn would know us best. He'd suffered through our childhoods beside our families — mostly Mother and Erin. But would he recognize us after all this time? It was doubtful. We'd changed a lot in four and eight years.

Conner continued, "The first act of the meeting will be to officially announce the deaths of the king, queen, and Crown Prince Darius."

Jaron winced at that and I twined our fingers together. Conner didn't notice. He never had before, either.