The Prince and the Punk [EDITING]

Chapter 41

Xavier

Time seems to stop. For a moment, no one moves and no one speaks.

A few yards away, my father lies on the ground, a pool of dark red blood spreading around him.

My mother's scream tears through the silence, and Katie starts to cry. Without hesitating, I sprint over to pick her up. She wraps her tiny arms around my neck and buries her face in my shoulder to spare herself from the gruesome sight.

Already, several guards have reached my father, and others are struggling to gain control of a tall girl with black hair. They tear a small handgun out of her grasp and eventually manage to pick her up.

"That was for my brother!" she screams, the shrill sound echoing through the stunned silence. "You're not sending anyone else to die! Your time is up! It's over—you know it!" She's staring right at me with murderous rage in her eyes. "I know your secret! I figured it out! You can't hide it anymore!" By now, the guards are dragging the hysterical girl from the room. "It's over! You assholes can't hide it!" She repeats herself over and over, her voice growing fainter as she's carried away.

Then she's gone, and the guards are practically shoving people out of the palace, and I'm standing there with the world spinning around me, wondering what the fuck just happened.

Guards swarm me, separating me from a terrified Katie.

The guards bring me to my room, where Desiree is already sitting on my bed. She stands up when I come in and says something I don't hear. Face-first, I flop down onto my mattress. Desiree starts hitting the door with her palm. I ignore her, but the sound persists until I can't hear myself think.

"What are you doing?" I ask into my sheets when the sound continues.

"They locked us in!" she exclaims, like her reasoning should be obvious.

I roll onto my back, fixing my eyes on the high ceiling. "They're supposed to."

"Let us out!" She shouts through the door. "I demand to know what's going on!"

A gruff voice calls back, "Not until I get the all-clear."

"I'm giving it to you! As your princess, I am ordering you to open this door!" Desiree says authoritatively.

"I apologize, Your Highness," the voice replies with a barely detectable hint of sarcasm, "but there's still a security threat and it's protocol to keep you contained while we take care of it."

Desiree groans. "Can you believe this?" she complains.

"I'll assume you're not referring to the fact that my dad just died?" I say flatly, a little offended by her remark.

Her mouth parts, and a guilty look comes over her.

"I'm sorry," she says in that formal tone I've come to recognize. "You must feel terrible."

"Yeah," I mumble.

The truth is, I don't know how I feel. I know how I should feel, but the whole thing seems like some fucked-up dream. It feels like as soon as I make up my mind, my father will burst through the door demanding to know what I decided.

"If it helps, we don't know for sure that he's... you know," Desiree says. "I'm sure he's with a doctor already, and I'm sure they're doing everything in their power to save him."

I give her a sideways glare, not in the mood for her empty, stilted condolences.

The ensuing silence is broken by my door opening just enough for Katie to slip through. It's closed and locked behind her before Desiree can take advantage of the entrance.