Reign

7. Intruders

When the couple entered the living room, they were still frustrated. Phillip was wearing light brown trousers, a burgundy shirt and a black vest, while Jade looked disorientated in her plum dress. Her blond curly hair was messy. Phillip escorted her to the couch. When they finally sat, Alexander opened his arms in despair.

"What the hell, Phil?" he asked, but there was no reply. "In the Queen's chambers? Seriously?"

"Alexander, it was just this time. It hasn't happened here before," the voice of the dark haired man faded, as his friend opposite him scowled.

"There are more than a hundred bedrooms in this palace and you chose this one? What were you thinking?"

The prince was eyeing them with a damnatory look. Jade's face was flushed from embarrassment, and she avoided eye contact especially with her friend.

"As far as I remember," he continued furiously. "You own a mansion of eleven thousand square feet and seven other apartments. Plus, I've given you a quite spacious room here for these purposes."

"My whole family lives in the same mansion and I rent all my apartments."

"A hotel maybe? Don't tell me you can't afford to pay a suite for the lady."

"We wanted to be discreet. Photographers are everywhere following me. There is always the risk of exposing ourselves. Besides we were in ... urgent need. The room you've provided- and thank you- is next to yours. You might have seen us. Roselyn, on the other hand, was working in her office."

"That's why you called me earlier, Jade? To see if I was in my room?" Roselyn asked still surprised, as her friend's behavior was unrecognizable.

"Don't get mad at me" Jade pleaded.   

"How can I not be? You were supposed to have left, and you were pretending to be somewhere else, while you were hiding inside my other bedroom. And what about work? How did they allow you to take so many days off?"

The blond woman frowned and started staring at her fingers, which were lying hopelessly on her knees.

"There is no work for me there, Rose. The community center is closing. I was the last to get fired, so I prolonged my staying here."

"Plus," Philip added, "We wanted to see what will happen with our relationship."

The man took the hand of his lover and kissed it affectionately, a move that brought the two others in a difficult position. The four of them were exchanging bewildering glances, but no one was saying a word. Alexander started pacing across the room with hands behind his back.

"Where did you find the keys?" he asked suspiciously after quite a while.

"The first night I arrived, Philip invited us to his club. Rose was busy so she lent me the keys to the main door. I returned them the next morning, but first, I gave them to Philip and we decided to make a passkey."

"A passkey? Philip, tell me, who made the extra key? The palace locksmith?"

"A local one," he murmured and his reply caused Alexander's annoyance to grow.

"Are you serious? The palace keys are unique. They have a special code on them, and they are controlled  by an automatic system monitored by the central computer of our security men! Someone who is aware of its function can easily have access to every room. Phil, you already know we have security breaches very often. You risked her privacy. What if she gets in one day and finds a pervert in her rooms? What will you say then?"

"Come on, mate. You are overreacting. What do you pretend to be, a preacher or a puritan?  You've done worse than that. Let me remind you of..."

"Stop it, Phil," he exclaimed looking at Rose's side, who glanced at him momentarily but stayed silent.