A Royal Beginning [Book 1 of The English Lion]

XX. Douglas

"I would serve in the Royal Navy if my father and the King hadn't called me to serve," I told them while muttering the next part: "and to be honest, this is a much higher calling and has much higher perks."

"I wouldn't be here serving my nation if Douglas didn't become the Chief of Staff," Emily told us. We then look at each other, realizing that we wouldn't be here if it weren't for Alexander.

"We wouldn't all be here if it weren't for Alexander," I said, "A prodigy has somehow brought together an outstanding group of people to help him protect the country that we all would gladly give our lives for."

"I'll drink to that, but alas, I am not of age," Hugo laughed as he raised his cup of coffee. We both do the same, laughing, before clinking our respective cups together and started to drink our coffee.

I glanced at my watch, only to find it was only 10 AM.

"Bloody hell," I muttered, "Why is it only 10?"

Hugo groaned as Emily would just be in her world.

"Anyone want to hit a local bookstore or somewhere?" I asked, being an absolute nerd. Hugo's face brightened up immediately. I grinned.

"Emily?" I asked, realising that she hadn't said a word yet.

"Hm?"

"Want to go to the bookstore?" I repeated.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll go and check up on Alexander."

"Oh, okay."

"While you're there, force him to eat," Hugo told her, "and promise him that he'll have a cup of coffee afterwards. Hot Cappuccino with extra shots. Just ask him how many shots he wants to have."

Emily nodded.

"Should I be slightly worried?"

"Well... at first, last year, we were both worried. But then, things got ugly in terms once we intervened. So no, he'll be alright after the expansion phase. Alexander wants everything to be run smoothly and that everyone would follow his words by the letter. He expects everyone to fall in line and do what is needed to protect this nation," I assured her.

"So in short, he's a perfectionist and a patriot," Emily summed up.

"Oi! Who are you calling a perfectionist?" A familiar voice rang out, sounding offended. We all turn to look, seeing Alexander with both Guinevere and Arthur on their leashes. He looked pale and had bags under his eyes.

'Bloody hell... At five and he's exhausted,' I thought.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Hugo asked, "With a cup of coffee and a bag of... Fish and chips..."

"Walking the dogs and the fish and chips are bloody good. Which reminds me, I know of a place that sells awesome Beef Wellington. Meet me back at the apartment in 2 hours? It's a tad bit far from here and the apartment. Lunch's on me," Alexander said, in a well-mannered and upbeat tone. We three stared at him and considering Hugo and I knew him the longest out of the trio, we were astonished.

"What?" Alexander asked, eating fish and chips from the bag, dipping the chips into tartar sauce, before eating it.

"Well..." I started.

"Come on now, Douglas, spit it out. I'm not going to hurt you or anything," Alexander assured me, and I just stared at him.

"We've never seen you this... happy during the expansion process," Hugo blurted, taking what I was going to say away from me.

"Well don't count on it too much. Dopamine is affecting my cheery mood. Inside, I'm still dead and exhausted, Hugo," Alexander replied as he eats his fish and chips.

'There's the sass,' I thought. He said it so casually yet his face just creeps me off a bit. If no one had the context of what had just been talked, and just heard him say that line, people think that he's a mad lad and a psychopath. Which he isn't.

"Alright. We'll meet you back at the apartment in under 2 hours," Douglas said, as the three of us out of the four would start heading back.

"Hugo, let's walk," Alexander said, and the two of them would walk across the park, talking and sharing the bag of fish and chips.

"Should we check on them?" Emily asked. I laughed.

"You should stop mothering them, Emily. They'll be fine. You don't know how many agents are here in Cambridge, watching their every move. There's also MI5 and MI6 tagging along too, somehow," I assured her as both of us would make our way to wherever, walking around the nearby areas just to kill time.

Later that day, we ate lunch at one of Alexander's restaurants, to find that since he had disappeared off to God knows where at random times, hence why we know he would be gone for some time in the day before appearing again.

After we get both Alexander and Hugo, alongside Guinevere and Arthur back to their apartment, Emily and I would get to our shared apartment, and after half an hour, we'd fall asleep on our respective beds, right after an interesting conversation.