Royal On The Run (unedited)

Chapter Eleven

Natalie

Two days after the attack on the palace and the death of the King and Queen of America, I was still searching for my former comrade, Captain Anthony Mellark. The traitorous bastard that he was was doing a good job of staying hidden while his cronies got their fifteen minutes of fame.

    I had already been through the captain's old rooms. I found nothing more than what I'd already found in the castle turret. Every pillow had been cut open, every drawers contents were spilled around the room, no picture frame was left intact. Nothing of any significance. I refused to give up. For the justice for my King and Queen and my royal charge, Prince Deacon and my new Queen, Naomi.

    Thinking of Naomi had a round of sadness going through me and my companions. No one said her name, though Brooklyn wanted to. It just wasn't safe to do so. To put the new Queen in danger, more danger than she was already in was not worth the risk. Even with her safe with Sebastian, we had to keep every level of protection for the new Queen intact.

    I did feel bad for Naomi. Everyone who knew her knew that she didn't want this, but now it was thrust upon her. I found myself mumbling 'poor girl' at least once every hour. Amara was doing everything she could to comfort Brooklyn whenever Naomi came up. We'd ended up using the code name 'Golden' when referring to Naomi and 'Styles' when referring to Deacon. Even Sebastian had earned the code name of 'New Love' as we'd discovered a note he had written to Naomi saying she was his new and only love until his last breath.

    For the past couple of nights, we'd been cautious as we strolled across the palace grounds to what remained of the livable conditions of the palace. We hadn't seen any sign of the Red Guard since the attack. Either they weren't aware of Curtis' failure or they were waiting for the perfect moment to return. Or even the worst option yet, maybe they were too busy hunting down Naomi and Deacon. Maybe they were going to let people think the worst was over before coming in for another big bang.

    None of the Red Guard had been caught yet. The royal military and the local authorities were doing heavy investigations into the situation inside and outside of the palace. All of the guards had been questioned, none had any knowledge of the Red Guard. No one had any clues yet, nothing besides the note that had been stashed in my bra. I almost gave it to the authorities but thought better of it and kept it in my own being for safekeeping. Something like that just didn't seem like it could be dealt with by someone who wasn't a guard, it'd be put into the wrong hands instantly.

    This was personal. I needed to get the note to Sebastian, needed his input on all of this. It was his brother after all. Maybe he'd notice something we hadn't been able to. I couldn't leave the palace to give the note to him, I just couldn't justify leaving Brooklyn and Amara here without someone they knew they could trust, we were stronger with our numbers.

    Speaking on which, Amara was currently tending to Brooklyn's head. She still had blood seeping through a couple of small wounds every now and then. Every so often she'd get dizzy and would either have to sit or be carried. She always preferred the first option, being carried sometimes made her even more dizzy and it was just a bad turn of events, so she mostly sat. Mostly because I refused to clean anymore vomit off of her clothing. We were running out of options as the cleaning services within the palace and surrounding areas had been halted immediately due to lack of power. Soon we were going to go back to the old times and hand wash everything. It didn't sound like fun to anyone.

    I leaned against a wall, sighing loudly. Things were taking too long to happen. No sign of the enemy since the attack, not even acknowledgement of a job well done. Complete silence.