Julie woke up at five in the morning without an alarm. It was one of those mornings where her body just wanted to rise with the sun, and she didn't fight against it. She sat up and grabbed her phone, staring at the picture of her mom that she had as her lock screen until the screen went black. She took a deep breath before getting out of bed, wondering when the ache was going to stop being so vast.
She slid on a hoodie and walked to her door, wondering if Luke was going to be out there or if it was going to be her Sunday guard. He didn't mention not taking the day off and although he deserved it, she didn't feel so secure without him.
She peaked her head out the door and found Reggie standing in place, leaning against the wall and listening to music. He took out an earbud when he saw her, and he seemed surprised. "Princess, what's wrong?" he asked her. She realized it was too late to go back to the warmth of her bed, and she walked out into the hall.
"Nothing," she told him. "Just woke up early."
"That's a first," Reggie said, making her smile. He wrapped his earbuds around his phone and put it away.
"Do you guys think I'm lazy?" she asked him. She hadn't talked to Reggie one on one many times, but he seemed to be the more relaxed one out of the two knights. The three with Alex. As much as Luke and her had gotten closer, there was still thousands of miles of ocean between her and the knight.
"I don't," Reggie said. "Neither does Luke if that worries you." Julie wondered what that meant, but Reggie's face was blank, just a twitch in corner of his lips that he tugged back down.
"Not really worried. I just wonder what people think of the Princess who hasn't done anything in so long."
"Nothing bad, trust me," Reggie said. "I'm always out in town and the people love you and Carlos." Julie smiled again. She hadn't gone out or been to a huge event in such a long time, she almost forgot she had constant royal duties before. She had a schedule that all went to shit when her mom was really gone. "They know everything seems to be crumbling around you guys. They don't expect you to go out and save the world."
"I still feel like I have to."
"Well, you shouldn't. That's my job," Reggie said, posing like a superhero. Julie laughed at him and leaned against the wall across from him. He went back to doing the same and asked, "You're going to hang with me for the rest of my shift?"
"I'm definitely not going back to sleep," she said. "When are the Sunday guards going to come?"
"No Sunday guards," Reggie said. "Luke and I have a meeting at seven with Bobby, but we'll be with you guys for forever. Or until the war is over." Julie raised an eyebrow and Reggie seemed to sense her confusion. "They just told us at like, one in the morning. King Caleb is talking about making a visit himself, and he's not exactly going to be a guest of honor." Julie was taken aback from the dump of information. People seemed to hide things from her so much, she forgot what it was like to have someone in her life who told her things so easily.
All she could ask was, "Here?"
"Shit," Reggie whispered, scratching the back of his head. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."
"No, thank you for telling me," she assured him. "My dad would have told me eventually, either way. I hope."
"Don't you and Luke sit in their meetings?" he asked her. "He catches me up, but I sometimes wish I was in there. It's weird not knowing right away what's going to happen to your friends."
"We are in most of them, but there's conversations they don't want me to hear for some reason," Julie said. "I think Luke knows what type of conversations they are, but he's always dodged the questions."
"Seems like Luke to dodge questions." Reggie sounded like he was hurt about the fact, and Julie understood him. The idea of being close to Luke but at the same time, not knowing who he was at all, was harrowing. She felt like Reggie had a much greater reason to be upset because of how long he's known Luke.
"Alex has told me you guys don't really know much about his past."
"Almost nothing at all," Reggie said. "Born and raised in Silvone. Mom was a teacher, dad I forget. I don't think he has any siblings last time we asked, and he perhaps has grandparents."
"Perhaps?" Julie found herself smiling. Reggie shrugged and then crossed his arms.
"I don't know. I feel like if I straight up ask if he has grandparents, he'll be like," Reggie started speaking in an accent similar to Luke's, "'Oh, Reginald. We all have grandparents.' And then he'll steal my wallet or something."
"... I asked him why he joined the academy, and he said necessity." Reggie looked at her face curiously.
"He told you that?" he asked. She nodded. "Interesting. Guess it's another thing we can add to the list."
"Silvone is so far from here I really have no idea what they have there besides mining. Which is bad because I'm supposed to know this type of thing."
"Nobody else in the academy is from Silvone," Reggie told her. "Luke is the one and only guy to come from there. When we asked why, he said the mining pays much better than being a guard or a knight." Reggie got quiet, seeming to debate himself in his head before saying, "So my question is, if it was truly necessity, why wouldn't he stay in the mines?" Julie and Reggie stood in silence in the elegant hall, the dim lights and first streaks of sunlight accompanying them. Analyzing Luke was somehow harder to do with more manpower, and it was starting to drive Julie crazy as she thought about how close he held her to him during the quake.
"Do you trust Luke?" Julie found herself asking him.
"With my life," Reggie said without hesitation. "I think it's just my feelings that get hurt because he doesn't trust me with anything even after everything we've gone through. But he's a great friend. I wouldn't want to be partnered with anyone else." Julie smiled at his answer. She felt the same way about her dad despite how often he hid things from her. It had been harder without her mom there to keep him balanced. "Do you trust him?"
Julie stroked the ruby ring on her finger before saying, "Of course."
"Not much of a choice, huh," Reggie said with a half-smile. Julie nodded.
"I think I would still choose him to be my knight. Maybe not at the beginning but eventually, I think it was always going to be you two. I trust you with my brother as much as I trust Luke with me."
"I know Luke as much as he doesn't want me to, and," Reggie looked both ways of the hall before whispering, "I know he really likes you, Princess." Julie felt her face get red, and she wished she could pull up her hoodie without making it obvious. "He'll keep you safe just like he'd keep me or Alex safe." Julie nodded and Reggie whispered even lower, staring down the hall as if Luke was going to emerge from the ground, "But like, he really likes you. Like. You know."
"Thank you, Reggie, I get it," Julie said, not knowing how to react. She shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket, her palms sweaty from getting heated. Reggie smiled and looked at her, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Do you like him, too?" he asked, grinning. Julie looked at him for a moment.
"If I ask you a question and you answer it, I'll give you an answer," she said, trying to sound authoritative despite her blush. Reggie thought about it for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. She just needed to know. "Do you know what they could be talking about in those meetings we don't step in?" The smile on his face went away, but he nodded.
"Strategy," he answered.
"Strategy?"
"Who to send in first, what soldiers will be in the front lines, which will be manning tanks and airplanes. Attack plans in general," he listed, licking his lips. He looked down at the floor. "But yeah. They probably have a list of the knights and guards who are going in." Julie felt dizzy hearing about it, feeling any probable death prick her in the neck. It was thousands of tiny needles, bird pinches, and they were drawing her blood. "Are you okay?" he asked her. "I know it's a lot. A lot of people that we know, maybe you know, will be dying."
She nodded her head and looked down at the floor. "I'm still holding on to hope that there will be a truce." She looked at Reggie again who was staring up at the ceiling, a clear frown on his face. "Do you think there will be a truce?" she asked. He looked at her, blue, and shook his head 'no.'
"Not at this rate from what I'm noticing," he told her before adding in, "I'm sorry."
She managed to give him a smile. "Thank you for answering. My dad and Luke wouldn't have ever." She glanced down the hallway, feeling herself wait for Luke to walk out of the room and join them. "And in exchange, yes, I like him a little."
"Knew it!" Reggie laughed, clapping his hands. Julie shushed him, looking around to make sure nobody was waking up. Reggie whispered again and said, "Honestly, Princess. I would have answered these in exchange for nothing. I think you deserve to know the truth. All of it."
"I will never hide anything from my daughter," Julie's mom once said behind the office door. "She's going to be queen one day, and there will be many things that hurt her. I will not be one of those things by hiding things from her. She deserves to know every truth." It was later that day that Julie's mom told her she was dying.
"Thank you, Reggie... And you can just call me Julie."
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A/N: So this weekend I planned every chapter up to chapter 45 and I'm just like...wow. That's fun. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this Reggie centered chapter. He's my fave.