I slept well into the morning. When I woke, it was half past eleven. I turned and saw the other side of the bed empty. There was a note on the pillow. Half asleep, I smiled and opened the letter.
'Get some rest. I'll return later.'
Sighing, I rolled over on my back.
Rest.
I thought back to the last night. There was no way I could rest today. Possibly the biggest scandal - well, the second biggest scandal - was going on right now. I didn't have the luxury of resting.
After a quick shower, I dressed and had one of the attendants bring me a laptop. It didn't take long to figure out what was happening.
The leak was all over the news. A huge-scale conference was held at the hotel from dawn. It had ended only an hour ago, but the reporters were still in the lobby.
The attendant said I was not to go downstairs for anything. Anything I needed would be brought to me. My parents enjoyed the spa and pool area with no reservation.
Most news outlets focused on the leak and what that meant. The conversation revolved around whether the royal family had lied or not. The forums were buzzing with keyboard warriors and conspiracy theorists.
Despite the overwhelming news coverage of the leak, a handful had pictures of me and Alexander dancing. The photos were sweet. We looked like a good couple. I caught myself looking at the photos more often than trying to track down where the leak had come from. There weren't many who had access to Dr. Daniels's logs. It had to be someone with high-level clearance. While this wasn't my job, per se, I needed to do something.
How could Alexander confine me to the floor? I shouldn't be hiding.
Breakfast and lunch were brought to the room. They were all dishes I enjoyed eating. Bitterly, I ate the cheese broccoli soup. Alexander was taking care of me, but I wasn't taking care of him.
As I ate, I compiled a list of suspects who had access to the information. Was I going to show this to Noah? Maybe but I needed not to feel so useless. I put all the royal family's names on the list and mine. There was the mafia, but there were many members of the mafia. It could have been any one of them. I knew of Camellia, but putting her name down might not be the best idea. I didn't want to explain my connection to the mafia. Besides, I was sure I still owed a debt to them.
Biting my lip, I sent a message to Camellia. My message, however, didn't go through.
Well, that wasn't good. She could be in trouble for continuing to dig.
Sighing, I put my phone down. Maybe I should talk to Noah about it. He was in charge of the investigation. Plus, it wouldn't be so weird if I was interested in how the investigation was going. He would understand.
Convincing myself of that, I sent Noah a message. I didn't get a reply.
I tuned into the news station's websites. They were having a discussion on the show with doctors and scientists as guest stars. Everyone did jump on the bandwagon to discuss their opinions without any facts.
"It has to be a hoax," one of them said. "No magical solution can change someone's innate nature."
"It can be considered like hormone therapy."
"We know vampires can alter their bodies way beyond what humans can. This is another one of those times. We have to look at what caused this transformation. An experiment?"
As I went from website to website, there were just pure speculations. There was nothing useful. I sent my suspicions to Noah in an email. He might not need it, but maybe it would help him.
I thought I would be confined to the floor all day, but when dinnertime came around, I was called to join the royal family. My parents decided to send me instead and preferred having a romantic dinner alone. Jayla helped me get dressed again, but it wasn't so extravagant as the night before. She braided my hair into a Dutch braid and dressed me in comfortable jeans and a blouse.
When I got there, no one was eating. Violet and King Lionel were in a whispered conversation. Noah typed away at his laptop. The dinnerware had been set around the small rectangular table.
"Rin," Violet said as I entered. "How was your day?"
I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to have had a relaxing day?
"It was productive," I told her. "I wished I could have done more."
Violet smiled, understanding what I meant.
"We're still looking into it," Noah said. "All the data was on a secure server. It's only a matter of time before I figure out who accessed the server."
"Do we know when the breach occurred?" I asked, sitting at the table.
Diana walked into the dining room with a trolley of food. She placed a plate of spaghetti in front of me. I tried to hide my surprise. I hadn't thought the royal family would bring their servants to a hotel.
"No," Noah admitted. "I'm checking all the access codes that looked at Dr. Daniel's information. We don't have to look too far back since Alexander's condition is recent."
"What about cameras?" I asked. "Are you looking through that too?"
"Security is in charge of that," Noah replied.
"To think something of this caliber would happen right under our noses," King Lionel said.
"Sir?" I asked.
"Don't mind me," he said. "I don't want to believe it's possible someone from our family would do something like this."
"You have a list of suspects?" I leaned forward, eager to know more.
"The documents were high clearance authority only," Violet replied. "The only ones who could access them were Dr. Daniel and the royal family."
I swallowed. It made sense that I was on the list of suspects. Maybe it was too presumptuous of me to think myself part of the family, but I'd like to think so. Then again, I knew I hadn't accessed the files, but maybe someone had used my credentials. Then again, did I have those credentials? No one had told me anything about it. All I had access to was the royal family website.
"Who would benefit from this?" I asked.
No one spoke. While there wasn't a lot of succession drama I knew of (Alexander never made it seem like a big deal), it was still a possibility. As much as I thought about it, it didn't make sense. Alexander's past condition harmed vampires, not just the royal family. Who would benefit from having vampires under attack?
As I thought about an answer, I started on my dinner. King Lionel and Violet drank from their glasses almost as an afterthought, and Noah didn't bother with anything. He frowned at his laptop ever so often. I realized King Lionel hadn't mentioned the mafia as part of the culprits. Did he not know, or was he reluctant to mention them? It wouldn't be a good idea to mention them myself.
One by one, Noah, Violet, and King Lionel left the dining room. They could only spare a few minutes before work called them back. When Alexander entered the room, Diana had finished serving dessert - a strawberry shortcake.
He planted a kiss on my cheek before sitting down next to me. One moment he was sitting up, then next, he had his head on the table. Alarmed, I reached for him.
"Are you hurt?" I asked. "What happened?"
He turned his head, so his right cheek rested on the table. "I'm not hurt," he said.
"Okay. What happened?"
He groaned. "Not sure how well you know the structure of our monarchy," he began.
"Assume I know nothing," I told him.
"Father's vassals are calling for my head. Well, not entirely. As soon as they saw the news, they're clamoring to get me examined to make sure I'm still a vampire. They want to know if the information was true too."
I gaped. "Are you kidding me? How could they ask that?"
"It's within their right," he replied. "They give advice and help run certain things. They're concerned."
"So they want to put you under a microscope?"
He suddenly smiled.
"What?"
"It feels nice when you're angry on my behalf."
Blushing, I took a bite out of my strawberry shortcake. "Well, get used to it," I said.
I sighed. "Are they trying to dethrone you?"
"When aren't they?"
"What are you going to do? What did your dad say?"
He shrugged. "Nothing," he said. "Dad hasn't meddled at all. He wants me to take charge."
"Can't we play this off as an ability vampires have?"
"That's the first thing we thought about, but the documents state my genes or whatever had been suppressed."
Sh*t.
Alexander sat up. He grabbed my chair and pulled me closer. "Noah will think of something."
"Yeah, but do you think the Extremists are behind this?"
He frowned. "You think a royal family member is behind the terrorists and my assassination attempt?"
I shrugged. "It's a weird coincidence that the Extremists released a video of a vampire turning into a human, and then you're medical records get leaked to the public. Plus, they're too quiet. It's a holiday. Why would they stay quiet? It makes no sense."
"You're right. I'll have Noah look into it too."
I smiled. "I'm glad you're getting along with your brother."
Alexander shrugged. "Honestly, I think he was waiting for an opportunity to be of help. Everyone else does their own thing for their benefit."
I ate the rest of my strawberry shortcake.
"Enjoy your break," Alexander suddenly said. "I don't want you worrying about this."
I stabbed the cake and offered Alexander a piece. "Not worry? Feels like I'm getting sidelined."
He ate the cake. "You're not. You also need some rest." He gave me a look.
I leaned forward. "I'm not tired."
"Then I didn't do my job properly."
I shook my head. My face warmed.
"I need to get back home," I said, changing the subject. "Though I'd like to, I can't relax all break. I'm behind on my classes."
"I'll have Joseph take you home tomorrow morning. What about your parents?"
"I haven't spoken to them. I'm surprised they haven't mentioned the document leaks."
"Could mean they don't care about it?"
I shrugged. "It's hard to tell."
Alexander stood. "Let's get you to bed," he said.
"It's early," I said, protesting.
He grinned. "I didn't mean we'll be sleeping."
I stood. "When you put it that way. Lead the way."