We were rushed down into the catacombs, which was hard to remember its paths, but after fifteen minutes of walking before coming into a door, I could tell that this was a huge area. Grandma unlocked the door with a golden key that she took out of her pocket, twisting it but letting it stay in there. She placed her hands on an holographic pad that came out from the wall and spoke some language that I couldn't quite figure out, but after the voice recognition was passed, I heard a few clicks and a loud buzz before the door slid inside and moved to the side, revealing a room that had a completely different to the ambiance here in the catacombs. It was more homey which made me feel at ease despite the situation going on up above.
Octavian sat on a couch next to me in silence. I didn't know what to think of this. Had I not come to this country, the palace wouldn't be in danger. But they brought me here, and my presence seemed to offend them to the very core of their beings. I wondered what was going through their heads, the rebels. They must be ridiculing me, thinking that I was never going to be a great ruler. The thought was enough to stun me into silence. That and the sudden explosion that made the room quake a bit, startling me out of my thoughts. I looked at Grandma, worried and fearful. The explosion didn't seem to faze her; she acted so collected and gathered that I didn't see one bit of terror in her face. If she was hiding it under that mask, she was very good at upholding it to shroud her true emotions. She was a Queen, after all. She needed to look strong so that others could feel confident as well. She radiated strength, despite her fragile stature.
The hours to which the attack lasted seemed like forever; we had waited a long time before a guard came to guide us out of the catacombs. Jack was the first ahead while I stood at the back. When we entered the Conference room, it was still intact, still just the way we left it. I anticipated for the outside to be worse, but when the guard led us out into the hall, nothing seemed to be touched or broken.
"There have been several casualties on both sides," the guard informed the General. "Five of our own were slaughtered and countless have been shot. We've taken the injured to the infirmaries for cell regeneration. They should be patched up in about twenty minutes."
"And what about the palace? Did they breach through the walls?"
"They somehow managed to disable the watch towers' range of sight which was probably why there was no alarm to warn us further. We found them hiding anf attacking from the gardens. Luckily the damage to the palace was minor; a few windows have been smashed and there's a ditch right in front of the maze where some of the rebel casualties were found."
"And the King's Temple?"
"The temple is perfectly intact, sir. We are currently trying to figure out how they were able to disarm the towers so that we can reboot its system and change the codes to become more complicated to hack into. We should have it back online in a few hours, so we've put our men on every single angle of the palace walls."
"Good; have men on watch inside of the towers and activate the minefield outside of the palace walls. We need to protect the crown and the Princes and Queen."
"Right away, sir." The guard vanished to do his duties as he was told. I heard Grandma let out a shaky breath and I turned to her. I pulled her into a hug, mainly because I knew we both needed on. I have never been that close to death before. I knew they came for me, and they could've possibly taken Grandma away to use her to lure me to their faction. I hugged her even more at the thought.
"Dear," she breathed, "too tight."
"Oh," I apologized as I let her go, "sorry. I just thought we were goners."
"Nonsense, we're fine. We're going to be fine." She smiled, the corners of her eyes expressing wrinkles that showed her age.
"Hey," Octavian said as he turned me to face him. He cupped my face into his hands as he gazed into my eyes. "Are you alright?"
I let out a shaky breath and I could feel my heart pounding a little. "Yeah," I nodded, "I'm- I'm fine. I just never went through this kind of thing before."
"Neither have we," he said as he glanced to Jason and Grandma. "This is the first we've ever experienced a rebellion, and it concerns me that it's starting here in the Palace."
"We can't let this uprising get in the way of the plans to let Vincent ascend the throne," Grandma said. "We must continue to host the upcoming events, and when it's time for the coronation, we will push through to see that happen."
"Do you really think I can do it?" I asked curiously.
"I know you can," Octavian said.
"You do sound like a natural born speaker," Jason mentioned. I smiled at him and nodded in thanks.
"Your Highness!" A voice called from across the hall. Jet was running towards us and stopped in place and bowed for respect. "Your Highness," he fixated his gaze to me, "you must watch the news. You're on it."
I blinked in confusion before we all rushed into the Conference room and turned on the flat screen television. There I was, a video clip of the scene back at the parking lot at the mall Jack and I went to. I was sat next to the older woman, feeding her a few sips before she took the cup. Jack was sat in front of us but his back was faced to the cameras. How we didn't notice any camera crew or hear any flashes baffled me. My obliviousness to these kinds of things are probably going to be one of the reasons I fall from the monarchy.
There was an angle of me while hugging the elderly woman, who according to the information she gave Jack was named Martha, and it showed the redness of my eyes and the visible streams of tears on my cheeks. The camera was a bit shaky and it was also zoomed in during that moment until it zoomed out when I pulled away from the embrace.
I felt Octavian's arm wrap around my waist and I turned to look at him. He was grinning at me, and he placed a soft kiss on my forehead. The contact sent another voltage of electricity through my nervous system and it was enough to stimulate the redness in my cheeks. I just leaned onto his shoulder as we watched. The newscasters we calling me "genuine", "selfless", and words like "kind" and "generous". My cheeks began to hurt from the blush and I buried my face into Octavian's neck. He had his natural aroma as well as his chocolate-scented body wash which made him smell delicious.
Right after that broadcast, a breaking news report of the attack on the Palace was aired and I could feel anxiety crawling into my mind. I wondered about what the people thought about the images on the screen; were they shocked? Baffled? Not surprised? This would begin to get political.
I turned to Grandma and she was consulting something with Haven about something; I couldn't hear them because they were at least a good ten feet away. Haven nodded a few times and whispered into her hear another few. He left the room right after and Grandma glanced me a smile and began to fidget with the pendant of her necklace as if out of nervousness. I'd be nervous too. The first attack on the palace meant that there would be more. And if they were able to hack into the systems to disable the watch towers, who knows what these people are capable of.
The sun was beginning to set and I decided to go out into the garden to see the damage. There was a large ditch that dug into the crust in front of the entrance to the maze. Guess we won't be going in there anytime soon. A few guards were still trying to get out the bodies of the deceased rebels to cremate them in the furnace. Grandma explained to me that they needed to cremate them one by one and then have them be put in jars to send them to their family members. I tried to wrap my head around the meaning; was it to compensate them for their loss and show them condolences or was it as a reminder not to mess with the government ever again?
Octavian held my hand and our fingers were interlaced. He constantly rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand, and I can't help but let my inner self flip with glee. I've never had this kind of subtle actions being done to me. The kissing of the forehead, the holding of hands, in such a romantic manner (not to mention the few times he's brought it up to kiss it). Nathan was never that into romance. He was boyish type of guy and he was too friendly to certain people. But Octavian was something else entirely.
For the rest of the week until Friday, I've been kept on a schedule that involved library sessions with the Headmaster, combat training with a renown fitness instructor who looked like he could've won the World's Strongest Man competition, and called into meetings with the members of the First Council to talk about the current economy and how we will continue to let it flourish thanks to our unlimited supply in the mine deposits as well as plotting out strategies and back up plans to follow predictions of a sudden economic downturn. I was beat by Friday. Jack had managed to get in touch with Martha's grandchildren. She would be expecting them tonight and be in a new home by morning. I had to do a video cast with them all in order to convince them to come down here. I was very blunt about things mainly because it was immoral and inhumane to leave your grandmother living alone and even out on the streets. Some of the boys were constantly telling me to shut up and deal with my own shit, but I wasn't having that. I may be a bit shy when it comes to new people but not when it's dealing with a pressing matter. After a few arguments and arrangements regarding finances, only three of the ten grandchildren were able to come down; five agreed to help financially and apologized at their inconvenience to not making it. The other two disconnected half way into the chat.
Jack and I personally went to her spot every day for the past week to feed her some food and made sure that she wasn't getting hypothermia. We eventually had to move her into a shelter because of the temperature dropping since October was approaching.
All the guards who were injured during the rebel attack were patched up within a few hours thanks to the advancements of technology which brought us the healing bed, a medical instrument of our current medical advancements that could cure any type of disease, dysfunction, disorder (both mental and physical), and disability. Amputated bodies were more complicated to repair because the detached body part must be present in order for cell regeneration to take place. No body part, no hope of getting it back. The only thing that the healing bed can't cure is death.
I also wanted to note that Grandma one-upped my personal security. There were now agents and bodyguards who followed me and Jack around wherever we went, especially out of the Palace, ever since the incident of the rebels. Grandma probably figured it was because of my soon to be ascension of the throne.
In the evening, Jason came up to my room to teach me some one-on-one combat moves. It was still a bit awkward to talk to him after out last conversation, but I tried not to let it get to me. I still wondered why he looked terrified to be sent back to his home. I assumed something bad would come of it. Although I was curious, I didn't want to press it. The pressure would probably get him agitated. We took chairs and hung out on the balcony of my room while watching the stars and gazed into the city. The night was chilly so we wore thick wool sweaters.
"I'm sorry about earlier this week," Jason began as he hugged his chest.
I shook my head. I wasn't going to dwell into the past. "It's alright, it's behind us now."
"It's just... I just don't want to go back home."
"I'm sure there's a good reason as to why you don't want to."
"There is. I disgraced my family so much that even the thought of living there makes me sick and sad. I'm the eldest of my siblings, Tyra and Titan. My father was really dependant of my to succeed the throne because he was planning on stepping down and passing the crown over to me. But, I refused it the night of my coronation. I never wanted to be a King, never wanted to live the life of a royal.
"My father gave the crown to the next of kin, who was Titan. He's eighteen already so he's of age. I, on the other hand, was looked down upon for not taking the responsibility of the throne and was shamed for it. For weeks, my father wouldn't talk to me. My mother tried to reason with him with reasons why I passed up the throne, but nothing seemed to get to him. Eventually he started talking, but it's not the same anymore. It's like he's talking to someone he just met, awkward and distant. I don't think I could ever face that again. Which was why I made a plan to come here ever since I heard of your arrival. And they've invited me and my family as well, but I lied and told them that I can manage to go on my own and represent them, when in fact it was a chance to run away."
A tear escaped his face, which was filled with visible guilt. I've never seen Jason cry and he seemed to be really bothered by his situation. The life of a royal must really be that hard, so hard that it had driven him mad inside and kept him questioning about whether or not he should take the crown and rule.
It made me think once again: am I really going to do this and accept this life when I could be doing a whole lot of other things back in my old life? I mean, I liked the way it was, the way I lived. I didn't have people hovering around me and documenting every move I made. I didn't have the responsibility of ruling an entire country creeping up on my back to constantly remind me of it. And that thoughts kept pouring on and on until I drove myself tiresome.
I told Jason that I was tired, and that he was of course welcome to stay here in the palace so long as he doesn't pull any more stunts with Octavian. He understood and walked out of the room. I climbed into bed with the choice of rejecting the crown flooding my mind.