Volumes of the Vemreaux Complete Collection: A Dystopian Adventure Trilogy, page 142
Sam wanted to protest, but the platter of bacon was calling out to him. He nodded, and Killian scooped Blue up from the table, carrying her to the couch in the living room. He could have just laid her on the cushions and left, but there was something so peaceful about her childlike rest. He simply had to be near her, watch her, and be sure she was real. There were so many things he wanted to say to her before she left for the island, but words seemed inadequate. He loved her with a ferocious devotion that went deep. Killian treasured Blue as part of himself he had not known it was a crime to live without, until she rescued him with her untamed angel’s face. She brought him back to life and clung to him to make sure he stayed resurrected. She secured his place in the land of the living by going with him to the barn and giving him the space to be lost.
Killian studied the visible stitches and scrapes marring the skin that would never be perfect again without surgery to remove all her acquired scars. Visible were the sacrifices she willingly made over and over again for the people she adored. He fingered the bullet hole Blue usually kept covered. There it was, her love for him. He marked the gentle beast in a permanent way, just as she wrapped herself around him and scored him with her unswerving faithfulness.
Killian held her without moving for half an hour, reluctantly surrendering his own personal angel to Sam when he was reminded of the time by a text from Harold.
Speeches. Addresses. Appearances. The whole regimen exhausted Killian before he even began to cross the items off his list for the day. His father’s life had just been threatened; he wanted to stay with his family and offer some bit of protection.
The country was in mourning, and that came first.
Blue was handed to Sam, who spooned her on the couch while he watched a movie. The extreme violence from the day before clashed with the total peace that radiated from her as she slept, lips parted, head cradled in the crook of his arm. She woke briefly to use the restroom and eat, brows furrowing when Sam informed her that she missed breakfast.
“Huh? How’s that work? What time is it?” Blue stood and stretched, drawing Sam’s eyes to her mid-section.
“It’s around eleven, amorosa. What do you say we get some food in you and go outside or something? You need to wake up and move around.”
“Um, okay. Yeah. Do I smell bacon?”
“There’s probably some left in the fridge.”
“Mm. Fridge. Okay. Can I have some bacon?”
Sam chuckled at her dreamy state and turned her toward the nearest bathroom. “I’ll get you a plate, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a fairy tale. Never mind.” Sam moved into the kitchen and assembled her a plate of leftovers, heating it up in the microwave and setting it at the empty table. “Where’d you go, tesoro?” he called. He meandered toward the bathroom he sent her to and found her asleep on the hallway carpet. Sometime on her way back from the bathroom, the journey had grown too arduous, so she laid down and resumed her nap. “Well, that won’t do,” he muttered, trying not to laugh as she rolled over and grasped for blankets that were not there. “Could you stay awake just for a bite, little Wayward?”
“This carpet’s so soft,” Blue murmured lazily. “Did you know that? It’s like, so soft. Like carpet, but better.”
“Is that so?” Sam mused, lifting her off the ground and leading her to the table.
“Uh-huh. We should have our bed be the carpet.”
“I’ll tell Frederick first thing.”
Sam tried not to laugh as she ate. She began sitting up relatively straight, but by the time she worked her way to the end of the piece of bacon, she had gone from sitting, to slouching, to propping her head up with her elbow on the table, to licking her fingers with her head resting next to her plate. Sam checked her forehead to see if she had a temperature, but she felt fine. “Let me guess. You’re tired?”
“Sleep is amazing, Sam. It’s like, amazing. I’m like, whoa. It’s so good. It’s like bacon. So good.” Blue’s eyes fluttered shut again, but they shot open in alarm as she righted herself with a violent inhale. “Sam! I have chores to do, and I have to do them now!”
“You don’t have any chores, dolcezza. Eat your breakfast. That’s your chore.” Sam fed her another piece of bacon, watching her mouth close around the treat with an unpolished appeal he tried to ignore. “You are beautiful. Even loopy, like this.”
“Am I Sleeping Beautiful?” Blue’s shoulders relaxed as she chewed.
“Sleeping Beauty, and yes. Hey, Liam.” Sam greeted the prince who came to the dining room at the smell of more bacon. Sam took a drink of her juice as Blue unwittingly shared her bacon with her brother.
“You’re so pretty,” she commented contentedly, watching Sam swallow. “I think we should get married and have lots of sex.”
Sam choked on the juice, eyes watering as he coughed. “Really?” he managed to eke out between gasps. “Now you want all that?”
Liam laughed loudly, and turned his head away in an attempt to rein in his reaction. He held his side and doubled over to keep from howling in Sam’s face.
Blue shrugged, leaning on her forearm as she played with a strip of bacon, making it hop into her mouth. “After a nap,” she amended. “Do you think I could do it on the carpet?”
Sam held his forehead in his hand, grinning at her uncouth manner. “What? A nap or sex?”
“Huh?” Her nose crinkled cutely. “You can’t have sex on carpet, Sam. You have sex on a bed,” she informed him. “I thought you were good at sex. Don’t you know that?”
“Yeah, Sam. Don’t you know that?” Liam chided. “Kitten, this is the best conversation of my life. You going to frolic off into the sunset and get married, then?”
“After a nap,” she insisted. “I already told you, you boy. On the carpet. It’s white,” she nodded sagely, her eyes drooping.
“You might want to lie something down, then,” Liam advised her, laughing as he sneaked another piece of her bacon. “Where else do you want to ‘nap’?” Liam asked with a wicked grin. “The back of Sam’s car?”
“Okay, yeah.”
“How about on this table?” Liam slapped his palm hard on the tabletop, causing her head to shoot up and her eyes to open again.
Blue inhaled sharply. “I have chores to do, Sam! With the bricks and the scratch and the shovels with the shoveling! Josephine doesn’t like dust.” Sam fed her a strawberry and watched as she deflated. “Josephine did it, but it’s fake.”
“Is that so?” Sam inquired, batting Liam’s hand away from the last two strips of bacon.
“Mm-hm. She hates that knife. It’s the right height. Not a man.” Liam stood next to Blue, and her head gravitated to his warmth. “You’re so soft, Liam. Like a pillow.” She rested her head on his stomach.
It was Sam’s turn to laugh and Liam’s to shake his head.
“I love you like a pillow,” Blue admitted sweetly, hugging his middle with weighted arms. She rubbed circles into his navel. “So big and round and squishy.”
“Yeah? Jerk?” Liam tried to be miffed, but he could not hold onto it. “Well, I love you like a kitten, which actually makes sense the way you’ve been lying around the house all day. Can I have your bacon?” Liam asked quietly, reaching for the plate.
Blue meant to give her brother a light shove, but her focus was lacking. Her eyes opened all the way when she heard Liam’s back crash into the wall. “Whoopsie!” she sang.
“Ow!” Liam shook off the shock of being launched by the drowsy girl. “Whoopsie? You threw me across the room, Blue!”
“I said I was sorry.” Her nose wrinkled. “Oops. I said it in my head. Sorry, Liam.” She rested her forehead on the table, her eyelids heavy.
Sam sniggered and tried to feed Blue a bite. He checked his phone when it vibrated in his pocket. It was a text from Suzette asking him to take her and Elle to visit Everest. The guards were on short supply that day, most being reassigned to the grounds or on loan to Everest.
“Alright, dormiglione. You had enough adventure?” Sam handed the bacon to Liam, who gobbled it up happily. “I gotta go drive Suzette, so up you get.” He lifted her in his arms. “Not quite as bad as taking care of Liam when he’s drunk off his rocker, but not the same as a proper conversation, either. Back to bed with you, love.”
Liam stood tall and flexed his muscles, his voice booming like a superhero. “I can look after her for a bit.”
“I very much doubt that,” Sam replied.
Liam dropped his bravado. “Just put her on the couch. I wanted to catch Killy’s speech and Dad’s address to the press. I can sit with her.”
“Look at you, being all grown-up,” Sam teased. “You sure about this?”
“Well, I was going to lounge about anyways, might as well pretend to be useful.”
Sam lowered Blue to the couch and kissed her forehead before he left, warning Liam to watch her carefully.
“Francis’ grave, Sam! She’s asleep. I can take care of a comatose kitten just fine. I’m not completely useless. So long as she doesn’t ‘whoops’ me into anymore walls.” Liam flipped on the TV, sliding onto the couch and propping Blue’s head on a throw pillow atop his lap.
Blue turned on her side and snuggled her cheek and nose into his stomach. “Mm. So soft,” she murmured.
Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen. He was never much good at sneaking, so it played to his advantage that she slept so hard she could not hear his muffled giggles and barely controlled sniggering. Starting at her wrist, Liam began to write on her. At first, he wrote things like, “All Hail Prince Liam” and “Liam the Amazing”, but as he worked his way up her arm, he began to think about their altercation in the bathroom over the mirrors.
He studied her face, her form, and the softness of her breath on his stomach. Then he wrote all the things she was to all the people who loved her. He scrawled daughter, sister, cousin, friend, girlfriend, lovely, perfect, funny, scrappy, feisty, pretty, strong, sweet, smart, cute, and dozens of other descriptions that came to mind when he thought of her.
Then right across her forehead, Liam drew the word he wished he could say without an argument from her. Beautiful. Despite the scars that marked her and the demons that might never leave her alone, she was beautiful. So he scribbled the declaration above her eyebrows for everyone to see.
Glad that she slept like the dead, Liam slipped off the couch and ran upstairs to grab one of her sweatshirts, tilting her carefully as he zipped the compliments up so she would not see them and scrub them off right away. All day long, people would stare at her and be reminded of how beautiful she was. When she took a shower, she would be forced to read each and every complimentary thought before she washed it away.
Upon fastening the sweatshirt, he realized he neglected her entire back, which was a clean canvas, begging him to continue his artwork. He peeled it back off and got down to business. It was nothing like the family portrait she had drawn for Frederick, but Liam did his best to sketch cracker jack stick figures of all of them, making sure to put Blue right next to him. She and Sam were holding hands, as they usually did. Liam drew himself with impressive muscles, labeling the drawings so there would be no confusion.
Since there was extra space, he drew another picture of her and Sam again, holding hands and surrounded by no less than a dozen little stick figures, all sharing one collective “We love Uncle Liam!” thought bubble.
Alec came home a little while later after Liam ran out of canvas. Alec looked on edge, which made sense when he explained to the prince that he had just come from checking up on Baird.
“Oh, yikes. How’s that mess going?”
“Messy,” Alec admitted. “He’s trying to sleep, so he’s gone through about a fifth of vodka and who knows what else. You think he’s surly sober. Whew!”
“It gets worse?”
“With him, it seems there’s only one direction. Worse.” Alec sighed. “I’m taking him over to the Americas tonight. See if we can get a look at that Grettel girl’s body and determine cause of death. Maybe that’d give him some closure.”
“You’ll miss the funeral,” Liam remarked.
“I don’t fancy pretending to honor a man I gladly would’ve killed myself, if someone hadn’t beaten me to the job.” He nodded to Blue, who he just noticed had pen marks on her face. “How is she? What?”
“I got bored,” Liam justified with a guilty expression. “You don’t want to know what I did to her arms. She just sleeps all day, and I’m stuck inside because of the king and all.” He looked over to Alec, his tone losing its note of levity. “Any way you can talk Dad into not leaving the house for the press? That’s two threats on his life in a month. Kinda serious, yeah? Maybe not the best time to let the crazies know where he’s at.”
Alec nodded, keeping his granddaughter’s confession to himself. “Being that King Sinclair planned the first attempt at the coronation, I don’t think we have to worry about that anymore. Since he’s dead and all.”
“And the bloody knife stabbed into the door inside our house? That doesn’t raise any red flags with you?”
“Whoever it is won’t try anything like that again. Tightened up security, so try not to worry about it.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Have I ever not kept you safe?” Alec asked. He glanced down at Blue, smirking at the word on her forehead. “She sleeps right next door to you. You think she’d let a fly bother you for too long? She adores you.”
“Ordinarily, I’d feel reassured, but this one’s useless unless the killer waits for the five minutes she’s awake to try something.”
“I’ll sleep outside your door when I get back, if it’ll help,” Alec offered, even though he knew there was no peril.
“Thanks, Alec. But, no. I’m just worried about Dad. And Ever. I know Everest and King Sinclair didn’t get on smashingly, but he was all E had.”
“And now Ever doesn’t have Sin torturing him and ruining the world with his poison. That’s a helluva lot more than he had a few days ago. Now he’s got a shot. Frederick’s over there with him now. So are Elle and Suzette. Your dad’s keeping an eye on him, so try not to worry. Once his people agree that no one’s going to assassinate your father anymore, I’m pretty sure Everest will move in for a bit until he gets his bearings. It’ll be good for him. Frederick will show him the ropes of ruling better than Sinclair ever could’ve.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Dad. Picking up strays and getting attached.” They looked down at Blue, who began to stir, mumbling Sam’s name in her sleep.
Alec stood. “I gotta go pack a bag and catch a nap. I’d feel guilty sleeping on the plane in front of Baird. He’s…he’s not doing great, Liam.”
“Well, that’s good. At least we know he’s got a conscience. New information.” Liam scratched his chin. “You just going to be resting?” he inquired.
“Yeah. Why? You need something?”
Liam looked guiltily at Blue. “I’m supposed to stay with her, but I kinda feel like I should go visit Ever. I talked to him earlier, and he, well, his father just died. For better or worse.”
“Sure, I can take you.” Alec stood, shaking off the waft of restfulness Blue emanated.
“No, I’ll just call Lucas. But do you think you could let her snooze in your room for a bit? If you’re going to be sleeping, too, that is. She barely moves. She’s practically putting me in a coma just being near her. I’m so bored, Alec!”
“Um, okay. Let me run it by Sam first.” Alec pulled out his phone, but Liam was already sending a text.
A few seconds later, Sam replied: That’s fine. I guess I should’ve started you off with something simpler to watch, like a stick or a lump of coal. “He says ‘thanks’,” Liam informed Alec.
“Let me pack and get changed first, then I’ll come down for her.” Alec went up to his room and picked up the pair of socks he discarded on the floor the night before. It was the only sign of mess in the militaristically pristine room he occupied for over a hundred years. Wasting no time, Alec exchanged his dress pants for shorts, and removed his suit jacket and button-down white shirt to reveal his undershirt.
He spent too much effort on every simple decision, including if he should get the princess her own pillow from her room. Alec shook his head. No. This was not Suzette or Julia, who needed coddling. This was the spitfire he had seen tear apart human beings with her bare hands. She just needed a place to rest. That, he could do.
Alec trotted down the stairs and lifted Blue off the couch, nodding to Liam’s look of gratitude. She did not stir as he took her to the room he had never invited a woman stay the night in, laying her down on the side of the bed furthest from the door. In case there was any threat, Alec wanted to be the first target. Even as he slept, he would protect the princess, though she needed no such safeguard.
Alec looked down at the markings covering the exposed skin. He smiled, then reached for a pen on his nightstand and added his own to the mix. He rolled up her sleeve and scrolled Wayward Princess under her barcode. Over her bullet hole he wrote in his ancient cursive Protected. Then on the back of her neck, he inscribed Loved. Alec zipped her sweatshirt up to conceal the temporary tattoos before he got carried away.
Alec was tired, and looking down on her slumbering frame relaxed him further. Blue’s innocent expression pulled him to lay next to her, foregoing the token amount of hesitation he needed to put up to feel okay with the non-transgression. His intent was to sleep on his back, giving her enough space so she was not accidentally brushed against in unconsciousness. Her scent, however, was too inviting. Since the gore had been scrubbed from her, she smelled of lilac soap and linen – probably from all the sleep she had been enjoying in her freshly washed sheets.
Alec listened to her breathe. In and out. The peace that radiated from her relaxed him. It was not a typical feeling he experienced in her presence, but so much changed since they returned from the island. She changed. They all had.
Perhaps it was the sound of him inhaling her scent that caused her to stir, or perhaps it was the feel of a bed beneath her, instead of a couch or the floor. Blue adjusted her body, turning toward him and reaching out in her unconsciousness, landing a hand on his chest.
