Volumes of the Vemreaux Complete Collection: A Dystopian Adventure Trilogy, page 44
“To what? Speak?” Sam watched her shrug in response. “I’m so sorry, Blue. Liam was supposed to go up and tell you everything. What’d you even do the first day with all of us gone?” He took another bite of his sandwich.
“I stayed in the bedroom like you told me to until Josephine came and got me the next day.” Blue lifted the glass of water and took a long sip. Not realizing how thirsty she had been until the water coasted over her tongue, Blue indulged in a longer drink. “You don’t have to worry about me, Sam. I can follow simple instructions.”
“Are you serious?” Sam was sickened with himself. He abandoned the fragrant sandwich to his plate. “Blue, I’m sorry. This is so messed up now. I didn’t mean that you had to stay there the whole day and night. Liam was supposed to come up and talk to you like, half an hour after that. That idiot! I’ll tear him a new one when he gets back.”
A door in the distance opened and shut, and a mumbling of words were exchanged.
“Sam, it’s okay.” Blue shook her head to keep from having her predicament further known. “I’m fine. See?” She gestured to herself. “All in one piece. I’m just glad that you’re back. That it wasn’t a test.”
“A test? Like, to see if you can handle starvation, getting sick, and learning the ropes around here by yourself?”
Blue nodded.
“No, Blue. No one’s testing you. It was a mistake. One I won’t make again.” Outrage dissipated as a tired smile played on his lips. “You said you were glad I came back. You miss me?”
Blue permitted a small smile. “Only every day.”
“Yeah? I missed you, too, baby. And I’m glad that you’re here, even if Liam is a forgetful, spoiled, selfish prince.”
“If my son heard you say that, he might have some choice words for you to chew on.” The voice in the distance announced a tall man with perfectly trimmed russet hair. He was the same towering height as Liam, with a solid frame that was slightly slimmer. Though his tone teased, his face looked weary. “Welcome home, Sammy.”
Sam inwardly cringed at the nickname he loathed, but still permitted only the emperor to call him. “Hey, Uncle Freddy. Sorry to hear about, you know, everything. Is there anything I can do?”
“I hear you brought back Suzette. Not an easy thing to do, that. That’s more help than I could have asked for, Son.”
Sam nodded and picked up his spoon to eat some of the green conglomeration that was now spreading out to cover his plate and the bottom of his sandwich. “She’s in her room now. Though, if you want to talk to her about being out with Louis again, she’s probably still awake.”
“She’s old enough to make her own mistakes.” Frederick leaned against the frame of the door, his exhaustion palpable. “Is that Josephine’s green jello?” he inquired curiously. “Is there any left, or did you eat the rest, like usual?”
Blue shot up out of her stool and hurried over to the refrigerator, pulling out the container. It was already open with a spoon stuck in the top when the man stopped her. “I can get it, child. You don’t need to wait on me.” He moved forward into the dimly lit room and turned up the lights so he could see better. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Frederick Boniface.” He held out his hand politely to the girl.
Carefully setting down the spoon, and making sure her hands were clean, Blue extended her arm and shook his hand without looking up. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”
The man eyed her curiously as she withdrew and quickly finished piling the food on his plate. Snapping the lid shut on the container, she turned away from him and set it in the refrigerator as fast as she could without being too conspicuous. Blue lifted the basket of Liam’s clothes to take upstairs.
“Blue, wait! I’m not even halfway finished eating yet,” Sam beckoned.
“Do you need me so you can eat?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow visible only to him.
Sam smirked. “Yeah, I do. Have a seat. Old Uncle Freddy here’s nothing to be scared of. He’s a pacifist, you know.” Though Sam loved to tease Frederick by referring to him as “old”, the emperor looked no more than a handful of years older than Sam. Frederick had been frozen looking right around forty, while Sam appeared a young thirty-something.
Blue debated for a moment while Frederick picked up his plate and sat on the other side of Sam to eat. She consented to put her chore on hold and sit at Sam’s behest, but she did not look up at either of them.
Sam groaned at the change in the forward progress he thought he’d been making. He had never been a patient man, but knew that more of the dreaded virtue would be required of him if he wanted anything resembling closeness with the skittish girl. He decided to leave her alone for the moment so she could relax on her own, if that was possible. “So how are things with the king?” Sam asked Frederick as he resumed eating his now soggy sandwich.
Frederick took his first bite and sighed. “Not great. He’s restricting all air travel to the O-blood island except by royal pardon. He took the last flight out.”
“Everest, too?”
“I would assume he took his son with him off the island, yes. So much for the bonding time I know he wanted with his son. The rest of the Vemreaux on the island now are just going to be stuck there until we can think of a way to get them all off without jeopardizing the rest of the world.”
“What about the O-bloods?” Sam inquired.
“They’re not the ones in danger, since the predator, it seems, is focused on Vemreaux. A new facility is being constructed in Asia, but even with the extra help and the new motivation, it still won’t be ready to house the O-bloods anytime soon. The king’s going to make an announcement tomorrow about a voluntary tax of two percent annual income that if the Vemreaux give, they’ll be able to opt out of some other tax. As if the budget’s not tight enough. It’ll only affect the middle class, but it should help ease the tension in the budget a little. Who knows how long that will last, though. Emperor Cho said that Asia’s not putting up an extra brandish for it. They claim that their contribution is donating the land space, which is ridiculous.” Frederick glanced over at the girl to make sure she was safe to speak candidly in front of. Sam’s rare vote of trust went a long way, and eased the emperor’s apprehension. “The land they’ve donated is so uneven and barren, it’ll be a wonder a structure stands there at all. They abandoned that section after World War Three destroyed it. Nothing’s grown there since, and the terrain is too rough to make building a facility as big as what we’ll need really possible in the timeframe that’s required. The radiation level is only just passable, but it’s too high for my liking. I don’t know why we don’t send in search and rescue teams to the O-blood island.”
“Why haven’t we?” Sam asked as he finished his sandwich.
Frederick shrugged. “Sinclair started saying something about the environment getting too volatile out there. Even without the predator as a threat, their winters are starting to get bothersome to the professors and students. We’d have to move them anyway. Sin reasoned that instead of sending in teams for the missing Vemreaux, we should wait and move everyone first, which, you know, could take years.” He looked down at his food, realizing that his appetite was escaping him. “I wonder how many more disappearances will have to happen before Sinclair takes this seriously. I can’t justify doing nothing while my citizens vanish. How many more people’s sons…I thought that with Killian among the missing, Sin would snap out of it. I mean, he knows Killian.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “We’ve managed to keep his disappearance away from the press, but for how long? How many check-ins can my son miss before it’s a national crisis?”
A moment of silence passed between them. Finally Sam put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Frederick. Kill’s only missed one check-in, right? That’s nothing. Liam misses his all the time. We’ll find him. How soon can you ‘royal decree’ us out of here?”
“What are you talking about?” Frederick stared at Sam with a puzzled expression.
“We came back to go to the island and find the…Liam didn’t talk to you, either?” His tone took on irritation. “I swear, if I wasn’t afraid of being locked up for life for treason, I’d wring his neck, I would.” Frederick chuckled. “The five of us are going over to the island to see what we can find.”
“Five?” he questioned, knowing that the foursome usually remained a closed group.
“Yeah, the four of us and this one.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the girl sitting next to him, who was pretending to be invisible. “Liam got himself a personal servant.”
Frederick looked wary. “I don’t know, Sammy. It’s not exactly safe over there anymore. I don’t want my only other son on that island, too. It’s too risky.” Frederick’s accent was perfectly Western with no hint of a different persuasion, unlike his son’s and the guys’ European cadence that was unfamiliar to Blue.
“I’m hurt!” Sam feigned a wound. “You won’t let Liam go, but you gladly send me off? What would you do without me eating all your food and watching your huge televisions? You’d be devastated.”
Frederick gave a short, perfunctory laugh. “True. But with you gone, at least maybe Liam’ll stop getting photos taken of him with the wide variety of Femreaux you seem to attract.” He ate another bite of his favorite dessert as he watched Sam shift uncomfortably in his seat. The move was uncharacteristic of the playboy, but Frederick was polite enough not to call him out on it. “Seriously, though, I don’t want Liam going over to the island. I just lost Killian over there, Sammy. I think I have the right.” Sam started to argue, but Frederick overruled him. “I can make it official, if you’d like. I’ve got my seal upstairs. Liam’s not going, which means this child won’t be going, either.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe Liam would even consider bringing a young girl over to the island at all. And since when does he up and employ servants? I thought he was against that.”
“She’d be safe.” Sam glanced over at Blue and wished she would not hide herself. “She’s Wayward. Predator’s only after us Vemreaux. Besides, she’d be with us.”
“Can’t imagine anywhere safer.” Frederick nodded to the man next to him. “Still no, though.” He looked around Sam to glance at the silent girl again. “I didn’t catch her scent when I came in. You’re A-blood?” he inquired.
Blue nodded once, but did not turn her head to face the emperor.
“Where’d my Liam find you? I hope he didn’t steal you away from a member of my cabinet.”
“No, sir,” Blue finally spoke. “He didn’t steal me. He bought me legally from my owner in the Americas.”
Frederick’s breezy tone turned sharp. “Bought you? Do you have your papers on you, child?” Frederick held out his hand expectantly.
“Papers?” No one had given her a paper to hold onto. She was not sure what he was talking about, but felt it must somehow be her fault.
“Liam was supposed to free you and give you your papers to keep on you in case anyone asks for them. It’s so you can walk around like a citizen without being hassled,” Sam explained. “He didn’t give you anything?” Blue shook her head. Sam scowled. “I could make it look like an accident, Freddy. No one’d even suspect it was me what gave him the thrashing he deserved.”
Frederick did not chuckle at this, but sighed as if he just found a whole stack of work when he thought he could turn in for the night. “I’ll take care of it. I can free her.”
Sam looked uncomfortable. “I think that Liam wanted to do it. He was going to free her and employ her as his personal servant. I’ll call him in the morning and make sure he takes care of it.”
“See that you do. We don’t own people in this house, son. Liam should know better than to wait on this. If the press gets wind…Brody said that Liam went out to blow off some steam?” Sam nodded in confirmation. Frederick pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial, waiting for the other end to pick up as he held it to his ear. “Well, he’s been gone long enough. I think it’s time he came home to deal with his responsibility. I want my children in this house until Killian comes home.” He ate the last slurpy bite off his plate the same time that Sam did.
Blue waited for the clatter of silverware before she stood up and gathered their plates, taking them to the sink to wash them.
“You don’t have to do that, child. You don’t have to work at one-thirty in the morning.” Frederick groaned. “Is it already that late?” The other end picked up before Sam could respond. “Yes, Alec? Are you with my son?”
While Frederick instructed Alec and Brody to bring Liam back to the mansion, Sam stood up and moved over to Blue. The moment she left his side, he felt the absence. Like a fish on a hook, he followed where she went. Though the young woman possessed more potential power than most, she rarely exercised it to its full potency. The hold she had over him, though, was immeasurable.
Sam stood next to her and picked up a dish towel, taking the clean, wet plate from her hands and drying it. He bumped his hip to hers to satisfy his need for contact. He caught the blush that crept up her cheeks through the thick waves of auburn hair that tried to obscure his vision of her. Unable to help himself, Sam tried his hand again at tucking a stubborn bit of hair behind her ear so he could better see the flush. He leaned his head closer to hers. “Did you miss me?” He brushed against her hip once more.
She allowed the push to move her, so she did not look impervious to his strength. Blue nodded, but kept her head down.
“I don’t blame you. If I couldn’t look at this,” he motioned to his toned form, “for three days, I don’t know how I’d go on.”
“It was four days, not that I was counting or anything.” Blue smiled. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Sam’s hand got the better of him and reached up to stroke her cheek. Before it made the desired contact, she shirked away, casting him a warning glance to remind him that they were not alone.
His hand retracted unwillingly. If she were a Femreaux he’d wanted, he would have already had her up on the counter. The mental image was hard to resist. Although, he forced reason back into his brain, if she were Femreaux, he would never bring her to the mansion. Though the structure was enormous, he’d spent a great deal of his life there, and it was too personal a place to share with just anyone. Sam occupied his hands by drying the silverware and tucking them back in the drawer.
Frederick slid his phone back in his pocket, staring at Sam as though he was unsure it was the boy he’d known for decades. “Well, thank you. Both of you. I was unaware that you were so good at housekeeping, Sammy. I’ll be sure to tell Josephine that you can clean up after yourself from now on.”
Sam smirked. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, old man.”
“You must be tired, child. Why don’t you go on up to bed and leave me to a few words with Sammy, here.” Sam did not look thrilled at this prospect, but resumed his seat next to the man dutifully.
The look Frederick gave Sam told Blue that the emperor had not missed the tender contact he’d tried to bestow upon her cheek. Embarrassment hastened her footsteps as she snatched up the laundry basket and muttered a “yes, sir” before disappearing. Blue hurried up the steps with new energy from the rations. They put the color back in her skin and eased the stiffness in her bones.
Frederick stared at the Vemreaux he’d known since the man was a child and waited for the information to come to him. It was a gift he had that was very useful in running a country. Sam was no stranger to the look, so he crossed his arms over his chest to put up a token amount of resistance, though he knew Frederick would get what he wanted from him.
Sam began to wonder if Liam buying Blue was the best thing. Perhaps it would have been wiser to buy her himself, and keep her hidden from such a powerful political figure. Sam fought back images of him being the one to free Blue, letting her stay in his house instead of the mansion. How she would have thanked him.
Sam straightened at once, doing his best to chase away the thoughts, so they would not be visible to his surrogate father.
An entire minute passed before Sam began to crack. “How was your visit with the king?” Sam thought it wise to start any conversation that might happen between them with Frederick doing most of the talking.
The emperor was no fool. “Just fine, thank you. How was your trip to the Americas?”
“Okay,” he responded, and then bit back a smile when he caught himself saying the word he hated most coming from Blue’s mouth. “I think I will crash here tonight. Make sure Liam stays put when he gets back.”
“Why should tonight be any different? You know Liam’s guest bedroom is always yours.” The emperor’s gaze did not waver. Though his words were not intense, Sam began to fidget – the first sign. Though he could lie right to anyone else’s face, Frederick always managed to see through him, even when he was a young boy getting into trouble with Killian.
“Actually, since Blue is Liam’s personal servant, she’s staying there. I’ll find one of your other millions of unoccupied rooms in that wing.” Sam knew the line he was walking down, though at this point he saw little use in resisting. He was tired and wanted to get this over with so he could be fresh and ready to yell at Liam in the morning, when the prince would no doubt still be nursing a hangover.
“Who now?”
“She goes by Blue Anders.” Sam sighed. “She was one of the waitresses in a bar we went to in between the testing rounds. Liam was impressed with her service. Decided to buy her as a personal servant.” Sam made the explanation as concise as possible. He looked up at the ancient clock above the stainless steel refrigerator.
“You think she’s a pretty one, yeah?” Frederick continued staring at Sam, who kept his eyes fixed on the clock. “I couldn’t get a good look at her face.”
“I guess. Hadn’t noticed.” Sam’s voice cracked as he fidgeted on the stool.
At this, Frederick laughed as he stood and stretched, the late hour calling him to his bed. “Stick to Go Fish, son. Poker’s not your game.” He picked up the briefcase he’d set on the floor and the suit jacket that had been draped over the nearest settee when he’d first arrived home. “I’ll see you tomorrow evening, unless you’ve changed so much that you’ve decided to be an early riser.”
