Nadine Book 4

67. Elroy

I sit at the head table in the ballroom.

Thora sits by me. "What are you thinking? You're deep in thought."

"Couple things. One is Marcus with wet hair."

"Yea, that's a good thing to think about."

"Yea, we need to shower him or something."

"How did you not see it in the ocean?"

"He always had it pulled back. I'm really glad we're getting a pool now."

"STOP STARING AT MARCUS'S HAIR GIRLS."

Marcus laughs and flips his hair like he did earlier. We smile. "SORRY."

"He flipped his hair and winked at me earlier."

"Wish I was there."

"You really missed it."

"What's the other thing?"

"What?"

"I asked you what you were thinking about, and you said a couple of things. What's the other one?"

"I don't know yet." They do have the same hair color. Maybe a cousin or something distant. I guess there's a chance they might know who he is. It won't hurt to ask. Elek smirks. "Well s**t, I was staring at Elek and got caught again."

"He's on his way up. You want me to disappear?"

"No, my boys would freak out."

"The mate wars have really escalated this time. If only I had told you earlier this would happen."

"Yea, I guess I should have listened to my advisor."

She nods as Elek steps up to the table in front of us.

I stare at him again. Same hair, same skin.

"You alright?"

I jump a little when he talks. "Sorry you remind me of someone I think."

"Who?" Thora stares at him. "He doesn't remind me of anyone."

"I think I'm losing my mind."

He smiles. "I doubt it."

"Take a walk with me."

"Am I coming?"

"No, you can eat."

"I'm going to go eat with Frode then."

Elek follows me to Marcus. "Did you bring my paintings here?"

"Yes. Yellow sitting room."

"Thank you."

I turn to leave.

"WOMAN."

I smile at Dipak. "We're not leaving the castle."

"No advisor area either."

"That's fine."

I leave the ballroom with Elek.

After a minute, I realize I have no idea where to begin.

"A long time ago. Or maybe not. Maybe it wasn't that long ago. I was taken from here. I was taken to a cave. I was tortured. I don't understand everything. There are questions that aren't answered. They will probably never have answers. I paint it sometimes."

I open the door to the yellow sitting room.

"This happened to you?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

I shrug my shoulders. "There's more."

I start walking to the medical area.

"After I got better. I went back to the cave. I felt like I had to. We snooped around and found another section of the cave that we didn't know was there before. When we got in, there were bodies hanging from the ceilings. Tortured to death."

He's trying not to cry.

"There was also a male and female there. They disguised themselves to appear like the dead. We figured it out fairly quickly. I don't know where they are or what happened to them."

"Were they magicians?"

"I know nothing about them. I would say at least one of them had to be. Dipak would know more."

We go in the medical area.

"YOU FORGET SOMETHING?"

"MAYBE. Well, we pulled the bodies out and tried to do a blood drip on them to be sure."

A tear falls out of his eye.

I touch his arm. "Who is he?"

"My little brother has been gone 60 years. There was nowhere else to search. No clues. Nothing."

"One of the bodies absorbed blood. We brought him here to recover if he could." Elek starts crying. "We know he had to be royal to still absorb blood."

He hugs me so tight.

"That's all we know." I hold him and rub his back. "He looks better. He has your hair color. I don't know if it's him though."

He hugs me and sobs. "Where is he?"

"Here." I open the door.

He stands at the door staring at me.

I take his hand and pull him in. "You have to check. We don't know who he is. If you don't know either, it's ok. We can go through your brothers' case. We will help as much as we can."

He wipes his tears off his face and hugs me.

"We might seem like a big group of assholes from the outside. But we are close, smart, strong. We'll try to help."

I hold his hand and guide him to the bed. I pull the blanket back a little. He sits down and lays his head on the man's chest. Then he starts sobbing.

I let him cry for a few minutes, then I sit on the bed and rub his hair. "Is this?"

"This is my brother."

I rub his hair and then comb it. "I found your brother prince. And you are doing good today too." Elek puts an eyebrow up. "I was telling him how good he looks today. Before dinner. Then I saw you and it began to click. His hair is so nice now. It was longer but that fell out. Now it's growing back. He's so much better now. He really is."

"What do you want for him?"

"I want to question him when he gets better. There's so much we don't know about those people. Maybe he can help us find some answers. What's his name?"

"Elroy."

"Prince Elroy Borin. I do think your momma liked e names. But now we know your name. GUARD."

"Yes ma'am."

"Summon Elijah, Dipak, Miculai, Dracul, and Kane."

Elek wipes his eyes. "And Sanesto please."

"Yes sir."

We hear them coming down the hallway. I hear Dracul yell over them. "NO SHE PROBABLY KILLED HIM. AND NOW WE'RE AT WAR AGAIN."

I wipe a tear off his cheek. "They think I beat you up sir."

"I have no doubt you can. I seen what you did to those beings."

"They could have at least came in the door. Jumping in like that, of course I'll kill them. I got jump scared."

They pile in and Elijah climbs on the other side of the bed. "Are you... Is it really? How long has he been here?"

Dipak nods. "A few weeks. We didn't know who he was."

Elek looks at his brother. "They found him a cave. They are letting him recover."

"What do you want for him?"

"We want to question him. The same people who took him, took me. I want answers. Maybe he can help."

"They took you?"

"Yes."

Dipak gets a piece of paper. "We don't want anything FOR him. He's not a hostage. We weren't going to leave him lay there and suffer. We figured he could at least get better and give us a name someday."

I smile. "Prince Elroy Borin."

Dracul looks at them. "You are certain this is Elroy?"

Elijah starts crying.

Elek rubs his head. "Yes, sir."

Daddy nods. "Notify the Borin king that Prince Elroy has been found."

Kane grabs Elek. "We can do it quicker."

Dipak motions to me. "Off the bed princess."

I jump up. "Sorry, I didn't even think about it."

Daddy gives Dipak a dirty look. "No one did. He's her patient."

"And now he's Prince Elroy Borin, and he's Dr. Sanesto's patient."

"MY BABY." The mom bolts in the door and takes my old spot on the bed. She puts her hands on his face. "My baby." She sobs into his chest.

The king runs in next. He pushes Elijah down on the bed a little. "It really is him. You found my son." He sits on the bed and rubs his hair.

The queen stands and faces me. "What do you want for him?"

"He's already yours."

She gives me the biggest hug and keeps crying

"Mom, mom... She doesn't want to be squished to death." Elek pulls his mom off and puts her back on Elroy. "Sorry, this is emotional. He was gone over 60 years."

"I imagine. We'll leave you alone. If you want him transported, let us know. We can use magic and do the doors. Consult with your doctor and decide, of course. He's welcome to stay here for recovery as well, if his doctor doesn't think he should be moved yet. We'll be in the ballroom. Or the pool. I think we have a pool. Anyway, if anyone's hungry, food is in the ballroom too. Or you are welcome to have the servants bring you something here."

I roll my finger in the air and my people leave the room.

I put my arm around Dipak. "Were Johen's parents soulmates when they woke up?"

"I didn't ask."

Kane laughs. "I have no idea either."

"I told them they could take a potion if they weren't."

"Yea, that would be fine. They already raised a kid together. And what was up with him trying to be alone with you today?"

"Marcus told him what was going on and sent him up."

Dipak shakes his head. "I should have known."

Kane smirks. "You are fun to mess with."

"Yea, even you didn't have a damn shirt on."

I stretch. "I guess Kane won the mate wars today. He showed up with his mate to join us."

They burst out laughing.

Dipak smirks. "Yea, you are definitely taking this to a new level, Kane."

I sit by Dipak and we eat dinner.

Tye kisses my head. "I was on the island all day babydoll. Do you care if we work on that vacation building tomorrow?"

"Of course not. You relax and get some rest."

"I'm going to bed. I am exhausted. Good night babydoll."

"Good night. Sleep well."

Tre winks at me from across the table. "You seem tired too baby."

"It was a long day. A lot of surgeries. Usually it's none or one. Today it was nonstop. Thank you for lunch though. That was amazing."

"Anytime baby."

"Yea it was amazing watching them come in like that. While, I sat between 2 princes who nearly fell out of the chairs seeing her."

"I figured you would like that."

Dipak shakes his head.

I lay my head on Dipak's shoulder.

He puts his arm around me. "You ready for bed sweetheart?"

"Yes. I'm tired."

Elek comes through the ballroom door.

Dipak whispers in my ear, "Go climb in my bed baby. I'll be there shortly."

I do exactly that. I lay down in my underwear and fall right to sleep.