Nadine Book 4

69. Queen Borin

"I WILL HURT YOU!"

Tre grabs Thora. "Let's go to the meeting feisty."

Everyone sits down and looks at me.

I guess I'm leading. "Thank you everyone. As you know, our missing prince now has a name. He is Prince Elroy Borin. You also know, he was found in the same cave I was. We now know a little more about his story. He was taken over 60 years ago. Right from his home. Magic was suspected by the family. But the family had no way of knowing. They were told, if he was found, another son would be taken in his place."

Gunner gives the stop. "How were they told?"

"Unknown at this point. They continued to search anyway. The mother wants her boys safe and with her. They seem to be afraid to go home. I offered to send in our magicians and do a magic search. They are open to letting us help, and I want to. We could learn more about who those magicians are. What they want. We don't know how big this is. We know nothing. We can learn about my case as well if we search through this."

I sit down and Dracul stands. "We already have them. They are not going to take another boy."

Omar shakes his head. "We have 2. We don't know the total number. We have 2, and they were the 2 that were in the cave. Maybe there are others who weren't there."

Bud nods. "And this was 60 years ago. We don't even know if those people were the ones who took him. For all we know, he could have been sold to them a year before we found him. She's right. We know nothing. We can't pretend we do."

Tye fights with his pen. "We should at least check into it more. Talk to the family separately."

Dracul sits down. "Who do we start with?"

"The mother. She seems most willing to talk."

Dipak nods. "Guard. Summon Queen Borin."

My end of the table stands up. We move down as far as we can to Dipak's side.

Thora slams a drawer shut. "Well, this damn drawer doesn't have anything in it."

I open mine. "Mine's empty too." We go back to our spots and get paper and pens.

"Queen Borin to see the table."

"ENTER."

"Oh my you are an intimidating bunch."

"Come in and have a seat." I point at my seat on the end.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm going to ask for Elroy's story. You can start as far back as you feel is relevant to the case. We need every piece of information. Even if it feels boring to you. Also, if someone puts their hand up like this. This means stop. They have a question. So please stop. Answer the question and then proceed on with the story from where you left off."

"We had a festival about 4 weeks before he was taken. Some people came from other places. There were magicians there. Only a few. But we noticed them. They didn't cause any problems, but I felt uneasy. We're not magicians. The boys did normal boy things. They ran all over. The older ones did a couple of parades. Nothing out of the ordinary happened there. But after that, odd things kept happening."

I give the stop. "Any questions about the festival before she continues?"

Dracul nods. "Can you describe any of the magicians?"

"No, I don't remember what they looked like anymore. There was 1 female and 2 males that I remember, but there could have been more."

Bud looks at her. "You said the older boys did a couple parades. Was Elroy doing parades as well?"

"Yes. He did go in a parade."

"Was he an adult at that time?" I check my blank paper. "We don't know his age."

"Yes. He came of age a couple of weeks before that. The festival was part of his coming of age celebration."

Dipak scratches his head. "And where is his age in the lineup of boys?"

"Elek, Elijah, Elroy, then my two littles."

"Continue with the odd things that would happen please."

"My jewelry would sometimes disappear. I always set it in the same spot when I take it off. It started not being there. My mate said I was getting forgetful with 5 boys. Other times, candles would go out for no reason. I was sitting in my sitting room one day and the window exploded out. No reason." Omar gives the stop.

"Did you hear any noise other than the glass breaking?"

"Yes, I heard a low-pitched hum for a few seconds."

"Continue."

"One night Elroy killed a woman in his room. She was dressed like a servant, but he swore up and down she wasn't. I guess she bowed. Our servants don't do that."

Everyone gives the stop.

Dipak smiles. "What was the woman doing?"

"He said she brought some kind of food. There was food on his table. No one ate it. We threw it out."

Mary sits up. "Did you ask any of your other servants about her? Did anyone recognize her?"

"We did. No one recognized her. But we had recently got a few new servants. I figured that's what it was."

"Did he say if he ordered food or not?"

"He said he did not. Is this relevant?"

Dipak gets in his drawer. "We're gathering information right now. We don't know what is relevant. Any more questions about the servant?"

Dracul sits up. "How was she killed?"

"You would have to ask Elek or my mate. I did not see her body."

"Please continue. Any other weird occurrences?"

"One time my littlest son was playing with a toy that had wheels on it. I swear he pushed it, and it went right through the wall. It was gone. I picked him up and ran out of there. The king and Elek checked later that night after I told them. They said the toy was sitting beside the wall. It must have been my eyes playing tricks on me."

"And these occurrences were in the 4 weeks between the festival and Elroy getting taken?"

"Yes. There are more, but it was so long ago. I'm trying my best to remember."

"We understand. If you remember something later, you can always let one of us know. Please continue on."

"The day he was gone. Nothing happened that was odd. It was a completely normal day. The 3 older boys were in the village that day. No doubt chasing girls. My babies were with me. Everything was fine. The boys came back an hour before dinner. They went to their apartments to get cleaned up. Elek and Elijah came down on time. Elroy never did. It was very odd. Usually he was early. He would sit in the sitting room and read before dinner. He loved to read."

I gave a stop. "You are certain he came back from the village. You saw him with your own eyes?"

"Yes, I watched all 3 of them come in. Elek gave me a kiss on the cheek, he told me he was keeping his brothers from getting in trouble like always."

Omar writes something down. "You said he would sit in a sitting room. Do you know if he was taken from a sitting room or an apartment?"

"No I don't. I never seen him after he came in. A servant told me there was a book on the floor in the sitting room. She said she put it away. 2 days later a note was in my kitchen. It said if we ever find him, they will take another one of my sons."

Omar stops her. "Do you have the note?"

"At home, yes."

"Was there any other communication?"

"No. Nothing ever."

Dipak nods. "You continued to search?"

"Yes. I need my baby. All of them. I can't let one go. We searched everywhere and for so long. We still search. I'll live in hiding forever if I have to, to keep my babies safe."

"Was the book the servant found on the floor ever recovered? Or do you know which one it was?"

"No."

"Do you still have those books?"

"Yes. It should still be there. We left his books alone. The sitting room is nearly full on one whole side."

"And was any of the missing jewelry ever found?"

"I never checked. They were expensive pieces but nothing important like a family heirloom. I was always so busy."

"I understand. That is all we have for right now. Thank you for answering our questions."

"My pleasure. Thank you for looking into this."

I shiver. "That servant part was eerie."

"And that was 60 years ago." Dipak rubs his eyes. "Guard, summon Elek." We stare at our papers.