The Lost Queen Book 1 - Alden

23. Sticky

"Ugghhh" Victor is whining again, "You said I would wake up as good as new."

Emberlynna rolls her eyes and turns on a lamp. "Well, you woke up too early."

"These cots are not very comfortable." Clark attempts to roll over and falls on the floor.

"Yea, I need some coffee." Jenny checks her phone. "It's 6AM, thanks for waking us up at the ass crack of dawn Victor."

Clark mumbles, "Coffee me too." while trying to get up off the floor.

I pry my ass out of the cot. "I gotta piss."

Emberlynna nods. "Go freshen up, get some coffee, and left over food. Bring it up here. I have a meeting with Mr. Aver at 8:30... and someone should probably take Victor. His wounds are sealed now. He needs to move around on his own."

"Can you guys show me where you showered and found clothes last night, please?" Jenny pulls at the medical gown she's wearing. "This is itchy, and I need a shower."

"I'm sorry, we should have shown you last night."

I get the guards' attention that are following us, "Can you guys go get her some clothes, like you did yesterday for us, please?"

"Yes, sir."

Down 2 flights of stairs and a couple of turns later. "This was Fane's relaxing room for the ball. We showered there. And Victor, these are men's clothes. You can pick out of here."

"Victor, you can shower first. I need some coffee and my clothes aren't here yet. But where is the coffee?"

One of the guards goes over to the wall and clicks a button and a hidden door opens. "This goes into the ballroom kitchen. There will be coffee in here. As well as left over food from the ball last night."

Jenny smiles, "Thank you so much."

"Wow, this kitchen is crazy... Check out the size of these ovens!" Clark is pointing everything out.

"That's nothing... you should see this walk in freezer!" Jenny yells from inside the freezer. "It's cold though, don't go in there for long."

I walk over to some contraption that looks like it could potentially make coffee and start pressing buttons. It spurts out foam. I glance at the guard who is still following me, "Help."

He starts pressing buttons as well. It spurts out foam again. "I do not know, sir."

"Can you go get the cheapest coffee maker you can find... and some filters for it... and coffee please. And can you do it super fast?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hey! I found the leftovers. They are in this massive fridge! Over here by the massive freezer!" Jenny yells, "I loved that sword fish. I hope I can find leftovers of that."

"That's going to be disgusting warmed up." Clark goes in the fridge.

I laugh and follow him. "Yep."

My mouth falls open. This is huge.

Jenny smiles. "Yea, there are leftovers of everything, you have to search. It's somewhat organized. The meat is over here. Sauces over there. Dig a bit, you'll find something you want."

"HOLY s**t! Check out the size of those ovens!" Victor yells from the kitchen.

"In here, man. Did you find clothes?"

"Don't come in if you haven't found clothes." I yell.

"Yea, I found clothes, and they brought girls' clothes too. Relaxing room looks like a damn walk-in closet."

2 guards come in the refrigerator with Victor.

"We got the ladies' clothes you requested. Everything in every size and color that the department store had. They are in the relaxing room now, sir."

I stare at him in stunned silence for a second, "I am going to have to be more specific and tell you sizes from now on. But thank you."

"I'm putting my plate down here. No one eat it... or even touch it or look at it. I'm going to take a shower and I will be right back!"

"Where did you get the plate?" Victor is searching all over.

"Right outside the fridge on the left."

We grab empty plates.

"AHHHHHHH!!!" Jenny screams.

All 5 of us run in the relaxing room and Jenny is jumping up and down.

"LOOK... LOOK... OMG AND PAJAMAS! I LOVE THIS COLOR! THIS SKIRT IS EVERYTHING! I'VE NEVER HAD JEANS WITH GEMS ON THE BUTT BEFORE!" She sees us standing there and jumps on the guard giving him a big hug, "Thank you! I've never even owned this many clothes in my life. And they are so pretty."

"No problem Ma'am."

She cries. "KNEE HIGH SOCKS!"

"Your coffee maker, sir."

"Thank you. I really needed a reason to leave this room."

"Any time, sir."

We leave Jenny to melt down and go fix our food and coffee.

Clark checks his phone. "It's a quarter till 8 already and our stuff has to be out of the condo by 10, or they'll charge us another night."

Victor takes a bite. "s**t I forgot about that." He swallows hard. "We can run over and get it out. Alden can sit with the queen. Emberlynna can have her meeting and Jenny can... do whatever the hell she is doing in there."

"You sure you're good enough to be out roaming around?"

"Yea, I'm good now. Fane had a car or something we can use, right?"

"Yes, sir, and the Kings Guard will escort you."

"We even get an escort." Clark nods. "We'll be fine. Go so she's not late for her meeting." He gets a weird expression on his face. "And shouldn't you be the Queen's Guard now?"

"No. We are technically part of the Palace Guard. But there are divisions. The Queen's Guard guards the queen. The king's Guard guards the king. The Palace Guard guards the different palaces and castles owned by the royal estate. There are also a few other divisions, but they are small."

"Oh, I get it. You're guarding the car." He starts laughing, "Well, it won't take us long to clear out the room and the car will be very protected."

I can't help but laugh too. "Well, as long as the car is safe."

"Guys, I have high heels in every color." Jenny is standing beside us crying tears of joy over some shoes.

Victor nods. "Hey, we're going to go clear out the condo. If you want to go, you need to hurry and get ready."

"I'll hurry. Give me like 10 minutes." She runs away.

"I'm going to go upstairs. See you guys in an hour or so."

As I get near the queens room I see 4 guards standing outside of it. The 4 that are following me, join them, "How many of you guys are there?"

"1,184 sir. And now 70% of the Palace Guard is working out of this castle. The full Queens and Kings Guards are here as well as 67% of the Palace Guard division, sir."

"Where are the other 30%?"

"Guarding the other castles, sir."

"Yea, I guess that does make sense."

Emberlynna glances at me and smiles. "You look much better. I am going to talk to Mr. Aver about you and your classmates schooling. We are going to try to come up with a way for you to continue with your education."

"They can go back to school. I will take a break."

"You need your schooling now more than ever... you actually need more classes now. You have no formal royal education."

"I don't even want to know. Go have your meeting. I am perfectly fine missing a quarter or 2 of school. But let me know what you figure out."

"Alden."

I look at her.

"You're the king."

"UGGHHH No, I'm not. I'm the one who found her. There is no mate bond. Do not believe that old wife's tale about how her soul mate will find her. I'm really not the king."

"Ok, well sit with the queen for my meeting. Talk to her while you sit here. It'll help you."

I look at the queen. She seems peaceful.

"What am I supposed to talk to you about? It's not like you can reply." I realize my coffee is empty.

I poke my head out the door and send the guards after the coffee pot and supplies. Then I sit beside her. "At least we have extension cords in here now, we can run a coffee maker. I'm glad you're found."

A knock on the door breaks the silence. "Your coffee supplies, sir."

"Thank you."

I make a new pot of coffee. I try to get comfortable on the chair by her bed, but that's impossible. "I wonder if they'll bring me one of the chairs out of the relaxing room?"

I send them for more stuff.

After a few minutes, they come in with the furniture. "Thank you. You can take this old stuff out. Along with the extra bed and the cots. Put the couch by the queen's bed. The chairs over there where the other bed was, make it like a little sitting area. Thank you all."

"No problem, sir."

I sit on the overstuffed couch and I can finally relax with my coffee, "This is much nicer, and now you don't need to be alone ever. My friends and I can take turns sleeping on this couch. Well, if they stay, I guess. They might be going back to school. Don't worry, if they leave, I'll turn this couch into my bed. I'll make sure you're never alone. I don't want your crazy ass brother stealing you through the window."

I check my phone, and it's almost 12:30. "I wonder where everyone is. I'm starting to get hungry." I send Clark a text. 'Where the hell you at?'

"You know something, for the last 7 years I've eaten lots of my dinners next to a painting of you. I always talked to you then. You are so beautiful. I remember the first night I saw your painting. I remember thinking you look like a girl who would love chocolate. I'll bring some chocolate for when you wake up."

-Ding- 'Meeting with Emberlynna and Aver-almost over. Give us like 30 minutes and we will be there with pizza.'

"I wonder what they are having a meeting about. Probably deciding if they want to go back to school or not. I don't know what they'll pick. No use worrying about it. We'll find out soon enough."

The servant comes in. "Hello sir, I am here to wash up Miss Mayra. Please step out for 20 minutes."

I would argue but at this point I really have to piss. "Let me know when you're done please."

"Yes, sir."

I get no more than 20 feet down the hallway, and she comes flying out of the room, "GET THE DOCTOR NOW!" Turns around and runs back in.

Me and 8 of the guards run into the room. Nothing has changed.

The doctor speeds into the room, "Guards out! To many people in here." He shoves his way to the queen. "What is the issue?"

The servant cries. "She's sticky."

"What?"

"The cuts are sticky. Look here. The cuts are sticky like they are trying to close. But then they open back up."

Doc puts some gloves on and runs a finger over a cut. "The skin seems to be trying to seal but shredding at the same time... Yes, it seems her body is trying to heal the large lacerations in her skin before it rebuilds her mouth."

The servant is so emotional. "Was she poisoned like the man yesterday? She's sticky."

"I will take a small sample and check for poison. But we have to trust her body to rebuild itself. As I said before, I have never seen this done. So the order in which things rebuild may be different from what I plan. We're following her plan now." He smiles at the servant. "Thank you for summoning me. Your questions and concerns are always welcome."

She gives a small smile through the tear streaks. "Can we make the blood go in faster?"

"I'm afraid not. The blood will only absorb into her body at a certain rate. The rate may change from time to time, but for now it seems perfect. If her oral cavity ever appears dry, I can speed up the drip. If there is too much blood pooling, or it's leaking out, I can slow the drip. But right now, everything's good. Remember we're on her time now. Her body will find ways to tell us the next step. You're going well."

"Thank you, doctor."

"I will go run some tests and stop back by this afternoon. Good day."

I shake his hand. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

He nods and leaves.

She stands there smiling at the queen. "Well sir, I must get back to work. I will let you know when I am finished."

"Hey, out of curiosity, how many servants are here?"

"Only me, sir."

"No, I mean in the entire castle."

"Just me, sir."

"For how long?"

"Almost 500 years."

"What happened?"

"Fane…" She stares at the ground, "When he took over. He ordered all the palace and crown servants to the courtyard. They were all..." she takes a deep breath trying to hold back tears. "Beaten and killed, sir."

"I understand. You're not a palace servant."

"Correct sir. I am only sworn to the princess. Or queen now. She is the only one I follow orders from. That is the way my position was set up."

"Smart. But I'm sorry you had to see that. It must have been horrible to witness."

"It was, sir. My friends..." She lets out a sob, "and family."

"Well, you are our family now. Let me know when you're done with the queen. We're going to have pizza in here, including you, Miss?"

"You're asking me my name?"

"Well yes, it would be nice to know, and we can stop calling you servant."

"The queen is the only other person to ever ask my name." She stares into space. "I think I will stick with servant. It's all I am. I don't want to lose who I am."

I don't even want to start working on that psychological nightmare right now, "Well, when you're ready you can tell."

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem. I'll be outside the door when you're finished. Now I am going to run to the damn bathroom. Anyone gets in my way, they are getting run the f**k over." I say the last part as I'm speeding out the door. I hear her laugh.