I Must Save the Evil King

Chapter 21

"Ta-Da!" Shouted Cordelia as she added lemon juice to her bright blue tea. We stared at it silently for a moment waiting for something to happen. 

"Do you think we are supposed to mix it?" I whispered in a hushed tone. Cordelia eyes lit up at that suggestion as she grabbed a spoon. 

"Ta-Da!" she smiled as we watched the tea change into a lovely purple color. It had been two months since the ball and Cordelia had been my only entertainment. She fulfilled this calling through her weekly 'science experiments' which ranged from making miniature volcanos to turning tea a different color. In return, I would give her one of my drawings or paintings I had spent all week working on. "Now where is my payment?" She smiled deviously, taking a sip of her color-changing tea. 

I sighed and walked over to my bedside table where I had hidden the small canvas behind a stack of books. I had endeavored to use oil pastels this week, having found them on Monday in a pile of Claudette's old things. It had been difficult at first, they were a different texture than the ones at home, but I had eventually figured it out. I handed over the canvas proud of what I had created.  

"Wow, it's beautiful" Cordelia gasped, snatching it out of my hands. "Is this the prince?" 

I nodded sheepishly. I couldn't help but blush at her praise, I had never had much before. 

"I had quite a lot of trouble with the eyes," I pointed at Julian's bright green eyes which glowed with flecks of gold, long lashes framed their almond shape. There were in fact not Julian's eyes but a combination of his and Cordelia's. "What do you think of those?"     

"They are very pretty,"

"The color was very difficult because of how unique it is," Cordelia squinted and I could see the wheels in her head turning as she examined the eyes. 

"Well I don't know about that, it is very similar to my own."

"Huh that is strange" I shrugged dramatically "I had never noticed that before. But now that you point it out your eye color is very similar to that of the royal family."      

"Huh," Cordelia sighed still absorbed by the painting. Come on, connect the dots! 

"Does your mom's family have green eyes?" I needed to keep prodding her. I had to let her figure this out herself. 

"No... I don't think so at least," Cordelia looked over at me, "Does Dad's family have green eyes?" 

"Well I don't remember exactly but everyone says my mom had my grey eyes and the Baron has dark brown eyes." So they can't actually be your family! I bit my tongue to stop myself from shouting it out. Please let Cordelia know how genetics work. "Maybe you could ask your mom?"

"Yes," Cordelia said monotone, her eyes slightly glazed over. I could tell the dots were connecting. "I should." She started walking to the door, still not looking away from the painting of Julian. Once she got to the door she paused and turned around. "Ettie?"

"Yes?" I smiled cheerfully. 

"Have you ever seen anyone with green eyes other than the prince?" 

"Just the Prince and the Princess Royal. And I've been told the King has the same color eyes. Why do you ask?" I batted my eyes feigning innocence. 

"No reason. Just wondering." With that, she left the room. It hadn't happened this way in the book of course, since Claudette died in the first chapter. It had been the love interest, Belmont's only child, who had told her the truth. What was interesting though was that she had the same reaction, it would be interesting to see how much things actually changed from this. 

We still had a little less than three years until the story started. Until Claudette, until I, died at the hands of mystery assassins. I had done research on the symbol Claudette had drawn me but I hadn't been able to find any information about it in the library.  Turns out it was hard to research an event that hadn't happened yet. My plan is pretty simple, move up the events of the story to before Claudette's assassination. 

If Cordelia discovers her parentage before she will have the opportunity to develop a sibling bond with the prince. As long as they don't want to kill each other the story of the book can't happen. Well, at least the part after Claudette's assassination can't happen. Think of it as my backup plan. In case I can't prevent my murder.   

Now where is that royal family history book? I searched around my bookshelf and then the pile of books on my bedside table. I may read too much I thought as I reached under my bed for books that had fallen. Finally, my hand hit a familiar leather cover. I flipped through the book sending dust flying everywhere. 

This book tells the entire story of the old queen's life, who also happens to be a crazy woman in my head, up until the point where Emilee gets involved. This should be enough to get Cordelia to start connecting the dots. 

"I wonder.." I murmured to myself suddenly remembering the slip of paper that had fallen out. I opened up my dresser drawer and tossed aside my neatly folding nightgowns. There it was just where I had left it. A page about a prince I had never heard of, with all of its information blacked out except for... 

Except for a symbol drawn on the corner of the page. It had been there the entire time, I had just never noticed it. There on the corner of the page was a drawing of two mountains with a star in the middle.   

I traced my finger on the drawing trying to wrap my mind around what just happened. Somehow some way this mysterious prince, Crown Prince Laurent, was connected to Claudette. This man was connected to Claudette's assassination. Did he kill her? Or was he killed by the same people as her? Who even is he anyway?

I flipped through the book trying to find where the page had been ripped from but to no avail. The page number read 37 but the book already had a page 37 where it talked about the last king's wife. It was as if this page was never meant to exist. Like me, it didn't belong in this world.

"My lady?" a knock came at the door. Quickly I shoved the page into the book and stuck it back under my bed. 

"Come in," I called out, my voice shook a little. Tillie walked in carrying a silver tray with a letter on it. The gold seal that held it shut showed an image of a crown. 

The letter was from the palace.