Tie It With a Ribbon

“Reginald, I wish you had not yelled that,” I told him calmly as Zanzibar worked to dismiss all of the other soldiers from the room.

“It’s true, then, isn’t it?” he asked, his voice breaking. “I cannot… If we lose you, I will not be able to forgive myself!”

“Why do you say that?” Zanzibar asked, prying into the conversation before I could speak.

“There has been loud disapproval at the supposed rumors… Everyone is asking questions, demanding to know everything. I approached your doctor, but he said he could not speak of it—patient confidentiality. But who else would know?”

“Alexandros did, but… Zanzibar, you don’t think—”

He shook his head furiously. “No, my family would not go against me like that. I told them to keep their mouths shut on the matter.” His answer was firm, but his eyes did not support his will.

“My Queen, are you even sure this is possible?”

I bit my lip. “Oh, yes, it certainly is. Camille and her party returned from the Gryphes with new information.”

“It would be better if it was not,” he muttered quietly, though the volume did not help Zanzibar’s enragement.

“You will take that back,” he demanded, his face scrunching up in disgust. “This is my child you are talking about, Reginald!”

“I am only speaking out of concern. If you allow Alena to be killed…” Reginald’s voice trailed off. “What do I tell the people?”

I shook my head. “Do not say anything. If this is going to cause such concern, I should think we should be the ones to tell them the truth… I had thought we had more time than this.”

Reginald bowed, steeling out of the Den quickly. I felt so paranoid then, as if so many unseen eyes were watching me!

“Zanzibar,” I muttered, hardly able to hear myself as I swayed on my feet.

He caught my arm firmly. “This is just perfect!” he screamed, pushing his hand through his hair and not bothering to fix it. “Time is a lying cheat!”

“Lower your voice,” I begged of him, getting a grip on myself.

He released me, glowering as he trembled. “Lower my voice?” he mocked, laughing harshly. “Why should I when the world is screaming about this? Why shouldn’t I be able to tell them? It is my damn child! They can’t even let me have this, can they? This is ridiculous! We should have just told them from the start!” He kicked the nearby wall, pushing his hands against it and pressing his forehead to it as well. “Damn the Heavens if I don’t find out who is the cause of this!”

I placed my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged me off.

“Please. Everyone is staring,” I whispered, glancing around.

“Don’t start, Alena! Just…don’t,” he mumbled, his voice faded as he groaned. “How dare I want to live a normal life? Of course it’s not possible.”

“It wasn’t normal the second you married me,” I informed him, looking to Cadence and her party, apologizing with my eyes. “But there is nothing we can do now—we have to handle this. We can start with the Leonians and pray they will be more accepting.”

“I can think of ways to handle this,” he told me, that crazy look in his eyes again as he seized my shoulders. “I’ll kill anyone that disagrees! If they threaten the crown, it is in my power to tear them to pieces.”

“And you think that will help?” I whispered, looking at my shoulder. “That hurts.”

“You don’t even know what pain is, Alena! But you will know soon enough, won’t you?—when you’re assassinated simply because you dared be with me! How many times have they attempted such a thing? And they did not need a reason—now they have one!”

“Zanzibar, that hurts!” I shouted, pulling myself out of his arms. “You’re acting insane!”

He growled at me, his lip twitching as he sneered. “Insane? You think I’m insane?”

“Yes, I do!” I turned my back to him, letting out a shaky breath. “And you’re scaring me! When you’re done and you’re ready to handle this rationally, you can come find me.”

I walked away from him, not sure where to go exactly—though the dining hall was out.

“You’re not going anywhere without me, Alena! This isn’t just your life you’re risking!” he hissed, grabbing my arm. “I left you alone twice, and both times you almost died. I’m not going to try a third time! Do you want to end up like your mother and father, hmm?”

“Why are you trying to hurt me?” I asked, biting my lip. “Why?”

He started sobbing then, collapsing to his knees and just crying into his hands. I looked away, unsure what to do at that point. I kneeled down beside him, awkwardly wrapping my arms around him.

“This was a horrible idea! Why did I think this would work?” he asked me, his eyes beyond bloodshot. “We had a better chance of living during the wartimes!”

“I’m not ready to give up yet,” I told him, shooing the remaining soldiers. “Are you?”

“There’s nothing we can do at this point! What can we do? What?”

“Speak to them. If I felt that my rulers were distancing themselves from me, locking me out, I would be upset, too. We can try being understanding, and we can try empathy.”

“And what about when it fails? Any other ideas?”

Yes, we would die with our country…

“We have to do what is right for these people, even if it is not us.”

He looked up at me, not understanding a word I was saying.

“What are you suggesting?”

I shook my head. “Dinner is over, quite obviously. I would like to address the Leonians and the Aquilans before the moon rises. Can we arrange that?”

“Do you like sleepless nights?”

“I think we’ve learned to sleep with one eye open by now, Zanzibar. Haven’t we?”