Edward stared at Camilla in bewilderment. She had to have gone completely off the rails. A royal advisor should not be threatening him using his parents.
“I don’t see how you are going to do that,” he said and shook her hand away. “You’re batshit insane.”
Camilla opened the folder and slid the contents across the table towards him. Most of the pages were photos of his parents taken secretly in different locations. The other pages were details of payments for the photos and a list of hitmen.
“If you don’t comply, I will hire one of these people and book your parents in for their deaths,” she told him.
Edward felt a pang of utter terror. The look in her eyes indicated she was completely serious and had every intent of going through with her threats.
He needed to play it carefully. He couldn’t push Camilla too hard, but he needed to stand his ground.
“I think you wouldn’t g
Sebastian walked into the room in the palace that was being used to televise his marriage announcement and immediately noticed that something wasn’t right. Bernadette’s face was ashen pale and she was talking frantically on the phone. The other royal advisors averted their eyes at the sight of him like they wanted to avoid him. He ignored them and approached Bernadette. She was the one leading the operation, she would have the answers. The lead royal advisor ended her call as soon as he approached. When he saw her up close, he became even more sure that something bad had happened. Bernadette was a hard woman to shock and she looked like she was panicking. “Bernadette, has something happened?” he asked. She bit her lip and he could tell that she didn’t want to tell him what was going on. “I didn’t want to tell you about it so quickly, I would normally seek to rectify a problem first. Unfortunately, I cannot see a way to rectify the prob
The two of them played board games until dinner. Sebastian was still surprised that his mother actually had something fun in her sitting room. She was also surprisingly bad at all of the board games. Sebastian put it down to lack of practise, but she was still terrible by the fifth round of the same game. “Your father was always the much better player,” she admitted eventually. “I still can’t get my head around game rules.” No one had come to the sitting room to interrupt them so he could only assume that there were no leads for any of the lines of investigation. When he was helping her tidy the games back into the cupboard he noticed a game that she hadn’t shown him yet. “If you’re looking at ‘Guess Who’, that’s hidden at the back because that’s the game I played with your father on the night he died. I beat him that night for the first time and I think he let me,” she told him. Sebastian hadn’t seen his father that close to his death
Edward yawned and stretched his arms. It had been a long three days of hiding and travelling. They were now out of France and were in Switzerland.He was no longer Edward Grey, they had changed identities in Paris.He was now Gabriel Dubois.It was fortunate that he spoke fluent French and near fluent German. Going to the top school in Albion had been useful.There had been a lot of changes since they had left Albion. They had all changed names and appearances. His mother had dyed his hair brown in the hotel bathroom in Paris and he had helped her bleach her hair blonde. Lord Grey had shaved his moustache. They were also only speaking French between them to help give the impression they really were French.He got out of bed and walked into the sitting room of their hotel room. Lady Grey was sitting at the table with a cup of tea.“Where’s Dad?” he asked.“Your father is out arranging a house for us to live in. He has requested that you look at nearby universities to enrol in.”Hearing
Sebastian wasn’t sure that the decision he had made was the right one. For the sake of tradition and his arranged marriage, he should give the order to bring Edward back, but he didn’t feel it was right to.Edward was clearly happy in Switzerland. He was studying what he wanted and would live a free life without restrictions. He was also afraid that Edward would hate him if he forced him to come back to Albion.“Is that your final decision?” Ryan questioned.“It is,” he confirmed. “Has Queen Annelise left it up to me then?”It was normally a decision his mother would make, but the fact that Ryan had asked him suggested that his mother had delegated the responsibility to him. She had started to involve him more in decision making recently.“She did. I will pass your reply back to her. Remember to go and say goodbye to her when you’re ready to leave.”Ryan left the room. Sebasti
Edward sat down at the kitchen table to eat his breakfast. He had a lecture in an hour and the university was half an hour away by bus so he was keen to eat his breakfast very quickly.“There’s some major news from Albion,” his mother said suddenly. “The palace has announced that Queen Annelise died in the early hours of this morning.”Edward dropped his toast in shock. Hewould have never imagined that Queen Annelise would die so soon. She had been very full of life when he had met her.His parents exchanged looks. Edward picked up his slice of toast and carried on eating whilst he thought about Albion. The three of them never really talked about their past in Albion. They had assimilated to their new life in Switzerland quickly.Despite that, Albion and Sebastian were always somewhere in his mind.Sebastian couldn’t be doing too well at the moment. Queen Annelise’s death meant that he would become king at
Edward knew his freedom in Switzerland had come to a drastic end. Sebastian wasn’t coming to visit him for a casual coffee meeting, he was coming to drag him back to Albion.There was no denying he was Edward Grey. Sebastian knew exactly who he was. He wouldn’t be able to claim he was someone else.“Sebastian, what are you doing here?” he asked.The prince glanced at Mark who took the hint and quickly left the coffee shop at high speed. Edward had to admire the efficient operation. Someone had mapped out his schedule and established that he frequented the coffee shop after lectures, someone had arranged for customers to be kept away and Sebastian had come to lie in wait for him.“You can’t have missed what has been happening in Albion,” his husband said.Edward took a seat next to him. There was no getting away from Sebastian so he might as well take a seat. He also wanted to talk to him.“I am sorry about your mother’s death. I always thought she would live for a long time. She had a
Sebastian didn’t sleep much on his return flight to Albion, he had too much to think about. Edward’s willingness to cooperate had taken him by surprise. He had been expecting a lot of resistance. Maybe he could hope that Edward still loved him. It was strange to see Edward with different hair and less muscular. He looked happy and healthy in all the surveillance photos which made him feel a little bitter. The other students on Edward’s photography course had been asked about Edward or rather, Gabriel Dubois. He was popular and considered good looking, but had remained single the entire time. Sebastian had been relieved to hear that until he had met the barista of the coffee shop. He didn’t like the thought of anyone else having the chance to date Edward. A royal advisor appeared at his side. “Angela has sent through the schedule for Queen Annelise’s funeral. Would you like to look at it now?” Sebastian switched to work mode. He had a l
Edward was woken up in the morning by a knock at the door. He took a moment to realise that he was no longer in his bedroom in Switzerland, he was in the royal palace in Albion. “Who is it?” he asked sleepily. “It’s Bernadette, you have a meeting before breakfast at 8. I suggest you get up very soon.” Edward groaned. No one had mentioned that the meeting would be this early. It was 7:00am now. “I’ll get up,” he said sleepily. He heard Bernadette’s footsteps fade away and he pushed away the bedcovers. If the meeting was about his marriage it meant Sebastian would be there. He persuaded himself to get out of bed. The plane journey combined with the awkward dinnertime the previous evening had exhausted him. He had a quick shower and got dressed. His black roots were starting to show in his hairline again. He would have to ask if the royal advisors wanted him to have brown hair or his natural black hair. He wouldn’t mind going back to his
Edward reached out and moved a stray hair on Sebastian's head back into place and looked around them in contentment.It was now June and the sun was shining in the sky. It felt everything had aligned for the perfect wedding. The gardens looked beautiful in the sunlight and it brought back his happy memories of frolicking around in the gardens with Sebastian during their courting days.“Let’s get married,” he said.They walked down the aisle slowly. The aisle was one of the stone pathways in the garden that had been lined with arches of flowers. Their guests were sitting on chairs on either side of the archways and there were not many of them.On Edward’s side there were his parents and his bodyguards. Sebastian’s side consisted of royal staff and the prime minister as he didn’t have any relations that would be invited to the wedding.They reached the archbishop as the music stopped. Unlike the heavy and tense mood in the cathedral, the mood was light in the gardens and Edward didn’t fe
Edward tried to hide his shock. He had never expected this to be Sebastian’s surprise for him.It added up with the clues he had been given. Abolishing the marriage match tradition was a major change as the tradition was so synonymous with Albion. It was no wonder Sebastian had needed to negotiate with the prime minister.“It’s a tradition that has become less necessary over the years,” Sebastian said. “After meeting my fiancé, I came to realise that the marriage tradition only benefits the royal family and it’s wholly unfair for the matched person to never have a say in the marriage.”Edward kept his face in check as there were cameras filming him at the moment. He wanted to smile widely, but he restrained himself. He could express his gratitude later on in private.“I understand that it is a tradition that has been going on for a long time and the country is proud of its traditions, but I think this
Their second holiday together considerably had less problems than the first one. Edward didn’t wear out Sebastian by dragging him out on exhausting hikes, he didn’t have enough stamina for a hike himself.Instead of long hikes, they went on short walks and watched the sunset every afternoon. It was a very serene holiday.They also didn’t get married in secret again.The days slowly drifted by and then it was their last night. Edward took the bowl of popcorn out of the microwave and carried it to the living room where Sebastian was waiting on the sofa.“What are we watching tonight?” Edward asked and sat down with the bowl of popcorn.Sebastian took a piece before answering.“I found this badly reviewed film about a prince marrying a normal citizen. It’s considered to be bad in a legendary way. I thought it would be fun for us to watch as we know how royal things work.”“It will als
The next week for Edward was mostly about his physiotherapy sessions in the morning and resting for the rest of the day.His bullet wound was healing up well and the royal doctor had told him that the scar would heal well.He enjoyed his peaceful time, but he was also aware that it was like living in a bubble. He had no idea what was going on outside of the palace.For all he knew the media was trashing the royal family. The arrests of the two princes would not have been good PR for the royal family. He wanted to know what was happening outside of the palace gates. Despite his desire to know, he was deliberately avoiding looking up anything on the internet in case his name was involved.Bernadette walked past the sitting room and he sprang up. She always had answers to all PR related questions.“You want to know about how the royal family is doing in the news?” she asked after he told her his troubles. “But you’re worried about seeing articles about yourself so you’re avoiding taking a
Edward stared at Sebastian in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting this at all.“Why are you giving me this choice?” he questioned.“I drew you into a dangerous and unfair world when I went to the government office to get my match last year,” Sebastian told him. “You’ve been threatened and have received serious injuries because of your association with me. I can’t sit here and let it happen again. You didn’t have a choice last year, but I will give you one now.”The silence between them was long.Edward didn’t know how to answer the question. When he had first been forced into the complicated world of the royal family, he would have loved to have a chance to step away from it. Now that he was much more deeply involved, he wasn’t as willing to leave.He appreciated that Sebastian wanted to give him the choice now. If the situation was reversed, he would have done the same for Sebastian.If he stepped away from royal matters now, he would be leaving Sebastian to steer through any future pr
Edward cleared his throat and managed to speak.“...Don’t cry…”He tried to move his hand and found that there was an IV in his arm that was preventing him from moving his hand without feeling pain.“I’ll stop in a moment,” Sebastian promised him. “I need to tell the doctors that you’ve woken up.”Sebastian pressed the button above his bed and Edward assessed the situation from what he could see. He was hooked up to a heart monitor, there was an IV in his arm and another tube that he was unsure about. He must be in intensive care. That made sense, he had been shot after all.A team of doctors quickly arrived and took control of the situation. Edward lost sight of Sebastian and was poked and prodded by the doctors and was asked a lot of questions that he did his best to answer with his croaky voice.Eventually the examination came to an end and Sebastian was able to sit at his
Sebastian watched in horror as the bullet hit Edward’s chest and his prone body sank against him. Sebastian caught him immediately and laid him on the ground with care. He didn’t care who was watching anymore.He heard lots of shouts and screams that sounded like they were coming from far away. Edward’s eyes were closed and his breathing was laboured. Sebastian feared the worst.Their happiness couldn’t end on their wedding day.Someone in a paramedic uniform moved him gently to the side and a group of paramedics formed a circle around Edward. Sebastian could only stand and watch as Edward was moved to a stretcher and was rushed back up the aisle.This wasn’t how their wedding day was supposed to go.“I’ll take you to the hospital,” a voice at his side said.Sebastian turned to see Bernadette next to him. She always knew what to do so he let her lead him out of the cathedral. There were still crowds of people outside who were now panicking, likely due to the sound of the shot and the s
Edward smiled at his future husband and gave him a light kiss. Sebastian responded quickly.“Did you want to stay for a little longer?” Sebastian asked.“I do want to look like I have had some sleep,” Edward replied. “There’s only so much that makeup can cover up.”He got off the bed and shared a brief kiss with Sebastian. It was tempting to stay, but he knew they could be more open about their relationship after the wedding.He walked back through the secret passageway. Now that he had gone through it so many times, he didn’t pay much attention to what direction he was following. He had always had a rough idea of where he was. Edward came to a stop when he picked up the sounds of someone talking. It was an odd time for people to still be up talking.He put his ear to the wall in an effort to pick something up. It worked to some degree, he was able to hear some words.“....Cathedral… sniper… vows… fire escape… assassination…”Edward frowned. The voice sounded like Vincent. It made sen
Sebastian realised that it would be a good time to let go of Edward. There were plenty of people around and if they remained hugging, it would look suspicious.“I now feel that my present to you isn’t going to live up to the same standard,” he said and let go of him.He took a look at the photo frame again and knew that he could find a good place for it. Christmas was often considered a time for families to gather and knowing that this was his first Christmas without his mother had felt sad.It appeared that Edward had been able to perceive that and had decided to give him a family photo of his new family. It was a perfect present.He put the photo frame down carefully and passed over his present to Edward. It was the camera lens Edward had asked for.“It is still a good present,” Edward told him. “It was what I wanted.”The rest of Christmas day went without any issues. Vincent and Conrad didn&rsquo