Chapter 24
Twenty-four
James
For the first time in weeks, I felt well rested.
My nap yesterday—which had actually turned into an unintentional thirteen-hour power nap—had helped, but I believed my beautiful evening with Edwin had helped more.
I hadn’t realized how bad off I was until he’d coaxed me into eating a late dinner.
He’d treated me as a person instead of his superior, and it’d brought back so many memories of us from the past, I almost felt like I’d stepped back into my first life all over again.
I was in a far better frame of mind today as a result.
Edwin, however…
I suspected I may have said something while asleep. I was a horrible sleep talker. My Edwin used to tease me about this because he claimed he could get me to answer any question while I was asleep. Since he knew things I had no memory of ever saying, I had to believe him.
Last night, I distinctly remembered falling asleep under his desk, only to wake up in my own bed this morning.
I was quite sure he had taken me to bed, as how else did I get there?
But Edwin couldn’t quite look me in the eye this morning.
He also seemed baffled? Not sure if that was the right emotion, to be honest, because he also had a bit of color high in his cheeks.
Although, granted, that could be the wind.
It was a very windy day out here today. Insane, actually. I’d left my hat in the carriage. No point in wearing one when I’d only be fighting to keep it on. We’d returned to the two major projects both due to start this very day: the seawalls and the veterans’ hospital.
Veterans’ hospital first, because I had Royce in tow. It had taken some very fast talking to get him out of his lab this morning, and I didn’t think I’d be able to keep him with me much longer. I wanted him introduced to the hospital before he ran away again.
Sea Cross Hospital wasn’t completely new, but I’d repurposed it for my plans.
The entire market district was crammed to the gills, so finding an empty lot was impossible.
Repurposing a building was far, far easier.
Also less expensive. All the other hospitals in the country would be built new out of necessity.
The hospital was three stories of white stucco, with black doors and window trimming, looking rather worn after decades in the sea wind. Someone had gone ahead to warn them of our approach, as the hospital director, lead surgeon, and head nurse all waited on us.
I offered a hand to Director Ruth Jaehart. “Director, thank you for the welcome.”
She was accustomed to my direct ways, having sat through four meetings with me in this life, and immediately shook hands with me. “Thank you so much for following through on your promise, Your Highness. It means the world to our veterans.”
“Of course. I’m sorry it took this long to get people proper help. Helena you know, of course, but have you met Royce?”
“I have not.” She smiled prettily, showing off dimples, and dipped into a shallow bow. Probably the best she could do with aging knees. “Your Highness, you’re very welcome.”
Royce nodded in return and looked vaguely uncomfortable being here.
I completed the introductions. “This is Abby Elmstone, Head Nurse over the hospital—”
Nurse Elmstone bowed deeply. She was a veteran herself—an army nurse who had gone into civilian work—and absolutely behind the program.
This was the neatest I’d seen her. Normally she wore work pants and a stained shirt.
Today, every brown hair was in place, her formal white-and-black uniform clean and starched.
“—and Les Greensmith, head of the surgical department. Use they/them for Doctor Greensmith, please.”
Royce shrugged agreement and awkwardly ducked his head to them both.
Yeah, he was still trying to figure out a way to get out of this. I’d better reinforce. I sidled in next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders, all the better to keep him right where he was.
“Royce, you’ve got wonderful government funding here, and they’ve set up a lab so you can work on your own project while also helping them. I understand from Director Jaehart that you’ll get three lab assistants as well?”
She smiled again, grey eyes crinkling up at the corners. “Indeed, you will. We’ve made sure everything is top of the line for you, plus we have fresh specimens from some of the patients we’ve had this past week.”
Royce heard funding, lab assistants, and specimens and nothing else. I would swear on Vuheia to this. He perked right up. “That sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see the lab myself.”
Doctor Greensmith extended a welcoming arm in the direction of the hospital.
“Please, let me show you. I’m quite anxious to see your work, Your Highness.
I’ve read your latest paper on salence, and it was astounding, truly.
Surface contact is how it’s carried, you said.
I’ve been cleaning everything, sterilizing as much as I can between patients, and have had a thirty percent decrease in infection with my patients. Just in the past two weeks.”
“Really?” Royce nearly bounced, eagerly following Greensmith. “Astounding! I haven’t had a chance to really put my findings into physical practice. Can you show me what methods you’re using?”
“Yes, of course…”
I lost the rest of the conversation as they entered the building, door closing behind them with a snap, no doubt because of the wind.
“Well”—Helena’s voice was filled with mirth—“I think Royce just found a kindred spirit.”
Thank all the gods and goddesses.
“We’re very eager to have him,” Director Jaehart assured her. “Prince Royce brings a breath of fresh air into medical research that’s truly necessary. He’s in good hands here, I promise you.”
“Oh, use him as much as you like,” Helena said with a laugh. “Just make sure he eats. He tends to work straight through meals. Okay, we’re going back to the seawalls. Pleasure to meet you, Director, Nurse Elmstone.”
“Likewise, Your Highness,” they both returned in near unison.
I offered Helena my arm and we headed off at a walk. Edwin and Captain Rowan were with us, keeping one step back, Sir Pedan and Helena’s knight in front of us.
It was a rare moment having Helena mostly alone, so I decided to capitalize on it. “With one thing and another going on, I haven’t updated you much on Gillespie.”
“You’ve found things, then?”
“Yes, indeed. Stedman told me he’s found so much that he needs the remaining two weeks to gather up the right evidence and begged for patience. I granted it, as I’d rather come in fully prepared than half-cocked.”
Helena made a face. “Let’s not give them any wiggle room. As long as we can break up this engagement before the Founder’s Ball, I’m fine. I can’t stand having him as my partner.”
“That’s a while off, yet. We’ll get you free of him in time, I promise.”
Our sibling relationship this time around was so much better, and I loved it. Reaching out, supporting her, had absolutely been the right thing to do.
That said, I had an idea. A way to boost her confidence more and give her real-life experience without my hovering.
“Helena…I’ve an offer for you.”
She turned her face up to look at me. “I’m all ears.”
“How would you feel about interning with my company?” I kept a sharp eye on her reaction.
“It’ll give you real-life experience in how to manage a company.
Which, really, is fundamentally the same as running a country.
If nothing else, it’ll give you good experience in handling economics and business in the future. ”
Her head jerked back momentarily, as if I’d startled her. Then her eyes lit up. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”
“You don’t need to think about it?”
“Why the hell would I?”
“Excellent. I’ll arrange it, then. Let’s start a week from now to give you enough time to clear your schedule and for me to make arrangements.”
“Sounds perfect.” Helena hopped a step, laughing in delight. “I can’t wait! I’m so excited. I can’t take much more of standing around at events and soirees and smiling prettily.”
Which was basically what her day-to-day life was. The Helena of the past was a hard worker with a good head on her shoulders. No way would I let her languish in the palace a day longer than necessary.
“I’m honestly glad for an excuse to escape the palace.” Helena let out a long, gusty sigh, as if her soul was worn out. “Victor has been quite the nuisance recently.”
My shadow on Victor had reported things to me, but I wasn’t sure which she referred to. “What’s he been doing?”
“Pestering me. For some reason, he feels like that will achieve something.” Helena paused as she sidestepped, letting a heavily laden cart pass, then followed me up onto the sidewalk near the seawall.
“He’s not really taken the ultimatum to heart, to everyone’s utter lack of surprise.
Instead of understanding that his whole attitude needs to change and he’s got work he should be doing, he’s instead confined himself to the palace. ”
“What…does a voluntary house arrest solve?” I didn’t get the logic. Not that I expected much logic from Victor, but still. Some modicum of reason wasn’t much to ask for, right?
“Not a damn thing.” Helena let out another weary sigh.
“But trying to tell him anything falls on deaf ears. He keeps trying to invade my garden and rant and rave about how unfair all of this is, then gets mad when I show him no sympathy. I pointed out last night that the only way to keep his position was to actually do the things our parents told him to do. You’d think I’d suggested cutting his dick off.
He threw an absolute tantrum, destroyed my nice bone china, and then left like a storm chased after his heels. ”
“Some people create a self-fulfilling prophecy. If he can’t learn even when he’s being spoon-fed what to do, there’s no helping him.”
Helena snorted. “That’s for sure. He’s past all redemption or help at this point. He’s also no longer welcome in either my rooms or my garden. I’ve had quite enough of his stupidity.”
Look at her standing up for herself. I felt like hugging her, I was so proud.
“I think Victor will destroy himself well enough. We don’t need to entertain him any longer. Let’s focus on you and our country.”
“I think that’s a splendid notion.” Helena stopped abruptly and peered ahead. “My, they’ve got a section of the wall down already.”
That they had. The very second we had cleared this project with the council, I’d sent word down to Foreman Bates and had him start. It hadn’t taken anything more than money and a single directive for him to jump into the project.
Today, they were actively dismantling the crumbling seawalls with the goal to set a new one in place by this evening.
Each section would take a full day, at least. The sections near the docks would take longer, since they required more finesse, but still nothing more than two days.
Even as we watched, they finished breaking the old walls into more manageable chunks, then lifted them into the air by crane and deposited them into a wagon waiting nearby.
“They’re working very fast,” I said. “And I don’t see the foreman… Ah, there he is. Bates!”
His head lifted, turned, and then he spotted us and waved. He abandoned supervising for the moment and hopped onto the sidewalk, making his way toward us, beaming the whole way.
“Your Highnesses, this is all thanks to you pushing the project through. Come to see our progress?”
“We were hoping to get a glimpse,” I admitted. “I know you told me how fast this would be once you got started, but I’m honestly surprised now that I’m watching it in action.”
“Seawalls are basically falling apart on us,” Bates said with a wince. “Which makes them easy to demo, but Retazo bless us, I’m praying we don’t have a single storm until we’re done. It’ll wipe out the market district if anything serious hits us.”
“Don’t jinx us,” Helena scolded with an exaggerated wince.
She wasn’t wrong. This would be a horrible time to be jinxed—
The ground under my feet started shaking, hard enough that I nearly lost my footing. Helena tumbled into me, and it was all I could do to keep us both upright. A sinking feeling dropped my stomach out through my feet.
A cry of alarm came from the crane operator, and the next thing I knew, he was scrambling off the machine and booking it up the hill.
Vuheia protect us.
From my viewpoint, I could see the water retreating, the floor and reefs in open view. The ocean roared, a cacophony of sound that beat against my ears. Having lived near the coastline my entire life, I recognized the second sign without trouble.
The Retazo’s Wrath approached, and we had maybe minutes to get out of danger.
“Run!” a man screamed as he shoved his way past us. “The sea’s receding—run!”
I turned on my heel, pushing everyone ahead of me, urging them to move. The faster we got to higher ground, the safer we’d be.
The market area became madness in a second, people racing to get to safety, jostling each other, vendors, and anything not nailed down in the process. Even as I ran, my mind whirled.
We shouldn’t be having Wraths at this time. We shouldn’t be under this threat right now. It was way too early—months too early—for this particular disaster! Why was it happening now?!
And how the hell did I safeguard myself and everyone with me when there was nowhere to go but up a steep hill?