Just You Wait by rui

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Are we sure the child isn't playing a game? Perhaps he is merely hiding, wishing to worry his parents?" One adviser offered, but his optimism was quickly snuffed out by the don't-be-stupid stares.

"They thought that could be a possibility as well, but who ever took the prince had to fight with him. Some of the servants heard screaming and his room was wrecked. They also found traces of blood on his sheets." Coron's voice was strong and unfailing, proof he had excellent tutors growing up.

"I think we should step up security around the princess then." The king nodded and the adviser scampered off like a puppy with a bone to inform the guardsmen.

"Do they have any clues who might be behind the abduction?" Van locked eyes with Coron.

"Whoever it was struck a very poor spot. Freid has many allies, besides us, that are powerful and will sympathize with their plight. When it is found who the transgressors are, they will be very sorry." The king shifted in the throne, the weighty situation hung uncomfortably on his shoulders.

"You never answered my first question," Van pointed out, his eyes narrowed.

"That's because you know it does no good to throw dirt on anyone's name without proof. Slena is peaceful and not military minded like Fanelia, we aren't soldiers. What if we list one kingdom as the perpetrator and they take offense? We'd be put ourselves in danger. It is a danger I'm not willing to put my people in without cause." In other words, Coron had a guess, but refused to say it out loud for fear of being wrong.

Then again, Van thought, it might be fear of being right.

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"Does Slena have close ties to Freid?" Hitomi questioned, generally curious. A few days ago, the entire palace went into uproar and guards were doubled outside the bedrooms, especially where the princess was located.

Mena, who decided to relocate the baby and herself to the large drawing room in the east wing, paced back and forth. She fingered her veil with nervous touches. At Hitomi's question, she paused to think. "Even Fanelia has close ties."

"Van told me," Hitomi replied flippantly. He had been in such a state of-of-something that she bothered him until he gave her a rough version of what was happening. "I guess I'm too new at this, wouldn't it been better for the kidnappers to steal the king if they wanted something?"

Mena sat down in the chair by her baby's bassinet, her eyes held Hitomi in a steady gaze. "You steal a king you only take the kingdom's present, you steal the heir—you take the kingdom's future."

"Oh," she hadn't thought of it quite like that.

"A parent, no matter what their station in life, will always brave any pit of coals to save their child." At this, the Queen gazed at her tiny, sleeping daughter. Without a second's hesitation, the young woman scooped up the baby and rocked her protectively in her arms.

Hitomi was surprised to see her husband come through the door, with his eyebrows raised slightly higher than normal; she guessed he was equally surprised to see her in there as well.

Before he could retreat, Mena pounced. She smiled, stood, and walked over to the king.

"I don't believe you have seen our new daughter, King Van." Mena's eyes had a decidedly determined and dastardly gleam in them, at least to Hitomi.

"Just Van," the black haired king insisted and then tried to move out of the way, but it was no use trying to evade Mena. This was a woman on a mission! She successfully put the napping baby into the tense king's arms. "Uh…I-don't know what to do."

"Show him, Hitomi," Mena smiled behind the veil. "I think I'll join my husband for a few moments, if you don't mind?"

The uneasy atmosphere was broken for the first time since the news was received. Van looked helpless at being in the mercy of the baby's sleeping face. Hitomi smirked. He should try to be around her when she is hungry with a dirty diaper, that'd really make him uncomfortable.

"Not at all," Hitomi assured, having figured out what Mena was trying to set up. With the baby in his arms, Van would have a hard time taking off if he felt apprehensive. She smiled and could have sworn she saw Mena wink as the woman left the room.

Van awkwardly held the baby, who was started to make unhappy noises at the inexperienced baby-holding male.

"Here," Hitomi's hands gently touched his upper arms. He couldn't tense up anymore at her touch or his muscles would have exploded. "You shouldn't be so scared, she doesn't bite. She doesn't even have any teeth yet."

Readjusting his hands and informing him to calm down because relaxed muscles were nicer to lie on than flexed, hard ones. Van panic subsided when the princess stopped her noise making and slipped off into another sleep.

"Where did you learn this?"

"From my little sister, she loved to help the midwife in our village with the newborns." Hitomi looked up at the face of her husband; his eyes were locked on the round face of the small heir.

"Ah."

There it was again, that sweet shy smile. Hitomi couldn't help but give her own smile.

This is the side of Van, what she considered the real Van who she so desperately wanted to know. How could she say that though?

"You don't have to stand. You can sit," Van glanced around the room and Hitomi could visibly see his discomfort as he sat down on the couch. Biting her lip, the girl sat down close to her husband. This was, she insisted to herself, was only in case he needed help. That was all.

"How is the king?"

"Beside himself."

Hitomi's shoulders dropped. She had hoped, vainly, that things were getting better.

"He's worried because Freid is an ally, and if they go to war with whoever did this, Slena will have to as well."

"You'll go to, won't you?" The question popped out without her thinking about it. Van nodded slowly, and something small broke in her heart.

"Why?" Hitomi's father's family was so poor that the eldest son had gone into the army, only to die a few months later in a minor struggle over some vineyards. He had only been seventeen at the time, her grandmother never recovered from his death.

"Because it's a contract but," Van gazed down at the tiny girl in his arms, "if something should happen like this to Coron and Mena, or to us, we'd want their aid."

"Oh." Hitomi responded, her heart fluttered at his mention of the two of them as 'us'. There was hope. She felt guilty though, having hope of her future when the poor child, Chid, was missing.

"That has to be every parent's worst fear," Hitomi mumbled under her breath. An idea struck her and without really going over the smartness of the question, it darted off her tongue. "What is it you fear most?"

Van's rocking stopped as if he slammed into a brick wall. Hitomi's brain gave her sensibility a swift kick in its rump. Her green eyes grew in shock at her own stupidity. How could she ask him something like that! She opened her mouth as he turned his face from her to the little princess in his arms.

"Y-you don't ha— "

"Losing my kingdom," Van answered, his eyes never leaving the baby, "failing the people who depend on me."

Hitomi felt her cheeks fade from hot to warm with his answer. He actually answered a personal question! This was a big improvement!

"Do you smell something?"

Apparently the princess wasn't too fond of tender moments.

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"Hasn't he shut up yet?" The angry person snapped out.≤/p≥
"He's scared," came a softer, feminine voice.

"So what? He's ten, not five. Tell him to be a man." The owner of the harsh voice insisted.

The sound of footfalls clicking angrily away from the door filled the silence, and faded into the distance.

Chid started to shake in fear. If it was the harsh voice who had stayed, he in for another painful night, but if it was the soft voice—

"Are you there?" The softer voice called out to him.

Terror. Chid felt dread like no one could describe. He would have climbed the wall, kicked it until there was a hole, or until his legs were broken. The harsh voice was predictable. The harsh voice had hard hands and a stone heart.

The soft voice was more lethal, silent, and deadly. It was that voice who tricked him. It was that touch that made him cry out in the night. He wanted his Daddy, what he wouldn't do for his daddy!

"There you are," the voice purred, caressing Chid's round cheek before there was vicious slap to his face. He cried out as his head connected with the brick wall in a snap.

The soft-voice merely chuckled.

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Sweat poured from every gland on Hitomi's body. She jolted straight up in bed and listened to her own heavy breathing and the pounding of her heart. Her arms trembled with the high-alert her nerves were on.

"Hit-Hitomi?" Van's sleep rasped voice made her nearly jump on the ceiling. Grabbing the sheet, she pulled it close to her chest, and drew her legs to her until she could cross her arms and tuck her head in the confines of the self-made ball.

"Hitomi?" Van had been jarred from his deep slumber when his ears picked up the hard breathing. With the quick and sudden movement that followed, he was thrust back into the world of the conscious. Rubbing his eyes, trying to get the blurry sleep vision to clear up, he saw the slim back of his wife shake as if she were laughing.

Reaching out his hand, he gingerly placed it on her shoulder. She wrenched away from his touch and Van withdrew his hand quickly after her reaction. He should have known better than to think—she didn't care. He hefted himself up to a sitting position, leaned back on his arms allowing the sheet to fall to his waist.

There was no way he could ignore her in this state, but she flinched at his touch. Was he that disgusting to her? Sighing, he slanted forward and tugged hard on the sheet. With a yelp, the girl turned to the tugger and as her large, wet eyes locked on him, she hiccuped.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, forgetting briefly she rejected him, leaned further over, and touched her shoulder again. She didn't jerk away from him this time.

"I-I had a night mare." Hitomi felt a bit silly telling him this, he was always so strong, no matter what, and she let a little dream disturb her world. "It was—about the missing prince."

"We've been talking about it so much; I could see how it would cause you to have dreams about him." Van explained, he tried to stifle a yawn, but failed. Hitomi drew her attention back to the opposite wall, facing away from the dark haired male.

He leaned back and crossed his arms over his stomach. "Dreams can't hurt you." Van saw her nod, and then closed his eyes.

"I know it was just a dream— but I'm still scared," she whispered. The image of Chid shaking, crying out for his father was so strong in her mind it was as if she had been there. Whimpering, she curled herself into a tighter ball.

"You don't have to be afraid," Van reassured her, his voice growing softer with every word. "I'm here…" The rest of his statement was lost as his voice mingled with his exhaling and was lost. Either he was a good faker or he was just that tired.

Hitomi was afraid to go to sleep, what if she had another dream? But if she didn't get enough sleep, she wasn't the most attractive thing to look at (as Armand would constantly remind her). Gulping down a large breath of air, the girl slowly reclined back to her original spot.

Van was right, he was there. She turned her head to see his sleeping profile. The fear in her heart crept away a few inches as a peace came on her. He was there, he'd protect her. Feeling a little better, she reached toward his arm, but stopped a few inches short. Biting her lip, she withdrew her hand back to her side.

Closing her eyes, she prayed for a dreamless sleep.

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"We have to have the naming ball." Mena was a bit frustrated with her husband at the breakfast table when, after a week after Chid's kidnapping, Coron had announced they were going to cancel the traditional ball. "What message would we be sending to the people?"

"That we care about our daughter," Coron stared evenly at his wife, his face set in a stern expression. The two guests watched the couple as their calm argument proved more entertaining than anything they could talk about or the food currently growing cold on their plates.

"But we shut the people out. They have celebrated her birth for near two weeks! We can't just close them out now!" Mena's eyebrow began to tick as she glared at her husband. Her face was as legible as book; it screamed 'I married a stubborn mule'. If it had been possible, the woman would have bare fangs had she had them.

Coron sighed heavily and put his fork down with barely constrained anger. It was hard to get him upset, but once he was he tended to become something of a thick-headed, Neanderthal. "Mena." He bit out.

"Don't even think you're going to get your way with this. These people don't deserve to be punished for something that they didn't do." Mena growled.

"I agree with Mena," Hitomi spoke up.

Armand, who had been silently standing next to his liege, choked on the air in his throat and half hoped to black out.

"Why shouldn't the people be involved? Won't you just make them mad at you if you don't?" Innocent enough assumption, but even Van's drink was held up half way to his opened mouth in surprise.

Coron switched his attention to Hitomi, Mena's smile of triumphant went all the way to her eyes as she snapped her attention to Coron. "See? Another Queen agrees with me."

"I can't allow this to happen for reasons you wouldn't understand." Coron waved both of the women off, Hitomi 'humphed'. Mena, on the other hand, did a bit more.

"I—I wouldn't understand?" She drew out, slowly rising from her seat. "I wouldn't understand?" Hitomi felt like a small child witnessing her parents fighting, her first instinct was to crawl under the table and plug her ears while mom and dad became a little less of a gentleman and lady.

Van was strangely curious. His parents never fought, or if they did, they did it in another wing of the castle. It was like seeing two strong armies slowly pull their numbers together and go into a head first collision.

"Mena, there's no need—," Coron's eyes stared steadily at the enraged woman.

"Don't forget they can smell fear." Armand muttered under his breath, thinking only Van could hear. Van nodded and Hitomi, who overheard, picked up a roll and threw it at him. That didn't even faze the other couple.

"Did you forget where I came from? Do you think I'm too uneducated to understand that our child could be next? I know that, but I also know that hiding away is only chickening out! I'm not a coward, though you might be!"

Coron snapped to his feet, grabbed his wife by the wrist, and stormed both of them out of the room.

"Wow," Armand whistled, and plucked up the roll that had been thrown at him.

"Armand, excuse us for a moment," Van requested patiently. Hitomi's fear factor fever pitched. Armand was curious, but nodded and left, munching on his roll.

"Is something wrong?" Hitomi asked, nervous the tension from the other couple had seeped into their already fragile relationship.

"I know you probably don't realize this but," Van's eyes seemed to burn red in the morning sunlight, "you are not to interfere with another person's decisions; especially when it is a decision about their kingdom, policies, or personal relationships." His voice was in the icy tone that he normally took when letting the person know that there wasn't going to be an inch given.

Hitomi was stumped, but not for long, "I only gave my opinion—"

"It wasn't asked for," Van retorted, as he placed both of his hands palm down on the table. "You shouldn't have interfered."

His words wounded her feelings, and when threatened she fought back. Just as Mena did, Hitomi shot to her feet, gave her husband a proud look, and said "I'm sorry. I forgot I'm just a merchant's daughter, and some sort of trophy wife who is to be seen and not heard. Forgive me, my king."

She turned and hared out of the room, praying to get to the bedroom before her eyes started to let the tears fall.

"That went well," Armand observed, strolling back into the room through the door the queen left open.

Van, who had been staring at the table rather sternly, gave Armand a glance before he too jumped to his feet, and made his way out of the room.

"I hope you're going to apologize to her, sire," Armand advised, munching on a slice of fruit.

Van gave him a steady look from the hallway before breezing down the hall.

Taking in the large, mostly untouched, breakfast left in the dining hall, the knight smiled like a hungry cat. "Appears I get a buffet today!"

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