Eleanor raced towards her room eager to find out what Jasper's plan was, only to find her bedroom empty. She looked back at the text message he had just send, "Meet me now. Your room."
"Where the hell is he?" she said aloud. As if in reply, the cell phone in her hand started to vibrate. Looking at the screen Eleanor saw the name JASPER.
"I'm here, where are you?" Eleanor asked as a way of greeting.
She was met with a reply, "Go over to the fireplace and reach up, right under the opening. There's a gun there, get it."
"You kept a fucking gun in my room?!" Eleanor all but shouted into the phone as she walked over to the fireplace. A soft chuckle was all the answer she got.
It took a few attempts of feeling around blindly before her hand met with the cool metal of a handgun; she pulled it out hesitantly unsure what to do next.
"Okay, I have it, now what?" She asked awaiting further instruction.
"Go to your bed, right side, there's another one there."
Eleanor dropped to her knees beside the bed, lifting up the bed-skirt as she said, "Do you always hide weapons randomly around other people's bedrooms?"
Jasper's voice was so low, Eleanor almost missed his answer, "Only when it's someone I care about protecting." Her heart began to beat faster at his admission.
"I can't think about that right now," she told herself. "When all of this is over, then I'll think about Jasper Frost."
Having grabbed the second gun, Eleanor placed them both on her bed before asking, "I've got them both, but just what do you expect me to do with them."
Jasper responded, "Grab some kind of bag and put them in it, no one in the palace needs to see you carrying two hand guns. Throw on something dark to wear for tonight and meet me at the west exit in ten minutes. I'm already in the car." Without waiting for an answer, Jasper hung up.
Eleanor quickly grabbed a pair of black jeans and black hoodie, trying to change as fast as humanly possible. "This is the night," kept racing through her mind." This is the night I find out the truth."
It wasn't often that Eleanor prayed, but she said a silent prayer as she hurriedly dressed. "God, please let this be the key to Robert's death and maybe dad's attack. I can't keep going not knowing, and not knowing if me or Liam or even mum is next." It felt strange to include her mother in that prayer, but for the first time in a long time, she felt she should.
Dressed from head to toe in black, Eleanor ran a brush through her hair, before pulling it up into a ponytail.
"Black bag, a black bag," she mumbled as she dug through her closet for something to put the guns in. Finding an older looking gym bag she tossed them in, slung the bag over her shoulder, grabbed her phone and took off running towards the west side of the palace.
Just as he said, Jasper had the car waiting when she came barreling out the side entrance. Eleanor climbed into the passenger side and looked at him expectantly.
"You ready, Princess?" Jasper Frost asked her.
"Let's do this."
Lucious made a beeline for King Cyrus' study. He had to warn the King that Queen Helena suspected he had tampered with the results.
Stopping just briefly to knock on the King's door, Lucious entered the room.
"Your majesty, we have a problem," he started but was interrupted by Cyrus.
"There's always a problem, Lucious, but what is it?" Cyrus asked, reaching for the decanter of bourbon. "Probably another issue with the people not liking me," Cyrus thought to himself. The true nature of the problem was the furthest thing from his mind.
"Sir, I just overhead Queen Helena talking to the twins. She told them that she thought somehow you had the test results switched, that Simon really was their father. She wants to have them retested."
Cyrus spit out the sip of bourbon he had just taken. "Shit! You told me that it was fixed, Lucious. You handled it yourself! Do you know where they're being tested at? We, as in you, have to swap those results again. Pay somebody off, shoot someone! I don't care, but if boy wonder takes back the crown and Simon doesn't make it, this monarchy is gone. Do you hear me?!"
"Yes, your majesty. Consider it done." Lucious answered before leaving the room.
"I have to find out where the test is being done," Lucious thought to himself as he walked back towards his quarters. "This is all for the monarchy. I've devoted my life to this institution and the only way to protect it is to help Cyrus stay king."
So consumed in his thoughts, Lucious never noticed Ted Pryce following him.
Ted Pryce was on his way to talk to the Queen about King Simon's security when he saw Lucious standing outside her bedroom door. He stopped in his tracks and watched him briefly.
"Is he eavesdropping on her?" He thought. Pryce was about to call to him and ask him what he was doing when he saw Lucious duck around the corner as if he had been caught. Not wanting to be caught himself, and curious as to what Lucious was doing, Pryce slipped into the closest open doorway and peered back down the hall. Sticking his head out just enough to see what was going on, he saw Princess Eleanor rush out of the Queen's bedroom headed in the opposite direction.
As soon as she was out of sight, Lucious reappeared. So preoccupied with his thoughts and in seemingly in a hurry, he walked right past Ted Pryce.
"Where the hell is he going," Pryce said to no one in particular. He waited until Lucious was far enough ahead of him so he wouldn't be noticed, then proceeded to follow him.
It didn't take but a couple of turns down palace corridors that Ted Pryce figured out Lucious' destination. He rounded the last corner just in time to see Lucious enter King Cyrus's study.
"Queen Helena was right," he thought, "Lucious can't be trusted." "Whatever he overheard must have been quite valuable if he made a bee line for Cyrus.
Pryce walked past the room, hoping to catch any piece of their conversation. Catching a "Shit" from Cyrus before total silence. Feeling that he was far enough past to not be noticed when Lucious left, Ted Pryce waited. Less than five minutes later he watched as Lucious left the room.
"I need to tell the Queen immediately," he said to himself as he started back towards the Queen's bedroom. "She was right, Lucious has been feeding information to Cyrus."
