I know, the chapters are short, but I try to update more often when I'm back home...

Chapter 9: Moles and beasts

Eleanor was astonished at what Violet had to tell. And even more about her uncle, whose mood had brightened immensely (although he still stared daggers into Helena's direction). It was obvious that nasty old Cyrus was very happy about the maid's return.

Violet told them, there were two other moles in the palace. One she identified as a former assistant cook, who had quit 2 weeks ago without giving reasons (well, his colleagues said, he was depressed). The other one was quite a shock. It was a security member named Daniel Sawyer and he was in duty for Ophelia now! At this very moment!

As the information had settled, Liam, Eleanor and Marcus jumped up at the same time and stormed outside. Jasper was following close, more concerned about the twin's safety...

Ophelia was watering the roses in front of her cottage as they arrived. One of her guards flanked the front door. It wasn't Sawyer. She looked puzzled about the group visit, especially as she saw their worried expressions. "What happened?"

"Where is your other guard, Phe?" Marcus asked alarmed.

She was confused, "He is with Nick in that guitar shop in the city. He needed new strings. Why?"

They told Ophelia a brief version of what happened as Marcus' phone rang.

"Jeffries."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Understood."

The call was short and Marcus turned back to the others. "It was Hill. Nick's and Sawyer's car has returned through the front gate, just now."

Jasper looked at the twins and Ophelia. "Quickly into the cottage! Hide and no sound!" He nodded to the other guard at the door and waved for Marcus to follow him behind the cottage and out of sight.

At this moment the car arrived. Nick and Sawyer got out and were obviously in the middle of a conversation about music. They laughed and chatted like old friends.

Marcus and Jasper were waiting for Nick to get inside and out of danger so they could attack, when suddenly Ophelia run out of the cottage in Nick's direction. Then everything happened very quickly. Eleanor screamed. Nick was paralysed. Sawyer realised what was going on and grabbed Phe. Jasper and Marcus left their cover, the other guard drew his gun. And Liam… crazy Liam jumped out of the cottage, shouted "Geronimo!" and tackled Sawyer from behind so that Ophelia could break free. The three bodyguards were quickly on the spot now and together they overwhelmed Sawyer in a couple of seconds.

After it was all over, Marcus and Jasper were very mad at the others. They grumbled for about half an hour over the fact that none of these kids ever listened to them and how dangerous that stupid act was and how they should be able to protect them, if they always were doing just what they wanted. Especially Liam, who was inclined to rash actions. Just recently at the King's Cup he had pulled this dangerous stunt with Ted...
But in the end the relief took over. Nobody was harmed, except for a few bruises.

Of course Sawyer was locked up and questioned. He wasn't very tough and blew the whistle almost right away. Of course he didn't knew much, but he had a name which once had accidentally slipped out of one of his phone contacts: Hastings.

Robert was clueless. Until now he had found almost nothing. He knew the following:

Someone, presumably someone very powerful, wanted him dead. Boone had been working for them, but the palace guards had obviously already found out about his role in this play. They didn't bother to lock him away, so he seemingly knew not much. It would have caused too much attention, anyway. He was just a mercenary and he seemed to regret it even. Robert would never forgive him, but he thought about to make contact with Boone. Then he decided against it. The military was deeply enmeshed in this case and it was possible that they still had an eye on him.

Then, and this was the hardest part, he knew from the news that his father had been murdered. He was sure, it was related to his 'plane accident' what meant, the rest of his family was in danger as well. And he knew, it was Ted Pryce who did it. That was the most shocking fact about it. It was painful to lose a parent. But knowing that he had been murdered by someone he knew all his life and whom he had trusted… that was the worst! It had hurt him deeply to even think about it. He had been crying for weeks. And he was so so angry!

Robert was not hotheaded like his brother. But he knew, there was a wild, raging animal deep inside him, probably from the very beginning. He learned early to lock it away, had conditioned himself a long time ago, after he saw what damage even the baby beast could cause. But underneath it grew stronger and stronger with every shit he had to swallow. Over the last months it became increasingly difficult to hold it back. The chains began to tear apart now and it cost him all his strength to keep the walls upright. It consumed him, it scratched on his inside, tearing bloody wounds in his tantrum, because he refused to let it out. He couldn't. It was too powerful. And it was too late to tame it. Or maybe it was never possible in the first place. It almost tore him apart. He was nothing more than a wrecked cage. And he was running out of time. He needed to go home.