Thirty-Five
'After Grace was kidnapped, Nikos didn't call anymore. Until three days ago, when he asked when you were coming down to visit us, to stay with us. He asked me where you were sleeping when you stayed over. He wasn't asking about Luke, he was asking about you. Grace, he knows you are here, you need to go. Now.' Markie said in tears.
The silence was heavy as we tried to figure out what he meant. And it hit me. Markie was the one feeding these people who wanted me dead, or Luke dead, information? Was he the snake in the grass? We all came to the conclusion the same time.
'It… it was you? You are the one who was grassing up my sister?' Jack asked sounding absolutely heartbroken. And furious. He took a step closer to Markie and Markie flinched back.
'Jack, I had no idea, I only realised a few days ago – his gift was slipping. I remembered after. I tried to stop what was happening but I couldn't which is why you need to leave now,' He addressed the last part to Luke and myself. 'You need to get her out of here,' He then addressed Luke as he put his arm around my shoulder.
'How can we trust you now?' Luke shot back. 'How do we know you didn't set the plan up? Hell – how do we know that there isn't a car bollard at the top of the road now to stop us leaving?' Luke was furious. Jack looked ready to snap Markie's neck. It was just me who was in denial.
'Why, Mark?' I whispered and he flinched. I never called him Mark unless I was angry.
'I honestly didn't know until a few days ago,' Markie whispered over to me, tears in his eyes. He knew he had just ruined half of his family but he was still doing it to protect us. He was ripping himself apart to tell us this information, to get us to leave. If we weren't going to get stopped, he was doing it to protect us. That at least meant something? He could have just kept the information to himself and got us all buggered, but he was telling us.
Jack took a step closer to him, but this time Markie stood his ground.
'I trusted you with my life,' Jack angrily whispered.
'Jack, please, I had no idea, I couldn't help myself,' Markie started crying. 'Please,' He begged.
'Jack, leave it,' I whispered, getting the shivers. It was only two weeks to Christmas, the first Christmas Luke and I will spend together and the only one we'll have before we spend the holiday with our child, and it was the first Christmas Jack and Markie would spend together as fiancés. But at this rate, it might be a miserable holiday for all of us. Jack turned around on the spot, the damp floor making it easy to pivot with old trainers on, and he looked at me like I told him I was having triplets, and the father to them was Markie.
'Leave it?!' He mimicked me. He then pointed at Markie, arm at full stretch and nearly hit him in the face. 'He was the reason behind getting you kidnapped, Grace!'
'Jack, you heard what Callus said in the confession to the police. He's been watching us for years. He knew about the time I walked to school with my backpack open and my English book fell out! He knew about me before Markie was even in your life. He didn't help but he wasn't the cause of this.' I shouted back and everyone looked surprised I was sticking up for Markie.
'Grace, baby,' Luke whispered to me.
'No, Luke, stop. Why don't we just stop arguing and get the Hell out of here?' I said softly. Luke and Jack looked at each other before nodding.
'He's not coming with us,' Jack said simply, walking over to the other side of Ruby.
'How am I going to get home?' He asked, starting to shiver. It was bitingly cold outside now the sun had set and was heading towards midnight. The sleet was more on the snow side than anything else. I opened the back door, half climbing in as I saw Jack getting into the passenger seat. I looked over at my brother, who was still furious but the hurt was starting to get to him. The pure betrayal that the one person he loves, his Soulfinder, would do such a thing to him and his family. I remember how I felt when Luke spat in my face he hated me, and I was a liar and how broken I felt – that must be mild compared to what Jack was feeling.
'You better start walking,' Jack simply said, getting into the car. Luke sighed, debating whether to get him back in the car. Luke started up the engine but before he could set off, I opened the door.
'In,' I simply said to Markie who looked shocked at me.
'Grace, get in the car,' Jack said.
'In, before I change my mind,' I ordered Markie and he ran around the other side of the car.
'He tried to get you killed and you invite him in, right, MI5 need to on security protocol,' Jack snorted. 'I can't believe you, Grace, he –' I looked at Luke in the car who remained impartial, knowing better than to argue.
'Jack, shut up, will you? Yes, I am fundamentally pissed off right now and that's putting it mildly, but I'm not a psycho who would enjoy the pain of letting him walk home in minus three-degree temperatures. Luke, drop him off the top of the road, don't think about where you're going to go either, just to be on the safe side.' I told Luke and he nodded, driving off at speed.
The silence in the car was extremely heavy and you could cut it with a knife. Jack was in the front, sulking, Markie was hunched over sobbing and Luke kept checking how I was doing in the mirror every few seconds.
How are you doing back there, sweetheart? Luke asked me as we drove along the winding roads, heading towards the shared house of Jack and Markie – none of us knew what we were going to do now but I doubt I would get any sleep which I desperately craved. Turns out, you can't do the same amount of work you could do when you weren't pregnant compared to when you are without some kind of knock on effect.
Did I do the right thing? I asked him.
I think you did. I was too angry to make any kind of rational call. I still am. I think Jack was – is – too. Luke said softly, looking over at Jack who was slunk in the front passenger seat, arms crossed, lips pursed and looking out the window.
What's your current plan? I said, building a strong wall around our conversation. Markie could occasionally pick up on thoughts and if this Nikos bloke was picking them from his head, it wasn't a wise idea to think about what we were going to do out loud.
I've already been speaking to Theo, I've filled him in. He's told us to go to Windsor castle and they're going to get us two out to a safe house as soon as they can – most likely tomorrow morning. We're going to be interviewed when we get to Windsor and at some point, we will be escorted by the police guard to wherever they deem is safe. I believe they'll bring in Markie for questioning, use Theo to see if he is telling the truth and if he is we know he's on our side and his emotions are genuine. If not…
It will tear Jack apart. I looked over at my older brother, who was still sulking, but I saw the tears in his eyes and the dampness of his cheek.
Yeah, it will. Luke said softly.
Who is this Nikos guy, though? Think it could be Callus' real identity?
No, they found Callus on file. Callum is his real name, but much like everyone within his anti-Savant camp, he removed his identity by changing one letter of his name. I don't know what Nikos relationship to these guys is. Luke said, turning into Jack's road. I don't think Jack even noticed or he would have ordered us to stop by now and let Markie walk down the mile stretch to their house in the snow. Luke got as far as he dared, knowing going down the thin and windy roads could lead to him being penned in, before stopping on the kerb. It was about a five-minute walk back to their place now.
'Thank you,' Markie addressed to me, his voice quiet and silenced with tears. I simply bowed my head. 'Sorry again,'
'Sorry doesn't take back my sisters near death or the pain we all went through. Well, probably not you.' Jack growled in the front and Markie sighed as he got out the car. He was barely clear when Jack slammed the door telekinetically as Luke did a turn in the road and got out of there.
'Why did you let him get in the car, Grace?' Jack asked.
'Because you can't make rational choices when angry,'
'He tried to kill you!' Jack shouted.
'He had nothing to do with my kidnapping, Jack!' I yelled back. 'Okay, he might have given a bit of information but this was a premeditated attack! Callus had been watching us both for years and several others, and he's been watching Luke and his family as well. It was premeditated, but also opportunistic attack because he found out that I was with Luke. I was kidnapped because Markie leaked that information, true, but the media would have found out eventually and the same thing would have happened later on – but I would have been further along in the pregnancy then, wouldn't I?' I asked him and he shrugged like a sulking school kid.
'The answer to that, brother mine, is yes. You are right to be angry, but he didn't know what he was doing. The exact same was as I didn't know when I rejected Luke for two weeks after the kidnapping was wrong, and I didn't know what I was doing, and two nights ago when Luke rejected me because I remembered part of the kidnapping, he didn't know what he was doing, and he didn't know it was wrong either.' I said and Jack sighed.
'It hurts, Grace,' Jack said, finally cracking. I moved into the middle seat as Luke waited at some traffic lights, not saying anything.
'I know it does, Jack, but you need to step away from the situation and look at it as a whole. Markie would never hurt you on purpose. These people are sick and twisted and are trying to tear apart the very small amount of family we have left, Jack, you can't let them win,' I said to him softly.
'He tried to get you killed,' He shouted at me.
I sighed, the anger getting so pent up in me from my God damn brothers ignorance and unwillingness to listen to anyone else but him when angry. Suddenly, there was an agonising cramp in my lower abdomen, ten times worse than period pains. I curled up slightly, gasping.
'Grace?' Luke asked, looking in the rear view mirror. 'Grace, what's up? What's wrong?' He asked but I couldn't reply, unable to focus on anything else other than the stabbing pain in my abdomen. It hurt so much that I couldn't focus on anything else. I felt the car come to a sharp stop, the jolt back into my seat making the pain unbearable. But I knew with a trainee paramedic and a nurse in the car, I was in safe hands.
I screwed my eyes closed, unaware as to if I was breathing if I was lying down or sitting up, or even if my heart was beating. I could only focus on the stabbing pain. Was it something to do with the baby?
And then the world blacked out.
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I had overdone it. That much I was aware of. A killer headache, the taste of iron in the back of my throat and the general weakness all over my body told me that loud and clear. I could hear the odd beep of machines and had to resist the urge to roll my eyes at how dramatic my boyfriend was. The second I was marginally ill, I was taken to a hospital. There was something tight across my lower abdomen – but the bed didn't feel right for a hospital bed but felt welcomingly familiar.
It hit me – I was back in Buckingham.
Slowly I opened my eyes, going to rub them with the back of my hand before seeing a catheter in them for some form of drip – saline or medical was unknown to me – and I frowned. I was back in Buckingham, in my old living quarters, in the double bed that Luke and I spent so many nights sleeping on within the early days of our relationship. The double doors leading out from the bedroom into the living space were closed, and there were still a few personal items here where I didn't have space to pack them down to head to Windsor.
'Grace,' Luke whispered and I turned my head to see Luke sitting beside me with a large paperback book in his hand, splayed out on his palm. As he realised I was awake. He closed it dramatically and put it on the bed, before lying down next to me so we could see eye to eye. 'Hey, sweetheart,' He whispered to me gently.
'What time is it? Why am I here? Are you okay? What's happened? Where's Jack? Where's Mark?' I asked him rapid-fire. Luke gently kissed me, only a small peck, to get me to stop talking I could guess. He took my hand softly, squeezing it.
'Calm down, Grace,' He said softly. 'Firstly, how are you feeling?'
'Achey… tired.' I told him and he nodded. 'What happened?'
'You overdid it again. Mum called in a specialist midwife to look at you, the one who looked after me and Theo when we were born and before, and she believes your pregnancy is high risk. You can't be dealing with high levels of stress, or you can't be too tired, or your body starts to shut down and the first thing to be affected is,' he gently poked my bump.
'I haven't hurt her, have I?' I whispered with tears in my eyes.
'No, nugget appears to be okay - that's what we're monitoring now,' Luke said, poking the machine on my stomach. It was a weird cream machine that was strapped around me with a huge waist. I rolled over, seeing the machine was linked to a monitor which displayed the baby's heart rate and blood pressure and whilst I couldn't work out what it was I just had to trust Luke. I nodded, looking over.
'The nurse said you have to imagine yourself as a Sim from now on it. You have different needs in order to stay on top of everything for you and nugget, and at all times they have to stay above half. You can't be tired, dehydrated, hungry, stressed from now on in. She believes that because of overdid it, the lining of your womb started to contract. Not good.' Luke said.
'But, everything is okay with nugget?' I asked, rolling over onto my side to face Luke. He was looking at me with his puppy dog eyes and I knew he was extremely concerned about me.
'Think so, they want to monitor her for another few hours just to make sure but all the stats seem okay, just be extremely careful from now on in,' I nodded and he gently put his arm under my head and pulled me in a bit closer, making sure I was covered with the duvet.
'So, the other questions you asked,' He sighed, 'Its ten past six in the morning, you weren't under anything – chances are you were just exhausted too so you slept,'
'I don't care about how much I slept, is Jack okay?'
'Want me to start from when you blacked out?'
'Yup,'
'I got into the back to make sure you were okay as we deemed paramedic in training is better in these situations rather than a paediatric nurse. We got Jack insured on Ruby and he drove us back to Windsor, where they checked you over quickly before flying us into Buckingham,' Luke said softly. 'It was enough to take Jack's mind off everything as we were both in game mode so to speak, focusing on you rather than Mark's behaviour. By the time we were in Buckingham, Markie was already arrested for treason, preventing the course of justice and God knows what else and was being taken to some place to be questioned by MI5. Theo hung around to make sure you were alright before heading down there. Jack is in the other room where I can keep an eye on him and you. He broke, though, had a good cry. We had a nice hug,' Luke said and I smiled gently. 'But he was devastated, and we spoke about it, and he has come around on the scenario that it might not be Markie's fault, but we're waiting for any form of contact from Theo to see what is happening,' Luke said and I nodded.
'Can I see him? Can I see Jack?' I asked Luke and he shrugged.
'Jack!' He called slightly louder than normal as he rolled over before getting out of bed. Sure enough, Jack came scurrying through the door and I could only guess Luke had told my brother that he would call when I woke up.
'Hey,' I said to him and he came over to my side, sitting on the very edge of the bed as I hauled myself up and hugged him. He hugged me back tight.
'I'm so sorry,' He whispered.
'Hey, you didn't cause this,' I mumbled back.
'No, but Markie did and –'
'He didn't cause it either. It wasn't him speaking. Someone else made him tell the stuff. I know it hurts, and I know you think it's betrayal, but both Luke and myself have gone through that and we know it's not us acting, just, don't shut him out completely.' I whispered back.
'Why do you always see things from the middle,' Jack sighed, pulling back from the hug and he chuckled slightly.
'I wish I knew,' I replied.
'But it was the stress that caused –' Jack went to protest and I rolled my eyes dramatically.
'Dude, I was exhausted. I didn't sleep last night, had a long arse day in that school, like how I did full school days I have no idea, I caused it mostly by my own ignorance,'
'Didn't help we did two hours of dance either,' Luke said, coming to my side too.
'Yeah, that as well,' I added.
'It's gone viral, though,' Jack said, raising his eyebrow.
'Oh god – how viral?' I asked. Why would it go viral? We weren't anything special. We just did the same dance with the girls and we didn't even do it well. Jack grinned, pulling out his phone and going on Facebook. Sure enough, some of the gossip pages had gained the footage filmed by someone on their smartphones. It started as we got up, and I turned around at the same time as looking at Luke with a small smile on my face.
Although I had to say we both looked pretty good and like fluent dancers in the video – I suppose I'd have to thank my gift for that – and all the comments were saying it too. The one video I saw – a post from the UniLad – had the comment as "relationship goals", and the original poster of the video, a girl from the class, put "So Prince Luke and his wonderful girlfriend joined our dance class for TWO HOURS earlier! And Learnt the same dance as us and performed it! They were just so nice and genuine and Grace was an incredible dancer who not only helped her less coordinated boyfriend but also us! Love these two!" under with some emojis. I then frowned at views.
'Twelve million?' I gasped.
'You are trending on all social medias, youtube has higher views than that and you are number one, you made the front page of the newspapers, too,' Jack said as Luke leant off the bed and pulled across a newspaper he must have got within the hour or so. Sure enough on the front was a picture of both of us – from the part of the dance where Luke picked me up and spun me around. It was a cute photo, both of us grinning at each other.
Dancing with the (GRACE-ful) Stars! The caption read and I cringed. I pulled a face at Luke and he laughed. Typical newspapers trying to make puns out of nothing. I quickly read the introduction to the article.
Yesterday, His Royal Highness Prince Luke and girlfriend, Grace Williams, made their debut appearance as a couple at Catholic private school, Farnborough Green. When there, the couple found themselves in the dance studio and joined the students there to learn a dance to James Arthurs "Say You Won't Let Go,". The couple - reported being dating for near enough two years now - performed to the cohort of fellow dancers where the footage was obtained, before going viral.
The footage shows the performance and their celebrations after which included a long hug and a quick kiss and suggests a changed Prince. From rogue Royalty to devious dancer, we believe that Grace has had a positive influence on the Prince and we could be expecting a marriage announcement if all goes well within the next two years! Read more on page 4.
'Oh,' I said simply putting down the paper. I looked at Luke who was grinning at me before shaking his head. 'Oops,'
'It's fine, you looked brilliant in the video, if I didn't know any –'
We heard someone open the door to the living quarters before knocking on the door to the bedroom, coming in. Theo came into the room timidly but urgently and I knew Luke has told him I was awake and alright. Jack stood up, scared, and we all frowned at Theo. He was already back from interviewing Markie? That cannot be good news – surely? It has only been a few hours. Theo looked at the floor for a second, clearing his voice, before looking back up as Jack.
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Hiya!
Apologies again for the wrong upload of the last chapter. I pressed thirty-two instead of thirty-four and didn't even noticed. Thank you to the people who pointed it out! As a thank you/sorry, I rushed this chapter through for you but I might not uploaded for two weeks or so as I have three exams coming up!
'Jack…' He said, voice full of remorse.