Silence filled the Men's Parlor after Blair announced the passing of Rupert's Law, the bill that took Jeffrey away from his mother. The men were stunned, they had been there for a little over a week and the unthinkable had happened to their Queen. Her own son had been taken away from her by a power-hungry weasel who sought to control and manipulate him. Joel, who had noticed the way Rupert mistreated the boy was especially angered by this. How could he take a fourteen-year-old boy away from his mother like that? Just to further his own agenda. Once they were dismissed Joel was torn on what to do, part of him wanted to comfort Annalise, and the other part of him wanted to give Rupert a piece of his mind. Luckily for him, fate had made up his mind for him as he spotted Rupert walking down the hallway with a miserable looking Jeffrey.
"Lord Rupert, may I have a word?" Joel asked.
Rupert stopped walking and glanced at the name tag on Joel's shirt. "Mr. Cedar, I hardly have time to talk to my sister-in-law's flings, I have a country to run and an heir to raise." He said snidely, resting a hand on Jeffrey's shoulder. Jeffrey leaned away from the touch and Rupert tightened his grip. Joel noticed the way Jeffrey winced and bit his lip.
"Get your hand off of him, he's clearly uncomfortable," Joel demanded.
"Meet me in my office." Rupert ordered Jeffrey, giving the teen a little shove. Jeffrey shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away with slumped shoulders.
"What you're doing is cruel, not only to Jeffrey but to his mother as well," Joel said as he squared his shoulders, he was much more muscular than the Regent was and hoped to intimidate him with his size. Not that he was stupid enough to lay hands on the Regent, but he wished that he could.
"Annalise had her chance to keep her son," Rupert said dismissively. "She's the one who denied me access to my nephew, that was the final straw."
"Because you were running him ragged," Joel argued. "Don't you see how tired he looks? How miserable he is?" He questioned. "He's fourteen, he has four years to learn everything he needs to know to rule. If you keep him going at this rate he'll burn out before he turns twenty and then our country will really be in trouble."
Rupert smiled, as if amused, "You've been here for less than two weeks, Joel. You don't know Jeffrey, nor do you know Annalise. I've known my nephew for his entire life, I think I know him just a bit better than you do."
"The kid's clearly unhappy, he shouldn't be studying 24/7 he should be spending time with his friends and getting into trouble," Joel argued.
"As a commoner I don't expect you to understand the responsibilities of a prince, I'm merely doing what his father would have done. If I were you, I'd be a little less concerned with Jeffrey and a little more concerned with your position in this competition. You're here to win my sister-in-law's hand in marriage, not to tell me how to raise my nephew."
"You seem to be confused, you're his uncle not his father." Joel said as he crossed his arm. "You had no right to remove him from his mother's care."
"I had every right to ensure that my brother's legacy and work continues through his son," Rupert countered. "He'll be perfectly fine in my care."
"For your sake, I hope so," Joel said.
"Now, if we're done here, I have business to attend to." Rupert said with a smirk. Without another word he followed that path that Jeffrey took to his office. Joel watched him walk away with gritted teeth, he had tried to stand up for the boy, but Rupert clearly didn't care about the boy's well-being, but rather furthering his own agenda. He made a mental note to try to get the teen alone later and talk to him about what was going on.
Annalise sat at the island counter of the kitchen with a bottle of wine in front of her and a half empty wine glass. She twirled the wine around in her glass then took another sip. She couldn't believe the audacity of Rupert, to take away her eldest son like that. Tears welled in her eyes, she felt powerless to stop him, hell she didn't even know where to start. She glanced at the door and wiped her eyes when she heard footsteps approaching.
"A wise man once said what liquor can not cure, has no cure," Greg said as he entered the room.
Annalise smiled sadly, "I don't think there's any cure for this…" she trialed off. She knew her Selected knew, Rupert had told her that Blair would be informing them of Rupert's law before the Report that was scheduled that evening.
"I know what you're going through," Greg said as he took a seat beside Annalise. "My ex-wife cheated on me when I was deployed…as soon as I found out I divorced her. She lied to the courts during our divorce proceedings and was granted custody of my daughter, I only get to see her for two hours a week."
"I'm very sorry to hear that," Annalise said. She took another long sip of wine and rested her chin on her hand. "I just, I can't believe Rupert would do this to me, to Jeffrey. Jeffrey's been so…different since his lessons with Rupert stated. He's become even more moody and closed off. He's impossible to reach, and now I can't even protect him from Rupert."
"Annalise…you have every right to want to protect your boy and pardon my French, but Rupert is a bastard for what he's done to you. You have done the best you can and all you can do now is hope that Jeffrey has the strength inside himself to make his own choices and that he'll use it," Greg said.
Annalise sighed, "You don't understand, Rupert's sunk his claws into Jeffrey… Jeffrey, he idolized his father, he was the heir, Darren's favourite, he wants to be just like him. He never saw the flaws in Darren, he just saw his hero of a father. All he wants to do is honour his father's memory, which is fine, but Rupert dangles that over his head like a carrot. He knows exactly which buttons to push to get Jeffrey to comply." Annalise said as she buried her face in her hands. "He wasn't old enough to realize that Darren acted in his own interests, that his decisions didn't benefit everyone, but a privileged few. He was a good king, yes, but there was a lot of unrest in the nation, a lot of disparity that still exists today. With Rupert constantly breathing down his throat Jeffrey won't be able to think for himself, he'll just go along with whatever Rupert wants, I don't want to see my son become a puppet."
"I know it's complicated, but Jeffrey's got a good head on his shoulders from being raised by you, you just have to trust that he'll find his voice," Greg said.
"I hope you're right," Annalise said. That wasn't the only concern she had regarding her son. She was worried that Rupert might mistreat him and there would be little she could do to stop him.
Annalise returned to her room, where she saw a bouquet of flowers outside of her door. She smiled, assuming they were form Jerry. She bent down and picked them up and read the attached note: I am so sorry about what Rupert has done if you need anything I'm here for you – Jerry. She smiled and hugged the flowers forcing back tears. Rupert must have purposely planned for this to happen during her Selection, when she would be preoccupied with dating thirty-five men at once, too preoccupied to really have time to retaliate against him. It was a good plan, because she honestly had no clue how she was going to manage her Selection, her duties as Queen Mother and trying to win back custody of her son. She turned around when she heard someone clearing their throat and saw Noah approaching.
"Hi Noah," Annalise greeted.
"Trust me, if I could punch Rupert and get away with it, I would," Noah said.
Annalise smiled slightly, the very thought had passed her mind when he had told her, but she didn't want to get violent in front of her son. "Thank you."
"I can't imagine how you're feeling about all of this," Noah said. "But through my business I've met some lawyers, and I reached out to them about your situation."
Annalise's eyes lit up at that, "You have?"
Noah nodded, "They said that this is unprecedented waters. Rupert has no real reason to remove Jeffrey from your care, it's not like you're abusing him, and the crown is taking him for his own protection. Rupert took him out of greed. They have advised that you hire a lawyer, one familiar with family law. They gave me a few recommendations for the top family law lawyers in Angeles that should be more than willing to take on your case. It's not like you can't afford it."
"Thank you so much, I wasn't sure who to reach out to," Annalise said.
"I'm willing to do anything to help you get Jeffrey back into your care where he belongs," Noah said. He reached into his pocket and dug out a piece of paper. On it, was the contact information for a family law lawyer in Angeles. He held it out to Annalise who took the paper from him. "It would strengthen your case if you could prove that Rupert is mistreating Jeffrey."
Annalise sighed, "I have no proof, Jeffrey won't tell me anything. He's been keeping me at arm's length lately."
"He sounds like he's hard to get through to, none of my nieces and nephews are like that," Noah said.
Annalise nodded, "He is, he doesn't like to bother other people with his problems, he prefers to bottle everything up inside. That's the one thing I wish I could change about him, I just wish he'd open up to someone, anyone."
"I'm sure his new situation isn't going to help," Noah said.
Annalise shook her head, "No, I have a feeling he'll be more distant under Rupert's care. But he doesn't want to be Rupert's charge, do you think that will help me in court?"
"It should, he's old enough that they should take into account what he wants," Noah replied. "I'm not an expert, that's just what my friend told me."
"I hope so," Annalise said as she looked at the card. She knew this lawyer was her only hope at getting her son back. "How good is this lawyer?"
Noah smiled, "Hasn't lost a case in years."
Annalise hugged Noah, "Thank you, I really appreciate this, I do."
"I'm just glad I could help." Noah said as he wrapped his arms around the Queen. "Rupert had no right to take your son away, that's just cruel."
Annalise nodded as she pulled away, "I just can't believe he'd do this."
"I think you'll have the support of the people; I think there will be a lot of pressure on the courts to side in your favour," Noah said.
"I hope so," Annalise said.
That evening Joel was taking a walk in the gardens when he spotted Jeffrey curled up on the bench playing on his phone. The teen looked exhausted and had a scowl on his face as he furiously typed away. Joel approached the bench and took a seat next to the prince.
"Hey, you alright buddy?" Joel asked.
"I'm not your buddy," Jeffrey said, not bothering to glance up from his phone.
Joel smiled slightly as the prince reminded him of his own son. "Sorry, Jeffrey, are you alright?"
Jeffrey shrugged a shoulder, keeping his eyes glued to his phone.
"You look tired," Joel commented. "And you don't really seem to be enjoying your time with your uncle."
Jeffrey glanced at Joel, "And what of it? He has custody of me now."
"I heard," Joel said as he rested his arm on the back of the bench. "How do you feel about that?"
Jeffrey looked back to his phone and shrugged again, "Nothing's really changed, I still live at home and get to see my mom."
"But it's not the same, is it?" Joel asked, watching the boy intently.
"I guess not," Jeffrey said. "I think it's stupid."
"It is stupid," Joel agreed. "You don't seem to be happy with the arrangement."
Jeffrey sighed, "Does that matter?"
"Of course it does, why wouldn't it matter?" Joel said.
"Because I'm just a stupid kid who doesn't know anything," Jeffrey said bitterly.
Joel raised an eyebrow, where did that come from? "Who said that?"
"It doesn't matter," Jeffrey said flatly.
"It matters to me, and I'm sure it would matter to your mother," Joel said, trying to ease a name out of the boy.
"I have to go." Jeffrey said abruptly as he stood.
"I'll walk you back to your room." Joel offered as he stood, he didn't want Jeffrey to be mistreated by Rupert again.
"Whatever," Jeffrey said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He didn't say no, so Joel walked with Jeffrey in silence back to his room. Once the prince was safely in his room Joel made his way back to his own quarters. He'd have to tell Annalise about their conversation in the morning, but for now he was just glad that he got the prince to open up to him a bit.