XXXV

Double-Forbidden

Lin had never felt so awkward in all her life. Lunch at Buckingham Palace with the Queen herself was most honorable, most interesting. However, the woman seemed quite interested to know how they had come to know her favorite cousin, the very man she was dubbing a hero. Roy's charming exterior faded at the strange mention, and they all three exchanged awkward glances. There a strange silence had fallen and no one knew what to say.

Roy and Wang were convinced the man was guilty, that the letter was only a cushion for his fall from grace if he failed to receive the crown. Lin never argued. It was half true, or so she wanted to believe.

In an odd, but friendly silence, they left the Palace and stood outside the carriage.

Lin and Wang crawled inside and waited as Roy gave some last words to the Queen, leaving her in a stifling snicker as she tried to withhold some outburst out in the open. Grinning, he stepped to their coach to join the Chon siblings.

"Oh hey!" He paused with a hand on the carriage door as he looked up to the driver. "Drop me off at Madame Tussaud's!" He chuckled and closed the door, instead of allowing the footman to do so.

"Tussaud's?" Wang asked.

Roy still grinned as the carriage began to move. "Yeah, someone wrote to me askin' me to pose for their latest project." With false modesty and a rather proud grin, he sat back and folded his arms. "You two gonna be all right without me?"

Wang and Lin exchanged suppressed smiles. Wang looked to Roy and nodded in a mock of seriousness. "We'll live."

The two men, mostly Roy, spoke about the previous battle, avoiding the topic of Lord Rathbone's uncertain motives. Lin was very grateful, sitting quiet and still beside her brother. She felt so tense, wondering if she would ever be able to see him one last time without her brother's knowledge. One last time…it didn't seem right.

The coachman called the horses to a stop. Roy gleefully hopped out of the carriage, the footman having practically darted around to catch the door to do his one and only job properly.

Roy patted the footman on the back and waved to the Chon pair before making his way to the wax museum.

Lin took a side glance to Wang at her side, nibbling on her lower lip. He was silent, staring thoughtfully out the window for a long while before he realized she was looking expectantly at him.

He blinked, curiously. "What?"

"Do you … think it was all a mistake?" He stared at her, and she elaborated. "Rathbone. A misunderstanding."

Wang's face hardened with seriousness. He looked to the window, "No."

Lin looked to her hands on her lap. Another ridiculously long moment of quiet. Suddenly Wang's face scrunched with befuddlement. He looked to his sister. "Why do you ask? Lin, you were there."

Lin nodded. "I was there … more than you were."

Wang looked quizzically at her, "What?"

Finally, she looked up, swallowing down her nerves. "I spoke to him many times."

His face went blank.

"We…" She tried to search for a white lie that would not spark Wang's famous temper. "Sort of became friends."

Disapproval brought a frown on his face, "Lin." He said deeply, expectantly.

The resemblance to their father was disarming to her, as if Wang could see right through her. She tugged at the fine fabric of the new dress on her lap, "You don't listen. I tried to tell you. He's…not so bad."

"Lin. He kicked Roy out of the clock."

Lin blinked at him, slowly frowning, "He would not do that. He was counting on you both to save me…"

"-He did."

Lin started on a protest when she lost her words.

"And then he tried to kill me." Wang shifted to face her more directly, crossing his arms. His face was wrinkled again with confusion as he studied his little sister, "He had those Boxers torture you."

"We were all outnumbered. And…" Fingertips rose to feel the heat that flushed through her cheeks at her words, "I might have screamed more than needed. They didn't pull so hard."

Wang's eyes went irate, "Lin! You – you –you tricked me! All this time, you worked with him!" A finger pointing in her face, he stared at her. Then he jumped with a coming thought, "That's where you go! Every afternoon! You go to see him!"

Lin raised her voice this time in defense, "I haven't seen him. He's too injured for visitors!"

"You're seeing him! You're…" His jaw dropped, and so did the finger. He was practically staring at her as though she had just transformed into a horrifying creature, "You're seeing him!"

But Lin frowned in defiance, "Wang."

"You like him!"

"Wang?"

"You're blushing!"

"WANG!"

He fell silent. Lin composed herself, keeping a steady frown upon him. "You jump to conclusions. We're friends…" But as she shifted in her seat to look out the window, she found herself lost in a flashback of heated kisses, each one interrupted, each moment unfinished. Her cheeks burned once more.

Wang slid back into his seat, staring at her still with disbelief. "Does he actually like you?"

Lin snapped her head at him, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Lin, he's a killer!"

"So are you!"

Face hardening once more, the father tone returned. "Lin, I forbid him."

Lin refused to look at him, smiling faintly with some indifference. "You already said that about Roy."

"This is double-forbidden!" They both sat forward, arms folded, both peeved. Suddenly Wang spoke once more. "You should consider Roy. He's not so bad."

"You say that now."