CHAPTER 4

His father met him outside his door the next morning.

"Listen, son." He said as they walked toward the kitchens. "I know you've been taking down Longcoats for a while now, but you haven't said what you'd like to do from now on. I was hoping you'd consider staying here for a while. I know it's just me being selfish, but it would be nice to have you around."

His father was right. He had been on the move for so long, it was like second nature. It had been a while after they lost the first cabin before he and his mother built the second one south of the Crack, and after she died, he was in tents with the resistance 24-7. Staying in one place long term was almost a foreign concept.

It wasn't like he had things to go back to, though. And his father was here. If he was going to build a new life for himself, he had to start somewhere.

"I'd offer you a position, of course." Wyatt continued. "I'm real short-handed right now, so-"

"Yes, Father."

Wyatt stopped and blinked. "Yes?"

"Yes, I'll stay."

His father's face lit up and he gathered Jeb into a bear hug. He didn't stop smiling all the way to breakfast.

Jeb was finishing up his eggs when DG walked into the kitchen. The entire staff stopped and stood in respect, but the princess just rolled her eyes and waved them back to what they were doing. His father, he had noticed, had not stood up. DG approached their small table, turned an empty chair backwards, and joined them. She was wearing the same clothes she'd had on the day before. Jeb looked at her in semi-amazement.

"Aren't you supposed to eat in the dining room, Your Highness?" he asked curiously. Princesses were not supposed to hang out with the staff.

His father snorted and she shot him a dirty look before responding. "The dining room's not my style. They want me to dress up, and-"

"And have polite table conversation." Wyatt added.

"You are not going to let that go, are you?" She turned back to Jeb. "Just 'cause my first morning here I got into a conversation with Az about what girls use since they don't have tampons in the OZ and my period starts this week."

Jeb could extrapolate the meaning of the term "period" and was sure his face was red.

"Mother almost had a fit, and my father couldn't stop laughing, which made her twice as mad."

Wyatt was snickering at the memory.

DG plowed ahead. "But the real reason I came down here was to ask about today's meeting schedule."

Collecting himself, the elder Cain explained. "We start at noon. We're breaking up into groups by assignment, so I'll be meeting with those interested in palace security."

"And after yesterday, I'm sure they'll be lining up to protect the crazy Other Side princess and their former tyrannical leader." DG said cynically.

Jeb shrugged. "I did. But now that you put it that way, I may reconsider." He grinned as his father shot an annoyed look at DG.

For a princess, Dorothygale was surprisingly…unladylike? Un-royal? She was a strange one, to be sure, but in a disarmingly friendly sort of way.

"Are you staying?" he big blue eyes lit up excitedly. "That's great!" She was about to continue, but the clock chimed the hour. "Oh, I've gotta go. See ya later!"

After she'd disappeared again, Jeb turned to his father. "Does she wear the same clothes all the time?"

Wyatt rubbed his temples. "She washes them every night. Apparently it's a protest against dresses." Jeb was about to ask why dresses were objectionable, but his father held up a hand to stop him. "I don't understand. If I did, my life would be a lot easier."

--

Az had barely slept the night before. Each time she drifted off, she dreamed she found a new way to kill Jeb Cain. First, Zero shot him. The next time, she locked him in an iron suit like his father's. When she started sucking out his life, she woke screaming in a cold sweat and cried for the next half hour.

She had breakfast sent up to her a few hours later. She would have loved to join her parents in the dining room, but the staff always gave her odd looks that bothered her. It was easier to just avoid the situation. DG came bouncing in around 9:00, holding a small paper box.

"Dad has playing cards!" she exclaimed, holding up the red and black item in her hand.

"Playing cards?" Az repeated, not understanding.

"Yeah!" Her sister flopped down on the bed and took a stack of cards out of the box. "See, there are four suits: two red and two black." She found four cards with large A's on them, two black and two red. "Hearts and diamonds are red, spades and clubs are black."

"Hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs." Az recited, pointing to each card in turn.

"Right. And for each suit there are numbered cards two to ten, a jack, queen, king, and ace."

"All right, so what do we do with them?"

DG rolled her eyes. "Play games, of course. Here, we'll start easy. She scooped up the cards and quickly shuffled them twice. "This game is called 'Go Fish'."

Az got the hang of it rather quickly and won three out of five games. As DG was was trying to show her how to shuffle, their father knocked and poked his head into the room.

"Ah, I thought that's where you might have been going with those cards."

"Daddy, come look! DG's teaching me how to shuf-"

The cards went spraying across the room. "Oops."

DG started laughing. Their father did, too, and finally Azkadellia as well. It felt so good, she could barely stop as they helped her pick them up.

She dealt her father in for a few games until he and DG had to go to the day's conferences.

"Dad's going to sit in with the Rangers – that's what the Longcoat hunters are calling themselves. Mother wants to discuss arrests and legal proceedings, so I'm going with palace security." DG explained as she put the cards back into their box.

"I'm sure Cain is thrilled." Az said sarcastically.

Their father couldn't smother a smile. "Let's go, DG."

"Have fun!" Az called as they closed the door. She sat for a moment, examining how she felt. She had laughed. For the first time in fifteen annuals, Azkadellia and Azkadellia alone had laughed. She might just get through this after all.

--

I should have seen this coming, thought Jeb.

He had arrived with his father at noon to find only Simon Vetch in the conference room. Simon was a young leader in the resistance, but Jeb had not known him well during the fighting. Wyatt shrugged.

"I didn't really expect a big turnout." He turned to the tall, red haired young man who rose to shake his hand. "Thanks for coming, Simon."

"Yes, sir." Vetch replied, then shook hands with Jeb.

DG wandered in, dismissing Simon when he tried to stand. "Oh, sit down. I'm not that big of a deal." She landed in a chair, then looked from Jeb to Simon, and finally back to Wyatt, clearly saying, Is this it? He responded with Don't you dare say anything written all over his face before turning to Simon.

"Vetch. Tell me about what you did in the resistance."

"Mostly scouting, tracking Longcoat movement in the area, some work as a sniper."

"Excellent. We've got a few places here I think we're weak on. I've got about a dozen guys right now, some of them are former security that volunteered to return, a few old ex-police I recruited, and a couple resistance guys. They're all good, there's just not enough people. I really need another guy on grounds patrol. You'll need to know who should be around and who shouldn't, and if we find someone here that shouldn't be, you may need those sharpshooting skills. Does that sound acceptable?"

Simon nodded. "Of course, sir."

"Great. DG, would you take Mr. Vetch to the security office? Langford will have to get him set up." He cut off any debate with a pointed look.

She got the hint and stood. "Simon, is it? Come with me."

As they left the room, the elder Cain turned to Jeb. And Jeb knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Son, I don't trust anyone else with this, and it's why I'm asking you."

"Azkadellia." He stated flatly.

"She is probably the number one target in this palace."

"Then why don't you do it?" he protested weakly.

"Jeb, if I thought anyone else could handle DG, I would. I've been pulling double duty for a few days, but once word gets out that Azkadellia is alive and here, that's not gonna cut it."

Jeb sighed and ran a hand through his hair before nodding. He knew the truth in his father's statements, he just didn't like his lack of options.

"Let's go down to the office, I'll issue you some supplies and a sidearm."

As he followed his father, he couldn't help but wonder what he was getting himself into.

--

Azkadellia had managed to sneak from her room, down the hall, and down the stairs to the library without being spotted, and hid herself away in a corner with a novel. The book was just starting to get exciting when she heard the door open and close. She craned her neck and saw Cain looking around.

"I'm here, Mr. Cain," she called, standing up. "What can I do for you?"

He motioned to a table near the encyclopedias. "We need to talk, Your Highness."

She closed the novel and set it down before coming over to the chair he'd pulled out for her. Taking a seat across the table, he looked her straight in the eye.

"We're going to be elevating security around here real soon."

"You want to assign someone to me."

"I do."

"I think you'll have a hard time finding volunteers. Ones that won't kill me in my sleep, anyway."

"I already have someone."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Jeb."

Her face fell, dreams of the previous night resurfacing. "No offense, Mr. Cain, but I think he falls into my previously described category." She said, picking at her fingernails absently.

"Princess." His hand reached across the table to rest on hers. She looked up and saw that same serious and honest look that he'd given her when he'd told her not everyone wanted her dead. "I swear on my honor and my life that no harm will come to you under his protection or mine."

If Cain had that much faith, who was she to question the head of the palace guard? She nodded. He wouldn't risk her life, even with his son. It was funny how many people she trusted now when she used to trust no one. DG, then Daddy, then Mother, then Cain, Ambrose, and Raw, and now she was going to have to trust Jeb. She sure hoped Cain was right.

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