Chapter 3
A/N. Just a reminder this is AU. I made a certain character related to another one to fit larger plot points made in the future.
Graham runs up the steps inside the entrance of the palace. He runs across the throne room as fast as he can. He needs to know if what Robin said is true. He needs to know if August is dead. If it's really true and his older brother is really dead, that would make him next in line for the throne and he is not sure he is ready for that. He has spent his entire life as the second and the spare, he's not sure if he's ready to be the heir.
He finally finds his mother, father, and sister in his mother's office. His father is staring out the window as his mother is hugging his sister trying to console her. She has tears running down her face. Em and Auggie always had a special relationship Graham never understood. His family looks up as he bursts into the room. That was all the conformation he needed. He would be the next King of England and in that moment, his life changed.
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Ruby did not get an escort out of Graham's room when Robin rushed in to tell him the grim news. She had to find her own way home. After dressing and a long walk of shame back to the palace, she is finally walking across the throne room which Graham had dashed into earlier that morning. She walks through the throne room and down the halls of the palace until she reaches the service elevator that leads up to her and her father's apartment in the palace. When she steps out of the elevator, she see her father pacing the living room while talking on the phone.
"And the body is where? And he won't be moved, right?" He asks the person on the other end of the phone conversation.
Her father waves at her when she steps into the room. Ruby stands there and waits for him to be down. She knows he will want to speak to her after what has happened.
"Military protocol's in our favor. Its imperative things remain anonymous. Fiona with handle press, I'll personally escort the body. Yeah. I'm on my way." He says before hanging up the phone.
Her father turns and looks at her. Ruby wrings her hands in front of her.
"How'd it happen?" She asks him. She only heard the bear minimum from Robin before he escorted Graham out of his room at university.
"We're still gathering information." He tells her.
"Is that the truth from my father, or the official response from the King's head of security?" She asks him with a distrusting tone.
"The truth form your father. The same father who went to your room to find your bed empty, which can't be said for the Prince's bed." He tells her while putting on his suit jacket. "The fact that I had to learn from one of my own men."
There it is. She had been waiting for her father to make these comments.
"I know. Just don't take it out on Robin, okay? He didn't know." She tells her father.
"When the Queen asks her Head of Security why he can't control his own daughter, what would you like me to say?" He asks her while placing his gun in the holster on his right hip.
"I don't know. You could tell her that your normally responsible daughter got drunk on gin and tonic- mostly gin- and had irresponsible but protected sex with her son and is very much ashamed of herself." She tells him while looking at the floor,
Her father places his hand on his head like the thought of her father having sex with the prince instantly gave him a headache. He moves to punch a cushion on the couch, he began to pace next to when she started to tell him when happened last night. He turns and looks at her with a stern face.
"I'm an employee, Ruby. We live here under an unspoken code of distance and division. A code you must have conveniently forgotten, otherwise you wouldn't have been up all night drinking mostly gin and having illicit sex with the future King of England." He tells her raising his voice at the end to make a point.
"You're absolutely right. I'm sorry and I am sorry about August." She tells him.
She was sorry. She does not know what came over her last night. But there was something about seeing Graham in the bar mixed with all the gin that she drank that brought up feelings she didn't know she had.
"I am disappointed in you. Go to class." He tell her before walking behind her and entering the service elevator. "Oh and I am glad you were using protection."
"Dad, could you never say that again, please?" She pleads with him. "You forgot you phone." She adds.
Her father turns around and grabs his phone off of his desk. He heads back towards the elevator. Ruby walks towards her room to change quickly before class. Today is going to be a long day.
\*****/
Emma sits on a chair in her room staring at the door. A gin and tonic is sitting on the table in front of her. She is still in last night's dress and last night's makeup is stained on her cheeks from the crying. Her phone buzzes on the table and she moves to pick up the phone and silences the phone before tossing it back on the table. She is sick and tired of the phone calls from her so called friends offering their condolences for her loss. They wouldn't bring back August.
She lifts the joint she has in her left hand up to her lips and takes a hit. She looks up as Graham walks into her bedroom. He shuts the door behind him as she moves her head up to blow the smoke towards the ceiling.
"I owed him a call. Last night I promised I'd call him, but…" She starts as her phones begins to buzz on the table again. She picks it up and throws in on the floor. She brings her left hand up to cover her eyes. "… they're gonna come now. All of them."
"Maybe do Mom a favor and wear some knickers." Graham tells her trying to be lighthearted.
His remarks earns a small smile from Emma. "Mom can piss off." She tells him.
"Maybe do Dad a favor then. It's good to see you, Em. August loved you most." He says before turning to walk out of her room.
"Hey" Emma says trying to stop him. Graham pauses and looks at her. "This sucks, huh?" She asks him.
She gets up from the chair and throws her joint in the ash tray on the table. She walks towards the doorway where Graham is standing. She opens her arms and embraces Graham in a hug. Both of their lives are going to change and they needed to be there to support each other.
Graham lifts his head when he hears barking in the distance. Emma knew what barking meant and she did not want to deal with it at the moment.
"Oh no!" She cries out. Why did they have to come?
