Disclaimer: The Royals belong to E! and whoever's in charge. Not me
His Sword the Brave Man draws, and asks no omen other than his Country's Cause.
"We have to get you out of here," Robert said hastily.
"Robbie, I am not leaving you," she said forcefully.
"And I'm not letting you get hurt!" He snapped back.
"If Cyrus has done half the things this says he's done, then he's going to want to destroy all evidence."
"Even if it's too late?" She challenged. "And anyway, the reason Cyrus has done any of this is to prevent anyone else from taking the crown- including you!" She snapped. "If anything you're in more danger than me, and when Cyrus finds out he will eliminate you!" She said forcefully.
"He might have been fond of you once, but he won't hesitate to sacrifice you in order to save himself even if it's too late." She wrenched herself from his grasp. Robert looked pained.
"Aglaia, I'm not going to lose you," He stated clearly and firmly.
"And I'm not going to be parted from you again," she responded.
Robert tried to take several shaky deep breaths.
"Then we have to do this together." He looked back at the palace.
Liam, dressed in his hoodie pulled himself silently through the halls when he heard the sound of shouting. Even more than normal, it was Robert shouting.
He sidled closer to the door of the room where the shouting came from.
"So are you telling me you know nothing about the corruption?" Robert challenged from inside.
"No, Robert, I have no idea what you are going on about," Helena said, obviously flustered at how her son was acting towards her.
Eleanor came up, dressed in her nightclothes, blinking wearily. "What the heck's going on?"
"Hush," Liam reprimanded. "Robert's upset about something."
Eleanor blinked in confusion and shook her head. "What?"
"So you had absolutely no idea the reason why people dropped dead around you like flies?" Robert challenged. "Even your long-time love, Alistair Lacey?"
"WHAT?!" Helena stood up inside the room. "Cyrus tried to have Alistair killed," she said. Robert made a derisive sound and turned around, throwing his hands into the air. "He didn't succeed. I went to his cottage and I found Alistair alive and well... He refused to see me again, he said there was no future for us. He gave me some of his blood which he cut from his hand and put on a handkerchief and told me to test if the twins were his. If so, he would return for them." She blinked back her tears and swallowed back her pain. "If not I was never going to see him again."
Robert shook his head, feeling an amount of pity for his mother which didn't deter him. "Mother, Alistair is dead. His brother Maxwell confirmed it. It appears not long after he left, Cyrus had him dealt with. You just confirmed this about him. Now, did you have that maid named Violet killed? And what about Dominque Stewart?" He challenged.
Eleanor's eyes widened. "How did Robbie know about that?" She whispered to Liam.
Liam shook his head, eyes wide and wondered what else Robert had found out about what had happened when he had been away.
"Did you have her killed too?" Robert said, barely breathing.
"What? No!" Helena stood up. "Robert, you know I would never condone murder." She protested.
"I don't know anything anymore," he shot back. "My uncle is a scam-artist and a killer who's paid of countless MPs and the Privy Council to ensure he stays on the throne, my mother's lover was suspected of being my siblings' father, who was killed by Cyrus, though that it turned out he never was their father, Ted Pryce had my father murdered and tried to have me killed and Jeffrey Stewart- who was also murdered by the way- helped because they wanted revenge on you and the rest of the family for killing Daphne Pryce, Ted's wife- or letting her get killed, and Dominique Stewart, the love of my father's life, while my dad and I were simply a means to achieve that goal. The lot of you have been living off stolen money from the British public and allied nations who trusted us to trade honestly with them, and spending lavish amounts on clothes and jewellery, parties and trips around the world!" He fired at her.
Liam and Eleanor's jaws dropped and their eyes bugged as they stared at each other. "Eighteen thousand pounds for your magenta dress at the balcony appearance," Robert listed from the file. "Twenty-thousand for diamond-encrusted shoes, nearly one million for the twins' birthday party, eighteen thousand for a trip to Monaco and other Mediterranean countries abroad, and not to mention numerous other expenses, that meant that while our people have had to pay more for products from Europe in recent light of Britain's exit from the European Union, King Cyrus gets the cream of it all-" his voice was beginning to rise. "And the politicians. Which is it? The king looks the other way and they get paid off, or they pay him to look the other way?" He challenged. "Which may be why they would do anything to ensure it stays that way. Not to mention the costs for Princess Maribel's single nose job was astounding in itself, but you claim not to know about it all? And what about the murders, Mum, who performed the ones on Violet and Dominique?"
"NO!" Helena exclaimed. "Robert I would never stoop that low- you've known me your whole life. I-"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK ANYMORE!" Robert roared. "Nothing is what it seems, or maybe everyone's just changed while I was gone! I come back, my sister was dating some scam artist from Vegas and my brother looks and acts like he would have done anything to have me dead for real!" He shot at her.
Liam barely spared a glance at Eleanor before he came barging right in.
"That's not true," he announced. "I don't want you dead."
Robert straightened and fixed Liam with his steely gaze. "Are you sure?" He asked. "Because ever since I got back you've been looking and acting like you would rather I was dead."
"I don't want you dead." He repeated.
Robert informed his mother. "The European Union knows, the United Nations knows. The International Criminal Court has already been presented with this evidence, including some solid, living witnesses who are now under their protection. When the public finds out that their royals have betrayed their trust and stolen billions of US dollars from them, in terms of foodstuffs, pharmaceutical products, textiles and clothing, drinks, machinery, furniture, oil and more, to fund their lavish lifestyles and to hire men for murder they will rise up and that's it. This is the end of everything you've ever known, possibly our lives, as the rioters- or revolutionaries as you may call them- will try to tear us apart like they did to Ted Pryce, when they hear what's been done. The other royal heads of Europe and the politicians already know and in a few hours, Britain will have a trade boycott, possibly a blockade imposed on it as well as international sanctions, placed on members on the Henstridge family until we either give up our claim to the throne or the monarchy is abolished by force." He looked at them.
"This is it."
After a deadly silence, Liam managed to ask:
"And how do you know about this?"
"As I said, hard-core evidence, copies of the proof: files-" he waved the copy in his hand. "Distributed throughout the world, tapes, living witnesses and more. Oh, and hackers too, you can bet that they'll be there. As it so happens, the no one in Britain is left to know about these things yet until someone came and told me." He stated finally.
"And who told you this?" Liam asked, silently challenging him.
Someone came in through a secret door. Liam's, Eleanor's and Helena's eyes widened as they recognised the Greek Princess Aglaia.
"It was my brothers who uncovered the evidence," she said finally. "Prudence the maid ended up in Greece to get away, so I had her first. Then came Maxwell Lacey who willingly provided us with most of the evidence. It just took some digging to find it out. My brothers discovered it and gave it to my grand-uncle, the King of Denmark, who showed it to his parliament and cabinet, and also to our parents. We contacted the heads-of-state from other countries as well. I simply came to save Robert- and the rest of you." She added the last bit. "And to save this country from going through what mine did, during the civil wars, because make no mistake, I would be very surprised if none of you are executed like the Russian Imperial Family, or my grand-uncle King Dimitri. I came here to inform you before anyone else finds out, so you won't have to die."
Helena was speechless. "And what do we expect in along with our gratitude, Your Royal Highness?" She managed.
"I didn't do this for Cyrus. Everyone already suspected something like this was happening n your palace, long before the evidence was uncovered. Why do you think you received so few invitations, including to things like royal weddings, christenings and the Nobel Peace Prize? Why do you think they flocked to Robert at the ball, but avoided the rest of you like the plague? It was more than just mere scandal that they suspected you of. This was just the proof. They liked, trusted and respected your eldest and your late husband, but they didn't trust you. My parents would tear and burn this palace down to the ground if they knew I was alone with any of you. They said you were dangerous, and my family had already lost enough members and my people had gone through enough bloodshed. They don't trust you." She said flatly. "But I had to come." Robert looked at her and grasped a hold of her hand. "Because your people do NOT deserve what mine has gone through, and because of the love I bear your son."
Their jaws- if possible- dropped even further.
Robert smiled. "It's true."
"But what about Kathryn?" Liam blurted.
"She's my friend," Aglaia admitted. "She helped... To cover things up, with my official security, my parents and whatever press in case it happened. Kathryn was there, the whole time. When her mother died, we were there for each other. We were quite close, even as children, she was practically the closest thing I had to a sister."
Robert nodded.
"Where is Cyrus?" He asked, all of a sudden.
"Right here," Cyrus announced dramatically as he entered the room. Robert glared daggers at him with the rest of the family.
"You've been cheating, King Cyrus." Aglaia pointed out. "Oh? And you're here to tell me, princess that your dear Robbie's going to be taking the crown any time soon?" Cyrus drawled. "Or to suffer the consequences of over centuries of royal establishment being destroyed via revolution, uprisings, and trade boycotts?" He smirked. "Or economic sanctions? Oh, I know. I'm not stupid, you know. Cancer just gave me a long death. You provided a solution. You see, everything's going to be destroyed anyway. The mob is going to storm this palace, tear down every crystal chandelier that they find and rip every portrait on the wall before heading to the dungeons to free the prisoners, the gunnery to free the gunpowder and the kitchens to free the food, is that it?" His eyebrow shot up. "I don't think so. As I said, a king of England has only been dethroned in the battlefield. And so the battlefield it is."
"This is a fight you won't win," Robert said quietly. "No monarch can ever fight against their own people- and no true monarch would ever dare." He said in a deadly tone.
"No monarch has ever betrayed their country like you did," Robert said quietly.
Cyrus spaced out for a moment, and then he smirked. "We're all going to burn," he remarked. "I was planning to pass the crown to you, Robbie. Did you really think that I would leave it to my two half-wit daughters?"
Robert looked at him icily. "I'm a king," Cyrus remarked. "And not stupid. You didn't think I'd leave it to anyone else, did you?"
"I don't care who or what you intended or planned for me," Robert said frostily. "You should have known: a king or a queen's highest duty it to serve their people, not the other way around. There's no way I'm fighting your battles for you, Cyrus. No way, I'm fighting to keep you in charge, even if I might never wear the crown. You've done more than enough damage, I'll save my own people when everyone else doesn't, even if I never sit on the throne. I'm done with all this."
Cyrus was silent for a long while. When he looked up they were shocked to see the shimmer of tears in his eyes. He had no one and nothing left.
"Well, then. If we burn, you burn with us." He finished. He smiled and would have said something more, but...
Just then the palace exploded.
Robert had barely enough time to grab Aglaia and throw her aside.
Thankfully, the heavy coffee table and sofas were more than enough to shield most of them. Cyrus coughed and choked. He had not been expecting this. It was just a closing line.
"Seal the perimeter!" James Hill yelled. "Get them out- NOW!"
Robert pulled Aglaia to her feet. He looked at his family. Going over to them he wrenched his brother, mother and sister to their feet. Then he looked at the blown-open wall.
Rubble, stones, plaster and pieces of priceless artwork fell smashed, shattered, shredded and broken, but Robert paid them no heed.
He blinked.
It looked like...
"Ted," Robert barely registered his astonishment. "Ted Pryce."
But that was impossible. He had been killed.
"Shoot him down!" James Hill shouted.
A cacophony of gunfire resounded as security agents attempted to take down their former boss. But a hail of bullets also rained down from the opposite side and agents realised that Pryce was not alone.
Aglaia gasped.
"Πάρτε τα κάτω, τώρα. Το κορίτσι είναι δικό μου."
Párte ta káto, tóra. To korítsi eínai dikó mou. Take them down, now. The girl is mine.
Greek.
"Who?" She gasped. "Who are you?"
"Someone who also wants revenge." Came the response in accented English.
"GO!" Robert shouted, sensing something very bad. He grabbed a gun from a security agent and started shooting. But he barely got shot himself.
"AGLAIA!" He shouted. She gave a cry. She'd been hit.
"Fall back!" Robert shouted desperately. "Get yourselves and the rest of them out of here!"
He looked at her. "Stay with me," he said. "Come on, I'm getting you out of here!"
He didn't see his mother shielding her head with a fruit bowl and shrieking bloody murder.
He didn't even see something falling from her jacket onto the floor, lost amidst the rubble.
Miles away, the Duke of Sparta and Crown Prince of Greece and the Prince of Thebes, all froze dead in horror from what they saw on the mini camera they had attached to their sister's clothing without her knowing.
Then slowly, the eldest of the brothers picked up a small figurine of the king and squeezed it, crushing it within his palm so that the blood flowed from his hand.
They would die. The Henstridges would pay.