Quarantine: Day Two Part Four

A dead body! Could you even believe it?

Nothing this exciting had ever happened to Avery in his entire life! And there his father was, sucking all the fun out of the mystery that was obviously Avery's to solve since Cameron's body practically fell into his lap. Besides Cameron was his friend...kind of. This was personal.

Avery was about to barge into his father's office and explain all this in a very organized, calm fashion (he even had a notecard full of bullet-points!) when the door opened and the wind got knocked out of his sails.

So much for a grand entrance, Avery grumbled to himself as he side-stepped a guard who looked less than happy to have him there and entered the room.

King Henry sat at his desk, a mountain of papers stacked on either side of him. Random people continued to filter out of the room, bowing curtly to Avery upon passing him. Clearly, a meeting had just concluded, and wasn't it rude that Avery wasn't invited? Or maybe he was and just forgot. Seth did give him a copy of his schedule, but whenever Seth opened his mouth, Avery tended to tune out. He couldn't help it that Seth was about as uninteresting as the nature channel or nuclear codes.

The king took one look at his son and frowned. That was promising.

"Dad, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"You missed the meeting."

Well, that cleared that up.

"I am like, sooooo sorry about that. It's just that this quarantine thing has been clashing with my nerves and you know I cannot function without my routine," Avery justified himself, straightening up the more withering his father's stare became. "Speaking of clashing with my nerves, that dead body - "

"I told you: I want you to stay out of Agent Raine's way while her team secures the area," King Henry said, as serious as Avery had ever seen him.

"But I really think that I could be a serious asset in the investigation - "

"That's an order." King Henry's tone was harsh, unforgiving. Avery swallowed, unable to look away from the bead of sweat trickling down his father's forehead. "If I hear you or any of your guests have been poking your noses in the basement, there will be consequences."

"Can you elaborate on what consequences means?" Avery asked, knowing it was a long shot. "Are we talking one day without room service or no more vacations to Rome?"

Dad wasn't going to elaborate. His frown said enough.

A knock on the door. A guard - the same guard from before - stepped in the entryway. His nameplate was polished, gleaming four letters: Sosa.

"Your Majesty, they're ready for you."

"Ready for what?" Avery asked, curious. "Should I go with you."

"No." King Henry didn't even look Avery's way, reabsorbed in his papers. Then, to the prodigal Sosa, "I'll be right down. Ten minutes."

Sosa nodded and closed the door, not bothering to acknowledge Avery. Was he invisible or something?

Avery pouted and turned around. He didn't notice until that moment that Queen Deirdre sat by the window, her head propped up by her hands and even that looked like it took a monumental amount of effort. Dinner sat, barely touched and going cold on the silver tray. Wasteful, Avery thought. There were people starving in the kitchens, sacrificing so much so that their beloved royals could carry on when their feeble minds couldn't. Of course, it was their duty as faithful subjects to do so, but the least his mother could do was recognize their sacrifice!

"What's wrong with Mom?" Avery asked, noticing the drawn, pinched lines on his mother's face the closer he got.

Dad's head poked up from the stack of papers and looked over Mom's way, as if he forgot she was there. Maybe they both needed to do a better job cherishing her. Dad got up immediately, concerned, and knelt in front of Mom, the picture of a doting husband. Avery tried not to feel bitter about his mother getting all that attention for doing absolutely nothing at all.

"Deirdre, are you feeling alright?" he asked with a nudge to her knee.

"I feel fine, Henry," Mom insisted with a gentle smile, one hand stroking Dad's cheek. It was weird to see them act all affectionate. Gross.

"You need rest, my heart. I'll call someone to escort you back to your room."

"But...the spy? I haven't finished sorting through the list." Papers had fallen from her lap when she nodded off, scattered about her feet. Mom bit down on her bottom lip, eyes going wide. "And the pandemic...there's so much to do, and I don't want to leave you alone."

"Dad's not alone! He has me."

They both looked over at Avery, and Avery did not appreciate the actual grimace that crossed his father's face mixed with his mother's skepticism.

"Don't worry about me. The council and I will handle things from here." Dad placed a kiss to Mom's forehead. "I have to go to a meeting. If you change your mind, I'll leave someone at the door."

"Thank you, darling." Mom smiled up at Dad like he hung the moon and the stars. He leaned down to kiss her, and Avery was proud of himself for withholding any gagging sounds. Even if this was the single most disgusting thing he'd seen all day, and he'd accidentally walked in on Addison in her bra earlier.

Dad slammed the office door behind him, leaving Avery alone with the queen. She really did look rough. Avery would have been more worried if he wasn't trying to hold his bruised ego together.

A hand at Avery's arm drew his attention.

"Would you get a couple of my pills for me, sweetheart?"

Mom kept her pills - aka the miracle drugs that made the mysterious pain and tiredness of her life-long illness less awful - in a china dish too easily mistaken for a teapot up on the top shelf of dad's built in cabinets. Avery had a sneaking suspicion that Mom disguised them so that no one started spreading rumors about how sick Illéa's queen was. The staff at the palace were great (except when they forgot the mints on the pillows), but they loved a good rumor. Avery couldn't blame them, though. He, too, appreciated some piping hot tea. He just appreciated and loved his mother more.

Avery pulled the dish down and plucked two out. They were unremarkable little things: pale pink capsules with no markings. He handed them over to his mother, waiting for her transformation from pumpkin to stagecoach to begin. Maybe then, she would be better able to help him with his problems.

Queen Deirdre looked at the pills in her hand, pushing them around her palm like she was in some kind of trance. She just kept staring at them...Did she forget how to swallow? Could the drugs get absorbed into your body through your skin like that? Avery had never considered that before...maybe he should stop using so much lotion every time he -

"I'm actually feeling much better now, sweetheart. Thank you."

She handed the pills back to Avery, and he placed them back in the dish on autopilot.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Avery asked, unconvinced as he took in her pale, sickly complexion. "Because I'll be honest, that shade of green is not your color."

Avery loved his mother, but if she was about to puke, he was not about to clean it up. Seeing her puke was enough to make him puke, and once that cycle started there would be no stopping it.

"Your father might be right after all. I think what I need most is to lie down." Mom stood up and smoothed down her dress, casting a glance from side to side. She reached out to touch Avery's face, the way he pretended to hate but secretly loved because that meant all her attention was on him, where it should be. "Please do as he asks and stay away from the basement until Agent Raine and her team clear the area. This virus is scary enough. If anything ever happened to you or your sister, I don't know what I would do."

"Fineeeee," "Avery sighed, long and drawn out and with more attitude than his mother deserved, but she was really killing his vibe!

"Thank you." She placed a kiss atop his head like he was still four years old. "I love you."

"Love you toooooo."

The guard at the door offered the Queen his arm, and she took it with all the grace Avery wished he had. Sure, he had gotten all the looks in the family, but he really wanted to know how she glided so effortlessly. Maybe Avery needed to borrow some of Addison's heels and practice sashaying. Last time he tried, he fell down the stairs and she live streamed the whole thing to her blog.

There was no point in lingering around the office when everyone was gone. Avery left and let the door slam shut one last time. Damn, that door was heavy. What was it made of, metal?

Out in the hall, a girl in white gauzy silk literally skipped towards him. She needed a bra because each time she bounced, her breasts smacked her in the chin. Maybe some men found that attractive. Avery grasped subtly at his own chest, imagining just how much that must have hurt.

"Blessed be the day, Prince Avery!" the girl greeted, flashing him a wide smile. She curtseyed far more deeply than she ought, far enough that when she dipped her head, it brushed against his thighs. "Aren't you just so glad to be alive under God's watchful eye?"

"Hello, who are you?" Avery asked, reaching out to help this girl up before she contorted into something more painful. She took his hands with gentle grace, her cheeks flushing as he pulled her to her feet. Avery made a mental note to wash his hands; there was no telling who or what else her peasant hands had touched.

"I am Medea, but my friends call me Venus. And you, Your Highness, are most definitely my friend," she purred, stepping a little too close into Avery's space. He tried to take a step back but she followed. "I've been holding private bible studies in my room for those poor, lost souls trapped in this hellish prison, trying to get them to see the light. I think that your soul could use some enlightenment...don't you agree?"

Avery didn't like the way she said enlightenment. When did she get ahold of his belt?

"I have it on good authority, aka my own, that Jesus is not for me."

"Jesus is for everyone, Your Highness," Venus said with a wink that was, in Avery's opinion, entirely un-Christian. "Take your time and think about it. You'll know where to find me!"

With that, she skipped down the hall, her white dress flowing behind her.

Forget washing his hands. Avery would need a full body shower with industrial-strength cleaner to get her cooties off of him.

Back in his room, Avery immediately started stripping. He kicked off his dress shoes and threw his jacket violently across a chaise. He would have to burn that now. What a shame; it was his favorite.

"What's wrong?" Rori asked. She had finally changed out of her evening gown and now laid across the bed in his fluffy monogrammed bath robe, her feet crossed over the pillows while she flipped through a fashion magazine.

"I think I just got sexually assaulted?"

"Don't be stupid, Avery," Addison scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was sitting next to Rori in a matching robe. Both girls had on green face masks, their hair twirled up in towels. Avery was momentarily blinded by jealousy that they'd had spa night without him. "Boys don't get sexually assaulted."

"You were probably flirting with her, you big slut!" Rori shrieked and threw the magazine at him, entirely too pleased with the situation.

"Ew! I most certainly was not!"

"But I thought you looooooooved women," Talis pointed out as they came sauntering out of the bathroom, calling out hypocrisy when they saw it. They tied their own bathrobe around their waist, a plate of perfectly-sliced cucumbers in hand. "Wouldn't you just loooooooovvvee Venus rubbing all up on you like - "

"I will give you every diamond in my barrette collection not to finish that sentence, Talis, dear fucking God," Addison pleaded, turning the same shade of green Mom had turned in the office earlier. Or maybe her face mask was just hardening.

The world truly must have been ending, because Addison actually came to his defense? Willingly? Avery wasn't going to push it, or say anything because he was tired. So far he had been verbally, physically, and emotionally assaulted, and that was more than his feeble, royal body could handle.

That wasn't even taking his heart into account! It sat heavy in his chest, as heavy as the CD in his pocket: a constant reminder of his failure. Avery had gotten within five feet of JR, but as soon as those cold, beautiful eyes fell on the pink sharpie, he turned around and walked away, leaving Avery standing there like a fool. Humiliating! Absolutely humiliating! Avery didn't know why JR had to be so stupidly proud; it was just music! Avery had half a mind to hijack the palace intercom system and play the damn mixtape anyway. That would show JR!

"How did the meeting with Dad go?" Addy asked.

"About as well as you think it did," Avery said, purposely vague to avoid Addy laughing at each and every way he failed.

"If I had gone in there, Daddy would have let us do whatever we wanted with the body," Addy pointed out, a little too haughty, with a little too much I-told-you-so. It was bad enough she was willing to just let a mystery of a lifetime pass them by, but then she just haaaad to go and rub it in.

"Yeah, too bad you're a fun-sucker!"

"I'm just trying to stay alive, you ungrateful little shit!"

"I'm staaarvvingg!" Rori interjected loudly, studying her nails. She shot Avery her best puppy dog pout, like that had any effect on him. "Would you be a dear and find us some food? Maybe a little caviar if you can swing it. They've got to be hoarding the good stuff somewhere. No way I can survive off this peasant fare all quarantine."

"Ummm do I look like your maid?" Avery sassed back, offended. How dare she treat her kind, gracious, and benevolent prince like the help! When all this was said and done, Avery would have to beg his father to banish Rori somewhere without wifi.

Rori looked Avery up and down. Avery was a little tired of being objectified. "You would look really cute in a little black skirt."

"Ugh I know, thank you."

"No, honey, you have to have an ass for that," Talis said, then blew Avery a kiss.

That was the last straw. Avery didn't have to take this! He stomped back over to the door and threw it open. Maybe Mom would be in a better mood and get the kitchens to cook him some chicken nuggets. She always knew how to make him feel better.

"I hate all of you!" Avery decreed, head held high with righteous indignation.

"I hear blasphemers!" came Venus's melodic voice, far too close for comfort, scaring them all into a panic. Had she been following him? "Let me save you!"

Avery slammed the door shut and locked it. Would that be enough to keep her out?

"Fuck, she's coming!" Talis cursed, which was how you knew they were well and truly screwed. "Hide!"

And that was how they ended up spending the night curled up in the bathtub.