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Riley and Liam stepped out in front of a crowd of press at 9 the next morning. Both the king and duchess clearly looked exhausted having been up all night talking about what had happened. By the time they returned to Valtoria, it was nearly 1am and Liam was adamant about doing the press conference the following morning. Riley only momentarily protested before quickly realizing it was useless. She was overwhelmed with all the information she’d received from Anton, not to mention surviving an attack on her duchy and dealing with her best friend almost dying. Most normal people would want to sleep for the whole week but normalcy was a luxury Riley had lost a long time ago. Drake and Olivia fell asleep on couches in the conference room while their spouses discussed how to ease the duchy’s fears.
Riley squinted at the midmorning sun. It was already a hot day and fatigue still filled her body. The crowd in front of here came in and out of focus. Liam turned his head and looked at her, giving her a small reassuring smile and a nod. She studied his face and composed herself. They faced the crowd together and she let out a small sigh.
“Good morning, everybody. Thank you all for joining myself and Duchess Riley this morning. I must admit, I’m growing quite frustrated meeting under these circumstances. As you’re all aware, last night there was another attempted assassination on the Cordonian court. Usually the attacks were kept isolated to the royal court, but last night the attackers became reckless and attempted to harm us in public surrounded by those who live in this duchy. This is absolutely unacceptable,” Liam stated.
“King Liam is right. We will not allow the lovely people who call Valtoria home to be put in harms way or to not feel safe being here. We’ve exhausted all our resources in finding those responsible and bring them to justice. We’ve got leads in our investigation and can say with great confidence that the public is not in any danger whatsoever. We take your safety as our number one priority. Please continue to enjoy the city and live your lives. Do not let fear dictate your days. We will not let these people win. As information comes we will keep the public updated on any changes in safety concerns, but as of right now we don’t foresee that to happen,” Riley stood poised next to Liam as flashbulbs clicked. Her eyes felt heavier with each flash of light.
“Are there any question?”
“Is it true that one of the assassins was Duchess Riley’s former press secretary,” Don asked.
“Given the status of this investigation still being as ongoing I cannot confirm anyone’s identity at this time. Once the police reports are released you will have access to whomever was involved,” said Liam.
“Do you know the status of Lady Hana,” another reporter shouted from the back.
“Lady Hana is in critical condition but is stable at Cordonia Medical Hospital. She suffered a gunshot to the abdomen but she’s being cared for by the best doctors we have available.”
“That’s all the time we have for today, everyone. Thank you all for coming. Hopefully then next time we meet will be for a more pleasurable occasion,” Riley gave a half smile to the crowd and Liam nodded in agreeance.
They waved as they walked back into the estate. Riley walked in ahead of Liam into a formal sitting room where Olivia and Drake waited and Riley collapsed on the couch next to Drake. He threw an arm around her shoulder and she let out a long sigh.
“I’m tired,” she mumbled, “is there anything else on the agenda for today?”
“Not today. I have my security team working on tracking down Lucretia. There’s nothing else we can do at the moment,” Liam sat down next to Olivia and ran a hand through his blonde hair.
“I wish I could be of more assistance. The last time I saw my aunt was when we hosted the court at Lythikos. She dropped off the face of the earth after I ‘embarrassed’ her,” Olivia rolled her eyes.
“It’s alright, dear. I ‘m confident you’d help if you could.”
“If my duties here are done, I’m going to go take a nap. I plan on going to see Hana this afternoon but I’ll never make it there if I don’t get some sleep,” Riley yawned and stretched.
“I’ll join you. I slept like shit on that couch,” Drake stood with Riley and followed her up the stairs to their room.
He closed the door behind her and watched his wife collapse onto their bed.
“I haven’t had the chance to ask: are you okay?”
“Truthfully?” Riley put her hands over her face.
“Yeah. Truthfully.”
“No,” she choked back tears, “I’m not.”
“You wanna talk about it?” Drake walked over and leaned against the wall next to the canopied bed frame.
“What’s there to talk about,” she sat up and hung her head, “where do I start? That someone wants to kill me for seemingly no reason? That Hana was hurt because of me? That the people I was just recently put in the position to watch over are already scared? That I’m walking around on high alert 24/7? I’m already exhausted. How do you do it? You’re always so calm and collected. Nothing shakes you.”
“Honestly? It’s like you said. You can’t live in fear. Basically since I signed on to the guard I haven’t been afraid to die. In fact I’m surprised I’ve made it this far. Only recently have I been worried what happens after I’m gone, but that’s only because I’m afraid of what happens to you. You have to find reason to keep going, even when it’s hard. You have the best security forces looking for Lucretia and with Anton out of the picture we cut one head off the beast. And Hana wasn’t your fault. If she’d been at the palace, would it be Liam’s fault? You told the people of Valtoria today that they’re safe and that’s all you can do. They’re strong, self-reliant people. They’ll be okay.”
“Is that your secret, Hulk? You’re always ready to die?” She let out a sad chuckle.
“I’m just not afraid, Cap.”
Riley leaned forward and grabbed his hand, “thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Being supportive is my job.”
“Wanna lay down with me for a little bit. I don’t think I could fall asleep alone if I tried right now.”
“Sure.”
Drake laid next to her and cradled her body in his arms.
“Tell me a story,” she said softly.
“Alright. One time, Liam and I were playing cops and robbers. Naturally he was the cop and I was the robber. He had these bb guns that him and Leo used to shoot at squirrels that ate at Liam’s moms garden. Anyways, he told me he’d emptied them out and while we were playing he popped around a big vase out in the courtyard and shot at me. Turns out there was one bb that had gotten stuck in the inside and got me right in the arm. We didn’t want to get in trouble so we decided to tell Bastien instead of Constantine or my dad. He had to take me to the basement and pull it out with tweezers. We used sticks after that,” Drake laughed. He looked down at Riley and saw her fast asleep.
He let out a sigh and once again wondered if life would always be like this. He imagined what their kids lives would be like. What their kids would be like. Witty like their mom. Strong like him. Anxiety flowed through him when he thought about bringing them into the life they were just starting. He hoped it’d be calm by the time they came, but he knew silence in the court was hard to find. He lied to Riley, though. The truth was he was afraid to die. He was afraid of all the things he’d miss if he did. He was finally getting the life he always wanted but thought he’d never have. Soon he drifted off with thoughts of a little girl, beautiful like her mother, dancing through his head.