Choosing Home

Chapter Twenty Three

"But—!"

"Alex, honey, we're just going to try this for an hour okay?" Cinderella said, gently bending down to look her youngest daughter in the eye. It was the day of Ben and Mal's engagement party and Alexandria was clearly not happy at being left behind while her siblings went.

"But mom, the last time Chad—!"

"Chad is going to be at King Ben's engagement party. There will be guards all over the place and Lady Mal will be in attendance too. Not to mention if anyone wanted to get to Chad, they'd have to get through your sisters and Bruno."

Alexandria bit her lip and crossed her arms, not realizing that she looked like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum rather than a teenaged royal who had a very good point! The last time Chad was out of her sight, he got thrown into a closet!

How had her mother forgotten? It had only been a couple of weeks after all!

"Mom! Mom!"

"Alex? Honey, what's wrong?" Cinderella asked as her youngest daughter came running into the castle.

"Chad!"

"What about your brother?"

Alexandria made to answer but her sisters rushed in, cutting off whatever she was going to say.

"Mom—Chad's in trouble—Audrey—scepter!"

"Okay, okay, all three of you need to calm down," Cinderella said, holding up her hands as to indicate that she needed silence. "Now, one at a time, what happened?"

She was ready for a diatribe about how Chad spent the whole party with Audrey, she was prepared for a three hour rant session about how horrible Princess Audrey was.

She was not ready for her youngest daughter to burst into tears.

"What happened?" Kit asked as he walked up, a frown forming as Cinderella brought Alex in for a hug; their youngest continuing to sob as she buried her face into her mother's stomach. "Ella?"

"I don't know dear," Cinderella told him. "The girls just came rushing in, saying something about Chad being in trouble and something about Princess Audrey."

Kit sighed. "I'd say it's the usual but Alex doesn't usually burst into tears because of Princess Audrey."

In fact, if there was one sister Kit knew Chad would stand up for, it was Alex. For that matter, where was Chad? Normally he'd be on his sisters' heels, telling his parents that the girls were lying or trying to get him into trouble.

"Girls, where's your brother?" Cinderella asked, seemingly picking up on the same wavelength as Kit. But none of the girls answered. They didn't look guilty or as if they were keeping a secret, both of her girls clearly looked like they had no idea where their brother was.

Kit sighed, trying to tamp down the worry that was threatening to take hold. "I'll make some calls, see if Phillip or Aurora have seen him if this involves their daughter," he told Cinderella.

"Okay. I'll put on a pot of tea , see if that won't help calm down Alex," Cinderella said and gently led their youngest to the kitchen. Kit nodded and went to his study, pulling out his phone and started making call after call. But no one knew anything. It was hours after the fact that Kit got any update on Chad—and that was because his son had come bursting through the door.

"Chad!" Alexandria exclaimed, rushing toward him. Chad's eyes widened and he brought his sister in for a hug, holding onto her the way a drowning man might hold onto a life raft.