The King's Queen

Chapter 2

Lord Beau Ashford
Age: 27

Prince CaVaughn DeLorentes
Age: 25

Lord Kevin Hale
Age: 22

Lord Raúl Hendrix
Age: 21

Lord Kristof Emmerson
Age: 19

Lord Jun Fujihara
Age: 17

*°*

After getting some much needed rest-which took a lot of convincing on Ashton's part- I headed downstairs to the meeting room. Fortunately, I managed to evade Emperor Caden who'd mentioned something about wanting to meet with me to discuss a few things. I had no idea what that was about, but I could take a few guesses.

The atmosphere inside the meeting room was light, owing to the festive mood that the holidays had to offer. Beau was busy typing away at his desk and CaVaughn was getting some documents copied at the other side of the room. Ashton was busy on the phone, talking with someone in what sounded like Italian. I paused by the doorway with a small smile. I could almost imagine Jackson bustling around them with a stack of papers, perhaps with a smile of his own on his face.

Kristof and Raúl ­were discussing something on Kristof's computer but Raúl seemed distracted and his eyes wandered to his phone every few seconds.

The only persons missing were Jun and Kevin. I thought Jun would have been back by now. Five days ago, he'd been called upon by the emperor to go on a special mission. As usual, he wasn't allowed to say a word as to what it was about.

"Princesa!" Raúl greeted cheerfully as I stepped into the room. A small smile found its way to his face. "Perhaps I should start calling you reina (queen) now."

"I've still got a lot to learn before I can accept that title." I smiled back. "Jun isn't back yet?" I asked Kristof, who shook his head.

A frown creased his brow and my question seemed to bring up all the worries he'd been harboring ever since Jun left. Even though he trusted in Jun's ability to carry out his missions perfectly, he couldn't help but worry about him whenever he had to go on them. I still didn't know the exact mechanics of how Emperor's Caden organization worked. No-one knew the inner workings for sure, but the basics were that there were many squads that specialized in different things. Some were more experienced than others; some were more dangerous than others. Jun's squad was elite and was usually tasked with the most dangerous assignments.

Needless to say, we were all worried about him. He was still our baby after all.

"He should be coming back soon." Kristof answered my question from earlier. "Harlow's squad is coming back today."

"Harlow was gone too?"

Raúl sighed, his forehead furrowing in thought. He drew his bottom lip between his lips and his eyes darted to his phone. I could feel the anxiety rolling off him. A lot had happened between him and Harlow during their trip. They'd gone skiing as planned. What wasn't planned was the small avalanche that had fallen and blocked off the road, effectively sealing them on the resort and ensuring that they'd get to spend some extra time together. It was a wonder Harlow managed not to kill him because Raúl always somehow found ways to both fascinate her and get under her skin all at the same time. While riding out the snow storm, they'd come to the realization that they were soulmates.

I was so happy for them. Raúl had always wanted to meet his soulmate and now he'd finally found his soulmate, the person he'd been searching for, in Harlow. But the joy was being stifled by a veil of problems. Namely one that took the shape of, you might have guessed it, Emperor Caden. Harlow was a squad leader, like Jun, and for them serious relationships were strictly prohibited. Their squad members were allowed to be with their soulmates as long as it didn't interfere with their ability to carry out orders effectively. However the squad leaders had to abide by a different set of rules. Soulmates were to be rejected immediately.