Sebastian Stan Short Stories

Jack Benjamin [1]

"A Way Out"

Post series end, spoilers ahead

(In other words, guess who finally had the time to binge-watch Kings and be incredibly frustrated by the finale? That's right. Me.)

*

"Thomasina?" I asked quietly, knocking against her already open door. She looked up from her desk and sighed. She looked so tired, but I felt no sympathy for her.

"Yes, what is it? It's late," she said. I stepped into the room and shut the door.

"It's Lucinda, ma'am," I began. "She's been vomiting since we brought her dinner. She said the smell wasn't quite right."

"Is it morning sickness?" Thomasina asked. She stood up and seemed to be immediately awake. It really wasn't as she assumed, but she kept weird hours.

"I don't know, ma'am. I wanted to tell you before someone sent for the royal doctor," I explained. "We didn't want any false alarms getting back to the palace."

"Good, good," she muttered. She finally met my eyes. "Go get the royal doctor and bring him to the girl's room."

"Yes, ma'am," I said politely, nodding shortly and leaving the room. She followed close behind, but eventually she turned down a different hallway than I did. As soon as she was gone, I took a cell phone out of my pocket and dialed a familiar number.

"How is Ms. Wolfsen?" the royal physician answered.

"Quite unhappy. She has food poisoning after all," I joked quietly. The doctor laughed a little louder; he had more privacy in his suites than I did walking the hallways. "Did you pass along the note I asked for?"

"Of course. Someone on the kitchen staff has delivered the notes to Jack's guards," he confirmed. "I'll go to Ms. Wolfsen and Thomasina when you've told me he's out of his rooms."

"Alright. I'll send a message soon, then," I told him. We both hung up our phones, and I picked up the pace to make it to Jack's room. The doctor was farther away from Lucinda's room than Jack's, so I had plenty of time before Thomasina began hunting for the doctor herself.

I finally made it to the hallway Jack's suite was on and found one of a the kitchen staff kneeling next to his two unconscious guards. Two mugs with the royal seal on them were laying on the ground, drug laced tea spilt and seeping into the carpet. The 'notes' sent by the doctor had worked perfectly.

"When did they go down?" I whispered.

"Just a few seconds ago. I didn't expect it to work so quickly," she answered, sounding worried.

"Well, it'll keep them out for at least an hour. Where are their keys?" I demanded. We didn't have time for her overly kind worries. She and I began to dig through their pockets until we had found the key to Jack's doors. "Try to clean this up as much as you can, then go back to the kitchen. Take their cups."

She began gathering up the mugs and pressing the hem of her apron into the carpet to pull the tea from the fibers. I unlocked the door and bolted inside. Jack, who must have heard our commotion, was on his feet with a bedside lamp in his hand. 

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

"Getting you out of this breeding shed," I answered. "Now come here and help me get these two out of the way."

Jack looked past me, and his eyes landed on the two guards still very much unconscious in the hallway. The girl from the kitchen was on her feet now, holding the mugs on the tray as if they had simply been drunk instead of spilled.