28: Queen's King

On our eight day here in the secret base, we've ran out of supplies. Our supplies were only limited to cover until tomorrow's breakfast so the knights were quite problematic after our breakfast.

"When is King coming here?" the young prince asked for the seventh time today

"I don't know." I said and he sighed

He started playing with his bracelet, I saw it blinking a few times and with that, I knew he's talking to Zairo.

'Are you talking to Malika?' I asked him while looking at the young prince's bracelet

"Queen?" the young prince looked up to me confused

"I am, and you are too." Zairo chuckled

"How can I hear it, King?" the young prince's brows furrowed

"You're too open. You didn't limit it to me. There's three of us who can communicate through this." Zairo answered

Oh. I get it.

'He misses you.' I told Zairo and I saw that the young prince's bracelet didn't blink

"You've ran out of supplies." He replied and I almost rolled my eyes

Our topic's not connected. I looked at the young prince and I saw that he's already arranging the chessboard, he's probably going to play by himself, trying to discover new tactics to win.

"Your majesty, will you allow us to go outside?" I looked at Sir Charles who spoke

"It's dangerous, is it not?" I asked him

"Your majesty, we've ran out of supplies." Knight Stephen answered

"Are you willing to risk your life to get supplies? If yes, then you may go, if not then stay." I said seriously and they averted their gaze

As expected, they're not willing to risk their life for mere supplies.

"What do you suggest we should do, your majesty?" Sir Charles asked me

"We don't have enough supplies to last us another day, we have to move now, however, I had been announced as dead and the four of you have been labeled as traitors, going pass the marking would be dangerous as you most probably have bounty on your heads now." I said

"We can't farm as it's already summer." Knight Stephen nodded his head

"Nor can we buy from the nearest market as we're being hunted." Dame Therese said

We're facing a huge crisis, I doubt they'll be able to function without food. They've been lacking sleep, lacking on nutrients would weaken them, and that would be disadvantageous to all of us.

I looked out on the window and I saw that the tree have fruits. That's right, there are lots of fruit bearing trees around us, we could collect lots of berries from them. I remember that Zairo and I used to eat fruits and berries from trees whenever we're hanging out in the secret place when we were younger and incapable of sneaking out goods from the palace.

"We're surrounded with fruit bearing trees." I said taking their attention

"What do you mean, your majesty?" Sir Charles asked

"We can collect fruits and berries from trees near this place." I said

"It's unlikely to have guards in the forest and in case, we could escape immediately." Knight Stephen said

"Arcadia had recovered from the crop shortage." The young prince suddenly said

"We don't have money." Dame Therese said

"But he has." The young prince pointed at the door so I looked at it

I saw that the light on the door blinked which announces someone's arrival.

"King's here." He said and I nodded

"Indeed, he is." I agreed

"The king of Arcadia is here?" Sir Charles asked and the door opened

I saw how their jaws dropped and eyes widened when they saw the king of Arcadia coming inside while carrying a box, he's wearing his mask so they did not recognize him as anyone else apart from being the king of Arcadia.

"Knight Stephen, Sir Charles, help the king Zachary with the boxes of supplies." I said and the two immediately took the boxes from Zairo

They went to the kitchen immediately leaving the king Zachary with us, Dame Maia and Dame Therese.

"Have you been good, Reagan?" He asked looking at the young prince

"I'm always well behaved, your majesty." The young prince bowed his head

"How have you been, Queen Patrice?" he asked me

"I'm alright, King Zachary, I appreciate your generosity." I said and he sighed

"I thought you missed me, how come you're not running towards me?" he asked breaking out of his king character

"You broke your promise." He chuckled when the young prince and I spoke in a synchronized manner

"I didn't say any promise." He said

"He said he'll try, young prince." I chuckled and ruffled the young prince's hair

"But it's been five days since he said that." He frowned at Zairo and scoffed

"Oh, you've been counting, I see." He said in amusement

The look on his grey eyes is the total opposite of that reflected in the young prince's eyes, his eyes reflect amusement while the young prince's eyes reflect longing. The young prince misses him, however he does not want to admit it.

"You really miss me that much, huh?" he asked and the young prince scoffed

"How did you come up with such delusions, your majesty?" the young prince asked

"That's quite harsh, young prince. He's still your king." I told him

"He is our king in Arcadia, and we are not in Arcadia." The young prince replied

"Indeed, we are not, which means you also do not have a position as prince." I can't help but roll my eyes because of Zairo's childishness

I can't believe he's actually having such argument with a child more than fourteen years younger than him.

"I am still a prince." The young prince replied

"How so? I can strip you off your title, kid." I raised my brow because of how Zairo addressed the young prince as 'kid' as if he's actually really that old

"I am a prince according to royal decree and the decree had been signed prior to your coronation therefore does not fall under your jurisdiction." The young prince shook his head and I couldn't help but chuckle at their exchange

They're now involving their titles and positions in their little argument, unbelievable. What's more unbelievable is the fact that the young prince knows that his title is given to him by royal decree, he knew that it does not fall under Zairo's jurisdiction.

"Isn't this argument going a little overboard?" I intervened

"I suppose so, Queen." The young prince bobbed his head

He went to the couch and sat, Zairo sat on the couch across him while I sat next to the young prince. Zairo's eyes suddenly darted to the unorganized chessboard.

I'm guessing he'll ask the prince to play thinking we had been playing chess before he arrived.

"Are you playing chess?" Zairo asked with his eyes on the chessboard

"The young prince is playing alone." I answered

"Shall we play, Reagan?" he asked and the young prince shook his head

"I don't think I'll win against the one who taught me, your majesty." The young prince replied

"That's not true." He denied

"It is, we've never won even once against you." I said and he sighed

"You've only been together for a week straight and here you both are, teaming up against me." He sighed in disbelief

"You're overreacting, your majesty." We said in an almost synchronized manner

"Tell me I'm overreacting when you're no longer responding in a synchronized response." He sighed exasperatedly and I chuckled

"But we are saying the truth, aren't we? We haven't won even once against you." I replied and he nodded

"I suppose you do have a point, Patrice." He shook his head

"Why are you addressing Queen so casually?" the young prince suddenly asked while moving the pieces on the chessboard

"She's my queen first before she was crowned queen of Astrae." He answered and I nodded which made the young prince look at us confusedly alternately

"And he was my king first before he became your king, Malika." I added and ruffled his hair then he smiled, I saw how Zairo's expression changed

"Just how unfair is this? Reagan's not even mad that you ruffled his hair." Zairo said and I chuckled

"Don't be too out of character, we are in the presence of my knights, in case you have forgotten." I reminded him and he turned to the four knights standing by the kitchen's doorway

"How has it been, old friends?" he asked so casually that I almost face palmed

This guy is really unbelievable.

"Why would you address them as old friends? Astrae and Arcadia had been enemies for countless of millennia and had only allied under your reigns, King." The young prince asked confused and I smiled and tapped his cheek

"King's definition of fun is dangerous, Malika, he went undercover in Astrae once." I explained and looked at my knights who seem confused of what I had said

"I did that so you wouldn't sneak out to see me anymore, Patrice, I know you always miss me." He said cockily and I shook my head

"Is it not the other way around? I remember you sneaking to the Palace just to check on me, Zai." I smirked at him

"Your majesty," I looked at Dame Maia who must've connected the dots already

"Is he…" she seems unsure so I motioned the playful king to remove his mask, which he did without second thought

"He's the King of Arcadia but you first met him as Knight Zairo." I introduced him

"That's why he's always gone from the palace?" The young prince asked and I nodded

"I'm always there whenever Patrice needs someone to support her." Zairo said and I smiled before nodding

"You are aware of this, your majesty?" Sir Charles asked and I nodded

"Are you not wondering how come he knows a lot of things about me despite serving the palace for only quite some time?" I asked and they all averted their gaze

"Don't treat me differently just because of that." Zairo said and stood up

The revelations seem to have shaken up the knights quite well, it took them the whole day to process everything they've learned and this playful king seem to not mind the looks and glances my knights have been throwing him and continued to exchange banters with the young prince.

"Queen," The young prince wrapped his arms on my shoulder and hid behind me

"King's been teasing me." He complained and I looked at Zairo

"He loves teasing people, Malika, you need to get used to that." I shook my head and Zairo just chuckled and picked up the young prince

"We weren't here on your birthday but we'll be on your next birthdays." Zairo said

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Zai." I warned him and he look at me with a smirk plastered on his face

"Oh, I'm not, I'll make sure I'll be able to keep it, whatever it may take."