Cinderfella 2: A New Life - 37. Chapter 37

Now we had allies in Royal Valley. I did worry a little about others knowing we traveled this way, but we didn’t tell them how. Soon we heard the knock on the door.

“I put two horses in the stable.” Gabe’s voice said. “I borrowed them from the livery. I’ll put them back tomorrow.”

I opened the door. “But won’t someone notice they’re gone?”

Gabe shrugged. “A horse is a horse. Deacon is the guy in charge of the livery. There were a dozen, I don’t think they’ll be missed. If they are, they will be looked for as if they got away.” He grinned as he bounced. “I sort of left the stall door open. They’ll assume they wandered off.” He hugged me. “Can we see you tomorrow before you leave?”

I looked at Seth who shrugged. I nodded to Gabe. “Sure. Why don’t you and Zeke come for dinner?”

Gabe nodded. “We’d love to.” Then as he was about to walk away he turned back. “I’d love to. Zeke’s cooking hasn’t improved that much and tomorrow’s his night to cook.” He grinned and walked out.

Seth and I sunk into the steaming water and let the hot water work its magic. Before long, it was more than apparent we’d been tense for a long time and were getting tired in the water. Getting out was harder than getting in. We collapsed into our bed. Having missed it for a while. The bed was magically made, so it was very comfortable.

But we hadn’t told anyone else we were coming, so Seth and I were awakened as we heard a scream and something china or glass shatter on the wooden floor.

Seth and I both sat up to see Grace holding her chest as she stared at us.

“You’ve come back!” She said almost breathlessly. “Are the boys back, too?” She asked looking back in the direction of our sons’ room.

Seth held his hand up before she went to confirm it herself. “No, Grace, they’re still in A’Dore.”

“We had to travel very fast.” I truthfully explained. “We wouldn’t do that to them. But we felt we needed to check on everyone here. We’re sorry we startled you.”

Grace nodded gasping. “No, that’s fine. I was just surprised, that’s all. Are things okay in A’Dore?”

I shook my head. “No. In fact, we’re only here for a day. This day. We’re leaving again tonight.”

Grace frowned. “If I can ask…what happened to make you leave so quickly?”

Seth nodded. “It’s no secret. Someone tried to kill Erik’s brother Christian.”

Grace’s eyes widened hearing the news. “You said tried, they didn’t succeed then.” She said more in hope.

“No.” Seth grinned. “It seems Erik’s and my quick trip saved his life.”

Grace shook her head. “From what I’ve heard everyone loves Christian. And Ella!”

“Not everyone, it seems.” I said sourly. “That’s why we have to go back. It’s not over.”

“And probably won’t be for a while.” Seth added.

Grace nodded and then saw we were not dressed as we were both bare-chested. “Well, I’ll let you dress…or whatever…sleep more if you need to.” She started to leave. “Sorry about the vase.”

I chuckled. “It can be replaced.”

Seth grinned. “I could do with some of your great hotcakes. If I ask nicely?”

Grace smiled. “For my boys, no problem. I’ll begin making them as soon as I get downstairs.” Then she left.

Everyone at the vineyard and winery were glad to see Seth and I had returned and understood that we couldn’t stay. The news spread fast through Royal Valley. I made sure the woman I put in charge was okay with what she had to do. I knew she would be. This was not just Seth’s and my business. It was Royal Valley’s income. Seth saw the vineyard was well managed with the new grapes we’d planted and the new wine was going well. That evening we had both Gabriel and Ezekiel as dinner guests.

Ezekiel leaned forward and asked quietly. “So, you guys are traveling back to A’Dore tonight?” He was watching to see where Grace was.

Seth nodded chuckling. “If you leave here now and we left now, we’d be in A’Dore long before you got home.”

I leaned in, too. “No one can know.”

Gabriel jabbed his husband. “I told you that.”

Ezekiel frowned. “I know. They’re the ones traveling this way, they know, why can’t I talk to them about it?” He smiled at us. “But a thousand miles in an instant! That’s incredible!” He said in a loud whisper.

Seth chuckled. “It is!” Seth said in an equally loud whisper.

Grace, before she left that evening said her goodbyes. “You don’t know when you’re coming back, do you?”

I shook my head. “We won’t be able to until this is solved.”

She nodded. “Well, come back. We all miss you.” Then she smiled. “I’ll bet Toby and Dennis are fine.”

Seth chuckled. “They love having their cousins to play with.”

She laughed. “They really don’t have that here, do they? I just miss their happy faces.” Then she kissed us. “I’m gathering you’ll be gone when I get here in the morning.”

Seth and I nodded. “We will be.” I said. “Leaving early would give us more light during the day on horseback.”

“Be safe.” Then she turned to leave but stopped. “When the four of you are away like this. There’s not a lot to do. But I’ll find something.” Then she left.

We waited a few hours and then went up in the attic. Knowing we were alone in the house, we activated the mirror and stepped through to A’Dore.

Christian grinned as we stepped in his and Ella’s bedroom. “Long trip?” He chuckled.

I laughed back. “You’re a wise king, Christian. You don’t have to be a wiseass.”

Christian laughed heartily. “The perks of being a king.” He said getting up and hugging us both. He looked at me. “And you’re getting a bad mouth.” He shook his finger at me.

“Send me to the rack.” I said simply.

We began investigating more the next morning. Notices had been sent out about what happened and that we were looking for someone that tried to kill the king to all the townships in A’Dore. They were even going into Blethos and the Creids. Well, the Creids had been asked to be involved with assassinating Seth’s mother, the Queen of Blethos, even though they had been framed and had done nothing in that attempt, they needed to be involved in the notification. We had some of our more experienced guards go looking for traces of Eleanor, Drizella and Anastasia. They were more skilled at asking people and finding out the truth, some that were hidden truths.

Ella informed us about more on her step-family. “There were originally three step-sisters. Drizella, Anastasia and Lucille. But Lucille was not very strong physically, she died two years after moving into the house.” She smiled. “She was the one that named me Cinderella. The story only tells of the two sisters.” She shook her head. “I sort of wished they had remained in A’Dore.”

Christian frowned. “Why? They were cruel to you.”

Ella nodded. “But we’d know where they are.”

I grinned tightly at my sister-in-law. “We’ll find them, Ella.” I assured.

Further study of the small, small world we only recently found was fascinating! Dr. Warren, the royal physician, was equally interested and often shared his knowledge with Seth and me.

He grinned at he saw again the wonders of human blood. “I wonder how far we can go.”

Seth looked up. “How far we can go….you think there’s something even smaller?”

Dr. Warren nodded. “We won’t know until we see it.” He said logically. “I’ve added some more magnifiers to this Seer. I’ve found some interesting things about what we assumed was as small as we could get, only to find out it wasn’t!” He waved at what we’d come up with to see this small world. “What we saw were these little things that make our blood. Now I’ve found there are smaller things in those little things! It’s amazing!” He nodded as he looked again. “And those little red things aren’t alone in what makes our blood!”

I grinned. Dr. Warren was a true man of science. His attention never wavered. “I’m glad we made life more interesting for you, Doc.” I chuckled.

The doctor smiled at me. “I believe you would make an excellent doctor, Prince Erik.”

Seth grinned. “He did save a lot of lives in Royal Valley and Christian.”

The doctor nodded. “Your use of ice to deal with the measles was brilliant. We need to come up with a way to make more ice instead of just storing it.” He looked at the icebox we had now in the area we were working. “Putting blood in these iceboxes was also brilliant.”

“Actually, that was Seth’s idea.” I grinned. “My husband is brilliant.”

Seth pinked a little. “Well, it made sense. We put food in iceboxes to keep them fresh longer, it just seemed logical to do the same for blood.”

The doctor nodded. “This is going to open a whole new side to medicine! We’ll have teams of men working on these small creatures.” Then he walked over to another Seer. “I’ve found other little creatures. There are millions of them and all kinds! This…” he pointed to a Seer. “…is from a man that got sick after he’d had sex, unwisely, with someone.”

Coming over I peered at what was on the glass below. I recognized the blood and other things, but a new creature was there. “This is from having sex? I’ve heard of illness spread after sex in some cases, but it this it?”

“It may only be one of several. The person said he felt fine until he did. That was the only difference for him.” The doctor explained. He shook his head. “I know that with every illness, we’re going to find another bunch of creatures.”

I sighed. “I just wished we could find three large creatures.” I said thinking of Ella’s step-mother and step-sisters.

Seth came over embracing me. “We will.”

It was another week or so before a man came riding hard through the streets. Once inside the castle walls, he quickly dismounted and came into the palace. I was with Christian at the moment in the throne room.

“Sire.” The man said bowing instantly. “I have news.”

Christian nodded. “Speak.”

“I have learned that Eleanor Tremaine has passed away.” The man reported.

“This is confirmed?” Christian asked.

“About three years ago, Sire.” The man said. “Drizella has married and lives in Italia. But Anastasia has been seen in A’Dore’s capital a few weeks ago.” He handed Christian the papers that had the information on it.

Christian frowned taking the pages. “Okay. Any word about Jean Claude? Who he was or if he’s even connected? Is he even connected to Anastasia at all?”

The man shook his head. “Not yet, Sire. We will keep looking.” He promised and left the throne room.

I touched my brother. “We don’t know that Anastasia is connected to Jean Claude.”

“But we know Jean Claude tried to kill me.” Christian said as he walked and thought. “I can’t shake the idea that Ella’s step sister is involved. How Jean Claude was roped in to deliver these…things to my family.” He shook his head and looked at me. “He had some nice things. I mean, they were real! The jewels he had were real. Real emeralds, diamonds and rubies. Real silks and satin. Real gold. If he wasn’t what he said he was, how did he get these things? And he had them just to get to me…to Ella? Someone gave money to get this done. And I mean a lot of money. There were thousands of gold pieces worth of gems. Who would put up that kind of money to seek revenge on Ella?”

I shrugged. “Many people will stop at nothing to get revenge.” I explained. “Take the Thornes. Neither Arthur or his two children gave a thought about their soul when they killed. Arthur was just greedy. But Deena, she was the cruelest of them. She knew how to hurt a man, squeezing Seth’s man orbs until they nearly burst. And Anastasia is female, so…”

Christian winced when I mentioned Seth nearly having his male orbs squeezed and his hand went to his own beneath his pants. Every man knew how much that could hurt if only being hit lightly, it would hurt! “But women are the beautiful, gentle and the fairer gender!”

I grinned shaking my head. “There, dear brother, I will disagree with you there, men are fairer to me. Women are the more cunning and more devious. And cruel. They are lionesses, the true killers.” Then I noticed something and smiled. Sure, we had a crisis. But at the end of the day, he was my brother! He had been my big brother, Prince Charming and now king, but always my friend. I grinned as I touched his hair below his right temple in his sideburn. His hair, like mine was cut short, but always well groomed black locks that waved a little when they got too long. And there was something I’d never seen before. Christian backed away a little, but not far. “Oh, my god!!”

“What?” Christian asked me sounding irritated as all brothers can be.

“You have a gray hair!” I smiled even broader.

“I do not!” But his hand came up to cover his sideburn.

“You do, too!” I laughed at him as he looked a little terrified. “Oh, come on, Christian. Dad got his first gray hair in his mid-thirties! That’s you now.” I walked closer, but Christian was now backing away. “I’ll pluck it out and show you!”

“No!” Christian was now smiling, but now backing away faster with his hand up to stop me. “Don’t touch me!”

There were others in the throne room, advisors, arbitrators and scribes who were smiling as we were acting like brothers. We always did. Little boys some times.

“I’m king, damn it!” Christian stated now almost running from me, circling the throne room. “I’ll call the guards! Don’t think I won’t!”

I wasn’t worried a bit. It made me laugh. “Call them and then they can also see the gray hair.” I continued to grin as I kept coming toward him.

“You keep away from me!” Christian was laughing now. “I don’t believe you!” He stopped. “This is not king-like behavior!”

I nodded. “No, but it is little brother behavior, though. For me.” I said still grinning as he took off through the throne room and out the door. I smiled at the others in the room. “He’ll be right back.” The other men were now openly laughing now as I went to see where my brother went. His boots clomping told me in which direction down the marble corridor. At the moment, the only one in crisis was Christian, so I wasn’t running. I took my time, knowing the direction what room he was ending in. The communal room. Entering I saw Ella smiling. Christian had apparently asked her if it was true. She held his head steady as she looked.

“Well, hold still, honey.” Ella said shaking her head, but looking at his right sideburn. Then I grinned as she took her fingers and sifted, then yanked.

“Ow!” Christian let out and grabbed his head.

“Now you don’t have a gray hair.” Ella said smiling holding the gray hair for him to see.

“The fairer gender strikes again.” I chuckled as I walked over to them and instantly attacked on the leg by Toby. Looking down my face brightened. “Hi, Toby!” I reached down and picked my happy son up.

What’s the matter with Uncle Christian? Toby asked me.

“He just found a gray hair.” I told him.

“I did not.” Christian growled. “You found the gray hair.” He turned to me, but he was still smiling.

“And I’m grateful I did.” I said walking over and hugging Christian. “There will be a few more soon. In fact, I’ve heard when you pluck one, two replace it!”

Christian groaned. “Oh, great.”

“Want this one?” Ella asked chuckling and handed me the hair.

I shook my head. “I’ll grow my own, thanks.” But I took it anyway.

Seth came in with Dennis and Edward. Dennis was being held by Seth and Edward was giggling as he hung on to a leg as Seth walked. “Hi, Christian!” Then he looked at us and our faces. “What’d I miss?”

I held the gray hair to Seth. “Christian’s first gray hair.”

Seth smiled at the hair. “The king’s growing up.” He grinned at his brother-in-law.

Christian frowned. “You’re next to get one! Wait till it happens to you. It won’t be so funny then!”

I grinned hugging Christian again. “We won’t love you any less.”

“In fact,” Ella smiled. “Your father was very handsome with his gray, just as I know you will be.”

Then Christian’s smile faded. “I needed to see you. This is fun, but…” He said to Ella. “I’ve always told you what was happening. Anastasia was seen in our city. Eleanor is dead. She died about three years ago. Drizella lives in Italia.”

Ella nodded. “You think it was Anastasia that attacked you?”

I walked toward her. “We don’t know, but you need to be aware.”

Seth heard and nodded. “We’ll find out. I promise.”