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The medical ward of the palace was on the third floor. Only two staircases led to it; one at each end of the building. Marco didn’t want the structural integrity to be compromised, so no alterations were done to the third floor, or the staircases leading to it. Magnus’ advisors suggested moving it to the first level, but Marco advised against it.

The medical ward was on the top floor for security purposes as well. If the king fell ill, it was harder to get to him. If a prisoner needed medical attention, the ward had two easily guarded exits. The only other way out was to jump out of a third story window. With Marco’s pointed arguments, the king’s advisors had backed off.

“W-Wh-What do you mean dinner?! Like sit together in the banquet hall?” Shasta’s face felt hot as she idiotically sputtered her response.

Lawrence chuckled lightly as he smiled and said; “No, no. A private dinner with me and my family. I’ll invite Zas to if you’d like?”

The foreign king noticed Shasta’s ears bend down and her face twinge with sadness a moment before she replied; “Oh.. Y-Yeah, that’s fine, it’s fine. Gotta eat somewhere, right? I’ll, umm; invite Zas if I see him on my way.”

Without warning; Shasta flashed a small smile, then took off using her magic. Lawrence was confused by the feelings that tugged at his heart and mind. Lately whenever he saw the Vice Commander, she stayed in his thoughts until the next time he saw her. It was little wonderments like what she was doing, or what her favorite food or color was.

Lawrence recalled Tidas having similar thoughts about Skye when he was a young teen. Law would mock his little brother for feeling puppy love towards his future bride. The response he’d gotten for it wasn’t something he was expecting.

Tidas had scoffed at him with a pitiful look; “Are you seriously making fun of me because I’m in love?! Now That’s sad..”

.....

“Yeah.. I’m the pathetic one..”

“You are. Because you don’t get how amazing she is! And you don’t get how amazing she makes me feel..” Tidas smacked his older brother’s shoulder; “And that makes you jealous for reasons you don’t understand.. So yeah, you’re the pathetic one.”

His little brother’s words had finally made sense to him after he’d married Anastasia. He was like putty in her hands. She made him feel and think about things that would’ve never crossed his mind otherwise. Lawrence was generally considered one of the best kings out of all the kingdoms’ rulers, and it was due to the love and patience of his late wife.

The feelings bubbling up within the Ruscovic King were close to what he’d felt for his wife, but different. His heart told him what the budding affection meant, but his mind refused to acknowledge it. Lawrence swore he’d never get overly attached to another woman ever again.

Losing Anastasia had nearly destroyed him, and he feared his children experiencing the loss of a mother again. She died during childbirth, so they hadn’t had the chance to know their mother. But the missing piece was still felt. They often asked where their mother was, unable to understand at the ages of four. They enjoyed stories of her, but constantly asked him to ‘Bring home momma’ for them. It was a bittersweet sight.

Weighing the feelings of his heart against the fears in his head, Lawrence chose self-preservation. He pushed the rising sentiment he felt for Shasta down, and tried to switch his mind over to the affairs of his kingdom. He was leaving tomorrow morning for his home, and needed to concentrate on the tasks he knew would need tending to. His heart still occasionally flashed a chestnut-colored image across his mind’s eye, but he’d simply shove it away.

Lawrence was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed his younger brother walk up and stand next to him. Tidas waited a good three minutes before he decided to jar his older brother back to reality. Moving behind him; Tidas placed his hands on Lawrence’s shoulders, and shook them violently.

“WHOA! Hey!” Lawrence yelled before he twisted about to see who it was; “The fu-Tidas?!”

Lawrence flailed his arms nervously as he panicked; “Hey, hi! Hello-ah! W-What are you, umm, up to? Whatcha doing here?”

Tidas stared at his brother with suspicion. Lawrence was a terrible liar when it came to his family. He was a fantastic politician, and lied easily in court or to others. But when it came to his family, Lawrence didn’t really want to. Even with Marco, he’d done everything he could to stay honest with them.

His family had been apart from him throughout most of his life. Their father’s paranoid policies had kept him generally separated from his family; aside from Tidas. Living at their summer castle year round until Marco went traveling.

He was glad that their father didn’t try to do the same thing to Tidas. Since Lawrence was the King of Ruscovic, if something happened to Marco, Tidas would be next in line for the throne. It was tradition that if the heir wasn’t crowned before he died, his line would be passed over if another male sibling lived. So even though Marco had an heir already, the child would be skipped if Marco himself had yet to be crowned.

Tidas tilted his head slightly in curiosity as he spoke; “I came to ask Dr. Gohan about a request he put it to the R&D department.. What are you doing here?”

Lawrence fidgeted where he stood. He’d seen Tidas earlier, right before he’d gone off to get his checkup from Tien. Since he’d asked then what and where he was going then, the excuse wouldn’t work now. Tidas knew he and Dr. Gohan were friends. They’d spent quite a bit of time together when he would travel to Ruscovic to treat his wife during her pregnancy.

Tien approved of how attentive Lawrence was to his wife, and felt terrible when he couldn’t be there or help during the birthing process. He always thought that if he could’ve been there, Ana would still be alive. It was a pointless guilt, but one Dr. Gohan carried with him daily. To make sure that if he ever got a bad feeling in his gut about something again, he’d stick to it..

“Oh, I was-err, ah.. V-Visiting Tien! He told me earlier that he’d have some down-time between patients about now. I’m just waiting for him to finish his patient’s treatment. How’s work going? You busy? You seem busy.. Don’t mind me,” Lawrence patted his brother’s shoulder as he’d spoken like a nervous tick.

Tidas grabbed Lawrence’s hand, and slowly lowered it as he said; “Ok, what’s going on? You’re acting weird.”

Not knowing what to do or say, Lawrence rapidly spilled the next thing best thing that was causing him extreme anxiety; “I asked Shasta to dinner on impulse, but then told her it was a family dinner, and I don’t know why I did it or why I said I’d invite Zas too, or why I’m telling you about it!”

The prince was trying his best not to laugh at his brother, but the situation was too funny. His fluster was highly uncharacteristic; especially over a woman. He was surprised to learn that his brother liked Shasta in that way, but it made him extremely happy. He knew how long Shasta had liked his brother, and inwardly wished her the best of luck as he tried to nudge his brother along.

“So you like Shasta then?” Tidas asked with sincerity.

Lawrence ran his hand through his hair with a strained expression as he answered; “I don’t know. I like how I feel around her, but you know my policy: no attachments. I can’t go through that again..”

Tidas sighed as his brother calmed down. There technically wasn’t a family dinner tonight, per say. It was just going to be him, Skye, Zazzy, and Lawrence. Marie said she might come by, so long as she didn’t get sucked into one of her books again.

Tidas took a deep breath as he though out loud; “Well I don’t think Zas will turn us down, but father was dining with Marco’s party tonight in the banquet hall.. I can invite him, but he’ll either try to get us to come to him, or invite Marco and his fans along. Personally, I don’t want to be around them..”

“I don’t either. I don’t think Shasta will miss them,” Lawrence stated in a joking manner.

Before the two could finish their conversation, a loud bang made the two brothers jump in shock. It was immediately followed by a familiar blood-curdling scream that made Tidas’ heart drop. He’d only ever heard a person cry out in pain like that on the battlefield, and the voice’s owner sent his fear into overdrive.

Looking towards the door that the scream had come from, Tidas instantly went over and opened it. The lighting difference from the hallway to the sunlit room made his eyes blur a moment. When they refocused, what he saw made his panic rise and blood boil.

Skye sat up in her bad with her hand splayed out on the table next to her. Doctor Gohan stood next to the bed with a large mallet that the workers used. They weren’t doing any work to the stairways or hallway for the third floor, but the windows in each room were having their windowsills replaced. The mallet was part of a tool set that had been left until the work could be finished.

Skye’s face was red from her crying and screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she bit down on her blanket. It slipped from her mouth as she recognized her husband as he entered the room with Lawrence trailing behind him. The expression he wore on his face told Skye that he was sorry for not stopping his brother. Skye nodded slightly in acknowledgement of his attempt, then looked at her husband and said; “Hello, everything’s fine! Ima fine! Just gotta..”

As the two royals looked from Skye to the doctor, Tien smiled uncomfortably and stated; “I’d like to say this isn’t what it looks like, but that’d be a lie..”