“I believe he’s in the Sapphire Lounge, awaiting Ryu’s return.” Apparently the rest of the Guard had already been informed as to the situation, which made it all the more galling that no one had bothered to tell Kentario. He strode off towards the palace without another word.
Inside, he headed straight for the lounge and thrust the door open without knocking.
“Ah, Kentario, you’re back. Splendid,” Sou greeted him when he burst into the room. Danag was waiting by his side, while Queen Elise sat on the sofa, wringing a yellow handkerchief in her hands.
“Oh, thank heavens,” she said. “Did Maro get Ryu out safely?”
More than being in front of the king and queen, it was Danag’s presence that persuaded Kentario to rein in his temper. Was it ironic, he wondered, that he was more afraid of his father’s displeasure than he was of offending the King of Galandeen?
“He arrived before there was any trouble,” Kentario reported. Whether or not Maro had gotten Ryu safely out of the school was another matter, and one he still had no clear answers to. “What happened?”
“Guard intelligence uncovered a plot to kidnap Ryu,” Sou said, telling Kentario nothing he didn’t already know. “We sent Maro to get him safely home.”
“Why isn’t he back yet?” Kentario’s driver hadn’t been going particularly fast, and with an inevitable escort from the Royal Guard, it should have taken Maro far less time to get Ryu back to the palace.
“We haven’t had any news yet.” It was Danag who spoke, with a clear warning in his voice that Kentario should watch his tone.
“Who’s trying to kidnap the Prince?” he asked, toning down the urgency in his voice, despite the fact that his heart was currently pounding at the idea that Ryu might still be in danger.
“You’d have to ask Maro about that one,” Sou answered. “Once we heard there was a threat, we sent him out almost immediately. I didn’t think it wise to waste time dwelling on the details.”
That, too, was strange. The king’s son was in danger and he hadn’t even bothered to ask why? Even if Maro himself had had to leave, there were a dozen intelligence personnel in the palace who could have given him some clear answers on the situation. Which meant, once again, that no one was willing to tell Kentario the truth.
“Do we know what -?”
“Perhaps the questions should wait until we know His Highness is safe and well,” Danag interrupted, his tone sharpening just a fraction, and Kentario knew him well enough to take the ‘suggestion’ as a warning. He closed his mouth, but stayed in the room, doing his best not to pace. He wanted to know the minute Ryu got back, and the king and queen were inevitably going to be the first to hear the news.
“Don’t worry too much,” Sou said, though he sounded far from relaxed himself. “He’s in the best possible hands.” Better, by implication, than Kentario’s own protection would have offered, and he once again gritted his teeth in an effort to control his anger.
What followed was a tense fifteen minute wait, each second more agonising than the last. Even in heavy traffic, it should have taken a royal entourage no more than twenty minutes to arrive back at the palace, and it was now heading for more than half an hour since Maro had hurried Ryu out of the school premises.
Finally, just when Kentario was about ready to go out there and track down the prince himself, a knock sounded at the door. An ageing butler opened it and bowed. “His Highness has returned, Your Majesties,” he announced, stepping aside to allow Ryu to enter, followed by a stern-faced Maro.
Ryu’s gaze went immediately to Kentario, though it was impossible to tell from his expression whether he was worried about the kidnapping attempt, troubled by something that had happened in the car on the way back, or pissed off at Kentario for leaving him. But before Kentario could ask if he was okay, Elise leapt up, rushing to embrace her son. “Thank the Goddess you’re all right.”
Even the king, not known for public displays of emotion, looked relieved. “Everything went smoothly, I trust?”
“We got to him first,” Maro confirmed. “The prince is unharmed.” Despite the reassuring news, Kentario resolved to ask Ryu himself exactly what had happened after they left the school the instant he could get the prince alone.
But his resentment towards Maro was far from resolved. “Why did it take you so long to get back?”
Maro stepped further into the room, taking a seat on one of the sofas when both Ryu and Sou also sat down. “We got out of the school without incident, but soon after we left, we realised we were being followed. With a bit of skilful driving, Lieutenant Gan managed to draw out the car, then our officers on motorbikes surrounded them and arrested them. We had to call for an additional escort to get everyone safely back to the palace.”
Kentario’s jaw dropped. He felt his hand shake, and he firmly gripped the holster of the gun strapped to his hip. “Wait a minute… You had Ryu in the car and decided it was a good time to play cat and mouse? Are you seriously telling me you used the prince asbait?” If that was the case, then Maro should be shot!
“I realise there were certain risks in that particular course of action,” Maro admitted, sounding far too calm for Kentario’s liking. “But if we hadn’t taken the opportunity, it could have taken us months to figure out who the culprits were, and in the meantime, Ryu would have been at risk every time he set foot outside the palace. As it stands, we have three suspects in custody and clear leads with regards to the rest of the members of the organisation.”
Kentario’s gaze swung around to settle on King Sou. Surely he would have something to say about Maro taking such risks with his son’s life?
But Sou merely shrugged. “All things considered, I think this is the better solution. Although I will insist that Ryu remains in the palace until the remaining members are arrested.”
“But he has his mathematics exam on Thursday,” Elise said, a moment before Ryu could say the same thing. “How is he going to finish his exams?”
“I’ll have Felix contact the school,” Sou said. “I’m sure they can send someone over with a copy of the exam, and we can arrange appropriate supervision to see that he doesn’t have the opportunity to cheat. Not that I think you would,” he added, with a nod to Ryu, “but just to satisfy the examination board.”
They were getting well off topic, and Kentario couldn’t understand the lack of concern about the danger Ryu had been in. “Who was the threat from?” he asked, feeling like the world had suddenly tilted sideways.
“It was a pro-democracy group known as the Green Flag,” Maro explained. “They’ve been pushing for the Crown to accept the idea of a citizen-led advisory council to be given powers to work with the king in internal affairs. It seems they finally got tired of pursuing more legal approaches and decided to make a statement. As far as we’re aware, there was never any intention to actually harm the prince. They were intending to kidnap him and use him as leverage to get Sou and the Noble Council to agree to a degree of public input to the law-making process.”
