“Watch it,” Emanual’s voice came from next to the railing and his footsteps ran up the stairs leading to the patio.
Lucian’s lips curved. “Oh, I didn’t even see you.” Lucian turned around and shook Emanual’s hand.
“Yeah, right? I’m starving.”
King Helmut spoke to him in Latin and he nodded as they all sat down.
“Cat!”
“Mom!” Lucian reprimanded.
“Lucian.”
“Let him be. Come here, boy. Lay down.” The dog plopped down on the floor by his feet.
“You named your dog Cat?” I asked and Dad laughed.
“Catastrophe,” the queen answered. “He sure lives up to his name. We had to replace the west garden’s sprinklers again.”
“Cat’s just lonely when I’m not here.” Lucian already started loading his plate with bacon and toast.
“He goes for walks, and the staff play with him all the time. The dog has no reason to take his boredom out on the garden.”
My lips thinned as I tried to suppress my laughter.
“Okay, I’ll have a talk with him and tell him to stop doing that,” Lucian playfully said to his mom.
Queen Maggie giggled. “Yeah, it won’t surprise me if you show him where more are.”
Dad chuckled as I drank my tea. They sure had a great relationship.
After breakfast, Lucian took me around the castle. I got the tour from his mom already, but it was great to be in someone around my age’s company. Someone that tried to tame the Rubicon everyone kept pushing down my throat.
We went to the royal semi-zoo where they housed all the exotic pets.
The monkeys were little shits, and kept pulling my hair and grabbing the peanuts out of my hand, afraid that I would steal it.
They all screeched and screamed as we neared, behaving like mad little creatures when they saw Lucian.
“Sorry,” he said and opened the gigantic gate and we walked through it. He closed it behind him and one monkey jumped on him.
“Hey, Bugs,” Lucian said and kissed him.
He sure loved animals, and animals loved him. My stomach twisted and turned as my heart pounded. “Are you some sort of animal whisperer?”
“I always loved animals, and they seemed to love me.” He kept staring at the monkey.
The one that kept screaming at me swung from ropes and branches toward us and jumped on Lucian, too. He gave his head a loving hug.
“Hey, Peanut.” Lucian lifted his arm and scratched his head. I stepped away from that beasty.
Lucian saw it and chuckled.
“You are afraid of Peanut?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t like me much. Kept screaming at me as if I stole his peanuts or something.”
“Yeah, he is very bitchy about his peanuts. Come here.” He motioned with his hand.
