Chapter 9

“Traitor,” Antonio huffed to us. “I can’t believe he told on us.”

Joaquin shrugs, “I can.”

“What should we do?”

As they quietly began to discuss a plan, I slowly began to inch towards the kitchen entrance. I wasn’t risking the chance to angering papa even more. The longer it took to show ourselves and face him, there was more of a chance for him to be angry at us. 

I would rather not have to face his wrath if I could help it. 

I offered an apologetic smile when I met the gaze of my fathers. Dad offered a warm smile back, waving me towards my seat. Papa kept his gaze on the entrance. “Of course my daughter is the only one brave enough to face me.”

There was silence.

“Do you think he’s talking about us?”

“You’re an idiot.”

I quickly climbed onto my seat, eyeing the spread of food papa prepared for me. A large bowl of sliced fruit with a sugary glaze drizzled on top. A pile of mini smoked ham and cheese sandwiches as well as a bowl of tomato soup. 

“Boys!” Papa snapped impatiently, “Stalling is only going to make things worse!”

Plucking a sandwich from the plate, I dunk it into the bowl of soup. As the bread soaked up the soup, I watched as my brothers slowly wandered into the kitchen.

Joaquin confidently marched into the kitchen as Antonio scurried in after him. With his head tilted high and a disgruntled scowl growing on his face, Joaquin stopped a few feet away and glared at our dad’s. 

“Well?” Papa huffed.

“What were you and dad talking about?” Joaquin asked.

“That is not what we're going to talk about right now!” 

“Why not?”

Taking the half soaked sandwich out of the bowl, I eyed the creation I made. My stomach growled hungrily at the sight of it. 

Papa ignored his question. “Why were you three spying on us?”

“We wanted to know what you and dad were talking about.” Joaquin answered truthfully.

As papa forced his face to stay serious, a battle he was obviously losing, dad and Antonio snorted loudly at Joaquin honesty. It took papa a few moments, especially with dad and Antonio snickering loudly, but he finally managed to look serious. “That’s still no excuse to eavesdrop.” Papa scolded, “It’s rude.”

“So is keeping things from your kids when it could affect us.” Joaquin rebutted, “And it sounds like this could affect us.”

Dad piped up, “Well,”

“Tony!” Joan hissed, turning around to face him. “Don’t you dare!”

“Would you rather wait to tell them when they see him in their home?”

Papa pouted, “.......No.”

We watched as dad crossed his arms, his stern gaze focused solely on our pouting father. He patiently waited for papa to signal his sign of defeat. It took a moment, as I finally began to devour my sandwich, papa tried his best to stubbornly hold onto his reasoning. 

“Joan.” Dad spoke sternly.

Papa grumbled.

“Your children can’t understand you.” Dad continued, “Try again.”

Taking a deep breath, papa turned to face my brothers. I plucked another sandwich from the pile, continuing to listen to whatever news he had to share. Papa sighed, “The prince is staying with us.” He held up a hand at the look of shock that began to spread on our face. As Antonio opened his mouth, papa ignored it, continuing on to share the bizarre news. “Your dad has been assigned to guard one of the princes. Which apparently means that he has to come live with us.” He finished with an eye roll.

“He’s not going to be staying with us forever.” Dad added. “It’s just until the assassination attempts stop.”

“Their royalty.” Joaquin argued, “Someone is always going to try to assassinate them.”

“This is different.”

“How?”

“We know it's coming from someone in the castle.”

I frowned when I heard that.

Having to live a life like that sounded horrible. 

It’s bad enough that strangers wanted to kill him because of his title. To know that people that he knew, maybe someone from his family or someone that works in the castle, also wanted to kill him was disgusting. 

“That’s so sad.” I piped in. “Why would someone want to kill the prince? Isn’t he a kid?”

“There are bad people in the world, Noémie.” Papa explained as he made his way towards me. Sitting in the chair next to me, he continued. “They don’t care if he’s a kid or not. It’s also a reason why I’m so reserved about him living here. What if they come after you or your brothers?” 

“Joan-”

“I’m allowed to be worried, Tony.” Papa huffed, “There my babies. And no offense to the prince, what he’s going through is horrible, I would do everything in my power to protect my children. Even if that means sacrificing him to make sure they live.”

“I would’ve expect anything less.” 

“As long as you know.” 

“There will be new rules set in place here so everyone is safe.” Dad turned his attention back towards my brothers. “I will go over them with all of you once I discuss them with your papa. For now, you all need to know that none of you can let anyone know that the prince is staying here.”

“Obviously.” Joaquin huffed.

“My lips are sealed.” Antonio added.

Since my mouth was full, I nodded in agreement.