Sophia was different from Rhiane in such a way that the latter was much too quiet when watching movies that if not for the occasional beeping sound that the various apparatus made and the diligent intrusion of the medical staff, he could have forgotten that he was not alone in the room. Luke politely asked the last nurse to take away his dinner. Unlike the princess elect, he did not find the appetite to finish his meal. 

His phone rang a few times, but if it was not from the security team, the prince dismissed it. He was anxious to hear from anybody who could brief him about the latest findings. When finally the screen showed the encrypted code he identified as from the group he was aching to hear from, Luke hurriedly got to his feet and excused himself, unknown to him that Rhiane had fallen asleep. “Speak.” The single word was full of urgency. 

“I understand.” Luke nodded at the nurse whose turn it was to conduct a routine check on the patient. His home was compromised. It would be difficult to assume that every single staff working inside the castle was clean, but hearing that his team found a compelling evidence that solidified the hunch was not at all reassuring. Sooner or later these people would make a move against his mother, his stepfather, his brothers, or worse his beloved little sister. “Multiple layers of encryption much like our own? Be very discrete about this matter now that we know that there are spies among us.” The head of Technology and Forensic IT was a lord that was a relative of Luke’s stepfather. He would need to talk about this to the prince consort and the queen at the soonest possible time. “We will handpick a team to handle this sensitive issue. Send me the correspondence, but you should stop digging for now.”

“Your highness?” The officer sounded confused. Didn’t the prince say that it was top priority to trace the trail that instructed the assassin to try poison the princess elect? 

But the crown prince found it unnecessary to explain his actions. He would order the investigation to stop and he expected the palace security team to comply. As he told the officer, it was a sensitive matter. Should the spies find out that there was an on-going investigation, there was the possibility that they would implement a desperate course of action. He was firm in his instructions to stop. “Wait for further instructions, officer.”

Luke immediately made a call to his mother as soon as the communication was cut. “Mother,” he said as soon as he heard her voice. 

“Lucius, it is past midnight.” The queen yawned. “You should be having a beauty rest, because the media will be all over you and your lovely betrothed tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t – Listen mum,” Luke sighed. There was a looming PR nightmare add to the threat the security team just discovered, and yet his mother sounded like she was more concerned about appearances. “There is a disturbing development concerning the incident this afternoon. I will send you the report and the evidences as soon as I receive it, but-- ”

The queen cut him off with her sweet words, “Listen, darling. Whatever it is, it will be tomorrow’s problem. Or perhaps later. There is nothing you can do about it now so just turn off your comms device and your tablet and go to sleep.”
“Fine, but read the report as soon as you can.” He was more than a hundred percent sure that the queen would call him as soon as she did. She was a woman who was fiercely protective of her family. 

“Yes, I will. The situation is under control. Nobody is asking questions anymore.” She sounded pleased with what Ms. Viscomi and her staff could do. “So, go to sleep.”

He didn’t. Luke couldn’t even if he tried to. Especially after he read the full correspondence and concluded that the resistance had more than one plan for the princess elect – either she became their pawn or she died. Her death would definitely hit a blow to the reigning monarch as surely as if she sided with the rebellion. 

A beep from the apparatus stole his attention. The monitor had long been turned off, forcing silence to accompany him that night. His eyes turned to Rhiane, who was sleeping peacefully in her bed. He hoped the nurses would consent giving him the same drug they had injected in the IV so that he could sleep like her, as if there was nothing wrong with the world. His mother was correct. There was nothing that he could do about the situation that night. Without the queen and the prince consort’s help he could not order to pursue the investigation without risk of intelligence leaking out to unauthorized recipients. And even if he mobilized the Tech and Forensics IT, what was the odds that they would unearth anything of significance that night. 

Finally taking his mother’s advice, he leaned his head against the soft mattress of her bed, popped a pair of wireless earpiece on and played something comforting on the monitor. She asked him why he loved watching film, the truth was that for a few hours, he thought he could live another person’s life. Slowly, carefully, he let go of all controls and finally surrendered to sleep.