Page 15 of The Prince of New York

“The more the merrier. We’ll warn the Californians you’ll be bringing your pets with you. Prince Ian likes all animals, and you will have no difficulties containing him with offers of petting and playing with your cats.”

While Dr. Stanton cheated, as she cheated on my behalf, I opted against complaining. Sighing, I said, “It’s true. I lost any right to protest when I got caught playing with my sister’s tigers.”

My sister had gone into a meeting with Ethan, the tigers had been sleeping in one of the palace lounges, and I’d been reading a book, keeping an eye on the beasts, knowing they’d become anxious if they woke up alone. Rather than interrupt my sister’s meetings, I’d indulged in petting them, reading a story to them, and otherwise playing with them.

“I can lure them away if you want to play with my sister’s tigers,” I informed Madelyn, hoping the gamble wouldn’t bite me in the ass later. “But you’ll have to read them a story, possibly several. Sometimes, they like chapter books, but sometimes, they want someone to read picture books to them. After story time, you have to help them put together a puzzle.”

Madelyn’s eyes widened, and she stared at Dr. Stanton. “Is he serious?”

“He is. I’ll make certain the queen knows her tigers have been scheduled for story time. It’ll be a good activity for Ian while he recovers. Are you available tomorrow?”

“I am.”

“Excellent. Keep Ian company while I get the paperwork handled, and then I’ll go back to the palace with you and notify the monarchs of the schedule. Ian, I want you to drink more fluids moving forward, by the way. While you aren’t technically dehydrated, your numbers could be improved a little, and I think it’s from not getting enough fluids.”

As arguing with the woman would lose me far more than I would gain, I nodded. “I’ll try to do better.”

“That’s all I can ask of you. Figure out what you’d like for dinner, and I’ll make sure you get it.”

“Beef stew, no alcohol,” I requested. “Extra potatoes, fresh bread. The chewy bread that requires me to earn exercise minutes just to eat it.”

Dr. Stanton laughed. “I’ll put in the request and make sure you get some beef stew that won’t attempt to kill you. Anything else?”

“Painkillers.”

“I think I can manage something like that. Madelyn, if he becomes incoherent, has trouble holding a conversation, or seems to be suffering from any form of impairment, text me, and I’ll come in to check on him. Expect me to take another hour convincing the busybodies he’s safe to discharge. The palace will be the best place for him, and the New York royal physicians can take turns making sure he’s all right. Just keep an eye on him. Engage him in conversation. Test his general knowledge or something. You’re a smart woman. I’m sure you can figure something out.”

* * *

Madelyn regardedme through narrowed eyes, and after twenty minutes of rapid questioning, I’d learned to fear the expression.

The woman wanted to crush me, and she meant to do so using her endless knowledge and curiosity. To my dismay, I had no way of knowing if she questioned me to learn more or wanted to prove she was just as smart and educated as a New York Royal.

“What is a limnic eruption?” she asked, and the demand in her tone almost made me laugh.

Laughing would not aid my cause. It hadn’t aided my cause the first three times I’d failed to contain my amusement at her enthusiasm over being able to grill me.

“Are we going for the short or long version?” I asked, having clued in the woman would get irritated if I spent twenty minutes explaining a basic concept to her when queried.

It wasn’t my fault I found certain subjects to be fascinating, and when questioned about one of those subjects, I would talk until told to stop.

Natural disasters intrigued me. I counted as a walking disaster, and I liked studying my more natural brethren, nature at its worst—and its best.

“I will give you ten minutes to discuss limnic eruptions.”

I suspected she wanted to learn more about the various ways the planet tried to eliminate humanity and was willing to use me as the vessel for her education. In good news for me, I enjoyed studying about the insane ways the Earth killed people. “When carbon dioxide gathers in deep water, and the water is disturbed, it can violently rise to the surface as a lethal gas cloud. This cloud can instantly kill any life unfortunate enough to be exposed. These eruptions tend to happen in volcanic lakes, which tend to meet the criteria for carbon dioxide saturation in the water.” As the floor had more space, we’d stolen the pillows from the bed and sat there. I gestured to Madelyn’s purse. “Imagine the top is the lake surface, the lake itself is the inside of your purse, and the floor is a magma chamber deep within the Earth. The carbon dioxide rises from the magma chamber, saturates the deep waters of the lake, where it gathers until the water is disturbed, usually through something like an earthquake or a landslide.”

Then, as I suspected she harbored a morbid curiosity much like mine, I added, “In the kingdom of Cameroon, they had several of these eruptions. The worst one happened at Lake Nyos, and it killed over a thousand people and even more livestock. In the aftermath, numerous people suicided upon discovery that their loved ones had perished. Not even magic could save anyone there; airweavers couldn’t react in time to prevent the disaster. They had no warning. The cloud of carbon dioxide burst out of the lake and engulfed the nearby village. The disaster ended as quickly as it had begun, but not without huge costs to the region. After the eruption, airweavers and waveweavers began monitoring the lake to disperse the carbon dioxide before it could accumulate and take more lives. The Cameroon royals have invested in a mechanical dispersion system, but waveweavers and airweavers check every three months due to the activity in the magma chamber below the lake.” I paused and added, “The volcano below the crater lake is currently deemed inactive, and I don’t know if it might wake up again. I’m of the opinion it can, especially as that magma chamber is hard at work trying to add victims to its tally.”

“That is a wise opinion to hold, especially if this volcano is responsible for that limnic eruption.” Madelyn gestured at my latest prop, her purse. “How deep does the water need to be for the conditions for a limnic eruption to be met?”

“I’m honestly not sure, but I think Lake Nyos is over a thousand feet deep. It’s pretty wide, too. I haven’t done much research into how much carbon dioxide is required to kill someone. Obviously, humans require a set percentage of oxygen in the air to survive, and carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of our existence. But I haven’t done much research into what specific percentage of carbon dioxide is lethal. I try not to give myself nightmares. The palace is armed with carbon monoxide detectors, and there have been a few instances where some have gone off. This unnerves me enough without contemplating how breathing out might kill me off.”

“That’s startlingly sensible coming from you,” Madelyn informed me. “Carbon monoxide has been an issue in the palace?”

As the incidents had happened at the beginning of my sister’s reign, resulting in Terry losing his mind and doing a complete overhaul of everything except the palace’s electrical system, I no longer held many worries about an incident. “We have a lot of gas-burning appliances in the palace, so there are a lot of sources of potential carbon monoxide. What Agent Niell could replace with safer appliances, he did. What couldn’t realistically be replaced, he has monitored with sensitive detectors. Each location has three detectors, each with a different threshold for carbon monoxide. The first two systems notify the RPS and the maintenance teams. The third one triggers the palace emergency alarms.”

“And he has these systems for every source of carbon monoxide?”

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