Page 52 of The Prodigal Prince

He’d forced himself to stop pacing and try to listen to the stories Gray told Fiona about his days or his favorite thing at school or any other topic she could come up with to keep their son’s mind off the predicament they were in.

As much as he wanted to fall asleep again, Mac couldn’t let himself. Lefty had the jump on him when he came in earlier. He’d never forgive himself if it happened again.

Next time, Lefty might not be bringing food.

It might be Mr. Villain coming for Gray.

The only conclusion Mac could reach from his interaction with Lefty was that Gray had to be the valuable member of their little family.

But why?

What could they want with Gray?

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was protecting Gray and Fiona.

That’s why he couldn’t be asleep when one of them came back into the room.

Lefty returned later, this time bringing food and giving them the opportunity to use something that sort of resembled a bathroom.

Fiona came up with games that would get all of them moving - Mother May I; Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Animal Poses - and a few others Mac had never heard of like Up/Down/Stop/Go.

The point, according to Fiona, was to get Gray to use some of his excess energy since they’d be cooped up in the room the whole day.

It helped Mac and probably helped Fiona as well.

He’d prefer to go a few rounds with Mr. Villain, but he hadn’t been given the chance.

Eventually, Gray settled down for a nap.

“How are you?” he asked Fiona. “You seem to be doing okay.”

She shrugged. “I’m angry. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m frustrated. It’s possible I’m homicidal, but I doubt we’ll have a chance to find out.” Blowing out a breath, she looked over at Gray. “I have to make sure he’s not scared. That’s why I seem like I’m a lot more okay than I really am.”

Mac chose to sit on the floor next to her. Fiona immediately leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I feel so helpless,” she told him, choking back tears. “I felt helpless in San Majoria, but this is a whole different kind of helplessness.”

He didn’t know what to say, so he slid his arm around her shoulders. His thumb brushed up and down across her shoulder. “There’s got to be people out there looking for us. I’d imagine there’s security cameras covering at least part of the maze. If nothing else they’d be able to see that we went into the maze but didn’t exit. When they don’t find us in the maze itself, they’ll have to start thinking of improbable options. Secret passage has to be one of them, whether abduction is or not.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything else for several minutes. “Tell me about growing up in a palace?”

The abrupt change of subject startled Mac, but he could understand why she’d want to take the conversation in a different direction.

“I always knew it wasn’t normal, but at the same time, it was normal for me. I didn’t know any other life. Kind of like I always had a security team with me until I left. Even then Silas, who filled that role to the best of his ability was with me, despite my protests.” He tried to think of other things that made it unusual. “Photos of me and Esme were released several times a year. Once or twice a year, we did ones with Mum. Never with our father. It wasn’t until my teen years that I realized how strange and strained their relationship really was. I’d heard whispers of rumors about their lives being unusual, but nothing I understood.”

“What finally made you realize it?”

Mac turned that question over in his head. “It wasn’t any one thing. I’d see my friends’ parents, even if one of them was a step-parent, and how they interacted with each other. Without trying, I’d see articles online about my father’s alleged affairs. The worst ones said horrible things about my mother for putting up with him. There were a few accusations against her, but I’m fairly certain my father planted those rumors to make himself look less bad.”

“That sounds awful. It’s one thing to ignore stories about myself that I know aren’t true. It has to be a whole different kind of difficult when it’s about your parents, and you aren’t really certain if they’re true or not.” She shifted on the stone floor, likely trying to get a bit more comfortable. “I worry about that sometimes with Gray. Now that his existence is public, there’s bound to be rumors about who his father is, despite the fact that we’ve publicly stated you are.”

His brows pulled together. “I’ve told the world he’s my son. What other rumor could there be?”

She sighed. “I was seen with Gabe about the same time you and I were together. If anything had happened between us, hecouldbe the father, but nothing did. We were at an event together last and decided to share a ride back to the hotel we were both staying at. He walked me to my door and left. Someone out there is doing the math, and his name is bound to come up.”

“We’ll tell the truth however many times we need to and ignore the rest.”

“That’s all we can do.”

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