Chapter Nineteen:
Maybe this is All My Fault
Matthew
Alexei’s office was colder than any other room in the castle. The cabinets lining each wall were overflowing with ignored paperwork regarding the kingdom’s actual finances, and collection notices and other such nonsense covered the desk itself. The entire time I waited on the leather couch, which reeked of cigars and whiskey, my legs trembled violently. My yearning to find Riley was growing more intense by the second, and had the door not opened when it did, I would have abandoned every other thought to find him.
Alexei ghosted inside the office pale as a sheet, his eyes sunken in from lack of sleep and stress. He closed the door behind him automatically, as if to keep me from seeing what was transpiring in the foyer and paused to lay a hand on my shoulder. “Matthew, welcome home. It’s surely been quiet without you,” he warmly regarded, patting my arm twice.
“Seems to be quite the opposite, I’d say. You’re all over the headlines in America.”
“Hmm, yes, I’d figured so. I take it I’m not valued by mass opinion?”
“More or less. Many are terrified of your success, as they do not want to see it stretch further from England.” I thought carefully of how to speak to him, and chose the sandwiching technique to save myself, “Though, change is scary for most.”
“Change, yes; let’s call it that.” He ran a hand over his face slowly, and exhaled so harshly that he coughed a little, “Excuse my demeanor, I’ve just had a rough day.”
“Understandable. Take a moment to collect yourself, I’m not going anywhere.”
“A moment… Heh, I need a century…” he carefully opened the top to the whiskey bottle before taking a swig, “Things have become, messy, as of late. I’m sure you’ve heard about my darling little brother coming back from the grave?”
“Dmitri is, alive?” I tried to say as if I had no clue.
“Living the high life in The North, not a care in the world…!” He had begun to grow a bit drunk, and tossed his glass high with a cemented frown, “Little fucker…”
My eyes moved to the file cabinet again as Alexei moved to sit at his desk, pour another tall glass of whiskey, and down it like his life depended on it. The file that caught my attention sent a chill down my spine, as it was named in simple lettering, D.M.M. “H-how are the boys? I hardly recognized Landon when he came in here?” I scoffed to try and distract myself and change the subject before things grew more tense.
Alexei’s eyes snapped open at the comment, like I had injected him with frustration, but it wasn’t directed at me per say. “Difficult slope, to say the least.” Was all he could say. After a moment or so, he laid the glass back on his drink cart, and folded his hands across his abdomen, “I expected to see you for your father’s funeral. I’m sorry you missed it.”
“Yes, well, I’m not very fond of standing next to the man who slaughtered him while I grieve,” I barked recklessly, which made Alexei wince. I gripped the side of the couch intensely as my anger bubbled to the surface, “Of all people, of all fucking people, you let Joshua become Prime Minister? Alexei, what were you thinking…?”
“Joshua’s advances have been nothing but successful, and he proved his dedication to the cause. I didn’t order him to kill Christopher, and I do regret that he has, but I cannot deny that his political tactics are just as sharp as his military. He’s gotten Italy to send us some troops…?”
“What is it you wanted to speak to me about? I would like to see Riley, so please, let’s get to the matter at hand.” I barked over him. Something changed in his expression, so much that my blood ran cold. Slowly, I rose from the couch and slithered to his desk, where I laid my palms on either side so I could learn forward. “What did you do?” was all I needed to say.
“Matthew, before you start…?”
“Alexei, what did you DO?!” I roared, slamming my hands on the desk.
He jumped slightly at my aggression, but still turned away so he didn’t have to see my reaction as he spoke. “Riley has been convicted as a traitor. He will be hung November fourteenth for treason. I’m sorry, Matthew, but my hands are tied.” I backed away from the desk in one singular step. Alexei forced himself to face me, and whatever look was on my face made him huff nervously. “Matthew, I understand you are very close, but…?!”
“I have done everything you have ever asked of me,” I began in a monotone, threatening volume, which made the color drain from his face once more, “I have never once done a single thing to disobey your actions or your rule, even when you let Joshua kill my father. I am telling you now, Alexei Mortimer, that if you kill Riley, it will be the last royal decree you will ever execute successfully. I will spend my final moments ripping you from this world, and drag you to the gates of hell myself, you mother fucker.”
He tried to find a break in my confidence, and when he couldn’t, he simply slid a key across the desk. “I suggest you take advantage of this time; it will be the last I can offer you until his funeral.”
╬
The dungeons were an archaic and complex system that Alexei only used to house his most important war hostages. The steps down to them were crumbling beyond recognition, and the environment so cold and wet that caves were more inviting. I took the decaying steps two at a time, and when I hit the bottom, grabbed Walter’s collar to rip him in a circle. He yelped wildly from such a sudden attack, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak, “Where is he, you son of a bitch! Where the fuck is he!?”
“Welcome home, Matt…” he hacked, choking off when I tightened my grip. “You know damn well I’m not allowed to give you access…?” I held Alexei’s personal key up to him. He rolled his lips in annoyance, but wiggled free and rubbed his neck. “Last corridor on the left. You got thirty minutes before I come find you, understood?”
The dark hallways, which had been stagnant and silent for many years, echoed with my frantic running. Soldiers from each country, captured in the midst of battle, lifted their beaten faces at the sound, but slowly went back to waiting for death wordlessly. I yearned to come to their aid, but now was not the time to get involved. I rounded the corner almost a mile away from where Walter was guarding the entrance to find a single cell, where three menacing locks glared back in the almost pitch black. I fished the key from my pocket desperately and wrenched it into each of the locks, which clicked one by one before the door opened.
Riley didn’t flinch at the sound, and was faced away from the entrance as if he’d rather embrace his demise without seeing it head on. Instead of what he thought would be Joshua, come down to take some cheap shots, I tackled him so fiercely that we fell to the concrete ground, and he let out a yelp of panic. When he realized it was my arms that were clinging onto his back, he whipped around with tears that flooding his eyes by the thousands. “Oh God… Matt…!?”
I didn’t say a word, just grabbed his face and kissed him until we were breathless.
The action made both of us cry harder than we ever had, and for a full five minutes, I continued to kiss him without doing anything more. When we finally parted, out of breath and flushed red from the intensity, I laid my forehead on his. A sob like none other crawled from my chest and came out as a pathetic wheeze, and for a while, it was the only sound I could force. Riley was in no better shape, and was content with us just holding one another for the time being.
Time began to catch up, though, and I was acutely aware of that. I peeled myself from his hair and took either side of his face in my hands, “What are we going to do…?”
“You’re going to do exactly as told, that’s what…” he took the key from my hand and pressed it into a piece of what looked to be makeshift clay, gathered from the decaying concrete we were kneeling in, “If you do anything for me, Matthew, let it be that you save Morgan. Please, as my last wish…?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“If you think for a single second that I’m going to let you die…!?”
“Do not die for me, do not! You can’t let yourself be killed for my sake…”
“Riley, I can’t… I can’t live without you, I simply can’t…?” The hands I had on his face fell, and so did my head until it hit his chest.
He soothingly brushed his fingers through my hair, refusing to look down so that he could keep his calm as he spoke, “Everything will be ok, Matt, I promise. We knew when this all began that the chance of Alexei following through was high, so this is no surprise. All I can do is pray that things, work out, some way or another…”
“I will find a way out of this, Riley, I swear I will. I’ll sell my fucking soul if it means we get you out of this hellhole…?”
Riley slowly pulled my face up and held it carefully in the palms of his hands, his mint eyes shimmering with unadulterated pain, yet love. “Matthew, please… Find my mother, and worry about her safety over all else. I will, do what I always do; I will try and weasel my way out of this somehow. Do not spend a single second mourning for me, or trying to break me out of here. We have been careful this entire time, and if we lose our cool now, all we’ve done will be lost…?”
“Five minutes…?!” Walter roared from down the hall.
I clutched the lump of clay that Riley had made before slowly sliding it into my shirt pocket. I laid my hand on the pocket’s outside with a slow sigh, and nodded painfully. “Morgan will be safe, I swear. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to do it, but I will save you both.”
“Dmitri might be our only hope. He’s in The North, with Andrew and Cerelia, and a Calvary now. If you can somehow reach him, he may be able to get recruitment to help with Morgan, or, maybe me… but I don’t have hopes for myself.”
I laid a gentle and careful kiss to his nose, then stiffly let my hands fall to my sides. “I love you, Riley, more than you’ll ever understand…?”
“I love you too…?” He barely was able to whisper before Walter banged on the door.
╬
My father’s grave was nothing more than a dirt pile in the back field, with a concrete headstone that had his name, loving father, and loyal citizen of The West country crudely etched into it. Even in death he did not receive any notable honors, but this was nothing new for Christopher Ackerman. He had not once been a caring or respectable person, nor did he reserve any kind of recognition for the mark he left on this world.
He married a Spanish governess to ensure connections for The West, had two kids with her so he could secure the lineage, then watched as she slowly drank herself to death. He took the role as Alexei’s Prime Minister for the money and power, and turned his back on Levi and Morgan the moment new cards played into his favor.
Christopher Ackerman was, and always would be, better off dead.
As I stared at the dirt pile, which was slowly becoming consumed with fresh grass and a few field flowers, an unholy anger rushed through my veins, and I spit vilely on the grave. My spit hit the headstone right smack in the middle, and made me scoff proudly at that factor. “Well, I knew you hated him, but that was quite cruel.” Max stiffly said as he carefully climbed the hillside to pause a few feet behind me.
I kept my back to him as I spoke, but my voice was dark enough that he knew not to come any closer. “If you wish to live past the day, I suggest you leave me to grieve peacefully. I have not a single word to say to you.”
“It’s been close to five years, Matt; would it kill you to let by gones be by gones…?”
“By gones…?!” I scoffed, turning on my heel with a glare that could cut glass, “Have you forgotten what you did to Riley and I, and continuously do even in my absence? Did you think I did not have access to the news in America, Maxwell? I watched you, yourself, lead armies of men through The South, and burn people alive inside their homes. I watched you publicly execute East soldiers, and to this very moment, you’re allowing Alexei to kill Riley…?”
“Is that why you’re so pissed? Because your boyfriend is getting punished? Come on, Matthew, I would have thought you’d grown out of that? Surely you found a good looking girl in America, if not a few fags that could satiate you for the time being…?”
“You are just as much a scumbag now as you were when I left. That man is your brother, someone who has stood by you your entire life, yet here you are, damning him to death. After everything you have done, this is the icing on the cake.”
Max crossed his arms hesitantly and cast his gaze away from mine so he could collect his thoughts. “He’s back, you know… Dmitri? He’s back, and now, he’s killing men from his own country. Some smack in the face that is, isn’t it? You want to talk about backstabbing; why don’t you look at what Riley has done to us. He let a monster loose on the world, a monster who is opposing Alexei, and will lead to our demise…”
“That, monster, was your best friend, and I will not sit here and allow you to speak of him that way. You were attached at the damn hip, Maxwell, and I refuse to believe you no longer care about, or at least miss, him…”
“I did miss him, once upon a time, but he’s chosen to abandoned everyone whose ever loved him for some kiss-assing in The North. Must be nice to flash your royal card and get hookups wherever you want. I never would have thought Dmitri of all people would be that way, but here we are. Nothing ceases to amaze me anymore.”
“Kiss-assing? Do you hear yourself? After everything Joshua put that kid through…?”
“Joshua made him the man he is today; that kid would be nothing but a waste of air had Joshua not molded him into an impeccable soldier, like he has the rest of us. Just because he couldn’t handle being punished for his disobedience doesn’t mean Joshua isn’t the savior The West needs. He is fixing our country, bringing us to a new glory… He is making sure Alexei becomes the only king of England, the rightful king, as it should always have been…!”
“The, the savior? Am I… Am I in the fucking twilight zone? Do you actually hear yourself, Maxwell?! Even if England should be ruled by one country, Alexei and Joshua are only striving to win this war by slaughtering thousands of people. They are going to wipe out every single person in England before they’re done?!”
“So what?” he scoffed, shrugging stiffly, “We’ll rebuild bigger and better. England has no need for four rulers, especially four morons who let their egos and drinking problems get to their heads. Alexei’s plans for expansive reach well beyond our kingdom. He plans to go after other European countries as well, and slowly, England will stretch well beyond this small point on the map. Our reach will be extravagant…!”
“You honestly believe we’d survive a World War after the civil one is through?”
“With Joshua, anything is possible.” Max’s eyes darkened, and he dropped his arms slowly to stuff them into his pockets, “If you didn’t plan to join us, then why are you back? Why leave America at all? For Riley? That’s a laugh in itself. Should I report you to Alexei, too, for treason? I think you’d make a wonderful pair, hanging in the morning breeze…?”
Without a single ounce of hesitation, I crossed the grass and punched him as hard as I could in the face. The blow broke his nose the second my fist made contact, and sent him spiraling in circles before hitting the ground with a loud thud. He let out a weak cough as I huffed angry breaths over him, my knuckles white from how tightly I clenched my fists. “You are no brother of mine, Maxwell Ackerman, and I will be damned if I let you think for a moment longer that I respect you or your beliefs. I am loyal to my country, but you, you son of a bitch, are nothing to me.”
Max let out a pain-filled laugh, and plugged his bleeding nose with his shirt sleeve as he spoke, “Can’t crack a joke with you around, I see?”
“Is there an issue, gentlemen?” Joshua’s voice filled the tension-choked air, and sent chills up my spine. He crossed the now blood soaked ground wearily, raising an eyebrow at Max, who was still lying on the ground. “I thought you’d be all hugs and kisses, but you’re breaking one another’s noses? A week before we leave for The East?”
“Joshua, stay out of this, please.” I starkly begged.
He brought his empty brown eyes to mine, which were so dark and lifeless that they seemed to be endless voids in his face. “Oh, I don’t intend to get involved. Brotherly disputes seem to be a reoccurring theme in this bloody kingdom, and not one I care to bother with, frankly. I only ask you keep him alive long enough for him to sit through our meeting tonight?”
Max glared at me violently from behind Joshua, but did not breathe a word to him to my surprise. I slid my hands into my pockets and scoffed once, “I’ve made my point.” Was all I said.
Joshua shrugged lightly, then came forward to clap a hand on my shoulder and shake me once, “Well, how about we grab a drink later, catch up a bit? I’m quite happy to see my boys back, even if they’re trying to kill one another…”
“Thanks, but no thanks. Alexei asked I clean out my father’s study tonight.” I bitterly hissed, shoving his hand off my shoulder.
Joshua frowned when he realized I would not be condoning his actions, and sighed in disappointment. “I get it, no worries. Max, collect yourself, see Amelia, then get upstairs. I’d like to get this over with before nine.”
“Yes, sir…” he grumbled, standing painfully. He and I did not exchange any further words as the two went back inside, and the glass doors to the garden shut loudly behind them.
I looked back to my father’s grave and pressed my lips together firmly, took a deep breath, then looked to the darkening sky above. “I’m coming Morgan, don’t worry. We’re going to get through this, together, and come back for him; I promise.”