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“I thought you wanted to sit in a rocking chair with me fifty years from now,” said Felix.
“I do, but-”
“Then you need to start eating a little more because I want to do that too. Do you like almond milk or something else better?”
“I like it better than cow or mookie milk.”
Felix paused. “Who picked the names for animals here?”
“Supposedly, Elira let a child name some of them.”
“Oh. Well, if you like almond milk, that has fat, so how about if you start drinking that now? I can buy more in Rosewood as needed, and you don’t have to have cacao in it all of the time, okay?”
It would save Felix the trouble of cutting and dealing with fruit.
“Fine.”
“And two slices of bread.”
Rainier’s stomach clenched as he stared at the pale brown liquid in his cup. “One feels like too much. I’m not used to eating this often.”
Felix bit the tip of his thumb. “How about if you have two slices at breakfast, two at lunch, two for an afternoon snack, and dinner? You can have one slice before bed and skip the morning snack. Or if you want, you can skip the afternoon snack and have it in the morning instead.”
It was still more food overall, and the fatty almond milk worried Rainier. He was pretty sure he could feel fat growing on his body right at that moment. Two slices of toasted bread was a lot, but Felix was trying to let him have some control. If the physician was here all day, he’d be trying to force all sorts of foods into Rainier. He’d probably run out of patience pretty fast too.
“All right.”
“Do you want to play cards for a bit?”
“Sure.”
Felix had found an old deck in the bedside drawer, and the lord who owned this house surely wouldn’t mind if they used it. It was a good thing they weren’t playing for money because Felix kept kicking Rainier’s ass at most of the games.
Felix had dealt out their hands when they heard hooves outside. He got up to look through the window, and he opened the door. “Er, hi?”
Two of the servants were outside, and they seemed to have ridden up there on one horse. Rainier recognized Sally and Bella although he didn’t see them too much. They usually cleaned Mum’s floor and took care of guestrooms.
“Rainier’s here, right?” Sally’s orange butterfly wings fluttered with excitement.
“Yeah, but-”
Bella spotted Rainier and started pushing her way in.
“Hey!” snapped Felix.
“It's an emergency!”
“It’s fine, Felix,” said Rainier. “What happened? Did Mum sack you or something?”
Both looked a bit shocked at his appearance, and he suddenly remembered he hadn’t bothered to comb his damp hair. Also, he was in sleep clothes. “She’s going to get rid of you,” said Bella, and Sally nodded as they both came to stand by the table. “We heard some things.”
Sally reddened. “We might have listened at her door.”
Rainier tilted his head. “What do you mean she’s going to get rid of me? I’m her son.”
Bella put her hands on the table and leaned toward him. “Your Majesty, I swear I’m not making this up. We noticed she’s been angry lately, but about a week ago, Princess Natalie went out, and the Queen was with Princess Betty in her sitting room. They were arguing because Queen Eliza wants to take you off the succession and put Natalie up instead.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If anything happened to Mum and I, Betty would come next. Natalie would be last. She wouldn’t take me off anyway.”
