The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 90

"I can't believe it. I can't believe it's really you." Iris looked me up and down, wide-eyed, as Kayden and I approached the cabin.

Terry had finally lowered her shotgun, stood aside and gave us reluctant permission to enter her home. We met Iris at the base of the deck stairs.

"Hello, Iris. It's been a long time." I maintained a cool demeanor despite the flood of relief and excitement washing over me. Finally, I had found the one person in the world who could tell me exactly what happened to my mother.

"A very long time," she said, studying my face and shaking her head in disbelief. "What in the world are you doing here, Alexander?" She was standing on the bottom step and clutching the guardrail as if she needed the support to keep herself upright. "I've come to ask for your help with something, actually. Can we talk?"

"Of course," she breathed. She glanced briefly at Kayden, then back at me.

"This is Kayden," I offered in introduction. "My Beta and most trusted friend."

"Pleasure to meet you, Iris." Kayden bowed his head briefly.

Iris blushed at his formality and marveled at his warrior's braid before darting her eyes back to me. "Come in, please," she said. "I'll make some tea."

After some tense whispering in the hallway, Terry obliged Iris's request to make herself scarce. She gathered some gear from an open mudroom beside the front door and took off to fish. But not before darting another menacing glance right at me. "I'm sorry about Terry," Iris whispered, once she'd gotten water boiling on the stove and the three of us were seated at a small table in the kitchen. "She's very protective of me."

"Is there... a particular reason for her protectiveness?" I asked Iris. "Has someone been threatening you?"

She frowned, looked down at her hands. "Hmm. Well, the answer to that is kind of a long story."

The tea kettle on the stove began to whistle, jetting steam out of its spout.

"Let me get that," Iris said, jumping up.

Kayden and I exchanged another look once her back was turned.

"See, it's been a very long time since I tried to think about all that," Iris called out loudly, her back to us as she tarried at the stove.

I waited patiently for her to continue, not wanting her to feel pressured.

I could hear her faintly saying, "Hmm, hmm," as if she were considering something very carefully, while she arranged the tea and accoutrements onto a wooden tray noisily.

Finally she returned to the table and set the tray down with a sigh.

She resumed her seat across from me, put her elbows on the table and laid her chin between her two closed fists. She squinted at me quizzically. "Now, what is that Prince Alexander could possibly need my help for?"

I offered her a friendly smile before getting right down to it. "Well, I am hoping you can answer some questions for me regarding your time at the palace in my mother's final weeks."

Immediately, Iris frowned deeply.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't want to upset you. I'm sure this topic may call up some troubling memories for you..."

"No, it's not that." Her hands fell down onto the table, and her gaze followed. "I guess I knew, really, that you were gonna ask me about that, the moment I saw you there outside. What other reason would you have for tracking me down? But, see, I don't think I can answer your questions. Not right now, at least."

I looked a question mark at Iris, but she didn't lift her eyes. "Why not?"

"Hmm." She drummed her fingers on the table. "Well, see, I got hurt the day Queen Alexandra died. Only, I don't remember what happened. I just heard some about it afterwards from the doctors, and some from Terry. It's not only just the day it happened. There's a lot. A big chunk of time missing from my head."

Kayden sipped his tea. For a moment I was incapable of doing anything other than staring at Iris, processing what she'd just told me. Swallowing it down like a ton of bricks.

I knew I ought to tread carefully, but dared another question. "I'm so sorry that you were hurt, Iris. May I ask what kind of injury you sustained?"

Now she looked right up at me, her mouth falling into a funny half-smile, half-frown.

"I was shot," she said. "In the head."

Kayden gulped. He set his teacup down on the table gingerly.

A million questions raced through my mind. "Oh, Iris. I am so sorry that you went through that."

Kayden shook his head. "That must have been very painful to recover from."

"It was," she said unemotionally, her mouth stuck in that odd shape. She looked at the wall, stared at it blankly.

Her whole energy had changed the moment she uttered the words, "I was shot." She became raw, numb, flatly unhappy. I recognized this as a trauma response, one I'd seen in wounded soldiers.

"It takes a real survivor type," Kayden continued, "to live through an injury like that."

One side of Iris's mouth twitched up into a smile. A moment later the other side followed. "That's a nice thing to say." Then she frowned at Kayden. "But the truth is the doctors said I was just lucky. They said if the bullet went one little bit more to the left, I'd 'a been braindead. Or just dead dead."

"The spot it did hit," she continued, "only gave me a brain injury. There's some symptoms I still got. But I'm alive."

"Do you know who shot you?" I asked cautiously.

She shook her head. "No. I got some blurry memories of some times in the palace, when Queen Alexandra was still there, and then I got one where I'm in the hospital, wondering what's going on. Terry was there. She'd found me before I came back to remembering anything at all. I guess just the fact I was shot, she knew someone, somewhere wanted to hurt me. So that's when she took me here to get away, and get better."

I combed my hair back with my fingers. The gesture was involuntary, but as I did it, I realized my hair was wildly tangled. It probably looked like a lion's mane.

"Iris, how far back do you remember? Those times you say you can recall from before the... injury" - I refrained from calling it a shooting - "what are some of those last things you remember?"

"Hmm. I don't know, Alexander. See, I have spent many years now just trying to move on... I never wanted to even try to remember, before now."

Iris tilted her head to the side, moving her profile into a yellow beam of light pouring in from the window behind me. Her eyes were starting to look glassy with brimming tears.

I sighed. "Are you sure you're okay with talking about all this, Iris? Considering all you've been through, I don't want to upset you by bringing it all up again."

"It's okay," she said quietly, rubbing her eyes with the back of her wrist. "Anyway, I think I really told you all I can for now. I'm real sorry I don't have more answers for you. Maybe after a little break I could try again, see if I can remember more."

"Of course. Thank you, Iris. You have no idea how much I appreciate you talking with me about all this. I am very grateful."

"Will you stay for lunch?" she asked brightly, her energy shifting rapidly once again.

"We'd love to," I answered. "But I should tell you... we have tickets booked on the northbound overnight train." I glanced at my watch. "And I was hoping you might be will to come with us, back to the city."

Iris balked, incredulous. "Really?"

I nodded seriously. "Iris, if you're willing, maybe we can work on recovering your memory. I'll be happy to pay for your rent for a nice apartment and plenty of security - for however long you need. And maybe, if you can remember what happened, you could testify about what you witnessed?"

"Whoa," she said. "That is quite an offer. Are you sure I would be safe, though?" A look of fear flashed across her face.

"I promise you, Iris, I will keep you safe if you come back with us. I know this is a lot to ask. But please at least consider it. I will need your testimony if I am ever going to get justice for my mother."

Her face changed quickly again. It looked like she was having a sudden, happy idea.

"Alright," she said. "I can do that."