Chapter 141- That Never Existed

Arabella:

Bradley pulled the quilt off the bed while one of the warriors helped him strip away the pillows and check underneath the sheets. They shook everything out, checked beneath the mattress, and even looked under the bed.

"There’s nothing here," Bradley finally said, giving the quilt another hard shake.

The Queen was sitting on the couch now, still trembling as she held one arm protectively around her injured ribs. Her eyes were bloodshot, and judging by the way she was looking at me, I had a feeling the imaginary lizard was no longer her biggest concern.

Amy and Aliya weren’t even trying to hide their glares. "You made it up, didn’t you?" Amy demanded through gritted teeth, "A lizard this big can never make it to this room."

I looked at their faces and then finally, my eyes landed on Bradley, who was already watching me.

I shrugged. "I’m sorry," I said innocently. "I must have imagined it." Three pairs of furious eyes remained fixed on me. "But I swear I saw a lizard." I held my hands apart to show them. "It was this long."

Bradley raised a brow.

"I swear!" I insisted, trying my best to squeeze a tear or two out of my eyes. Fortunately, my eyes cooperated. "Maybe it was magic or something? What if some witch is trying to kill our precious queen?"

"Enough!" Amy looked like she wanted to throw me out of the window. And the Queen seemed ready to forget about her fractured ribs and come after me herself.

Bradley held the quilt up for me to see. "There is nothing here, Arabella. I checked it in front of you."

I stared at the quilt for a moment, and then I looked at him with the most confused expression I could manage. "That’s really strange."

I walked over to the Queen and gave her a respectful curtsy. "I’m sorry, Your Highness. I really didn’t mean to disturb you. Please get some rest. I’ll take my leave now. My apologies again."

With my eyes lowered, I turned and walked out without looking at any of them. I kept my expression under control until I was well away from the room, just in case there were cameras around. I wasn’t taking any chances.

But Goddess, I couldn’t wait to find Maya and Toby and tell them what I had just done. After the Queen’s performance today, I was sure of one thing.

If the two of us were ever nominated for an Oscar, I was winning.

***

"You did what?" Maya asked me, covering her mouth with her hand.

I was sprawled on the floor, demonstrating to them exactly how the Queen looked after she tried to escape from an imaginary lizard.

"And then she just—" I kicked one leg out dramatically. "Straight onto the floor."

Maya completely lost it. "Stop it, Ara!" She grabbed her stomach, laughing so hard she could barely get the words out. "For Goddess sake, she has broken ribs!"

"I know! I didn’t tell her to jump off the damn bed!" I said, getting up. That only made her laugh harder.

Toby, meanwhile, had gone quiet. He sat on the sofa with both palms covering his face. I stretched and looked at him. "Why are you hiding your face?"

"Because I’m tired," he muttered from behind his hands. "My face hurts. I’ve laughed enough for one day."

"You should have seen her face, Toby." I sat on the edge of my bed. A muffled laugh escaped him as he shook his head, then he finally lowered his hands and stared at me. "And you stood there the entire time pretending to be scared?"

I nodded proudly. "I cried and managed tears!"

"Goddess, help us," he groaned. "Three years in the human city have ruined you, Ara."

Maya shook her head, still laughing. "And I think I like this version better."

When a small knock came at the door, all three of us went quiet. I turned my head and froze when I saw Lucien standing in the doorway.

"I need to talk to you," he said, his face unusually serious.

Oh, shit. Did he hear something?

I nodded and got off the bed. "I’ll be back in time for dinner," I told Maya and Toby before following him into the hallway and closing the door behind me.

"What is it?"

Lucien looked at me for a moment before reaching up and brushing a strand of hair away from my face. "I heard about the lizard in my mother’s bedroom."

"Okay," I curved down my lips, "That’s good."

His hand dropped to his side. "What color was it?"

I blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"The lizard." His expression didn’t change. "What color was it?"

I glanced around the hallway.

Stay confident, Arabella. Stay confident. You know what lizards look like.

"I think it was... kind of camel-colored?"

His brows rose slightly.

"And its tail was really big," I quickly added. "Like, its body was small, but the tail was long... too big..."

Why the hell was I giving him measurements? To make it believable?

Lucien continued looking at me without saying anything, and I could feel my confidence slowly slipping away.

The seriousness on his face was starting to make me nervous.

Queen Theodora was his mother. Whatever problems existed between them, I doubted he would appreciate someone deliberately scaring an injured woman out of her bed.

And knowing Amy, she had probably already told him every single thing I had said and done. That had to be why he was here.

"Any chance you can ditch your friends and have dinner with me tonight?" The unexpected offer caught me completely off guard. I looked into his golden eyes, trying to figure out how we had gone from ’interrogation’ to ’dinner’.

Before I could answer, his phone started ringing. Lucien pulled it from his pocket and frowned at the screen before taking the call. "Yeah?"

I watched his face as he listened. Something in his expression changed, and for a second, I forgot his dinner invitation. "Alright. I’m coming." He ended the call.

"What happened?" I asked. He stepped closer and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"They have found the lizard."

My mouth fell open. "W... what?"

"It was behind the curtain." I stared at him, trying to process it.

He couldn’t be serious!

"I need to go." He leaned down to kiss my cheek and walked away, leaving me rooted to the spot.

How the hell had they found something that never existed?