The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,39
to talk to you. I only have one thing to say.” I set my cup down, and there was a moment’s panic in his eyes as I moved toward him and wrapped my arms around him. “I love you, old friend. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
A shuddering sigh went through him and he patted my back. “You are my family, Your Highness. You have been since the day you married the prince. You should understand that the children have become the light of my long existence. I bless the day you came into my life.”
I stepped back, grateful he gave me that moment. “And I bless the day you came into mine.” I did have one question I wanted to ask him. “That day we disappeared, Grayson Sloane asked if he could speak with you.”
Albert nodded. “Yes, the dark prophet came up to the penthouse that morning.”
“He warned you, didn’t he?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that Gray had known and not warned me. There are two prophets walking the Earth plane. I’d met the first many years before. His name was Jacob and he came from the Heavenly plane. Grayson was the Hell plane’s prophet, and like his Heavenly counterpart there were rules that governed his existence. Gray could see all possible futures, but he couldn’t clearly warn anyone. Instead he could only speak in terms that could be taken in any number of ways, so I wondered how he’d managed to warn Albert.
“He did, though I did not understand I would need to act so quickly,” Albert admitted. “His warning was somewhat cryptic, but that is his nature. He tried. He tried very hard to get me to understand. He made himself sick, Your Highness.”
The fact that Gray had been able to get a warning out at all was a miracle, and I tried to tamp down my irritation that Gray had known and not told us. Though even if he’d tried, it likely wouldn’t have worked. “So he gave you his whole prophet spiel, and then when Myrddin came to the penthouse, you figured out it was time to move?”
“I understood that if anything happened to you and Daniel, I should run with the children. I should not allow anyone outside our household to gain access to them,” Albert explained. “It was Sarah who warned us something was wrong. She came to the penthouse that morning looking for you. She’d heard unsettling rumors.”
“Do you know what happened to Sarah?” I felt sick inside that I couldn’t find my friend. At least we knew where Neil was.
Albert shook his head. “We realized that our cell phone service was unavailable, and she went to warn Neil and Chad. I did not see her again. Your father and I decided we should move the children. Eddie came with Trent.”
“But Gray didn’t come?”
“From what I understand, the dark prophet bought us time. He went to speak with the wizard while Eddie and I tried to make the children ready. Harry helped. It was during this time I also wiped the hard drives on all of the computer systems. I locked down the bank accounts as my master taught me, and I gathered the documents required to access the money left. We still have much of the cash Master Dev prepared for such an occasion. I am sorry we couldn’t save your father.”
He’d taken on such responsibility. “It wasn’t your fault. You did what he wanted you to do, what we needed you to do. You were more than we could have hoped for.”
Albert tilted his head. “I am happy to have done this duty. I will stay and look forward to welcoming the next member of our family. Congratulations, Your Highness. I’m glad you and Master Daniel had a chance to grace our world with your child. And Eddie is over the moon at the thought of Mistress Kelsey having a baby. Our dark times…well, we’re not through them yet, but you bring light and life with you.”
“Thank you.” It still seemed surreal that I was pregnant. It reminded me of another pregnancy that had come at a bad time. That pregnancy and what happened to me in the catacombs of Paris had come full circle, and I had to face the choice I’d made that day. But I still had questions before I had to deal with what Daniel had told me the night before. “You said Gray was still there that morning. Is he