Chapter 87
Lui stepped back into the kitchenette, fingers curled tight around his phone. The TV’s bright flicker danced across the hallway wall behind him, laughter and music trailing faintly from the living room where Queen Henriette had led Thess and Prince Rian. Their muffled voices blended with the digital hum of the modern world they were just beginning to taste.
Henriette, the Henriette, his ex Henriette, stood by the counter, arms folded tightly across her chest. The oversized sleeves of her sweater bunched near her elbows, her fingers gripping the fabric like she needed something solid to hold onto. Her eyes, always unreadable, were sharp now, watching him not with suspicion, but with urgency, hope barely masked behind a mask of composure.
“Well?” she asked, voice low, almost too calm. But there was something brittle underneath—something that could shatter.
Lui glanced at her, then down at his phone, the glow of the screen illuminating the tension in his face. He gave a short nod, then brought the phone to his ear, thumb hovering for a second before committing to the call. His heart beat a little harder. He didn’t know what would happen next—only that everything might change with this one conversation.
It rang once.
Twice.
“Come on, pick up,” he muttered under his breath, pacing a few steps away, though there was nowhere to go.
Then—click.
A beat of silence. And then Lurick’s voice, low and gravelly, laced with fatigue: “Lui?”
Lui stiffened. “Yeah, it’s me,” he said quickly, words rushing out. “Listen, I know this is going to sound completely insane, but I need you to just listen, okay?”
A long pause followed.
Henriette didn’t move, but her body leaned forward ever so slightly. She wasn’t breathing—not properly. Her eyes locked on Lui as if she could hear the conversation through sheer willpower.
He didn’t look at her. Not yet.
He swallowed.
“Just… please,” he said softly into the phone. “Let me explain.”
“She’s here. Henriette. Both of them. I don’t know how, but it’s real. They're in the castle right now. One of them look like you. She was telling the truth all this time.”
Silence on the other end. Then, slowly: “Really?”
Lui let out a shaky breath. “Yes. Henriette from our world, and the Henriette that’s been here with us claiming she is a queen. They look exactly the same. They’re both real. Your real sister wants to see you.”
There was another pause, deeper this time. The kind of silence that came with weight behind it.
“I can’t,” Lurick finally said. “I’m not well enough to travel.”
Lui frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been… sick, Lui. For some time now. It appears the chemo is not working. The kind that doesn't let you run around anymore. Most days I can’t even stand without help.”
Lui closed his eyes and exhaled. He looked up at Henriette, who had gone very still. Her eyes searched his face.
“She needs to know,” he said gently into the phone.
“I know,” Lurick replied. “Tell her I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I just… couldn’t face it. Not without knowing if she has gone crazy.”
Lui hung up quietly and turned to her.
“He’s not coming,” he said.
Henriette’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”
“He’s sick,” Lui said. “He didn’t want to tell you, but… it’s cancer. It’s bad. He’s been fighting it for a while.”
Henriette blinked, her breath catching like she’d been hit in the chest. But she didn’t stumble. She didn’t cry.
Instead, she straightened her shoulders. “Then we go to him.”
Lui hesitated. “He might not,..”
“I don’t care if he can’t get out of bed. I don’t care if he can’t speak. I’m not letting another day go by without seeing my brother.”
She turned toward the hallway, already calling out: “You three! Get up—we’re leaving!”
From the living room, the trio of wide-eyed visitors didn’t respond at first. The television screen was lit up with a battle scene, explosions, lasers, and music swelling like a symphony of madness.
“I told you this world had its own kind of sorcery,” Queen Henriette said proudly. “These are called movies. Moving images, frozen stories brought back to life.”
Thess didn’t even blink. “I think I’m in love with this glowing box.”
Prince Rian, face pale with astonishment, leaned forward. “Is the tiny man inside trapped? Or is he… conjured?”
“No time for that,” Henriette called. “We’re leaving. We’re going to see Lurick.”
At that, Queen Henriette rose. Her smile faded into something softer, more serious. “Lurick?”
Henriette nodded. “He’s ill. He couldn’t come. So we go to him.”
“I’ll get my coat,” Queen Henriette said without hesitation.
Thess looked up from the screen reluctantly. “Wait, now? But this part just got good!”
“You’ll live,” Henriette said.
“I died for less than this,” Thess grumbled, pulling herself to her feet.
Prince Rian stood, adjusting the unfamiliar jacket he wore. “What kind of journey is it? Horses?”
Queen Henriette grinned. “Better.”
She held up the car keys like a magical artifact.
“We’re taking a car,” she said dramatically. “A beast without a heart. It carries you faster than a galloping stag and hungers for nothing but firewater.”
Prince Rian raised a brow. “You mean alcohol?”
“No. Fuel,” Lui said, stepping into the hallway behind them. “Gasoline. Engines. Think metal horse with lightning in its gut.”
Prince Rian looked only mildly reassured.
Thess clapped once. “Okay. I’m in.”
Queen Henriette turned to Lui. “I’m driving.”
“I figured,” he muttered, already heading for the door. He has been teaching her how to drive. She manage to get her learners but the drivers she failed more than a handful of times.