Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Chapter 52: The Masquerade (7)

The Masquerade 

7 fin.

Inside that tide of shadow he felt it, a pulse of power, intoxicating and absolute.

Invincible.

Noah’s eyes flew open.

Above him, city lights jittered across the glass roof, smudged by a lingering drizzle. The storm was dying, though his pulse refused to follow suit. It wasn’t the sleep that disturbed him.

The rush of Pride’s power swept through him, compelling and addictive, much like the ecstasy pills he publicly condemned during Senate hearings while indulging in them at secret afterparties. Resistance was a fading illusion.

His fingers flexed for something solid. The leather seat felt unreal, as if his power was a vapour, slipping through his fingers. Tongue swollen. Thoughts disjointed.

Was the crash a hangover from Pride’s surge, or from the Macallan 25? He was never a lightweight. That had always been Thomas’s weakness.

The car sped smoothly forward, yet reality warped, red and blue fusing into an abstract smear. He shook his head, trying to refocus.

“David.” Words emerged sluggish. “How long was I out?”

“A while, sir.”

“Define ‘a while.’” Noah’s eyes dropped to the empty tumbler in his hand before he tossed it into the cup holder.

“Roughly thirty minutes,” David said, tweaking the rear?view. “Since we cleared the CBD.”

“Thirty minutes?” Noah sat up straighter. “And we’re still driving? What exactly am I paying you for?”

“You looked so peaceful. I chose not to interrupt that rarity.”

“By taking a scenic route?” Noah’s voice turned cold. “Very efficient.”

David lifted one shoulder. “Not exactly a detour.”

Noah, finally emerging from its earlier fog, calculated exactly how to crush David like the insect he was. He had handled worse threats, long before Pride had left that mess in his office weeks ago.

“I have actual priorities. Things that matter.”

“Press conference, or perhaps an eulogy for your beloved, only brother?” David asked.

Noah froze. “And how exactly would you—“

David leaned back lazily. “A touch of insight, let’s call it. After all, you did whisper ‘Thomas’ five times… while, shall we say, ‘under the influence.’ It was… enlightening.”

“Mind your tone, driver. You’re paid to keep silent, not to psychoanalyse.”

“I’m no analyst, just a concerned citizen watching his senator… transcend,” came the mild reply. “But hey, even the esteemed Senator needs his forbidden indulgences. Wouldn’t you agree, sir?”

“It’s Senator Blackwood.” Noah’s patience strained to its breaking point. Once this insolent driver dropped him off, he’d seize the opportunity to test this new power. “Do you grasp who you’re addressing? You’re f—”

"Fired?" David’s chuckle was low, rich, and entirely unruffled. “You dismissed me fifteen minutes ago, somewhere between the humming and the grin. Must say, Cleo’s rendition, off-key as it was, had more staying power than your threats, sir. It still gives me shivers, truly.”

“Cleo… what?” Noah noticed, at last, that David’s fingers had never touched the wheel. The speedometer ticked beyond 250?km/h. Landscape shredded into darkness.

“Didn’t I warn you against using autopilot?” Noah snarled. “Those who dare to ‘defy’ me often find themselves six feet under.”

David finally took the wheel. “Oh? Are we confessing now? Relax. If I crash, I lose my job. Oh, right…”

“You? A driver, making threats?”

“Threats? You really do flatter yourself, sir. My sole focus has been your safety.” David’s voice slipped into a smooth tone, even feminine. He let both hands slide leisurely off the wheel. “Because someone as… irrelevant as you wouldn’t matter otherwise.”

“Irrelevant? Hands. On. The. Wheel!” 

Noah’s hands curled into fists. David was testing, no, daring him to cross the limit.

“You truly don’t want my hands up there, considering my questionable… well, let’s be honest, non-existent driving skills, but..,” David interrupted. “After surviving that endless road trip with my parents, I know everything there is to know about electric cars, mostly because I had to read the user manual to stay sane. Their music, however, absolutely atrocious.”

The harsh lines on David’s face softened. Noah watched, confused, as the rugged features began to dissolve.

"Your car is undoubtedly more sophisticated and faster,” the chauffeur continued. “That’s partly why there was a brief delay in my arrival. I needed a moment to acquaint myself. But fear not, I’m a quick study in every respect that matters.”

Noah’s jaw clenched. At this velocity, one wrong move could be fatal. He needed to buy time. "You're... not actually David, are you?"

“An astute observation.”

“So who the hell are you, and what do you want?” Noah subtly inched his hand toward his phone. Before he could press a single button, the impostor yanked left. Noah slammed against the door, breath blasted from his lungs, phone tumbling to the floor. The sedan hurtled onto a snaking, dim road.

“Oops… This is why seatbelt laws exist. And to think, just last week, you were preaching about public safety.” 

“Where do you think you’re taking me?” Noah peered at the rugged, neglected outskirts. It was the kind of place he only visited for campaign photos, never without security.

The luxurious car jolted, tires biting into gravel as they barreled forward at three times the speed limit. Noah’s headache spiked. “Stop this car, now, you fucking idiot!”

“Oh? Cursing now, are we?” David’s voice slipped into something silky and dangerously sweet, a lilting tone that was almost musical. It was certainly feminine. “But hadn’t I warned you already?”

David’s short blond hair shimmered, a faint, dark violet light dancing around the edges. It elongated, darkening into lush brown waves. Features re?shaped until a woman sat behind the wheel, lavender scent displacing leather and cologne.

A… woman?! He’d heard rumours of a power like this: a shapeshifter, an ability so rare it bordered on legend.

The woman shrugged off David’s oversized blazer. It slid from her shoulders and landed on the seat beside her. 

“What exactly did you warn me about?” Noah forced out as his heart hammered.

“Honestly, you never listen, do you? Someone you consider beneath you?” she sighed, fingers combing through her hair. “I told you the night would be turbulent. You assumed I meant the weather.”

“If this is a threat in any way—” Noah’s sentence broke off as the dashboard lit: autopilot engaged. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“Isn’t it thrilling? Knowing your life is quite literally in your car’s hands?”

“You absolute lunatic!” Noah shouted.

She laughed softly, flicking the wheel without warning and sending the car skidding over a pothole. Noah’s head smacked the roof, his neatly combed silver hair now a mess. 

“How disappointing,” she purred. “I expected you to deliver venom, not volume.”

“I don’t negotiate with people like you.”

“Still weak. You really are lost without your team of writers.” She turned to face him, smiling. It was the kind of smile designed to tempt. “What’s wrong, Senator? Are you feeling unsettled by a touch of unpredictability?”

The woman who had posed as David radiated something both magnetic and dangerous. Her beauty so flawless it made him swallow. Something divine, or deadly. And her eyes…

Gold. House Van?Nassau. If a Van?Nassau was present, Pride had orchestrated more than he realised.

Of course. Part of the grand design. He was Pride’s chosen vessel.

“Pride!” he thundered. “Show yourself!”

From the dark, a violet haze slithered out, thick and toxic, wrapping around him like a serpent. As it swirled, Noah let out a mocking laugh.

“End this masquerade!” he commanded.