Collude

Tony stared at the council aghast. “You mean to tell me that after I left, you all colluded to keep me here.”

“Uh. Not exactly, King Anthony.” Marcie mewed.

“Then explain this to me.” Tony crossed his arms and glared at the council.

“You are still needed here. The people need to see a united country or they’ll fall to despair.” The council explained.

“The people don’t even know me. Unite them behind Sammy.” Tony wasn’t playing this game anymore. He knew he wasn’t needed. The council just wanted to hold onto him out of fear.

“There are some duties that only you can do.” Marcie tried.

“So send someone to the human dimension when you need me or get Sammy to do them. I’m not hanging around here to wait for you to need me.” Tony growled. He was growing more worried by the moment. He had no reason for his gut feeling, but it was growing worse the longer he stayed here.

“Look. You’re safer here than in the human dimension. The killers are looking for you in the human dimension.” Rupert explained.

“If I stay here they’ll come back and you’ll lose even more cats, probably more cats on the council. Is that what you want?” Tony snarled. “I’m a federal agent in the human dimension. I know how to take care of myself.”

“We can’t afford to lose you. You are the only one remaining with royal blood. If you insist on going to the human dimension. Then there are 6 guards that will accompany you.” Marcie informed King Anthony in no uncertain terms.

Tony was more than done with this. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of myself. If your guards can find me and keep up with me, then I might allow them to help me out. Otherwise, they’ll be better off staying here and guarding the kingdom so that no other deaths occur.” With that, King Anthony stormed out of the room to find a location where he would have the peace he needed to be able to focus and transition back to the human dimension.

At one point in time, he had known this castle like the back of his hand, but it had been too long since he’d been in this dimension and the only thing he could rely on was his training with Gibbs to avoid a tail. Slipping into a side passageway, he listened as the guards ran past his hiding space. Hoping they would take awhile to figure out where he went, he focused on returning to the human dimension.

Sammy had watched the council try to strong arm King Anthony into doing what they wanted and had realized that she would have to be careful. While they had named her heir, they clearly had their own agenda. She may have to replace some of the councilors once her position was more solid if the kingdom truly wanted to recover and return to the majesty it had been under King Anthony’s grandfather.