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Beatrice was walking down the corridor. Nobody was out here at this time in the night, but she still kept her head down on the off chance she would meet anyone. Lilith and Beatrice had prepared a cover story about having been sent here by the diocese, complete with a letter that corroborated that. But so far, after nearly twelve hours of being in the orphanage, nobody had even talked to them. Of course, they were wandering the halls as little as possible. But still, it irked Beatrice a little, that the security here was so lax that literally anyone could walk in.
Not that it didn't work in their favour right now, but still, if Adriel got wind of a potential heir to the throne being here, he would have no problem killing the girl, without it ever even coming back to him. That was the first thing Beatrice and Lilith had been on the lookout for, whether there were any signs of him already having sent someone. But there were none, thankfully, at least not so far. Now, their prerogative was to install cameras in and around Ava's room.
They had to make sure the potential princess was secure at all times, as per Suzanne's orders, but also because nobody in their team would ever leave a possible target of Adriel's unprotected. All of them had been shocked when they had been told that a paralyzed girl in this orphanage might well be the king's daughter. His illegitimate daughter, of course, seeing as he was still very much a priest and had been for thirty years. But as the heritage laws did not state that any heir to the throne had to be legitimate, Ava could still be the current king's direct heir, making her a prime target for Adriel.
Ava's mother had been one of Duretti's bodyguards a long time ago. Beatrice only knew her name, Mariella. She had been in the crown's service a long time before Beatrice even started, of course, as she was only a couple of years older than Ava herself. That and the way Ava had been abandoned after Mariella's death in a car accident made Beatrice's heart go out to the girl. From what they could tell after accessing Ava's files (not particularly legally, but they didn't care about that), she had barely received any medical attention in the over ten years she had been here in the orphanage.
The doctors had declared her paralysed from the shoulders down after the accident when she was seven years old and then just dumped her here. Beatrice was fuming at that thought and even Lilith had frowned deeply, clearly also affected by the neglect, barely able to keep up her usual neutral façade. Lilith and Beatrice had been sent here by Suzanne to look after Ava, to get her DNA in some way and to install cameras.
Getting two of the exact outfits the nuns in this orphanage wore had been very easy. Beatrice did not feel very comfortable dressed up as a nun though. Her own history with the church did not make it appealing. But she would never not follow an order. So Beatrice pushed her feelings down, concentrating on her mission. Lilith and her had decided to wait until the middle of the night to install the cameras in Ava's room and outside of it. They had already installed some at all entrances to the orphanage.
That way, they would see anyone Adriel might send coming. It had been all very quiet since the afternoon, when they had first arrived here. It was three in the night now, but Beatrice was not tired, being used to long shifts and weird hours as they were par for the course when being in the royal guard. She kept her guard up, even when the entire orphanage seemed to be asleep. From what they had gathered, there was one nun who was working during the nightshift, but she generally stayed in the common room the nuns used, far from Ava's room.
Beatrice now rounded a corner, coming up to the large corridor in which Ava's room was located. Looking around her carefully, she deemed it save enough to walk further towards the wall opposite Ava's door, again looking around and then jumping up smoothly, supporting herself on the wall, positioning the very small camera on the top of the doorframe, making sure it was basically invisible. After that feat, Beatrice walked down the corridor again, towards Ava's door.
"Picture comes through well, I can see you," Lilith said through Beatrice's earpiece. Beatrice acknowledged her with a nod towards the camera, not daring to speak in the extremely quiet hallway.
Once again looking around her, Beatrice opened the door to Ava's room very carefully. Walking inside without making any sound, very quietly closing the door behind her, she looked towards the beds first, ready for her cover story if one of the inhabitants of the room was still awake. But both Ava and the boy in the bed next to her had their eyes closed, their breathing slow and clearly indicating that they were asleep. Beatrice thought back to what they knew about the boy, Diego, which was basically nothing.
Only that he had no one, just like Ava and was ill. He had been here in the orphanage for three years and seemed to be the only friend Ava had, from what they could ascertain. Ava apparently barely ever left the room and never the building, so Diego was the only one she had to talk to other than the nuns. Who Ava did not seem very fond of, the feeling mutual from what Beatrice had read in Ava's file. Clearly, the nuns were giving Ava the minimum care to keep her alive, but nothing else.
Looking around the room, Beatrice's attention was taken by a poster on Ava's wall. The ocean. It was pretty. Probably something Ava liked looking at, being stuck in here. It hurt Beatrice to think that Ava could have a full life if she just had some support instead of being discarded. But now that Suzanne had been told about Ava, Beatrice knew she would not leave her here, whether Ava was the princess or not.
Beatrice had seen how devastated Suzanne had been when she had learned about Mariella's death, about her daughter's fate. It was very clear that Suzanne would not abandon Ava here, whatever the DNA result would say. That thought got Beatrice back on mission. She very quietly crossed the room, scanning Ava's nightstand for something that could contain DNA, a hairbrush or a cup.
She found a comb, bending down to it to look carefully and deeming that there was indeed hair on it that hopefully was Ava's. Putting on gloves very quietly, Beatrice took the comb carefully and put it in a small evidence bag she had carried with her. She would put the comb back after having extracted Ava's hair. Looking to the side to make sure Ava was still sleeping, Beatrice was suddenly confronted with seeing Ava for the first time fully.
There was no denying that Ava was beautiful. Even with her eyes closed, her features were soft and stunning, tempting Beatrice to look longer than she should. She shook herself, knowing that watching Ava sleep was very much not what she was here for. Tearing her gaze away, Beatrice made sure that Diego was also still asleep, then walked back towards the door, scanning the walls for the optimal position of their cameras. Deciding on one right on top of the doorframe and another by Ava's ocean poster, Beatrice quickly and quietly positioned the cameras.
Lilith's voice came through Beatrice's earpiece again, telling her that both cameras were working perfectly and that nobody was in the hallway currently. As quietly as she had entered, Beatrice left the room. The corridor was indeed empty and Beatrice made her way towards the small storage room her and Lilith had set up as staging area.
Getting there, Beatrice made sure she was alone and turned her key in the lock that they had installed, needing privacy for what they were doing. Lilith acknowledged Beatrice's entry, sitting at the desk they had put in the back of this little room, decked out with a monitor and a couple of laptops, a computer standing under it.
"Everything good?" Beatrice asked. Lilith nodded, waving towards the monitor, where the feeds of the three cameras Beatrice had just placed were played simultaneously, the laptops showing the cameras at the entrances. There was no movement on any of them.
"Yes, all quiet. You got something we can extract DNA from?" Lilith looked up at Beatrice, who nodded. Taking out the evidence bag, she showed the comb to Lilith. Putting on gloves too, Lilith nodded. "Good. I'll take the hair, you can put the comb back. We can test several of the hairs, making sure."
Beatrice acknowledged her and watched the camera feed while Lilith carefully extracted the hair from the comb and put every strand in it's own small bag. Then Beatrice took the comb back and returned to Ava's room. This time, she didn't dwell, not wanting to get distracted again. After all, if Ava was indeed the king's daughter, they needed to act quickly, to make sure she was safe.
Allowing herself one brief look back at Ava's sleeping form, Beatrice found herself wishing that Ava was indeed the princess. She wasn't really ready to analyze why, but part of her didn't want to leave Ava alone. Shaking off that feeling, Beatrice carefully and quietly went back to the storage room to tell Suzanne that they had Ava's hair and to send someone to get it. After Doctor Salvius tested the DNA they would have to act quickly if and when it showed that Duretti was indeed Ava's father.
While it would mean Ava was in imminent danger, Beatrice still hoped for it, just so she could spend more time with Ava. She was intrigued by the girl who had been dealt such a hard hand by fate and still never seemed to have lost her spirit, according to her file. It would certainly be intriguing to watch her react to the news that she was the princess and heir to the throne.