by Kat Mizera
“But the king has promised to help. Just once, can’t you be agreeable?”
Solange looked like she was going to say something but instead just sighed. “Sure.” She turned and walked down the hall.
“She’s so angry,” Nadia said to me. “Don’t think badly of her. She’s good girl. The last few years have not been kind to her.”
“The last two days haven’t been kind to her either,” I said quietly. “Don’t worry. I’ll go talk to her.”
I followed in the direction she’d gone and found her outside, smoking a cigarette. She didn’t have her purse, so I didn’t know where she’d gotten it, and I also hadn’t seen her smoke before now, but it wasn’t my place to judge. I’d been a smoker once myself.
“You okay?” I asked, sitting on the bench beside her.
“Yup.” She didn’t look at me, taking a long drag and then looking up at the dreary sky as she blew out the smoke.
I pried the cigarette from her fingers and brought it to my lips, taking a drag of my own. I hadn’t smoked since I’d left the Marines, but once in a while I got a craving. Like now.
We shared the rest of the cigarette in silence and she finally put it out in the dirt at her feet.
“You’re a smoker?” I asked after a moment.
“Sometimes.” She got up.
“Solange, why are you mad at me?” I called as she started to go back inside.
“I’m not mad at you,” she responded, without looking back. “I’m simply a realist and don’t want to get attached.”
Shit.
Solange didn’t speak to me the whole flight to Hiskale, while we got Kostya settled at the hospital there, or when I showed her to her room at the palace. Her parents kept up a steady stream of chatter, albeit in Limaji, so I didn’t catch all of it, but Solange was uncharacteristically quiet and I wasn’t sure why. I understood her not being thrilled with going on vacation in the midst of the upheaval of her life, but why was she pushing me away?
Her lame excuse about not getting attached didn’t resonate with me, but in all fairness, I didn’t know her well enough to know for sure whether I was right. I knew women in general, but Solange wasn’t like them, and as I walked toward my own room to grab a quick shower, I wondered what was going on with her. Maybe it was best if I let her go. Not just to Greece, but in general. Once she left, I could make it so I didn’t have to see her again. I didn’t know what Erik would come up with for her family, but I’d be willing to bet none of it required the services of the Royal Protectors. Especially not this one.
I showered and got dressed, heading down to the security office for an update on everything. I was starving and on the way stopped at the kitchen to get a sandwich, eating as I walked. I ran into Xander on the way up and he looked a little harried.
“You okay?” I asked him.
“I’m good. Just trying to keep up with renovations at the new house, get our new housekeeping family settled, and follow Elen around everywhere, while the whole palace goes crazy getting ready for this wedding.”
I chuckled. “Better you than me.”
“Happy to be home?”
“Fuck yeah. Being up in Braksa sucked ass.”
“Yeah. That compound is creepy as fuck. Just thinking about Elen being locked in that basement…” He made a face. When Princess Elen had been kidnapped, she’d been taken to the compound in question. We’d killed her kidnapper and taken over the compound, and now planned to use it as an unofficial prison. A place we took prisoners without any real rights. Traitors, spies, people like members of the Brat who needed to be interrogated. Part of my job up there had been preparing the basement for such interrogations and making sure every inch of the house was inspected for bugs, cameras or anything surveillance related. It had taken me a few weeks and there was still a little more to do, but then this whole thing started with Solange and I’d gotten a reprieve.
“How’s she feeling?” I asked him. They’d gotten married just a few weeks ago and she was pregnant.
“She’s feeling pretty great. She gets tired a little earlier than normal, but mostly she’s her usual self, running around all day, helping Lennox with the wedding.”
“I’ll be glad when it’s over and things around here get back to normal,” I admitted. “I’m really happy for them, but this wedding is a huge pain in my ass.”
“You have no idea,” Sandor said, coming up behind us and falling into step with us. “Believe me, if it was up to me, we would have eloped months ago. But Erik and Casey had a small, private wedding, and then you and Elen did your thing on the beach in Tahiti, which left the big, royal wedding for me.”
“And you have no idea how grateful I am,” Xander said, laughing.
Sandor gave him a dirty look and we went into the security office.
“Okay.” Sandor sat in the chair at the head of the table. “Four days and counting until the wedding. We’ve already got a full house, with guests arriving from all over the world, and there are activities nonstop, beginning tomorrow morning. First on the agenda is getting the Kovac family off to Greece tomorrow.”
Kovac. I hadn’t even known Solange’s last name. But I knew the exact shade of pink her nipples were and how she liked to be kissed.
Ah, shit.
“Natalia has taken Solange and Nadia shopping,” Sandor said. “That’s why she’s not here. Erik’s feeling pretty guilty about the whole thing, so he’s giving them the royal treatment, so to speak.”
We all chuckled.
“Axel, can you get them to the airport in the morning?” Sandor asked me.
“Would you mind getting someone else to do it?” I asked hesitantly. “I haven’t worked out in a week, I’ve got two weeks’ worth of paperwork to do, I need my laundry done… Really, I could use a few hours here to get some shit done.”
“No problem.” Sandor turned to Joe Westfield, who was the head of palace security. “It shouldn’t take more than an hour… Can you do it? I could have one of the drivers do it, but Erik wants a personal touch after everything that’s happened.”
“No problem.” Joe nodded.
“All right, back to business.”
I put Solange out of my mind and focused on the job at hand. She was better off without me. I wasn’t the right guy for her. At least that’s what I told myself.
Now if I could just stop thinking about the night we’d been together, things would be fan-fucking-tastic.
11
Solange
I’d been in a terrible mood the day we’d left for Hiskale, and had been rude to Axel, but I’d thought I’d be able to apologize before we left for Greece. Instead, I hadn’t seen him, and after four days of being pampered in Greece, I wished I could talk to him. Though I hadn’t wanted to come, I was honestly more relaxed than I ever remembered being.
After an impromptu shopping trip to downtown Hiskale, we’d gotten full summer wardrobes, luggage, even a new laptop for me. Our villa here at the resort was the most gorgeous place I’d ever seen, and we were waited on hand and foot. My parents spent their days by the pool, eating and drinking and dancing, like they were on a second honeymoon or something. I’d been given spending money—more than I’d ever seen at one time in my life—so after two days on the beach, I’d spent today at a spa.
I’d never had a massage before and it had been incredible. I’d also never had a pedicure or manicure before either, and at that point, I’d gone for the facial, the hair mask, and time in some sort of mud bath. I now had the world’s softest skin, pretty red nails, silky smooth hair, and a fantastic tan. I looked great and the only person I wanted to see me was a thousand miles away at the wedding of the year. Which was happening tomorrow.
I walked back to our villa and let myself in. There were two bedrooms, so I had plenty of privacy, which had been nice. King Erik was pulling out all the stops for us, and while it was amazing, it made me a little sad too. Before long, we would leave here and had no idea what awaited us.
&n
bsp; At least I had clothes now, since I assumed I’d be allowed to keep them. I’d bought a sexy matching bra and panty set that I couldn’t wait to wear. That was silly, though, because the only person I wanted to wear it for was Axel and he’d made himself scarce after we got to Hiskale. I’d told him I was trying to keep from getting attached to him, which was true, but it was too late for that. I had no experience with sexual intimacy and hadn’t been counting on the yearning I’d have for him. How much I’d want him to touch me again.
That probably wasn’t going to happen, so I was trying to get used to the idea. King Erik had told my parents that he would have a plan, both for us and for the rest of the residents of Vinake, by the time we got back. So while I’d been pretty relaxed in general, by the last day, I was restless and worried. Not because we wouldn’t be able to go back to Vinake, but because I was afraid we would. If the king offered to rebuild the café and support us in the interim, it would just be another version of hell for me. One where we weren’t cold or hungry during the winter, but no less bored or frustrated.
“Solange, good morning.” Mama came out of the bedroom on our final morning in Greece. She was tan and had spent some time in the spa herself. She looked a decade younger and seemed even more relaxed than I was.
“Morning, Mama.” I smiled and kissed her cheek.
There was a fancy machine that made espresso and cappuccino in our kitchenette, so I made one for each of us. We carried them out to the balcony that overlooked the ocean and sat for a while.
“Have you had a good time, love?”
“It’s been nice,” I admitted, staring out at the sea. “It’s going to make being back in Vinake that much harder.”
“You have the soul of a wanderer,” Mama said softly. “As did I once.”
“What happened? Did your soul freeze to death after enough winters?”
She laughed. “I fell in love with your father and then we had you. There was no time for wandering. We had to work, take care of our children, and eventually our parents.”
“And all four of them died before they were sixty,” I said softly. “Mama, I don’t want that for you, but don’t you see it’s inevitable? The lives we lead aren’t just miserable, they’re bad for us. The average age of death in Vinake is fifty-seven, almost twenty years before the rest of the civilized world. What does that say about us?”
“I don’t know.” Mama sipped her coffee. “But what else would we do, Solange? We don’t have the means to live a life of leisure.”
“I don’t want a life of leisure,” I protested. “I just want a reward for all the hard work. A holiday once in a while. A mattress without lumps. A day off once a week to hang out with friends, see a movie, do something, anything, but work.”
Mama squeezed my hand. “I know. I’m sorry, my love. I wish our lives had been different. We did the best we could.”
“I don’t blame you, but now we have a chance to start over. If you tell the king you want to start over in Hiskale, instead of Vinake, he would make it happen. You could open a new café in the city, somewhere we could make money, hire a staff to help us so we can take a day off…” My voice trailed off because I already knew that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to be in our hometown, with her friends and family and everything that was familiar, while I wanted to run as far from there as possible.
Mostly I wanted to explore Axel, but the way he’d avoided me after we got to Hiskale told me what I needed to know about him. At least with regard to me. He had to be a good man to work on the king’s personal security force, but that didn’t mean what we’d share had meant anything to him. He hadn’t known he would be my first lover so I’d probably disappointed him or something, though I knew he’d had fun. You didn’t need a lot of experience to see the pleasure on a man’s face while making love to a woman. Too bad it hadn’t been good enough for him to want to see me again.
“If you want to stay in Hiskale,” Mama said after a moment, “you should stay. Perhaps the king could find you a position in the kitchen.”
“I don’t want to work in a kitchen,” I said quietly.
“Solange, you must stop these visions of grandeur. You have to accept that we’re just working-class people who will never have more than what we have now. The king will help us, and maybe things will be better, but I don’t know what you want. Do you know?”
“How would I know?” I asked her. “I’ve never been beyond Vinake. This is my first time owning a real suitcase—how the hell would I know what I want in the future?”
“A husband? Children?”
“Maybe? But mostly I want to do something that means something. I want to go to university, study computers, get an education. Maybe have a career, not just a job waiting tables or cooking.”
“Go to university?” Papa joined us on the patio and laughed. “At your age, you need a husband and a few babies. Then you’ll forget such nonsense.”
God, I loved my parents, but they had such a narrow view of the world. Especially for women. If Kostya had been the one saying he wanted to go to university, our father probably would have moved heaven and earth to make it happen.
“Samuel, you must learn not to hurt her feelings,” Mama was saying as I got up and walked back inside the villa. I grabbed my purse, a new one I’d bought just yesterday, and left the villa. I walked down to the main building of the resort and waited for the shuttle bus that would take me into Athens. I’d fallen in love with it here and the last thing I wanted was to leave paradise and head back to hell.
I rode the shuttle downtown and wandered around Syntagma Square. I bought a few postcards, a T-shirt that said “Athens” in blue glitter, and a navy blue hoodie that said “Greece” on it. I’d already picked up a baseball cap and hoodie for Kostya, and Mama had bought him a pair of leather dress shoes. I thought that was funny since Kostya never wore dress shoes, but who was I to tell her how to spend her share of the money she’d been given?
I wandered down to the shopping district and lost myself in the stores. Clothes and shoes, leather goods and jewelry, you could find anything here. Most of it was a good price too. I’d picked up a couple of pairs of jeans and one nice pair of boots, things I would need in winter, but now that I was surrounded by so many beautiful things, I was tempted to splurge, buy myself more than practical souvenirs that could double as my winter wardrobe.
Impulsively, I walked into a small shoe boutique and decided to throw caution to the wind. I tried on almost every shoe in the store that they had in my size. Sandals, boots, stilettos, in every color imaginable. My favorite was a turquoise, high wedge heel with a peep-toe front and rhinestone-laced ankle straps. They were so pretty and would match one of the sundresses I’d bought the day we’d arrived. White and low-cut in the front, trimmed in gold, with gold rope straps, it was shin-length and looked fantastic on me now that I had a tan. Too bad I would never wear it—or the turquoise wedges I went ahead and bought—once I left Greece.
Packages in hand, I bought a small pair of gold hoop earrings, a necklace with a beautiful amber stone that hung on a leather strap, and a silver anklet that shimmered as I walked. I felt like a princess, but knew it wouldn’t last, so I closed my eyes and let myself pretend. That was all I could do.
We got on a flight the following morning and arrived back in Hiskale just before noon. There was a driver with our names on a white card waiting for us and we piled our things into the SUV they’d sent for us. I didn’t say anything, staring out the window as we drove back to the palace. Natalia met us at a side entrance when we arrived.
“Hi.” The attractive brunette smiled. “Your luggage will be brought to your rooms and I’ll take you to the king’s private dining room. After lunch, I believe the king has some options for you.”
“Thank you,” I said politely.
We followed her to an elevator that took us up several floors and onto a level that wasn’t marked on the panel. We stepped off the elevator and the royal family’s private quar
ters were not at all what I was expecting. There was an infant’s swing set up in one corner, a playpen in another, and toys all over the room. There was a huge television above an ornate fireplace, but it was playing a cartoon I didn’t recognize.
“Hi!” Queen Casey, King Erik’s wife, came into the room in shorts, a T-shirt and bare feet. She held a tow-headed baby on her hip, whom I believed to be Prince Levi. “Erik’s just finishing up a security briefing but he’ll be ready for you in a few minutes.”
My mother immediately made a big fuss over the baby and wound up holding him, she and the queen talking like old friends. Papa watched politely, his usual quiet self, and I just stood there, wishing I was back in Greece. I wasn’t nervous so much as impatient. It was as if I was on trial and waiting to find out my sentence. I wanted to ask the king for something for me, personally, beyond what he planned to do for my family, but I didn’t know what I would have asked for even if I’d had the nerve to actually do it.
“Let’s have lunch, shall we?” Queen Casey handed the baby to someone I assumed was a nanny and we walked into a small, intimate dining room. A door off to the side opened and King Erik came out, greeting us warmly as he kissed his wife on the cheek.
We sat around the table and made small talk as we ate. I didn’t say anything, merely listening as I nibbled on the excellent meal they provided.
“So I’ve come up with something unconventional,” King Erik said once coffee had been served. “As you know, there isn’t a lot I can do short-term to fix the issues in Vinake. We’ve already sent the men we captured back to the Bojovnik Brat, a little worse for wear, with a personal message from me that their behavior won’t be tolerated. I’ve sent a group of soldiers to guard the town, but that’s no way to live. The people are uncomfortable and I don’t want to be the type of leader that uses the military within our own borders. However, I don’t have enough trustworthy police to have a full-time patrol, so that’s the temporary answer.” He paused. “I can rebuild your café, but I can’t do anything about the long, harsh winter that’s coming. I don’t have the time to improve the highways and provide better roads by October. I also can’t protect the whole town twenty-four hours a day or guard every factory, shop, farm and private home. I can, however, protect you.”
