by Kat Mizera
I spotted Solange and Jonas coming in through the service entrance and went to meet them. “Hey.” I smiled at her. “How was your day?”
“It was wonderful.” She gave me a bright smile as she walked up to me and put her arms around my neck. “The school is incredible—have you been there?—and the computers are amazing! So fast… I’ve never had such fast internet. Well, it’s actually an intranet, but…” She went on for a few minutes and I let her talk. Not that I could have gotten a word in edgewise, but she was so excited and I was excited for her. Jonas gave me a thumbs-up and took off, leaving me with a beautiful woman I wanted to kiss.
“…and then the network links to the palace, but only the security offices, so we have direct contact with them if—”
I cut her off with my mouth, taking her lips as if they were mine. I slid my tongue between them and she opened her mouth for me. We kissed for a few minutes and I finally pulled back. “I really just want to take you to bed,” I said, “but I’m guessing you’re hungry and your parents are waiting to see you at dinner.”
“Yes.” Her smile faded a little. “They weren’t happy about my new job but Princess Elen was quite convincing, and of course, they would never be rude to anyone here at the palace.”
“Do I need to summon Elen to dinner to help smooth things over?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll handle them.”
“You want me to make myself scarce?”
“No.” She met my eyes. “I’m sure my parents are going to figure out we’re…dating. We might as well be up front about it.”
“Your brother might be a little pissed at me tonight, though.”
“My brother?” Her eyes narrowed. “Axel, what did you do?”
“I told your parents he had something to tell them.” I felt bad about that but I had a job to do. Erik had bent over backwards for her family, and Kostya’s Brat friends posed a threat not just to the Kovacs, but to Erik as well since he was responsible for the whole thing. If the Brat followed Kostya here to Hiskale, that would escalate things and we’d nip that in the bud immediately.
She sighed. “I told you, he’s not a bad kid, just bored and a little full of himself.”
“I know that. Which is why he’s here at the palace, but it’s my job to make sure he doesn’t bring those people to your doorstep at the inn. Or worse, here to the palace. He was in pretty deep, Solange.”
“Are you sure?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Joe did a deep dive into his phone and email records and he’s been involved with them for two years, taking money from them and giving them information. He wouldn’t tell me much, but what I do know isn’t good, and you have to understand Sandor will throw his ass in prison if he falls back in with them. I’m trying to avoid that by being a hard-ass.”
She nodded. “I understand. We’ll talk to him.”
“I’m hoping your mother will get on him. He seems more afraid of her than anyone else.”
“That’s probably true.”
“Are you eating in your parents’ suite?”
“I don’t know. Let me call my mother.”
She called her mother, exchanged a few words and disconnected. “We’re going to eat in Kostya’s suite. Dinner will be served in fifteen minutes and I told her you were joining us.”
“What’d she say?” I asked, sliding an arm around her shoulders as we walked.
“She wanted to know why.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her she could probably figure it out.”
I chuckled. “This is going to be fun, huh?”
“Not as fun as last night in the pool, but probably not terrible.”
“You liked last night in the pool?” I teased her.
“And on the lounge chair, and in the shower…”
“We were a little ambitious last night,” I mused. “I’m going to have to get creative tonight to top all that.”
“I can’t wait.”
19
Solange
The last thing I wanted to do tonight was have dinner with my parents, Kostya and Axel. Kostya was in a really bad mood, my father was eyeing Axel suspiciously, and my mother was pretending we were having some kind of dinner party. If it hadn’t been so painfully awkward, I might have laughed. Instead, I did my best to eat the wonderful meal prepared for us. We were having fettuccine carbonara, salad, and garlic bread. It was much richer than I was used to, but delicious, and mostly I was letting the food be a wonderful distraction.
“I’m not hungry.”
Kostya got up from the table abruptly and I realized I’d missed something.
“Sit down, Kostya.” My mother sounded annoyed.
Shit. What was going on?
“I’m not a child,” he snapped. “You don’t get to send me to my room—or keep me from going there.”
“You’re part of this discussion and you’re not going anywhere until we’ve had it.”
They were speaking Limaji, so I wasn’t sure how much Axel understood, but he was focused on his meal and pretending to be disinterested. I knew better, of course. Axel was good at his job and this was just one of many ways he protected the royal family. Anything going on in the palace was of interest to him, no matter what he let people think.
“You realize Solange is screwing this guy and you’re treating me like I’m the one in trouble.”
“Solange is a grown woman.” Papa spoke up for the first time since the meal had begun. “Who she sleeps with is none of your business.”
“Since when?” Kostya demanded. “You’ve guarded her virtue more than gold.”
“I guarded her reputation in a small town where there was no way for her to escape prying eyes and cutting tongues. I was afraid that would hurt her chances for a future and it may have been my biggest mistake. I should have been paying more attention to you. And now I am.”
“This is ridiculous!” Kostya threw up his hands. “I did what I had to do to take care of this family. If I hadn’t worked with the Brat, we would have starved to death two years ago. And they would have taken a lot more than money if not for me.”
“Yes, but if you’d come clean from the beginning,” Axel interjected in English, “we could have protected the café and stopped it from burning down.”
I gave him side-eye at his understanding of the language, but didn’t say anything, instead watching with amusement as Kostya glared at him.
“For what?” Kostya asked, rolling his eyes. “It was a money pit and we spent every dime we made to feed the whole town. They paid when they could, but mostly they couldn’t. Solange worked eighty hours a week to keep that place running, and right when she finally got us to a place where we were making a profit, winter would come and fuck it up. We had no future there. I’m glad they burned the place down.”
“That was all we had,” Papa told him, his eyes a little misty. “The café has been in our family for generations.”
“And we’ve been starving in it for most of my life. I’m sorry, Papa, but it wasn’t worth saving.”
“Perhaps you’re right, but it wasn’t your decision to make.”
“Someone had to do something.”
“No one is questioning your motives,” Axel said in a conciliatory tone. “It’s the fact that you haven’t been forthcoming about details. I need to know everything, Kostya. Otherwise, I can’t help.”
“We don’t need your help,” Kostya said, glaring at him. “I had it handled.”
“You had nothing handled!” I finally lost my patience with this conversation. “We made it through the winter but we were about to lose everything in the summer. They almost killed you. If Axel hadn’t shown up when he did, you’d be dead right now, and probably Papa too.”
“They wouldn’t have killed me,” Kostya protested. “They were sending a message that we were late with the payments.”
“They destroyed everything inside the café, which meant we had no way to make more money to give them. A
nd without you and Papa, Mama and I never would have gotten back on our feet. They had a plan and you need to tell us what it was.”
We glared at each other but he was the one who finally backed down.
“I don’t know what their plans are,” he said after a moment, looking down. “All I know is that they were trying to show the people of the town they would take care of us, especially in the winter, but that they expect loyalty.”
“To what end?” Axel asked.
“I don’t know,” Kostya said quietly. “They didn’t tell me those types of details.”
“Tomorrow, you’re going to sit with an associate of mine and tell him everything you can remember, okay?” Axel looked at him intently, waiting. “Okay?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Okay.”
“Now let’s enjoy dinner without any more of this animosity. It’s not good for digestion.”
I dipped my head so Kostya wouldn’t see my smile.
“So tell us about you,” Mama said to Axel, as if we hadn’t just had an argument with Kostya. “We know nothing about you or your family.”
Axel didn’t seem put off by this at all and told my family a somewhat exaggerated version of what I already knew, adding some frivolous details. He was less forthright about the distance he kept from his family, making it sound like it was merely the geographical distance that kept them apart.
“And as a Royal Protector, do you live at the palace or do you also have a home somewhere in Hiskale?”
“I work seven days a week,” he told her. “Having a house to take care of would just be a waste of time and money. I have a small suite here at the palace and that’s all I need.”
“Don’t you wish for privacy? Or a place to escape to?”
Axel smiled. “I have plenty of privacy. No one bothers me when I’m off duty, and frankly, living here means I have no commute to work.”
“And what happens when you get married?” Mama asked. “You’ll live and raise a family here?”
I groaned, but Axel just squeezed my leg under the table and answered her without hesitation. “When I get to that point in my life, I’m sure we can find a house or condo near the palace, but for now, it’s a lot easier this way. Plus, it allows me to put most of my salary in savings. Precisely for the day I have a family to take care of.”
Well, that shut my mother up.
After a few days of working with Jonas, I knew my way around the computers at the school and he left me there setting up the database for all the students who’d registered so far. Shannon and Elen were both there today as well, working on the résumés that had come pouring in. They only had about a third of the staff they needed and were getting desperate to ramp up the hiring.
“Do you think you could do internet searches on these two people?” Elen asked, putting two files in front of me. “Nothing official like the security team does, just some generic information and if they have social media?”
“I can try.” I took them from her and started searching. This kind of thing was right up my alley. I’d never had to search for people for professional reasons, but I’d done a lot of searching for vendors and suppliers who could save the café money, and I’d gotten good at navigating the internet.
I was so lost in what I was doing, I didn’t hear Xander come up behind me. Since he was married to Elen, he usually protected her when she went to Parliament House or came here to the school, so we’d all driven in together, but I hadn’t seen him all day.
“Hey, Solange.”
“Hi.” I glanced up with a smile.
“What are you up to?”
“Doing some research for Elen. Did you bring lunch?” He’d said he would order for us.
“It’ll be here in a few minutes,” he said. He perched on the edge of the desk and peered down at my monitor. “Oh, you’re doing a search on Harlow’s social media. That’s probably been a good time.”
“Haven’t found anything interesting,” I admitted. “Who is she?”
“Lennox’s half-sister. She’s just finished her master’s degree and wants to teach here at the school. We’ve already vetted her as far as ties to terrorist organizations and the big stuff, but we’re trying to ascertain whether or not she’s a good fit with us.”
“She’s fresh out of college and going to teach at a school like this?” I asked in surprise.
“She’s actually been teaching for two years, while simultaneously getting her master’s. She has to learn somewhere, and we don’t have that many kids enrolled. We believe she can handle it, especially some of the lower grades.”
“Well, I don’t know what she’s doing in private, but on her social media, it’s all about running 5K’s and makeup. Even her profile on this dating website is pretty boring.”
“She’s on a dating website?” he asked, frowning. “She’s smart, pretty and young. Why would she need one of those?”
“Well, obviously I don’t know her, but if she’s smart and independent, she’s probably intimidating and men don’t seem to like that.”
“I love a woman who can give me a run for my money. In fact, I married one.”
“Well, most men are not you,” I told him.
“Thanks. I think.” He chuckled.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“What does it take to be a Royal Protector?”
“You mean, in general? Or specifics?”
“Both?”
“Well…the number one requirement is being willing to devote your life to protecting the royal family. From the perspective of skills, it’s a bit trickier.”
“Like?”
“All the Protectors have military experience, most coupled with either military intelligence or CIA. All of us have college degrees and at least five years real-world experience in military, security or espionage.”
“Oh.” That was more disappointing than I’d been expecting.
“Why do you look sad?” he asked. “Were you thinking about signing up?”
“Actually, I was.”
20
Axel
Sandor and Lennox got back from their honeymoon on Sunday. They were both tan and wind-tousled, bright smiles on their faces as they joined us for a late afternoon briefing. We’d planned to wait until tomorrow, but Sandor had been itching to catch up on everything and he and Lennox walked into the conference room holding hands.
“You two are so stinkin’ cute,” Xander said, shaking his head at them.
“And so tan,” Joe added. “Was it wonderful?”
“It was pretty wonderful,” Lennox said with a grin, dropping into a chair.
“Who started the pool?” Sandor asked lightly, sitting beside her.
“Pool?” Lennox asked him, frowning.
“You think they didn’t start a pool trying to guess exactly which day you got pregnant?”
“We’ve been having unprotected sex for two damn weeks!” Lennox protested, throwing up her hands. “And anyway, how the fuck will anyone be able to guess the day we actually conceived? We had sex like a hundred times a day every day.”
Joe shook his head. “Did we get called up here for a honeymoon play-by-play? I could be online watching the 49ers’ preseason game.”
“Oh, slow your roll,” Daniil said.
“And the way we guess the date of conception is based on an online due date calculator,” Xander said. “So I guessed you hit pay dirt on the thirty-first of July. If I’m right, you’ll be due on the twenty-third of April.”
Lennox looked at all of us and then turned to Sandor. “You knew about this?”
“Well, not the method, but I had a feeling.” He pretended to be disinterested, rifling through some papers, but Lennox punched him in the arm.
“Hey!”
“Yes, dear?” He looked up, a twinkle in his eye.
“You’re not funny.”
“I’m not,” he agreed. “But they are.” He couldn’t contain his laughter at that point and Lenno
x sighed heavily before joining him.
“You all suck,” she said, snatching the papers out of Sandor’s hand.
“I didn’t participate,” I told her.
“Suck up,” Joe murmured out of the corner of his mouth.
“Good man.” Lennox nodded at me.
She wasn’t really mad. We were all extremely close and no one would have done something like this if we’d thought it would upset Sandor or Lennox. She was a woman, but she was one of the guys, in almost every way. And we’d eventually pay for this bit of ribbing, probably in a big way. Not me, of course. I hadn’t participated. Only because I’d forgotten about it, but she didn’t know that.
“So what did we miss?” Sandor asked after kissing his bride, even though she playfully swatted at him.
“Well, Axel has a girlfriend,” Daniil said with a straight face.
I groaned.
“Yeah?” Lennox turned to me with a smile. “You and that pretty Solange?”
I grunted in response. Now it was my turn for ribbing, and man, it sucked when the tables turned.
“So it’s serious?” Sandor asked, surprise on his face.
“Our relationship is about as old as your unborn baby.” I gave him a look. “I have no idea if it’s serious, but no, she’s not a casual hookup.”
“Should we just go around the room and tell each other who we’re sleeping with?” Joe asked dryly.
“We already know about you and Jesper,” Xander cut in. “And Sandor, Lennox and I are all married now. Are any other Protectors getting any?”
Joe let out a snort of laughter and we got to work.
This was one of the many reasons I loved this job. We worked hard, and a lot of hours, but we all genuinely liked each other. We laughed a lot and always had each other’s backs. When my family asked why I’d sacrificed everything for this job, the people in this room—as well as Erik and Casey—were the reason.
“Speaking of Solange,” Jonas spoke up. “She’s been a huge help to me the last week. She’s taken on a lot of the busywork at the school, giving me more time for my work here, which is huge. Are we going to keep her?” He looked from me to Sandor.
