Guarding His Royal Bride

by C. J. Miller

  * * *

  Iliana was waiting for Demetrius outside his office in Daedalus. She was wearing a navy dress and a white cardigan. Her hands were folded in front of her. She had barely spoken a word to him since the night in the villa by the sea, and Demetrius was surprised to see her.

  “Have you been waiting long? I wasn’t notified you were here,” Demetrius said.

  He had been involved in discussions about the Ghost and the baron of Aetos with Amon and several of his most trusted spies. Unable to track rumors and his father’s schedule precisely over the past twenty years, he couldn’t place both the Ghost and his father in the same location at the same time. Demetrius wondered if his father or Kaliope knew the Ghost. She was hiding the fact that Nicholas was not her biological son. What else could she be hiding?

  “You should have called or knocked,” he said, trying to feel Iliana out. Her shoulders were tight and she seemed upset. Upset about the night they’d spent together, the last night he had touched her or new problems?

  “I was told you were in a meeting and could not be disturbed. I don’t mind waiting. I needed to tell you that Judge Helena Kariolis called me this morning. Stella is being held in jail awaiting trial. I will be named marchioness this afternoon.”

  Alexei would be freed. Joy shook him. “That’s great news.” Understatement of his life. While he knew that the legal process could twist and turn, this afternoon was so soon, and he could taste victory.

  Iliana frowned. “Perhaps. Maria will not return to Valencia to be given her title. She is too afraid. Emmanuel is still missing.”

  Demetrius didn’t want to have this conversation out in the open. They were in the capitol building, but the hallway was not secure. “I’d like to discuss this in private.”

  If news of Iliana being named marchioness became public, the Ghost would want her dead immediately. Demetrius anticipated more attacks.

  Demetrius placed his hand on her lower back, surprised she allowed the gesture, and led her to the top secret space he used when he needed to be briefed on delicate matters.

  Iliana sat on the edge of a leather chair. “What is this place?”

  “It’s the blackout room. It’s secure. Information comes in. Nothing goes out. No taps in here. No chance of someone overhearing.”

  Iliana looked around. “Interesting concept. Why did you bring me here?”

  “I have a lead on the Ghost.”

  Iliana sat up and leaned toward him.

  “I told you I found the picture of Kaliope and my father in her closet. I think their relationship is personal but also professional. I think they may know who the Ghost is.”

  Iliana’s jaw slackened. “What makes you think that?”

  “You were attacked. If I had not interceded, you’d be dead. Nicholas was the first to die. He was not Kaliope’s biological son, and she didn’t seem to care much about him. She must have harbored a grudge against him and not wanted him to inherit. Spiro was killed.”

  “What about Maria? She was poisoned.”

  He had considered that. “She lived. I think Kaliope had the Ghost poison her but not enough to kill her, to throw off anyone looking into suspects who had a motive to target the heirs.”

  Iliana shook her head. “Why would she want to kill the heirs?”

  “To ensure her children were given everything.”

  “Can you prove any of this?”

  “I’ve been working on that. I have detailed information about the crimes against the heirs, and I’m looking for witnesses and a way to tie the murders and attacks to Kaliope.”

  “The police believe that Stella hired someone to kill the heirs.”

  “I don’t like Stella, but I think she’s been framed. I think Kaliope wields more influence in the government than she lets on, and she’s using every connection she has to pin the murders on Stella and throw support behind Emmanuel.”

  Iliana rubbed her temples. “What are we going to do about this?”

  “We’ll use the findings to nail her to the wall.”

  “What about Emmanuel? If the Ghost took him, and she’s the Ghost, why would she be panicked?”

  “The Ghost didn’t take Emmanuel,” Demetrius said.

  “How do you know that?” Iliana asked.

  She would be furious if she knew, and he couldn’t risk her flying into a rage and perhaps deciding not to help him with Alexei. It was a long shot, but he would tell her after Alexei was free. “It doesn’t make sense for her to have kidnapped him. Or if she did, then she’s a great actress and she knows her son is somewhere safe.”

  “This is a lot to take in. I only came by to tell you I would make good on my promise to you once I am marchioness and release Alexei.”

  There was a finality to her words, as if she was planning on leaving, and that panicked him. “I need to come with you.”

  “I thought you may want to see Alexei when he’s released. I can call you to meet him at the prison,” Iliana said.

  Demetrius’s mind whirled with details. Too much could go wrong, and he couldn’t be in multiple places at once. He wanted to see his brother more than anything, but he also needed to ensure that the baron of Aetos didn’t come after Iliana. The baron would be furious when Alexei was released. He would lash out at someone—and who better than the woman who’d foiled his plans? With his ties to Kaliope and therefore the Ghost and a team of assassins, Iliana would be in danger. “Who else knows you’ll be named marchioness today?”

  “For security reasons, only those involved in the ceremony,” Iliana said.

  That was too many people. The heirs knew, and so did Kaliope. It would leak back to the baron, and he would want to ensure that he had control of the situation. He wouldn’t want to lose power to a newcomer. Demetrius weighed his options. “I’ll stay with you to ensure your safety.”

  Iliana nodded once and stood. “Okay.”

  “Does this mean after you free Alexei you’re returning to Acacia?” He wasn’t prepared for her to say yes, but he needed to know where they stood. He had let her down and he had upset her. She had forgiven him far too many times, and he couldn’t ask for another chance.

  “I don’t know, Demetrius. I don’t know what comes next for me.”

  * * *

  Iliana’s hands shook as she signed her name on the document naming her marchioness of Agot.

  No other heirs had attended the ceremony. Presumably they feared attacks from the Ghost and were lying low.

  Judge Kariolis presided over the ceremony. She hugged Iliana and whispered in her ear, “Make your mothers proud. Both of them.”

  Though Iliana hadn’t known her biological mother, her adopted mom had been a fantastic person with a warm heart. She had taught Iliana to be generous of spirit and to love openly. What would her mother advise her about Demetrius? To have endless forgiveness for a man who didn’t love her? Could Iliana win his love? It seemed long past the time for trying to win him. What had started as a bright future for them had clouded over and seemed tentative, at best.

  She looked at Demetrius. He was standing near the doorway, his arms at his sides, appearing strong and handsome. He had looked the same way at their wedding. As the memories flooded her, emotion accompanied them.

  She knew in that instant she didn’t want to leave Demetrius. She wanted him to love her. She wanted to put it all out there, to tell him how she felt, that she loved him and she needed his love in return. Though he seemed to doubt himself, he had the capacity to love and she would prove it to him.

  Demetrius hugged her when she reached him. She hadn’t realized she had been walking toward him until she felt the warmth of his embrace. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yes.” She had read the documents describing the process of freeing Alexei. Though there was no formal proce
ss for petitioning a prisoner’s release on the basis of an unfair sentence, her title gave her the authority almost without question.

  She had the paperwork and the phone numbers in her handbag to deal with the matter directly.

  “Let’s go to Blackstone Prison,” she said to Demetrius.

  He and their servicemen escorted her from the building. Shots rang out. Security closed around her and Demetrius, practically dragging her to the car.

  Demetrius? Was he okay? In the chaos, she couldn’t see him. “Demetrius?”

  She was pushed inside the car, and a man climbed in after her. She was pinned between two strangers.

  “Where’s Demetrius?” she asked.

  The driver turned around. She didn’t recognize him, either. “Sorry, Marchioness. We have other plans today.”

  She reached for the door, but the men held her arms against the seat.

  “Let me out. My husband will kill you for this.” The car was already weaving through traffic, traveling at high speeds.

  If this man was one of the Ghost’s assassins, she would already be dead. Small comfort. “What is it that you want from me?” she asked.

  “My job is to bring you in for questioning,” he said darkly.

  Questioning by whom? “I don’t know anything.”

  “Sure you do. You’re married to the president of Icarus. He has spies everywhere. I’m sure you’ve had interesting pillow talk with him about many matters that don’t concern you but that are of grave importance to others.”

  Demetrius told her no state secrets. He had not brought her into his confidence on most matters. He couldn’t even tell her how he felt about her. Revealing the truth would make her useless to her kidnappers. Silence may keep her alive.

  As they drove, Iliana formulated a plan. Her phone was in her handbag, but surely these men would stop her if she reached for it. Could she pretend she had to use the bathroom? Force a chaotic situation that would buy her time to call Demetrius?

  Demetrius would be looking for her. No matter the circumstances of how they had been separated, he wouldn’t stop searching for her.

  The surroundings were familiar and it took Iliana a few moments to realize she was being taken to the baron of Aetos’s house.

  Had the baron figured out that Demetrius was his son? A cold sweat broke out across her body. She wasn’t as skilled as Demetrius at negotiating and reading people’s intentions. The baron might detect a hitch in her voice, some strain to give away she knew more than she’d reveal. She would keep Demetrius’s and Alexei’s secrets the best she could, but would it be enough?

  Demetrius believed that the baron had ties to the Ghost. If that was true, what horrors would she face inside his home?

  The car pulled into an underground parking garage that smelled damp and musty. The walls were green with mold. She was pulled from the car and dragged into an elevator smelling of bleach. It rocked unsteadily as it rose, squeaking and grinding.

  When the elevator reached its destination, the doors opened. She was escorted to a large room, where the baron of Aetos was sitting with his dog and lazily stroking his fur. She looked around the space, expecting assassins to leap from the shadows. She hadn’t been in a physical altercation before, and she didn’t think she would stand up well to torture.

  “Sit,” the baron said.

  Since she had no choice, Iliana sat by the fireplace in a chair across from the baron. The blaze from the flames was intense, and the heat stung her face. Her kidnappers were waiting at the door. No chance for her to turn and run. Did the room have another exit? Could she use the fire as a weapon?

  When they had met earlier, the atmosphere had been tense, but this time she smelled her own fear. Considering her options, she knew convincing the baron to call Demetrius was the key to her survival. The baron of Aetos wouldn’t kill the president of Icarus. He wouldn’t be so bold.

  “Now that you’re marchioness of Agot, you have more power than me. I don’t like that.” He laughed, and she found it utterly disconcerting.

  “You brought me here to talk about my position?”

  “I brought you here to make you understand that you have power and money all your own. My spies tell me that your marriage to the president isn’t what you’d like people to believe.”

  Iliana gained nothing from being contrary. What did it matter to agree with the baron now? “Marriage is not what I thought it would be.”

  “If you’re smart, you’ll join me. My friends know the special treatment they receive when they ally themselves with me, and my enemies know the pain and disappointment of upsetting me.”

  Iliana pretended to consider it. How should she play the baron and his huge ego? “What is it that you want me to do?”

  “Tell me what you know about Emmanuel,” the baron said.

  Iliana’s stomach tightened. “I don’t know much of anything. He’s missing, and we’re praying for his safe return.”

  Perhaps he heard truth in her words. “Call your husband. Tell him if he wants to see you alive and well, he’ll bring information about Emmanuel to me today.”

  “Your guards took my phone.”

  Her phone was handed to her. She dialed Demetrius, her hands shaking, and he answered on the first ring.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “I’m with the baron of Aetos. He wants information on Emmanuel.”

  “I will kill him for this,” Demetrius said.

  She wouldn’t relay that message, since the baron could do the same to her. “If you don’t bring information about Emmanuel, he will kill me.” She had trouble speaking the words without her voice cracking. She didn’t want to die at the hands of an evil, twisted man. She didn’t want to die at all.

  “Can you escape, and do you have a weapon?” Demetrius asked.

  “No. Please come immediately. Time is of the essence.”

  The sound of car engines meant Demetrius was already on his way. She had to stall long enough for him to arrive. He would rescue her.

  Then she would tell her husband that she loved him.

  * * *

  Demetrius arrived at the baron’s home thirty minutes later. The look of the place sickened him. He remembered the night that he and Alexei had come here to confront their father. It had been foolish to do so in the manner they had chosen. He had been young and stupid and thought he could get answers or avenge their mother’s honor.

  Their mother had described a man who was brutal and cold. Demetrius had thought himself more brutal and colder. But he had been wrong.

  Demetrius entered the baron’s home unarmed and without his servicemen at his back. As he had anticipated, he was checked at the entryway and any weapons would have been taken from him. He had been unarmed in situations before and had survived. His guards were close but out of sight. They would not easily breach the perimeter, but his military was on alert. What happened in the next twenty minutes could cause a war between Icarus and Valencia.

  Demetrius was led to a dark room lit only by a fire in the hearth. Iliana was seated across from the baron. Her head was tilted up, and she was silent. She appeared uninjured. He was proud of his wife for not weeping or begging. Even in her current position, she was maintaining her composure.

  Would the baron recognize him? Would his father know his own son, the man he had condemned to die in Blackstone Prison?

  “Iliana, are you safe?” Demetrius asked. He strode to his wife’s side and drew her against him.

  “I’m fine.” She squeezed his fingers.

  Searching for a weapon, Demetrius saw several options. One element that eluded him was how to kill the baron and spirit Iliana from the room before the baron’s guards reacted.

  Octavius Drakos’s eyes didn’t move from the fire. “Give us the information or you both die.”


  Us? Before Demetrius could voice the question, Kaliope entered the room. She walked to the baron, kissed the top of his head and then patted his dog.

  Kaliope narrowed her eyes at Demetrius. “Tell me what you did with my son.”

  Demetrius saw an opening and would play this game to his satisfaction. Kaliope would reveal herself as the criminal she was. “The media is reporting he was kidnapped by the Ghost, the same man who attacked Iliana, drowned Nicholas, poisoned Maria and hanged Spiro. The police believe Stella hired the Ghost to take care of her dirty work.”

  Kaliope shook her head. “You were involved with my son’s disappearance. Tell me or your wife dies. If her death doesn’t yield the information I want, then you die, too.”

  Demetrius called her bluff. Too many people knew he was here with Iliana. No chance of Kaliope getting away with murder. If she believed Demetrius was responsible for Emmanuel’s disappearance, she wouldn’t kill him and destroy that link. Kaliope’s worry for her son was clouding her judgment.

  The doors to the room burst open and Emmanuel stalked inside. “What is going on? I demand answers immediately.”

  Kaliope ran to her son, throwing her arms around his neck. “Emmanuel! You’re safe.”

  Emmanuel pulled his mother’s arms off him. He straightened and looked around the room, confusion clear on his face. “Thanks to Demetrius. He helped me stay off the grid for a while. I asked for his help, and he obliged.”

  Kaliope turned to Demetrius, bewilderment plain on her face. “You knew where he was and didn’t tell me?”

  “I asked him not to,” Emmanuel said. “I needed to know who was hunting our family.”

  Demetrius watched his father’s expression morph from content to angry. He didn’t like knowing that Emmanuel, the most likely to inherit the throne in Valencia, was allied with Demetrius. Demetrius still didn’t know if his father recognized him as his son. It had been years, and the man was blind. But his hearing was good.

  “Your mother was concerned. She knew the Ghost hadn’t taken you, because she is the Ghost,” Demetrius said. “Or rather she’s one half of the Ghost. The baron is the other half. It’s been hard to trace the evidence to a single murderer because the methods vary. Your siblings’ killers are different assassins working at the command of the Ghost.”