by A. M. Hardin
He meets my eyes for several seconds before turning back to watch where he’s going. “I did.”
“Oh.” Damn. Would be nice to have some answers.
Levi glances at me. “Does that bother you?”
I frown as I look up at him. “What?”
“Does it bother you that I killed them?”
I snort and wave a hand. “Nah. I’ve killed before, too, Levi,” I point out, kind of loving the shock on his face. “So, no, you killing to protect me doesn’t bother me a bit.”
“Alright then,” he mutters, a small smile on his face.
It doesn’t take much longer to get back inside the castle. I figured Levi was going to just drop me off in my room and go to talk to my parents without me. I was wrong.
The moment I start in the direction to my room, Levi grabs my hand and shakes his head. “Stay with me. I’ll have the others meet us at your parents’ study.”
Not in the mood to argue anymore tonight, I stay quiet as I fall into step beside him.
When we get halfway to the study, Levi orders a maid to go to my room and tell my other guards to meet us at my parents’ study. The female runs faster than I have ever seen another female run away from Levi. It’s kind of funny.
By the time we get to my parents’ study, Ezra and Maxwell are walking toward it from the opposite end of the hall.
“What’s going on?” Ezra asks, flashing me a small smile in greeting. “Feeling better?”
I purse my lips. “Sort of.”
“While we were on Crystal’s run she was attacked,” Levi says. Maxwell and Ezra’s eyes narrow in on me, scanning me from head to toe. Probably checking for injuries.
“What happened?” Maxwell growls.
“I’m fine,” I assure them, my mouth involuntarily curving into a smile. I don’t know what I was expecting when they found out, but it wasn’t the genuine outrage on their faces.
“That’s not what I asked,” Maxwell says gruffly, glaring at me.
I raise an eyebrow at him. Someone’s grumpy.
“I’ll explain more inside,” Levi says, gesturing for us to enter the study.
I open the door and walk inside. Shanna is the first one I see. She glares at me.
“What are you doing here?” she asks snarkily.
I roll my eyes and turn my attention to where my dad is sitting at his desk with a pile of paperwork in front of him. My mom isn’t in the room, surprisingly. My parents are almost always together.
“What brings you here, Crystal?” my father asks tiredly.
“I actually have nothing to say to you. Levi, however, does.”
My dad raises an eyebrow expectantly at Levi. “Well, what do you want, Levi?”
“My lord,” Levi says respectfully, his hand in a fist over his heart as he bows. “I came to inform you that Princess Crystal was attacked not ten minutes ago.”
My father freezes, his gaze darts from Levi to me before narrowing suspiciously. “She looks fine.”
“Because I hid her, majesty.”
“In a fucking tree trunk,” I grumble, crossing my arms over my chest, still annoyed with Levi for that. Especially for tricking me into the damn thing with a kiss.
“Where did this happen?” my father asks calmly. A little too calmly if I’m being honest.
Your fucking daughter gets attacked and the first thing you suspect is that it’s bullshit. Nice.
“In the east garden. It was a team of assassins.” Levi doesn’t change his expression or body language as he drops that little bomb. I can’t say the same for the others.
Ezra and Maxwell both tense, their expressions forcibly blank. My father simply looks bored, but it’s a forced expression. His eyes are glinting with anger. Shanna, well, that bitch scoffs, rolling her eyes dramatically.
I narrow my eyes at her. “What?”
“Who would ever waste the time or the money to hire assassins to kill her?”
“Well, gee, Shanna, if I knew that I wouldn’t be wasting my time standing here, would I?”
Shanna’s lips curl in a condescending smile. “Oh, and what would you do? Glare at them until they die?”
I give her an evil smirk. “They’d be dead before they could touch me. And no, I’d be taking care of the dumbass who put a hit out on me in the first place.”
“Take care of—” she bursts out laughing. “And how would you do that?”
Without changing my expression, I move quickly until I’m standing directly behind her, one hand wrapped around her throat with my other pressing against the side of her head. “I’d kill them before they got the opportunity to do more than piss their pants,” I whisper in her ear, feeling the dark power bubbling inside me, begging to be let out.
Begging for me to kill her.
Taking a deep breath, I step away from her. She turns and glares at me. “Just because you’re my princess, does not give you the right to touch me, Crystal.”
My mouth curves slightly. “Then don’t be a condescending bitch, Shanna. And don’t test me. You’ll only regret it if you continue to do so.”
“Enough,” my father says with a glare in our direction. I roll my eyes and move back to stand in front of my dad. He leans back in his chair and studies me before turning to Levi. “I’m not convinced that this isn’t a plot that my daughter is scheming in order to go back to that dreadful world.”
I roll my eyes. Of course, he would think that.
“However, in the off chance that you are telling the truth and not simply doing as my daughter asks and lying to me, you will increase security around the castle.” He turns his gaze to me. “You will not leave the castle. No more going off into the woods or exploring the gardens. You stay close to the castle until this has been taken care of. If the person that put the hit out on you can’t get to you, then they’ll give up eventually.”
“Of course, father,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Good. You may leave. I’ll speak with you later, Crystal.”
Effectively dismissed, my guards lead me out of the study and down the hall toward my room. All of them are quiet as we walk, but I don’t pay them much attention. I glance around the hallway that has my room and see the extra guards stationed throughout. Awesome. That’ll make getting out of here harder. Not that the guys are really giving me much breathing room to begin with.
I’ve got to get the fuck out of this place. I can’t stand being here much longer.
Chapter Eighteen
Maxwell
I watch as Crystal and prince Julian dance across the room. Just as she did at the party the other night she looks gorgeous. This time she’s in a lavender dress that flows as she moves across the dance floor.
They’re talking quietly as they dance, but she still doesn’t look very comfortable. I think this is the only female I know of that doesn’t like being the center of attention. I have to give Julian props, he realized right away that she wasn’t comfortable dancing with all eyes on her, so he started talking to distract her.
It worked.
She relaxed a bit, but not by much.
“Maxwell,” a voice purrs seductively beside me.
Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I glance at Rita beside me. “What can I do for you, princess?”
She pouts. “Aw, don’t be so grumpy. Can’t I just come to say hi and chat with you for a bit?”
Rita sets her hand on my shoulder, but I quickly shift so her hand falls off almost immediately. Anger flashes through her eyes for a brief second before it quickly disappears. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you having fun?”
“I’m trying to work, princess. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to it,” I tell her bluntly.
“I’m just trying to talk to you,” she says, her eyes narrowing at me before flicking to Crystal. “Is it because of her?”
There’s a lot of anger and disgust in that one word.
“Is that why you don’t want to talk to me?” she asks, demanding an answe
r.
I glance at her before turning my attention back to Crystal, and see she’s watching us with a frown on her face. Once our eyes meet, she looks up at Julian and says something. “It has nothing to do with your sister.”
“Then why don’t you want me?” she asks, almost whining.
I sigh. “I don’t want you because I don’t play games. That’s all you do, Rita. You play games with the men you’re with. You lead them around by their dicks. I don’t play that shit.”
She glares at me. Her mouth opens as she starts to say something, but she stops when the queen appears at her side.
“It appears that Crystal and Julian are getting closer,” the queen says with approval.
Rita’s lips purse. “Yeah, but I don’t buy it. She wants to go back to the human realm. She’s just humoring you, mother.”
The queen smirks. “Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that she will do as she’s told. She knows better than to cross us again.”
Something tells me she’s talking about more than the beatings that happen when Crystal “misbehaves.”
Rita snickers. “I doubt it, mother. You may believe she’s going to do what you want, but I don’t. Why are you pushing for this anyway? Why bring her back? We don’t need her.”
“We just need her to follow orders long enough for the alliance to go through. Don’t worry, dear. She won’t be here much longer. Soon enough she will go to live with the prince and his family. She’ll be their problem to deal with.”
Problem?
I scowl. What the hell is wrong with this family?
Ever since Crystal’s return, I’ve been asking myself that question quite a bit. I don’t fucking like it.
Deciding that I’m done listening to this shit, I move to another area to watch over Crystal without being too obvious about it. I glance across the room and see Levi talking with Ezra, their eyes glued to Crystal.
My eyes scan the room, looking for any hint of suspicious behavior. Sadly, it’s not as if an assassin would be walking around with a giant sign advertising that they are here to kill Crystal.
It would make our lives a hell of a lot easier though.
* * *
Crystal
After dancing with Julian for over an hour, I can’t take the looks anymore and excuse myself to get a drink.
I heave a breath of relief when the moment I step off the dance floor, one of the maids brings me a glass of water.
“Thank you.” I give her a smile and she gives me a shy one in return.
“Of course, your highness,” she mutters.
She walks away and I take a sip, wishing I could just gulp the shit down, but my parents would unfortunately be horrified if I did that.
I stand among the crowd, my eyes drawn to my sister and mother still whispering together. I frown when my mother goes to my father, determination etched into her face as she moves.
What could she possibly be so determined about?
My attention is drawn to my side as someone sidles up beside me. I glance at the girl, curious about what her deal is. No one really talks to me at these things. Actually, no one really talks to me at all, unless it’s to talk shit, anyway.
“It’s been a long time, Crystal,” the female says, her tone pleasant enough, but for some reason she’s giving me a bad feeling.
“I guess so,” I mutter before taking another drink of my water. I turn to face the girl fully. “I’m sorry, I honestly don’t remember your name.”
She smiles, but the hatred in her eyes takes me back. “I’m not surprised. Miranda is my sister,” she says simply, her smile still firmly on her face.
I narrow my eyes at her. “I thought you moved with your family to a different kingdom. I was told only Miranda remained here.”
“I did. However, a messenger was sent to our home to inform us of my sister’s condition. Of course, we came to make sure my sister was alright.” Her eyes blaze with anger as she looks at me. “You will pay for what you’ve done to my sister, princess,” she spits, somehow still able to keep her pleasant expression as she threatens me. It’s quite admirable, if I’m being honest.
My mouth curves as I study the female in front of me. Miranda is the same age as Rita, her sister is older than them by about eight years if I remember correctly. Which makes her twelve years older than me. Judging by how much power I can feel leaking from her, she should have a decent amount of strength behind that power, but all I sense from her is weakness. She doesn’t know how to control or use her abilities to their full potential.
“How is that exactly?” I ask, forcing the tension out of my shoulders. If my parents see any kind of tension, they’ll fucking jump at the chance to find some way to make it worse.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she says with a shrug. “My parents think we should let it go, but no one treats my sister like that and gets away with it.”
She turns and stalks away without giving me a chance to respond. Snorting to myself, I shake my head and look up. My eyes meet Maxwell’s across the room, and deciding to just be done with these people, I make my way toward him. He’s half in the shadows, probably to make it harder to notice him, but I’m stupid aware of all three of my guards.
Like, I’m supremely aware of the fact that both Levi and Ezra have a gaggle of females vying for their attention, but their eyes have been glued to me or busy looking around the room. Just like Maxwell’s have been.
Maxwell frowns as I step beside him and lean back against the wall, facing the people milling about the ballroom. “Why’d you come over here?”
“Because I can’t stand this shit,” I answer bluntly. “It’s all politics, false politeness, and backhanded compliments. I need a break.”
I can feel his eyes on me, so I turn my head and meet his gaze. “What?”
He chuckles as he shakes his head, surprising me. He’s never really cracked a full-blown smile, let alone laughed around me. “I think that’s the most honest you’ve been since you’ve come back.”
I shrug and turn back to the rest of the room. “Yeah, well, talking in circles is annoying more often than not.”
“So why do you do it?” he asks quietly after a few moments of silence.
Bringing my drink to my lips, I smirk. “I learned long ago that it was just better to keep silent about everything. I taught myself how to speak when spoken to, but never reveal enough so that the other person or anyone overhearing could use it against me. Telling the truth, but never being truthful has essentially kept me alive, Maxwell.”
He frowns at me, making my smirk turn into a sad smile.
“The more you’re around my family, the more you’ll understand. There’s a lot that you don’t know about this place.” I study him for a moment. “When did you move to the royal guard? I recognize you and have seen both you and Ezra around from before, but neither of you were in the royal guard.”
“Ezra and I both got this position shortly after you left. Of course, neither of us knew that our captain knew where you were,” he says with a pointed look.
I shrug. It’s not my fault that Levi kept his mouth shut. Well, okay, maybe it was.
“Anyway, while we were technically considered your guards, it’s kind of hard to guard someone who isn’t there, so we were usually searching for you as well as doing other things the king and queen requested.”
I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. “I’m sorry you wasted so much time searching for me,” I tell him, my voice quivering slightly.
He grunts. “Yeah, I’m sure you are.”
A snicker manages to break through before I can stop it. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m glad that it took so long for you guys to find me. I was finally able to find somewhere I could just be myself. I honestly wish it had taken much longer,” I mutter under my breath.
“For what it’s worth,” he starts, his voice quiet, “I am sorry that you were brought back here by a lie.”
I shrug, forcing my expression
blank. “Shit happens. I’m honestly not all that surprised it was a lie.”
I watch my mom glide toward the two of us, her expression pleasant as she’s stopped by others to talk. I notice her gaze flicking in our direction multiple times, anger glittering there. Not anger at the people stopping her. No, never that. Anger at the fact that I dared to walk away from the prince.
I sigh as my mother stands in front of me a few moments later, glaring down at me. “Hello, mother.”
“What are you doing over here?” she snaps under her breath, careful to keep her expression pleasant.
“Taking a break,” I answer, waving my glass in between us, so she can see that I’m not completely full of shit. Which, I’m not.
“Well, you need to get back to Julian. Now,” she orders, fully expecting to be obeyed.
I close my eyes and fight the urge to argue with her. Finally, I nod once. “Yes, mother.” I hand Maxwell my glass, meeting his eyes and seeing something flash in his gaze that I can’t make out before it disappears. “Could you put this away for me, please?”
He nods. “Of course, princess.”
I give him a small smile before I step away from them, completely ignoring my mother.
Chapter Nineteen
Crystal
I find Julian standing with Levi and Ezra, all of whom seem to be in a heavy conversation. The moment they spot me coming toward them, they each snap their mouths shut. What the hell?
“Fancy seeing you again,” Julian says, his eyes glittering with humor. “I expected that you’d have taken the first opportunity to escape this little party your parents put together.”
I snort but otherwise don’t say anything about escaping anywhere. “My mother found me and said that I was to come spend time with you.” I glance at the females gathered around the men and see that all of them are being ogled by at least two of the women. “Probably worried you’d need rescuing from the vultures currently circling you like prey.”
All the females glare at me, but I give them a winning smile and wave, making all three of the males beside me chuckle. It doesn’t take long for said vultures to disappear. Not shocking at all. However, what is shocking is the thought that I really didn’t like the fact that they were clearly interested in the guys who have been slowly but surely making themselves part of my inner circle.
