Huntress

by Susan Copperfield

  Like hell it wasn’t. After having seen the organizational disaster that was my father’s office, I doubted he’d be able to find something set right in front of him. “What are you looking for?”

  “Your little black book of ladies. I was thinking of inviting them to a ball.”

  “Dad.”

  “You’re no fun today. I’m looking for last year’s audit report you compiled about Chicago’s police force. The commissioner’s trying to tell me we didn’t do the report. It’s screwing with his budget.”

  “Have you tried the report folder, Dad? Report is a six-letter word starting with r.”

  “Don’t you get smart with me. That’s too obvious. Anyway, why would I do something like look in the obvious place first?”

  “Because you hate me and enjoy annoying me. Give me a break. What are you actually doing with my computer?”

  “I really did need a copy of the report, but I’m also updating your file access. Rob made us change all the passwords a few weeks ago, and he hadn’t gotten around to doing your system.”

  “Is there a reason Rob can’t do it?”

  “Rob has the day off. Honestly, we didn’t expect you to stop playing hermit for a few more days, but I’d gotten warning you were looking restless and likely to emerge. How are you feeling?”

  Sometimes, I hated the nosy palace staff. My father had probably gotten a report every time I’d coughed since coming home. “I’m fine.” I set my files on my desk and considered how best to evict my father so I could get some work done. “I was planning on going over this stack of paperwork left in my room, so I probably won’t need updated file access yet. Why are you dodging work?”

  “South Dakota wants to make an official visit.”

  “Oh!” If South Dakota made an official visit, my grandparents would tag along for a chance to annoy us all. I loved it. Everyone else didn’t, with the exception of my mother. My mother would be over the moon for at least a week before and after their visit.

  Behind closed doors, I’d enjoy visiting with my aunt and uncle, who were refreshingly sane people I could relate to.

  “Don’t look so happy about it.”

  “Are you still mad at Grandmother?”

  “Eternally.”

  As the hatcher of the plan that’d gotten my mother to target my father, I had a special appreciation for my grandmother, who did what she wanted, when she wanted, and how she wanted. Better yet, she got exactly what she wanted, and like my mother, my grandmother was a crazy cat lady to the core. With my father’s luck, he’d end up collared, leashed, and forced to endure being petted by my mother’s side of the family.

  “When?”

  “Too soon,” my father groused.

  Given a chance, my father would whine over the royal visit for hours, and until he decided he was done with my computer, I’d be stuck with him. I considered the problem and decided there was only one man capable of saving me. “Can I borrow Christian for a few hours to deal with agent recruitment?”

  My father grunted, reached over, and snatched my phone from its hook, dialing a number. “Christian, come to the royal brat’s office. I have a question for you.”

  After he hung up, I sighed and said, “He’s going to kill you one of these days, Dad.”

  “Nonsense. Christian adores me. I’m the best principal he’s ever had. Anyway, I’m sorry we haven’t replaced your agents yet. There’s been a general detail monitoring the hall, but until you come out on your own, you’re a bit of a bear.”

  “I just don’t want to be smothered.”

  “That’s what your mother said. Take pity on us. We’ve been worried about you.”

  “Why? Obviously, I turned up. It’s pretty clear to me that Grégoire doesn’t want the throne, not that I blame him. You can stop worrying. I just need a few days to get used to being around people again.”

  “You mean people who don’t want to beat you up.”

  I arched a brow. “By default, that means I don’t want to be around my entire family.”

  “We don’t want to beat you up. We’re toughening you up so you can rule without faltering.”

  A knock on the door saved my father from a beating, and Christian stepped inside my office. “Good morning, Your Majesty. Your Highness.”

  My father resumed his work on my computer. “Christian, take the royal brat somewhere quiet and start reviewing his requirements for a detail. Prioritize locating someone who’ll stick around when he’s off being a reclusive idiot. It’s about time he had a stable RPS crew protecting him.”

  “I can do that, but is there any reason we can’t use His Highness’s office?”

  “I’m busying fixing his computer right now, and I don’t want to hear it. He’ll have ridiculous requirements I won’t like. He always does.”

  Christian sighed. “Where are your agents?”

  “I fed them to the grizzly.”

  “You know what, Your Majesty? One of these days, I’ll—”

  “Hold that thought, Christian,” I ordered. “Dad, please don’t break my computer. Grégoire, if he breaks my computer, deal with him.”

  “Violently?”

  I chuckled at my cousin’s hopeful tone. “I don’t care at this point. It’s not like I haven’t had a few stints pretending I’m the king because my father utterly lacks in common sense.”

  “Kel,” my father complained.

  “Don’t break my computer, don’t rearrange my office, and don’t buy me new furniture. In fact, don’t do anything that’ll annoy me—and please stop driving off your agents.”

  “You’re being bossy today.”

  “Someone has to be responsible in this damned castle.” I snatched my paperwork and abandoned my office. “Christian, please call in a pair of agents for His Royal Idiot so my mother doesn’t murder us all.”

  “Of course, Your Highness. Please don’t wander while I deal with this.” Christian lifted his hand to his ear. “Lynx is in His Highness’s office.”

  I rolled my eyes at my father’s RPS identifier and stepped into the hallway to escape the insanity. If I let them maintain tradition, I’d be forever known as Turkey. If I got lucky, I’d be dubbed Tom. Birdbrain would be more appropriate. Within a minute, a pair of agents marched into my office, freeing Christian to deal with me.

  My father’s head of detail sighed. “Any preference for location, Your Highness?”

  “Take me to Chicago,” I ordered. At the kingdom’s capital building, an hour and a half drive from the castle, I might be able to get some work done.

  Chapter Four

  On the outside, nothing about the main offices of the Illinois government screamed it was the heart and soul the kingdom. Like the other sterile skyscrapers around it, nothing betrayed it as special or interesting, not even when a royal was present working. More than ever, I appreciated the locked elevator leading directly to the third floor, which was where I’d spend the rest of my day. If I really wanted, I could hide in my office without the receptionist being aware of my presence.

  The yearly ritual of adapting back to my life began in earnest. “Do I want to know about the state of my office?”

  Last year, it’d taken me a week to vanquish the dust bunnies.

  “It’s clean. The day after you returned, I gave unassigned agents a chance to be on your detail. Those interested handled the cleaning so you could return to work with minimal hassle.”

  “How many were interested?”

  “Ten.”

  “That many?”

  “For nine months of the year, you’re an excellent principal. It’s the other three months that cause issues.”

  As the rest of my family was at the castle where they belonged, the office was empty and quiet. My office, as promised, was clean and free of dust, but my old couch had been removed and replaced with a leather one. I flopped onto it, discovering it had the ability to eat princes at its leisure. With a satisfied groan, I stretched out. “Feel up to becoming my conspir
ator?”

  “Should I be concerned?”

  “If you’re conspiring with me, I’m probably not going to surprise you. I thought I was being considerate.”

  “All right, Your Highness. What are you scheming?”

  “I want you to open a few RPS slots for women on my detail, and I want to train with them.”

  “Training with them is necessary, Your Highness. There’s also never been a rule barring from women serving on your detail.”

  Training with my detail was necessary, but there was an automatic wall between principal and agent to maintain priority and keep business to business. I’d seen it plenty of times before; agents had a completely different dynamic with each other. If I managed to lure my huntress to the RPS, I needed the sort of relationship with her agents shared with each other—and I’d have to figure out how to break down the wall dividing agent and principal.

  It would be a challenge.

  “No, I mean I’d be training as a prospective agent with them.”

  “You’ll be recognized, sir. You’re a distinctive man.”

  I appreciated he used distinctive over pretty, however true. I preferred handsome, but my father pulled off handsome. I was too lanky for handsome, so I was accused of being a model or gorgeous. I didn’t care too much either way, although it made me embarrassingly popular at the charity auctions.

  I sighed. “That’s a problem, true. With my face, we’d have to completely cover it for me to be anonymous. We could work with masks. Silk ones, because obviously, it would be a tragedy if my pretty face was marred by a bad mask.” Shaking my head, I kicked off my shoes and launched them in the direction of the door. “I need the training and exercise. I’d also like a chance to work with the agents and get a feel for them.”

  “What’s your goal?”

  “You mean beyond exercise?”

  “Yes, Your Highness. Beyond exercise. You do not plan exercise unless it’s crucial to something else you’re planning. While this is a refreshing change from certain members of your family, I’m concerned.”

  “All right. And you swear secrecy?”

  “You know the routine, Your Highness. It’s secret as long as it doesn’t impair our job to protect your wellbeing.”

  “Fair enough. I’m looking for a woman I can love, and she’s the type who’d likely work well in the RPS. I’m trying to find someone, and I’m tired of the standard bullshit shoveled in my direction. I have a list of criteria you can use to find her.”

  “This might be a good time to remind you agents don’t form relationships with their principals.”

  “But they do form relationships with other agents. Anyway, I’ll convince her to retire and accept a new position. I’m looking for a queen, Christian. I don’t want a lackey. I don’t want a delicate flower like Gail. I want someone strong, someone who can kick my ass, and someone who can take care of herself. The RPS is perfect. If she can handle RPS training, she meets those criteria—and she’ll learn a lot about politics on the job.”

  “Let me see if I understand this. You want me to hire a woman capable of kicking your ass so I can train her to be your agent, so you in turn can convince her to marry you and become your future queen.”

  “That sounds about right.”

  “Do you have a specific woman in mind?”

  “I might.”

  “And if we can’t find this specific woman?”

  Next time I cooked up a plan, I needed to think it through before telling my conspirator about them. Thinking on my feet gave me a headache as often as not. “I’ll have a strong team I’ve worked with extensively, and in the spring while I’m out of the castle, I’ll have you send them out of the kingdom for a special training session coupled with paid vacation. That way, they’re not worried about me, their principal, as I’ll be under lock and key with you—or so they believe. Sure, the older agents will know I pull a vanishing trick every year, but the new recruits will think they’re being rewarded for hard work and going through training. In the worst-case scenario, you place a few phone calls and we have some exceptional agents for a few queens. In that case, I’ll try again next year. Ideally, I’ll find her this year. If this works, I’d like to use the method for the long-term to build a better detail.”

  Christian stared at me, his jaw slack.

  “Christian?”

  “I’m not sure our current training methods are suitable for this plan.”

  “We’ll have to change things up. You’re able to deal with my family. Contact Montana or Hawaii and ask if we can secure a trainer to help. They have good trainers, don’t they? And when you do, confide in a trainer you can trust to keep quiet.”

  “Hawaii has several women in their training department. Texas does as well. Montana might. I expect His Royal Majesty brought a few women on board after the birth of his daughter. I have one in particular in mind who might work.”

  “Would she be on board with the idea?”

  “With some disclosures about the nature of your family’s talent, possibly, especially since you’d be willing to send some of the trained women to work with the queens. It’s hard convincing women to join the RPS, though.”

  “Can you?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Will you?”

  “I’ll think about it. You seemed to have a specific woman in mind. Tell me about her.”

  “She’s a trophy hunter, and she has some form of tracking talent. She’s perfection.”

  Christian twitched. “Are you being tracked, Your Highness?”

  “I certainly hope so. How the hell else am I going to find her again? If she is, she’s going to come straight to me. Since I’ll be at the RPS training complex surrounded by agents, I’ll be perfectly safe. If she’s any good, she’ll do whatever it takes to get near me. I’ll recognize her.”

  There was no way I’d forget her or her foul mouth.

  “Are you implying she tagged you in your animal form?”

  “Maybe.” At Christian’s glare, I grinned. “I wasn’t human.”

  “And she has no idea who you are?”

  “No, I don’t believe so.”

  Christian pinched the bridge of his nose, and I was willing to bet the entire royal family’s wealth, prestige, and power I’d given my father’s agent a migraine. “All right. I’m going to go along with this because you brought it to my attention in a timely fashion. You’re going to test my patience, Your Highness.”

  “I can’t confirm I’m still being tracked. The bruises cover the spot. Where she marked me healed well, and it’s caused no discomfort. Had it, I would’ve had it removed.”

  “That’s another factor. I’m going to allow you to use your judgment on this, but if I feel you’re in any danger, I’m having the mark removed. Do you think it’s a full brand?”

  “I’d assume so. From what I saw of it, she’s talented; it was a pattern with good definition.”

  “Color?”

  “She’s a flameweaver variant.”

  “Fire brand?”

  “Flame patterned, yes.”

  “No obvious burns?”

  “No.”

  “All right. I need to know if there’s any discomfort or if you can spot the brand again so we can evaluate it.”

  “That’s fair. Why are you cooperating without a fight?”

  “Unlike His Royal Majesty, I still possess basic common sense, Your Highness. First, you’re trusting me with a secret. Second, you asked for help with your scheme. Third, you presented a reasonable idea you’ve put some thought into. Deliberately challenging the fraternization law is interesting. Why go through this much trouble? Most women would appreciate a chance to come to the castle to meet a prince.”

  I chuckled. “And that just leads to the same old problems. For this to work, she needs to love me enough she’s willing to risk her career to be my partner. The rules state exile. A rule I’ll have immediately overturned,” I warned.

  “In the case of your familial
circumstances, an overturning would be a swift process, although I hope you would convince her to retire before it reached that stage. She’d probably be sent to a different kingdom temporarily while her discharge processes.”

  “And I’ll follow her until the exile is overturned, as she’d need to know I’d give up everything for her, too. There’s no middle ground here, Christian. All or nothing. That’s how it is in my family.”

  “You’re playing a dangerous game, but you already know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do. It’s not a game to me. I’m tired of yearly exile.”

  “Self-imposed,” he reminded me.

  As I’d already revealed one secret—one even more important than my shape—to my father’s agent, I rolled off the couch, grabbed a notepad from my desk, and wrote my species on it. “If anyone learns of this, I really might kill you. Understood?”

  “The same rules apply for life-and-death situations.”

  “That’s fair.” I showed him the paper and waited for him to laugh.

  “This explains so much. That said, you’d be at no risk at the castle, Your Highness. Your father would lose his mind if you were threatened. Your mother would murder anyone who laughed at you without hesitation. I think you’re worried over nothing.”

  To ensure no one else learned my secret, I shredded the paper and ate it. “We’ll see. So, how can we make this plan work?”

  Christian likely cursed me for adding to his work, and it didn’t take him long to come to the conclusion he’d have to do a lot of research to turn my idea into a viable plan. Slipping me in among the hopeful RPS agents was only his first challenge. To hide my presence among them, he’d have to hire people who weren’t familiar with the Illinois royal family, which meant recruiting from abroad. To mask my interest in a specific woman, he’d have to hire an equal mix of genders. With a little work, he believed he could double the normal number of trainees assigned to my detail, which would lead to a housing shortage at the training center.

  A housing shortage would let Christian stuff me in a secured office—or give me an opportunity to return to the castle five minutes away. If everyone wore masks during training, I’d be able to participate until my duties as the heir got in the way. Assuming we could lure my huntress to the compound, I’d have the time I needed to see if the right kind of sparks would fly between us.