by Zara Zenia
She had picked herself back up at the drop of a hat and come up with a swift excuse. She was a master at her craft. As much as I detested her, I had to give her respect for thinking quickly on her feet.
I knew she was lying, but I was already afraid that I had said too much by brashly snapping at her, catapulting myself into the room in an accusatory manner. I still wasn’t sure what I had overheard, and I didn’t want to make Tia any more suspicious than she already was. She would be keeping a close eye on me, as I was on her. I needed to rewind a bit so that I could catch her off guard again.
I gave her a smile sealed through false pretenses, altering my mood in a visible heartbeat. “You are right, honey,” I crooned respectfully through gritted teeth. “I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.” I had to choke out the words because internally, I was screaming inside to be able to pounce on her lies and expose the truth.
I just didn’t have the evidence stacked up against her yet to succeed. I needed more information.
“Perhaps I overreacted.” I smiled again in an effort to reassure the still wide-eyed and startled Tia that I had made a mistake. My conscience was killing me to be this silky and kind to her.
Tia finally smiled, swooning as she slowly strutted toward me with magnetic blue eyes. “I will forgive you this time.” There was a slight warning tone in her voice that made my skin crawl. As soon as she approached me within an inch or two, she placed her flattened palm against my chest. “Everybody deserves a second chance.” Her whisper shattered my eardrums with something dreadful and ominous that I couldn’t nail my finger on.
I swallowed hard. “Right . . .” I trailed off cautiously.
“You’d better be on your best behavior.” She began to cackle in her Southern drawl. An icy threat flashed briefly in her eyes.
I studied her as she floated about the room, buzzing like an electrified butterfly. I narrowed my eyes and waited like an owl perched on a tree, observing her to see what she would do next. My breath was suspended in my lungs. She made me wither with stiff uncomfortableness that was hard to keep at bay.
“I have so much to do to prepare for the wedding, darling.” She yawned and stretched, fluttering her eyelashes. “I’m exhausted. I think I might strut myself right up to my room to take a long, hot bath.”
“Okay,” I said with guarded measure, relieved that she was excusing herself to lift the fog of the awkwardness between us.
She spun around as if a revelation hit her like a light bulb flashing on through the darkness. “Do you want to join me?” Her voice was high and shrill, squeaky like a duck.
“I can’t,” I blurted out, faltering for an excuse, a reason to deny her.
Her cheeks flushed with disappointment and she poked out her bottom lip. “Why not, baby?”
“Because I’m busy too,” I divulged, quick on the spot.
Her eyebrows frowned with suspicion. “What do you have to do?”
I chuckled, rolling my wrist as I swirled my hand through the air. “Just business, politics. The usual prince duties. Affairs that would completely bore you.” I gave her an enchanted smile.
My convincing worked. She smiled as she swayed her hips over to the door. It disappeared as she floated through it.
“I’ll be naked and sudsy upstairs if you change your mind.”
Her seductive voice chimed through the hallways, but I only had one purpose and duty on my agenda tonight, and that was to figure out what she had been talking about on the phone, and more importantly, who she was discussing things with.
As soon as I was certain she was gone, I used the opportunity to sneak off in the other direction in an attempt to call Rose and check in to see how things were going with her and how she might be faring during this marathon of stress we were enduring.
I wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on my temples from the anxiety of the encounter I’d just faced with Tia. I had almost blown my cover. I needed to relax and take a deep breath. She was going to be on guard now, and it was all my fault. I needed to check in with my sources.
Making sure to lock my office door behind me, sealing the room so that she wouldn’t be able to enter, I finally sagged into the chair behind my desk. I allowed my shoulders and my muscles to relax. My body was sore, a direct protest to how tense I had been back there with Tia.
I knew Tia was up to something, but I didn’t have all the facts yet. It was in my best interest to take a breather, step back, and initiate a goal for searching deeper into the big picture. For now, Tia probably just suspected something. She was already aware that I was having trouble adjusting to an illusion of life with her, so I knew I had a little wiggle room, but I was skating on thin ice. I couldn’t afford to make another mistake again or wear my emotions on my sleeve, out in plain sight for her to stomp, smash, and annihilate.
I pulled my cellphone from my back pocket with a pounding heart. I didn’t know what to expect or whether Rose would even want to talk to me. I hadn’t received the luxury of getting a chance to step away from the chaos with Tia in order to call Rose. I yearned to console her. I was burning with desire for her and wanted to make that at least verbally clear for now. The faster she was back in my arms, the faster my mind could stop swirling at a million miles an hour.
The phone rang, jolting me into a sense of reality. It rang several more times, giving me the mental sensation that I was tumbling down a black tunnel as I waited expectantly for her to pick up.
Why wasn’t she answering? Something was terribly wrong. My worst fears were becoming realized.
Perhaps my mind was trying to convince me that whatever Tia had been talking about had just been a ploy to throw me off track. I needed to hear Rose’s voice. I needed the reassurance that she was safe and secure, either tucked away at home or working happily in her veterinary clinic.
“Pick up the phone,” I breathed into the receiver, becoming more desperate as the seconds ticked by.
Finally, I heard the sound of someone on the other end. It was muffled, as if whoever was there was attempting to move the phone to their ear.
“Hello?” A male voice snapped my senses in half.
I paused. “Davon?”
“Darbnix!” His voice sounded high and shattered.
“What are you doing answering Rose’s phone?” I pressed as fear trickled down my spine.
“Oh, it’s horrible.” Davon choked, coughed, and then made a sobbing hiccup type of sound.
I stood up, paranoia seething through my veins. “What is horrible. Davon? Tell me. What happened? Where is Rose?” I was tossing out questions at an overwhelming speed that my computer crimes agent was not able to keep up with.
“They took her.” He sniffed apologetically. “I was here when it happened. They were aggressive, brutal. I couldn’t stop them . . .” He trailed off meekly.
“Who took her?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it as confirmation from his lips.
“Your guards. There were four of them. Henders was the ringleader,” Davon explained.
“Took her where?” I pressed.
“They refused to say where they were bringing her,” Davon recounted in a shaky voice as if he was still recovering from the ordeal. “They barged into Rose’s house and said they were there to arrest her on your orders. They handcuffed her and sped her away.”
“What?” I roared, then remembered the intensity of my voice. I couldn’t call alarm to Tia. She had to remain in the dark until I figured out what was happening with Rose in the extreme likelihood that she was involved.
“Rose thinks that it’s because of you,” Davon voiced my true fears. “They convinced her that you were behind the arrest. Not me. I didn’t believe it for a single second.”
Hate blanched my tongue. My ears pulsed with anger. My fingertips buzzed with a numbness derived from fury. “Tia did this,” I hissed into the phone.
“You need to contact your broth
ers and get them involved,” Davon stated in a slightly calmer tone than before. “You need to get the media on your side too. You are the whistleblower, Darbnix.”
His words sank into my soul, saturating my mind. I knew he was right. “I have a feeling they must have taken her into custody and locked her in the prison cells behind the palace walls,” I declared. I will go searching for her as soon as I call my brothers and the press.”
“Good idea,” Davon said, then added, “In the meantime, what will you have me do?” His voice had a zing to it as if he were eager to help me put out fires and enforce damage control.
“Get on your computer systems,” I instructed. “Find out whatever damning evidence you can on Tia Teller, and then relay it back to me.”
“Will do, Boss,” he said in a professional tone.
We hung up and I punched the side of my desk. I needed an outlet for blowing off steam. My desk received the blunt force, but I reeled back in pain. The desk was hard, and I was no match for it.
How could my own guards do this to me? They had kidnapped her without even advising me on the subject. I would see to it that they received a proper punishment. It just went to show that the manipulations that Tia Teller was capable of were mind-boggling.
I clicked on my instant communicator device that was attached to my wrist and looked like a watch. As soon as Herders’s face snapped into the screen, I started firing rounds of questions to him.
“Where is she?” I demanded. “Why would you take direct orders from a woman I’m not even married to yet?”
Herders’s face displayed conflict. “She is in custody . . .” he trailed off. The screen kept cutting out as if there was not enough juice in his receiver to properly provide service. He must be in the cells where prisoners were harbored. Right now, there were none, aside from my beautiful and innocent Rose. I was frantic to free her, to put the devious Tia Teller under the microscope and reveal her true agenda under the spotlight.
With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I called each of my brothers to get them up to speed on the turmoil. They agreed to meet me at the palace where we would contact the press together and try to enlist them in a failproof plan to take Tia down, once and for all.
I was still awaiting word from Davon, determining whether he would be able to track down Tia’s whereabouts with a device that could ping to her cellphone. From there, we would be able to gauge her exact location. If she ventured into the palace prison cells or outside the palace walls, we would be able to hunt down her every move.
Tia didn’t know it yet, but she was inadvertently in the crosshairs, leading us straight to Rose without even knowing it. I was ready for an ambush. I would do everything in my power to clear mine and Rose’s names, all while revealing the devious behavior of Tia Teller in the process.
Chapter 18
Rose
The handcuffs were digging into the sensitive skin across my wrists, causing the flesh there to become irritated, red, and swollen.
“Please,” I begged as I shook my arms behind my back. “These handcuffs are hurting me. Can’t you loosen them?”
The guard strutting along beside me with a military stride pursed his lips into a thin line, ignoring my plea as he stared straight ahead, stone-faced and cold.
I moaned with discomfort, trying to wiggle myself free, but my efforts were in vain. I was flanked by two guards, one on my left and one on my right. Each of them had machine guns strapped across their chests that hung loosely from their jackets by straps around their shoulders.
The both clutched their weapons with black leather gloves, looking like they couldn’t resist an opportunity to put the guns to good use. I swallowed hard and pressed forward as we trekked across dry grass that tickled and itched at my exposed ankles.
Up until that point, the guards had blindfolded me along the way. As we stepped out of the car into what appeared to be a secluded field, the guards nudged me along with the barrels of their guns temporarily poking threateningly into my back.
“Walk,” they had hissed, jolting me as if I was a horse that had just been whipped into fright and took off galloping in a haphazard direction.
Only I didn’t leap away. They held their grips tightly around my elbows and I stumbled across the high grass that looked like it hadn’t been mowed in a number of months.
A pair of yellow butterflies fluttered past my face, making my heart pound with a resolution of hope that reflected in the majestic way they’d appeared out of nowhere. As I watched them drift away, skirting along the wind, I said a silent prayer to my guardian angel. I hoped that the butterflies were a symbol. That wherever these men were taking me, I’d somehow either have the strength, resources, or opportunity to either escape or survive against all odds.
I didn’t dare ask them where we were going. I had a calm and rational mindset. I gathered the endurance to press forward. I had a subtle intuition tickling at my soul that if I just followed instructions and did as I was told, I might get out of this dreadful situation somehow and in one piece.
The further we wandered across the abandoned pastures, the more my heart began to pound with anxiety for the gravity of the danger I might be in.
I dared a glance at the guard on my right. He looked young, not more than twenty years old. The other guard looked much older, as if he could be the young soldier’s father. Both of them had stoic, aggressive looks on their faces that refused to yield any type of emotion whatsoever.
I stared straight ahead. I narrowed my eyes as it looked like we were closing in on some type of shed or tiny barn. The walls were weathered and rotting, made of wood that looked damp and had green moldy spots in the crevices and cracks.
I began nervously panting like a parched animal. My tongue suddenly felt swollen. My eyes went fuzzy and the world blurred to an intensely heated haze that closed in on me. If they were leading me into that shed, I had no idea how I would ever defend myself or cry out for help.
To my horror, the older guard nudged me with his knee. “Go inside.”
The younger guard pushed the door open. It creaked and whined in protest.
“Go in there?” I searched both guards’ faces with wild and frantic panic that threatened to devour me.
“Go.” The older guard nudged in the direction of the open door as if there was no room for debate or protest on the subject.
I held my breath and walked inside. It was dark. My eyes burned as they tried to adjust to the lack of light. It smelled musty and damp.
“Where are we?” I finally choked out.
“Sit there.” The younger guard looked reluctant to coax me into doing something against my will, but he gave me a subtle nudge toward a wicker chair.
I sat as directed but continued to demand answers. “Did Prince Darbnix arrange this? Where is he? I deserve to know. I have Earth citizen rights . . .” I trailed off, knowing my threats were not enough to persuade these men into letting me go. They had already made it this far with me. It was too late for them to turn back.
“She’ll be here in a minute,” the older guard stated abstractly yet formally as he tied me to a chair with my arms still behind my back.
He kept the dingy rope slack, but not wobbly enough for me to get free. He unlatched the handcuffs and shoved them into a utility belt on his waist. He stood off to the side as if he, too, were awaiting specific instructions before proceeding any further.
The air was still and silent. My breath hung suspended in my lungs. My eyes darted left and right, adjusting to the darkness. There was no sound until the ominous creaking of wooden floorboards pelted my eardrums and shattered my heart. Who was approaching me?
Then out of nowhere, a flash of light burst through the room like a cosmic solar flare. Tia Teller stood a few inches in front of me. A devilish sneer stretched across her perfect cherry lips.
She was dressed in a magnificent, gorgeous blue dress that was skintight and revealed all her voluptuous curves. Her blonde hair fell down her back i
n a cascade of freshly spun silk.
“Tia . . .?” I squeaked, coughing as I glanced at the guards in confusion. “What are you doing here?” I choked.
Tia began to laugh with a sinister edge to her tone. Her eyes were blue, piercing through me. I tensed every muscle in my body as she approached me with stiletto pumps adorning her feet.
“Well, well, well,” she began, waving her hand dramatically through the air, the one holding the cellphone with the flashlight that shone brightly in my eyes. “How the mighty have fallen.”
“Let me go,” I hissed, fully prepared to confront my rival-turned-enemy.
Tia let out a condescending laugh. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. You see, I have Prince Darbnix wrapped so tightly around my finger that he might snap like a rubber band.”
“He doesn’t love you,” I snarled.
It was my only defense.
I wiggled and squirmed in an effort to free myself from the knots tied around my wrists with a rope, but it was no use, and it only made Tia roar with shriller laughter than before.
“Let’s face it, carrot head,” Tia drawled as she wandered over to me, swaying her hips and making a point to stare daggers in my eyes. “I won. You lost.” She shrugged, glancing at the guards, who shuffled their feet nervously and kept their poised stance.
An idea popped into my brain, a magnificent one that might be her undoing if I had witnesses to vouch for me.
“Tell me, Tia,” I coaxed, willing to play her little game if it meant her downfall would be that much quicker. “How did you manage to win Prince Darbnix’s heart?” If my hands hadn’t been tied, I would have used sardonic air quotes regarding winning Darbnix’s heart.
Tia scoffed as if that subject were obvious. She twirled around in a dramatic princess-farm-bred-beauty-queen manner.
“Have you seen me?” Her mouth was agape with bafflement.
I smirked, knowing that I had the intelligent upper hand. “I’m just surprised, that’s all.” I shrugged in a blasé way that I knew was gnawing under her skin.
