by Nana Malone
Granted, I could understand why the Council more officially sanctioned this exile for me. My brother was a traitor, and it seemed that my mother—well, she came from a long line of traitors.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Ariel wasn't my concern anymore. It was fine. I could make our plan work. Pretend a little bit longer.
With all the negative publicity about the fallen prince, my endorsements had dried up. I had a contract negotiation, and it had been a bad time. My agents came up with a perfect solution. Find someone who could soften my image. Far from home, most people didn't even remember I was a prince until something bad happened, but they said I needed someone who was sweet and beyond reproach. Someone who could bring up my profile but at the same time needed me just as much as I needed her. And athletes and starlets together were money.
Enter Ella. She was beautiful and, most people said, talented. At the time, I'd never seen one of her movies. Her manager had wanted her in a showmance to increase her profile. Power couples in Hollywood were a thing.
But he hadn’t anticipated how much the public would love our supposed fairy-tale romance. His jealousy got the better of him, and he demanded we stop. His request had been violent. I’d found her beaten and bloody.
I promised from that moment to always protect her, and we’d kept up the charade for three years.
The plan was for everyone and their mother to photograph us looking lovey-dovey and doing charity benefits. It was a fairy tale. People loved it. Thanks to the arrangement, I picked up four more endorsement deals. Contract negotiations had gone great. As for Ella, she had been cast in three movies despite her manager’s attempts to blackball her.
After the benefit, we were ushered out the back to a side exit that no one else was going to use, and Frank was waiting for us there. "Your Highness. This way."
I paused at the door to wait for Ella, and I could see our limo waiting for us, as it should be.
When Frank opened the door for us, it was slow motion chaos. All I heard was an oomph and a gasp. In those frozen seconds, I watched Frank go down, and then there was blood everywhere.
He’d always been on me to train, to tap into everything I’d learned. And luckily, those years of training kicked in. The years of telling my body what to do and having it obey.
I hit the floor, dragging Ella with me and crawling back inside the door. When I shut it, the heavy metal clicking into place, I crawled over to Frank. "Frank, talk to me, man. Talk to me. Ella, hand me your shawl."
She sat there frozen.
I raised my voice. "Ella." Then she blinked into alertness, watching me. "Oh my God, someone shot him."
"Yes. Shawl, now."
She handed it over and I pressed it to his shoulder. "Hey mate, look at me. You're going to be fine."
He nodded and swallowed. "Your Highness, it's been a pleasure."
"Stop with that nonsense. You're not going anywhere."
I pulled out my phone and hit the emergency call button. "Ella, look at me. I need you to go back toward the benefit, call for help. Use one of the red phones. Hurry."
I applied pressure like I knew what to do.
I could have counted Vienna as an isolated incident. But I couldn’t ignore this. And now Max had taken out the only bodyguard I had.
I was a sitting fucking duck. By hook or by crook, I was going to stop him. The only way he was getting to Ella was over my dead body.
In the blur of activity with the paramedics, I was shoved back. I could only watch in dismay as they tried to help Frank. I looked up, but my vision was hazy. I was too raw, too tired.
In full crisis mode, I didn’t even think as I pulled out the phone. I dialed the one number I hadn’t allowed myself to call in ten years.
TWO
ARIEL...
A FEW MONTHS AGO, I’d had to start from scratch. With a little help from my chosen family, I’d been able to build new purpose in my life.
I’d never have been able to pull it off without them. And I could never say thank you enough. Royal Elite was up and running. I had six agents with varying skill levels, and I had every single one of them because Sebastian and Roone had bent over backward to accommodate me.
Any Royal Guard who left the service for some kind of family reason, or going to school, or anything like that, they funneled them my way. Any other security teams they'd worked with on travel missions that proved highly effective, again, they funneled my way. Two I had found on my own. So that felt like a good accomplishment.
But I'd been responsible for retraining everyone. I'd set the criteria, the business model, and I already had more business than I knew what to do with. Six months in, I was on my way to survival.
How had that even happened?
Well, it happened because of my family. I was going to have to get Sebastian some kind of insane present, or I could call Penny and just have her blow him on my behalf.
That was too weird. I owed them big though. And all I wanted to do was make them proud.
The phone on the bedside table buzzed. I ignored it. I didn't have anyone in the field at the moment, and I was tired. All I wanted to do was read my book. When I saw the screen said blocked number, I certainly wasn't going to answer it. Besides, no one in the islands had a blocked number from me, not with the encryption codes that Neela and I worked together to build.
I sat up and stared at the continually ringing phone.
Blocked number. Bzzzt.
Blocked number. Bzzzt.
My heart rate spiked with the hammering of my pulse. They rattled in my brain. Who could be calling so insistently?
How could it be so important that some unknown person would be calling me at eleven o'clock at night?
Finally, I gave in to the feelings of dread and picked up the phone. "This is Ariel."
There was silence. Even though all I heard was breathing on the other end, I knew who it was. Intrinsically, I knew. It was him.
I held onto my phone so tight, I was sure I was going to lose circulation in my fingers. The stupid tears pricked the backs of my lids and I fought for control. I was lying to Penny when I said I was getting over it.
I wasn’t over shit. Just hearing him breathe evoked memories I wished were long dead. Memories that tore at the center of my chest threatening to break me apart. Memories that were sweet and bitter and painful and beautiful. Memories I couldn’t exorcise.
Memories I didn’t want to exorcise.
And then he spoke.
It was only one word.
But it was a word spoken with a man’s tone, not a boy’s. It was a word spoken with a mixture of reverence and pain, worry and sadness. “Ariel…”
The tear escaped before I could stop it, rolling down my cheek. Why now? I was finally back to my life. Back where I needed to be.
But of course, my past was never going to let me go. “Your Highness.”
“I—I’m sorry”
I blinked. He was sorry? For what? Was this the apology I’d been waiting for half my life? It took me a second to realize his words had been slurred.
He’s drunk. Had to be. “You’re Highness, perhaps—”
“I know. I shouldn’t call. But I had to. Just to hear… your voice. He’s dying and it’s my fault. I did this.”
What? “Tristan, what in the—” But I didn’t get to finish. He’d already hung up.
One Night Later
Ariel…
“WE ARE GETTING you laid tonight, my bestie, and you are going to enjoy it,” my best friend, Penny, shouted in my ear.
I wanted to have fun tonight. I wanted to be carefree and light. I wanted to have a great time. I had to shake off that phone call. So what if the former love of my life had called me after nearly ten years of silence. It was fine. Fine. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my night. This morning I’d very deliberately shut off my google alerts so I wouldn’t be tempted.
Sure, you’re not. Because you're having so much fun right now…
I glanced around the club at the meager pickings and lifted my brow. “Doubtful. Besides, my lady parts have shriveled. Nobody wants dry lady parts.”
She jostled my arm. “Come on, this is supposed to be fun. You don’t look like you're having fun."
We were out with the rest of the Princess Pirates, as we’d taken to calling ourselves, to celebrate my being knighted. Penny, Bryna, Jinx, and Jessa were all looking at me expectantly. I could feel them willing me to have a good time, but I just couldn’t muster that loving feeling. But for my best friends, I tried. I forced myself to smile and dance and sip the champagne. After all, I’d been given back the keys to the kingdom. I should be thrilled.
Then why aren’t you?
Penny tapped her glass to get everyone’s attention. We were in the VIP area of the most exclusive club on the island, but several of the partiers down below quieted to hear what their queen had to say.
“A toast to the best friend a girl could have. Less than six months ago, after completing one of the hardest undercover assignments of your career and bringing home the lost princess, you made an impossible choice.”
Oh shit. This bitch was not going to make me cry in public with some damn emotional speech. I blinked rapidly. She knew how I felt about emotional displays. I was going to kill her.
Penny continued as if I wasn’t giving here the death glare. “That choice you made led to the most badass move of your career. You run your own team of agents now, and I, for one, couldn’t be more proud of you.”
“Thanks, now if we could just—”
But Penny wasn’t done. “And not only did you deliver the most recalcitrant princess in the history of princesses home—”
Jessa snorted. “Hey. That was not my fault. I am not recalcitrant. Besides, I didn’t know I was a princess. If I’d known, I’d have come more willingly.”
Penny continued. “And you were also the catalyst in getting me together with Sebastian.”
“If I remember correctly, I feel like I distinctly told you not to bone him.”
She rolled her eyes. “At any rate, you are strong, brilliant, and beautiful, and I’m honored to have you as a member of the King’s Knights. As in everything else you do, I’m sure you’ll kick ass and take names.”
God, I fucking hoped so. To hear Penny tell the tale, I was some kind of epic badass. She knew me better than most, but sometimes I wondered if even she didn’t have a skewed view of me.
Jessa leaned forward and squeezed my knee. “We’re all really proud of you. Seriously.”
I rolled my eyes and deflected the compliment. “If you bitches make me cry, I will be so pissed.” The others laughed and ordered more drinks. But Penny watched me closely. She knew what I was hiding. Well maybe it was time to stop hiding. Last night’s phone call was an anomaly. An outlier. He wouldn’t call again.
Are you sure about that?
All the girls around me were coupled up. Penny was the freaking queen right now. Bryna was engaged to Prince Lucas. And Jessa, well, I’d actually watched her fall in love with Roone. And even though Jinx was a member of single city like me, at least she dated.
I just worked too much and went to bed to ten-year-old memories of love. What if I wasn’t even remembering that shit correctly? Did I really want to waste more time? I wasn’t exactly lonely, but I’d eventually like sex with someone who wanted to know more than just if I liked how he used his tongue. I’d like someone who was interested in my name… my job… details of my life.
Out of the corner of my eye, I clocked Roone trying to look inconspicuous. As if. He was six feet four inches tall with shoulders wide enough to block the sun from view. He winked at me as he tried to sneak around to the back of the VIP area. He was trying to sneak up on Jessa. No doubt there would be kissing soon. And sure enough, if Roone was here, that meant Sebastian and Lucas weren’t far behind.
Roone posted up at the VIP bar at the end of the section, still giving us space.
The appearance of five men dressed in black suits was my clue. Yep, the king was in the building. I glanced around and watched Sebastian’s sure gait. They were just missing little brother. Leaning over to Bryna, I asked, “Aren’t they missing one?”
She laughed. “Yep. Lucas had another last-minute trip to London.”
I wondered if he’d stop in Barcelona to see Tristan.
I stopped myself before I could travel too far down that rabbit hole. Penny was right. I needed to get laid. Mostly, I needed to put myself out there, otherwise I’d keep obsessing over someone I was never going to have.
I could do this. I was a bloody grown-up who would like to have sex in this century. Everything else in my life was great. I had so many prospective clients calling I was turning down a lot of work. Word of us doing such a good job for Neela Wellbrook had spread, so now, the who's who of the islands—hell, of the international jet set—were calling us. And I had more job applicants than I could even sift through.
I just had to translate that success to my dating life. I snuck a quick glance at my phone, half expecting another call from Tristan. But nothing.
Penny leaned forward. "Oh my God, if you check your phone one more time I'm confiscating it."
I lifted a brow at her. "I'd like to see you try."
Jessa leaned forward. "Oh my God, Jinx, Bryna, who do you think would win the fight?"
The others seemed to actually ponder this. And Penny seemed to delight in it.
"Ooh, I bet they think it's you. Little do they know, I'm kind of a badass."
I grinned at her. "She is kind of a badass. She is also the queen. So if I so much as even look at her cross-eyed, in this club alone, there are ten armed guards who will put my head on a spike. Before, it would have been a good fight. But she's my bestie. We have never been in a fight. Not a real one with fists, and hair pulling, and elbows, and shouts of 'let me maim you.’"
Jinx giggled and took a sip of her drink. "Well, I for one am super excited that our queen is a total badass. I feel safer just being with you guys. Not that anything ever happens here on the Islands."
Penny and I exchanged a glance. Jinx was privy to some of the shenanigans that had happened in the last three years. She was Bryna's best friend, after all, and the soon-to-be-princess needed her confidant. But there was a lot more that Jinx wasn't privy to. Jinx had grown up just seeing a lot of the bright side of the island, not the shadowy politics beneath.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone watching me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and I glanced around. Someone was watching us. I mean, technically, there were several guards watching.
No less than fifteen men combined. Sebastian was being reasonable these days. There was a time he had insisted Penny needed forty. Roone had tried to insist that Jessa needed more too. There had been some heated exchanges, something whispered, and lo and behold, they both got fewer men on their Guard teams.
Over the rim of her glass, Penny eyed me. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling, like someone is watching us?"
"You realize we're being watched by no less than fifteen guards, right?”
"Yes, I know. I'm just saying." I shook my head to clear it, letting my artful curls fall over my shoulder. “You know what? You guys are right. I need to get out there.”
Penny clapped. "Yes, oh my God, can we pick the guy?"
"Oh my God, no. I can pick my own guy."
"No, because I know you. You have to go on a date with the next guy who asks you out, okay?"
"Oh, come on. What if he's not good looking, or my type, or—"
Penny held up a hand. "No. You just have to get some practice. It's like a muscle, so you need to flex your muscle."
"Oh my God, fine. If I agree to go out on a date, will you guys leave me alone?"
They all nodded enthusiastically, grinning at each other. Why were they smiling at each other like that? Oh God, they were plotting something, and I needed to know what the hell it was.<
br />
But before my brain could go down that rabbit hole, someone leaned over our booth and tapped my shoulder. My gaze flickered up. "Hi."
Okay, good looking guy, tall, dark hair, chiseled jaw. Insane shoulder width. Clearly, I had a type. I couldn't tell with the black lights in the club exactly what color his eyes were, but he was clearly fit. Yeah. Okay.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to break up your party or whatever, but I've been watching you from the bar."
Ah, so that's why my senses were going off. "Oh, have you?"
"Yes, I have. Look, obviously, you are busy with your friends, and I wouldn't want to break that up. Considering you guys are in a booth and no one is out on the dance floor, I figure this is a girls'-night thing, and I respect that. But I would very much like to ask you out, you know, just for a coffee. No pressure."
"Oh wow, that's really sweet, but I—" Penny kicked me under the table. "Ouch." I glared at her. Then she mouthed, You promised.
Damn it.
"You know what, I, um, my schedule looks a little crazy, but maybe on Monday?"
He flashed a grin. He had a great smile. And why did he look so familiar? He pulled a business card out of his wallet and wrote on the back. "That's my cellphone. Just text me, and I'll be there. What's your name?"
I inhaled sharply. "It's Ariel."
"I'm Ian. It's nice to meet you. I look forward to hearing from you." And then he was gone, leaving me with his phone number.
"See, was it so hard to agree?"
"Yeah, but now what am I going to wear? Because I have a giant bruise from my last mission."
"You were about to say no."
"I was not." I turned and glanced back at him. I saw him on his way to the other end of the VIP area. I knew nothing about him, just that his name was Ian. I turned over the business card. It was all black. The phone number that was on it was in a glossier font. At the top left of the card, in the same sort of glossy embossed print, it read Tellman's Sports Agency. I frowned. "Holy fuck. Was that Ian Tellman?"
They all looked at me quizzically. Jinx and I were really into sports, though she preferred American basketball. No one else really followed football like I did. "Come on, you guys. Anyone? That's Ian Tellman. He was one of the youngest players to ever play premiere league football. He was becoming a legend until he got injured."
