Page 3 of Royal Caleva: Luis

His assistant didn’t flinch. “Of course, Señor.”

Luis turned to Mikel. “You will accompany me to the prison.”

“Would you like to change your clothes first?” Mikel asked.

“No. Let Odette see that she has dragged me away from my duties, as she intended,” Luis said.

“She forgets that you have a worthy stand-in,” Mikel said.

Luis looked at Raul, pride expanding in his chest at his son’s outward composure. Luis was asking a lot of his son, but he had no doubt that Raul could handle it.

The door opened again, this time to admit the Portavoz del Consejo who would officially announce the king to the consejos. “Su Majestad, Su Alteza Real, it is time to go.”

“There’s been a change of plans,” Luis said. “I’ve been called away. El Principe Raul will deliver the opening address.”

“But, Señor, the ciudadanos are expecting the king.” The official was aghast.

Luis leveled his gaze at the man. “El principe speaks for me. His words are my words.”

Luis sat in the big leather chair behind the warden’s desk in CárcelMax, Caleva’s maximum security prison, as he waited for Odette Fontaine. He forced himself to sit still, despite the anger boiling inside him. Mikel had finished sweeping the area for any kind of surveillance and then set up a jamming device to add another layer of privacy. Bodyguards were stationed at every door into the warden’s office. Not Luis’s personal ones. They were too recognizable. Mikel had brought in his own private security team, anonymous men and women dressed in prison guard uniforms.

Still, Luis would be alone with the woman he hated most in this world.

The woman who had nearly destroyed Luis’s beloved nephew, Gabriel. For a moment, he was back in those terrible days after Gabriel’s kidnappers had sent Luis his nephew’s severed ear. He had wondered then what other mutilations his abductors would subject their victim to as time ticked away. Thank God Mikel had been there to negotiate Gabriel’s release before anything worse could occur. Luis banished the gut-wrenching fear to its dark place in his memories. He could not allow emotion to cloud his thinking when dealing with Odette.

Despite his resolution, when the door swung open, he dug his fingers into the upholstered arms of the chair as his hatred surged.

The bodyguards ushered Odette through the doorway, the chains that joined her hand and ankle cuffs clanking as she shuffled across the carpet.

She looked old and drawn, the glaring yellow of her shapeless shirt and trousers giving her pale skin a jaundiced tint. Her reddish-brown hair was yanked back in a messy ponytail. A flare of satisfaction warmed him.

Luis gestured to the straight-backed metal chair in front of the desk, and the bodyguards moved her to it.

“Sit,” Luis said.

Instead, Odette raised her hands as far as she could before the chain stopped her. “Really? Do you feel these are necessary?” Incredibly, her voice held amused condescension.

“Sit down,” Luis repeated, his tone like granite.

She shrugged and sat, resting her clanking wrists on her thighs.

“You may go.” Luis nodded to the bodyguards.

“You’re not afraid I’ll try to wrap the chains around your neck and strangle you?” Odette’s eyebrows were raised.

Luis and the bodyguards ignored her.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Odette smiled, her gaze skimming over Luis’s uniform. “Did I drag you away from another engagement?” she drawled.

“As you are well aware, you did. Fortunately, Raul was prepared to take my place.” He kept his tone neutral.

Satisfaction flashed across her face. “You sent a boy to deliver a king’s speech?”

“Raul is a prince.” Luis leaned back in the chair. “What is this new lie you have manufactured?”

“You don’t fool me,” Odette scoffed. “You dropped everything and came running when you read the letter.”

“I came because you claim to have evidence of this ridiculous story. What is it?”

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