Page 1 of Desperately Yours

Fitz

Fury rose within my chest, the cry of ancestors gone before me who’d faced greater barriers than this. I steeled my voice and tried again.

“Move aside, by order of your prince.”

Dahlia stood her ground outside Michaela’s door, unphased by my show of royal power. “Apologies, Your Highness. She’s sleeping and the doctors insist that she—”

“And I do not wish to wake her,” I interrupted Michaela’s lady’s maid. “I only want to see her to know that she’s still healing.”

“It’s highly improper for a man to enter an unmarried woman’s chambers, Your Highness. I’m afraid I can’t permit it.”

She was the equivalent of a stone wall in human form. No matter the direction I tried, she shut me down and beat me back with excuses. I’d tried to see Michaela five other times, but each time I was met with her routine. Trying diplomacy, I allowed Dahlia to control the flow of traffic, but after a night of fitful dreams, I refused to let one more moment go by without seeing Coco.

“Youdoknow who I am, yes?” I squinted at her, trying to ascertain if this was simply a miscommunication or a deliberate attempt to bar me from the room. “I hardly think I qualify as some rogue who might take advantage. If you are still concerned, stay in the room and chaperone.”

“Your Highness…” For the first time, she flinched, as if I had found the weakness in her armor. “I know who you are, and I understand your order, but…”

The truth became clear in an instant.

“My mother,” I finished for her. The queen’s orders outranked mine. “She asked you to keep me away.” Not a question. No place for speculation. My statement needed no confirmation, and yet she gave it with a slight nod of her head.

“It’s not meant to harm you or Michaela. She’s worried you might overtax her and set back her recovery.”

“Yes,” I barely kept my anger at bay, “I’m surethat’swhat she’s worried about.” Without a word of goodbye, I turned away and headed for my room. It had only been a day since Michaela was found, but it felt like a week. The short moment I held her in my arms by the sinkhole wasn’t long enough. I might go mad waiting for my mother to release her hold on Michaela’s freedom.

I nodded at the night guards as I passed them on the way to my chambers. I played by the rules, but if Mother wanted to change the playbook, I would adjust mine as well. If I waited long enough, Dahlia would retire for the night and I could slipinto Michaela’s room by way of the bookcase. I hadn’t taken the chance yet. No one but the royal family knew about the tunnel network, but Mother had put my back against the wall, and nothing would keep me away at this point.

I wasn’t lying. All I wanted was a moment with her. Confirmation that she was still breathing and there were no other complications to her struggle. I ached to be in her presence, and nothing would assuage the misery but to feel her near me.

“Your Highness?” Kabir fell in step beside me, matching my determined stride. After all our years together, he read me like a book. I had no doubt he sensed the rebellion in me. “Important business?”

“You don’t need to worry about it. Shouldn’t you be with Michaela?”

“I’m afraid her lady’s maid has barred me from the room. By the order of the queen.” He paused a moment as if thinking and then added, “I wager by your eager step that you had the same treatment?”

“That’s a safe bet, my friend.” I cast a glance his way, remembering at once his injury from the earthquake. “Should you even be here? I thought I gave you leave.”

We turned down the final hallway that led to my chambers. A window at the end of the hall put the city on display, a splattering of twinkling lights on an onyx background. More of the day had expired than I thought. Maybe I didn’t have to wait much longer to use the tunnel. Time had gotten away from me.

Kabir held his hurt arm up as if to show he had recovered. It would have been far more convincing if not for the black brace still latched to his forearm. “Ready to work, Your Highness.” My face must have betrayed my doubt because he frowned and tried again. “I rested while she was lost, but when she returned, I followed.”

A simple statement, but it summed up his loyalty completely.

“Thank you, Kabir.” I stopped outside my chamber doors, hesitating with my hand on the knob. “Stay as close to her as you can. I worry the danger has not passed.”

Kabir straightened to full attention. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Tell me if you see anything concerning.”

He nodded slowly, understanding what I hadn’t said. “Lady Michaela has made enemies inside and outside of the palace walls, I fear.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I said no more and quickly entered my chambers, more determined than ever to see Coco. In the night hours, the only light inside my chambers came from the large windows where the full moon’s light streamed through. I had long ago memorized the layout and left the other lights off, enjoying the feeling of being under the cover of darkness. My stride lengthened as I crossed the living section of my chambers.

Too much had been left unsaid. Michaela deserved to know how I felt. Forget the laws. My bedroom waited in total darkness, but I didn’t need help finding the painting that led to the passageway. Dahlia could watch me step out from behind the bookcase and maybe in her fright she might think I was a spirit there to haunt her and would flee in terror. At least then I would be alone with Michaela until she returned with a guard. With any luck, I could slip out before I was discovered and let her tales become another palace fable. My fingers wrapped around the edge of the frame, ready to release the latch that held it in place.

My corner lamp flicked on, bathing the room in an eerie glow.

“I knew it.” Mother’s voice jarred me from my thoughts, transforming me into a young boy caught while up to no good. “I haven’t used the tunnels in ages, but I knew you were getting around my guards somehow.”

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