Page 40 of Cursed

He glanced at her dubiously, and she pushed his shoulder. “What’s going on now is different. I need to do this.” Even as she said the words the knot of dismay tightened in her stomach. As much as she did need to do this, Edeena certainly wasn’t looking forward to the whirl of social requirements her father had laid out in his letter. Maybe the queen could help, but she doubted it. The edicts governing the behavior of the nobility predated Queen Catherine by hundreds of years.

They pulled up to the castle a few short minutes later, and Edeena at least got to enjoy seeing the impressive building through a stranger’s eyes. Vince whistled low as they entered the outer gate then rolled forward into the lushly manicured courtyard. The primary residence of the royal family was a large stone edifice cut directly into the wall of a cliff, overlooking the whole of the capital city from its perch in the mountain. Though Vince couldn’t see the view from here, he certainly got the idea of where the castle was located as evidenced by the clear blue sky surrounding it.

“Nice place,” he allowed, and she nodded. Then her eyes narrowed as she saw who was standing on the front stair.

“Brace yourself,” she murmured. “The queen has come out to get the first look at the American.”

Vince turned to peer through the windows, but there was only so much he could see now that they were nearly upon the stairs. “Do I, um, bow?” he asked, suddenly frowning. “Do you people bow? I didn’t really think about brushing up on my royal etiquette. I should have.”

“You don’t bow,” Edeena said, watching as the queen started skipping lightly down the stairs, far too eager for a woman nearly thirty years her senior. “But you may be subjected to some seriously royal hugging.”

Vince stepped out of the car in one easy motion, turning immediately to hand out Edeena—in part because it was the polite thing to do, in part to use the poor woman as a shield from the brightly smiling, elegantly regal force of nature who was striding toward them down the long white stone path.

“Edeena Arabelle Catherine Saleri, you are, if possible, even more beautiful today than when I saw you last, and I didn’t think nature could possibly improve on its already magnificent work. Welcome home, darling.”

Vince realized with a start that the queen was speaking English, which could only be for his benefit. She enfolded Edeena into a hug that appeared truly affectionate, before stepping back and surveying him with a graciously appraising eye.

Edeena cleared her throat. “Queen Catherine, please allow me to introduce Vince Rallis, of Charleston, South Carolina.”

“Vince, you say?” the queen asked, her eyes dancing. “From my intelligence, the man’s name is Prince.”

Edeena looked frozen for a moment, and Vince stepped forward, holding out his hand. The queen it took it with both of hers.

“Prince is a nickname from my childhood, your majesty,” he said, using the form of address Google recommended when he looked it up during the flight, Edeena sacked out on his shoulder. “My given name is Vince, and as I’m sure your intelligence provided, no one would ever mistake me for an actual prince.”

“I suppose I should ask Edeena that, yes?” the queen asked, swiveling back to Edeena. “He protected you and your sisters during your stay on the island?”

She tutted, turning toward the castle and taking Edeena’s arm. Vince fell into step behind them, uncomfortable as a phalanx of guards flowed around their trio in a loose oval. “I’ve never visited the Contos house on Sea Haven island, though of course your mother mentioned it often. I daresay it was one of her most treasured properties. How is Prudence doing?”

The women chatted as if they were old friends, and Vince sensed an unusually intent stare spearing him in the back. Rather than ignoring it the way he probably should, he looked back to see a man who was almost his equal in height and build, peering at him curiously. When Vince lifted his brows, staring back, the man merely smiled but said nothing.

The whole lot of them mounted the stairs and entered a sweeping foyer, far grander than anything Vince had seen in the famed residences of Charleston old money, but with the added resonance of being a space well lived-in. The floor was an endless sea of marble, with a long, thickly-plush carpet runner down the center, and fixtures of gold and silver lined the walls. Paintings hung at regular intervals, and though Vince was no art scholar, he somehow suspected that they all were originals and had been painted by people whose names even he would recognize.

“You must be famished. I recall the flight to America is almost unreasonably long and broken up, and not merely because Garronia is so far east. There simply isn’t an easy trajectory, no?”

She directed this last question to Vince and he straightened, peeling his gaze away from the army of staff as they settled a dozen or more trays on an already overstuffed table, before another tuxedoed staff member swept in behind them, offering champagne on a tray.

Vince took one to be polite and immediately began scouting out locations to deposit the glass at his earliest opportunity.

The queen seemed to be one step ahead of him. “Mr. Rallis, while your dedication to your assignment is gratifying, I assure you, Edeena and yourself are now in good hands. We’re being attended by members of the Garronia National Security Force. In fact, you remind me . . . Captain Korba, Mr. Rallis here has been kind enough to ally his personal security firm with the interests of Garronia. Would you mind showing him our security protocols—to the extent that you’re able—so he can feel assured of Edeena’s safety while he’s our guest?”

Vince blinked at the barrage of words, meeting the gaze of the man who’d stared at him so disconcertingly on the way into the palace. To his surprise, the man offered him a knowing smile.

“Of course,” Captain Korba said, bowing to his queen before turning again to Vince. “If you’ll come this way?”

Vince hesitated, and Edeena’s soft words cut through his confusion. “I’ll be fine, Vince. The queen and I simply need to catch up.”

With that he nodded briskly to Korba, and allowed the burly man to lead him from the room.

They hadn’t gone more than a few steps when Korba’s chuckle finally escaped him. “Don’t look so poleaxed, Mr. Rallis. Queen Catherine does this to everyone.”

“You’re not really going to show me your security systems, are you? That’s insane.”

“It’s a fairly common occurrence, actually,” Korba countered. “We bring in diplomats, royals from all over the world, and their security teams want to know what we have in place. We show them enough so they understand the rudiments of our system, so that they feel comfortable. And we are protected, here in Garronia.”

Vince quirked him a glance. “Because of your remote location?”

“No,” Korba grinned at him. “Because Garronia, she takes care of her own. You’ll learn this, if you stay long.”

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