Page 49 of Trapped with the Undercover Prince

“You put her in your room?” his mother asked in a scandalized tone. “A woman who—”

“—is a hero,” Zar interrupted.

She kept on talking. “Did our country a service we can never repay. Twice.” Her cheeks grew red, and she got to her feet and began to pace. “She deserves more than to be brought in through the kitchen door and snuck into your room like some passing fancy.”

“She’s not—” Zar cut himself off before he said something unforgivable. “She’s still processing everything that happened. I promised to keep her safe.”

“And your bed is the only place you can do that?”

“She’s in the bed. I’m sleeping on the settee in the next room.”

His mother stopped pacing and pinned him in place with a gaze so sharp he should have been bleeding. “You care for her.”

It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway. “She saved my life twice. First was by chance, but the second time...someone took a shot at me, and she nearly took the bullet.”

“Nicolas mentioned the shooting. He’s tearing the dead man’s life apart right now, looking for any trace of who he might have been working with. He said she saved you, but I didn’t realize she’d physically shielded you.”

Zar snorted. “She tackled me to the ground, then covered my body with her own.” Just thinking about it made him frustrated with her all over again. She behaved as if he were more important than she was. “She didn’t give it a second’s thought. She was just...there. Protecting me.” He ran a hand through his hair.

The queen came over to him, studying his face. “You were injured?”

“During the initial chaos after the explosion. A long cut on my back and some burns to my hands.”

She reached out and took his hands in her own. The burns were mostly superficial, but a couple of spots were deeper. “She treated the cut?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “She used surgical glue to close it. I was examined by a doctor at the hospital. Anna had worried about possible infection, but he said it looked remarkably good for something done in a hurry.”

“She’s as good a doctor as the reports I’m hearing?” his mother asked.

“She’s nothing short of amazing. If we’re not careful, the hospital in Lyon is going to grab her before we do.”

His mother frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Her grandmother was Lerasian. She escaped to America just before the end of world war two. Mother, Anna didn’t come here just to see the sights; she came here to find out if she has any family left here.”

“Interesting,” his oldest sister Brigette said.

The queen narrowed her eyes. “All the more reason to treat her with respect, Zar.”

“I promised to keep her safe. I will not go back on that vow.”

“You’re using her, Zar,” his middle sister Estelle said. “You’re putting her in danger by pretending a romance that doesn’t exist.”

Zar held onto his temper, but let his sisters see it in his gaze. “It exists. What’s worse, you know it exists, but you’re trying to bait me for some reason I don’t understand.”

Brigette crossed her arms over her chest. “A relationship with her can’t go anywhere, and you know it.”

“Who says it can’t?”

“That’s enough,” their mother said, walking between them to break their glaring standoff. “Zar, I will not have you ruining this woman’s reputation or causing a scandal. If she’s sleeping in your room, you will have to sleep somewhere else.”

When he opened his mouth to complain, his mother put up her hand. “Don’t worry. Brigette will stay with her while she’s in your room.”

“What?” Zar and Brigette asked at the same time.

“I think it’s an excellent compromise,” the queen said with a small smile. “Now, go and get some rest.” She shooed him out like he was a five-year-old.

Knowing when he was beaten, Zar left to return to his room. John was seated in the sitting room working on a laptop, but the door to the bedroom was open a crack.

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