Page 29 of Royal Guard

I marched back to the table and asked the Princess for a moment alone. Then I told her everything thathad happened, leaving out Emerik’s diabetes. She was furious that I’d tested him, but relieved that he was cleared. “So now what?” she asked.

It hadto be Jakov. But I couldn’t accuse him without evidence. And until I figured out how to prove it and neutralized him, the assassins were going to follow us wherever we went.Dammit!

We went back to the table and I gave the waitress twenty bucks to let us make a call on her cell phone. FBI Director Gibson picked up on the second ring and I put him on speaker.

“The guy who left his prints on the vase is Silvas Lukin,” Gibson told us. “I’m looking at his photo right now. Mean-looking son of a—”—he caught himself when he remembered who was listening—”Sorry, Your Highness. Anyway, he was an officer in the Garmanian army.”

The Princess looked up at me, her eyes huge with fear. Emerik said nothing, but his shoulders had set hard with tension. Jakov was staring at the phone as if willing it to unsay what it had just said.

“Was?”asked the Princess.

“He was jailed for war crimes. He ran a special ops unit tasked with operations behind Lakovian lines. Very efficient: he was awarded a whole slew of medals. But his unit also got a reputation for cruelty. They were sent to assassinate a Lakovian strategist and they tortured his wife in front of him first. They were told to destroy a weapons plant and, instead of just letting the civilian staff escape, they rounded them up in the cafeteria and executed them. But the worst one was in a town called…”—he struggled with the pronunciation—”Thoreeny? Thorina?”

“Thorine,”whispered the Princess.

I’d never heard her sound so scared. Raw horror, something so bad it was buried in her psyche forever. Something she’d give anything to un-know. I reached under the table, grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight.

The others were having the same reaction. “That washim?”muttered Emerik. Caroline looked as if she was about to start crying.

“What happened in Thorine?” I asked helplessly.

“It was a town Garmania took over early in the war,” said Gibson. “Lakovia had finally liberated it. Lukin and his team sneaked in to...to get revenge, I guess. They went to the town’s main church and—” He broke off. When he spoke again, his voice was thick with emotion. “Oh. Oh Jesus.”

The Princess was squeezing my hand like that was all that was holding back the tears. “It was where we’d taken all the children,” she whispered. “To keep them safe.”

“Lukin’s team used gas,’ said Gibson. “Three hundred and sixty-seven children. Dead. Lukin said at his trial that he didn’t want them growing up into more Lakovian parasites. They sent him to a military jail for life, but he escaped four months ago. And it’s not just him. The guy you shot, at the motel? One of Lukin’s old unit. My bet is that all the assassins are. Lukin’s put his old special ops team back together.”

We still didn’t know if these people were operating on their own or with the backing of the Garmanian government. But at least we knew who we were up against: a special ops team, used to sneaking behind enemy lines, lead by an absolute psycho who detested Lakovians.

And now their mission was to kill the Princess.

I reached under the table with my other hand and clasped the Princess’s hand in both of mine.Not if I have anything to do with it.

“What do we do?” asked the Princess. It was the most shaken I’d seen her.

I sighed and tried to think. We couldn’t risk going to New York until we got rid of the traitor: we’d be sitting ducks on a plane.

I needed somewhere I could protect her. Somewhere safe. Somewhere familiar.

The answer came to me and I closed my eyes and let out an exhausted sigh.No!I couldn’t. I couldn’t face him. Couldn’t put him in danger.

“What?” asked the Princess.

I opened my eyes. I couldn’t letherbe in danger, either. I made up my mind.

“We’re going to Texas,” I told her. “We’re going home.”

19

KRISTINA

I watchedopen-mouthed as the landscape changed. I’d been blown away by Arizona with its vivid orange rock and sweltering heat, so different to Lakovia. But Texas was differentagain.Texas was huge, rolling plains and a sky so big it took my breath away. We drove all day and I watched the odometer count up: miles and then tens of miles and then hundreds of miles and we werestill in Texas.Lakovia is not a big country. My whole sense of scale was being redefined.Even Garrett probably seems small in this place.

I stole a quick glance at him. No. Not even Texas could make him seem small. But he did fit here, more than he had even in California or Arizona. This was his home.

My quick glance was turning into a stare. I knew that behind me, Emerik would be scowling at my obsession. But I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t tear my eyes from that jawline and those hard lips. My own lipstingled from the imagined feel of brushing his and the feeling spread, kisses tracing over my chin and down my neck. I felt his breath hot on my skin and his stubble scraping against me. Felt the softness of his hair as it twisted between my fingers and the hot shock of his tongue on my nipple—

I was becoming addicted to him. It was more than just the physical. It was having seen how far he’d go to protect me. I’d been guarded my entire life, but no man had ever made me feel safe like this. And it was the way I felt every time I was close to him. Bring us within six feet and there was this...cravingI felt down the whole of my body, a need to be pressed up against him, to have his arms around me.

---