Page 6 of A Valiant Prince

“I have a room number for your father if you want to go see him. Lara is still in surgery. Uncle Hans is in a special waiting area up in the surgical unit. My father is up with your father. He was going to go check on Anna again in a bit. She was sleeping last time he stopped by to see her. I’m assuming she’s awake now?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes. We both fell asleep for a bit.” I walk in and sit down across from him.

“This is royally fucked up,” I say. “No pun intended.”

“Yes, it is,” Chris agrees. Mia stirs on his lap, and I see his hand tighten over her. She snuggles against him, sighs in her sleep, and stills, her breathing evening out once again. I can’t help wondering when Chris and Mia are going to enlighten the rest of us about their love affair. It’s obvious to everyone. It seems silly for them to pretend.

I put my head in my hands and run them through my hair. “The signal was coming from inside the palace,” I mumble into my hands.

“What?” Auggie turns to me, finally acknowledging my presence.

“Anna had just gone to check a search she had running. Apparently, a message popped up indicating that whoever was responsible for hiring an assassin to kill me was inside the palace. The blast happened before she could get back to me,” I explain.

“What do you mean, inside the palace?” Chris says.

“I mean, someone who was in the palace this morning is the person who has hired an assassin to kill me and most likely blew up your uncle’s plane, and also bombed the palace,” I say to him.

“We don’t know what caused the explosion,” Auggie points out.

I look at him. “You’re not serious, are you? It was a bomb blast,” I say to him.

They both look at me like I’m an idiot. “My mother was a journalist. I once spent a week with her while she interviewed bomb experts at Quantico in Virginia,” I explain. “Not that that makes me an expert. But I can’t imagine anything except an explosive would cause the type of destruction I saw earlier.”

Chris’s shoulders sag. “I know,” he says quietly. “I don’t want to believe it, but I agree.”

“I don’t know who we can trust,” I admit.

“Well, we need to let Victor know immediately. He’s heading up all the investigations,” Chris says.

“Can we trust him?” I ask Chris. He frowns.

“Yes…I…shit,” he curses. “You’re right. I don’t know who we can trust.”

“We need to start systematically weeding people out of the suspects list,” I say to him.

“Well, I assume you aren’t trying to murder yourself,” Chris says, eyeing me up.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. No, I think I’m in the clear. Anna is the one who is trying to save me, so she’s clear. What about you three?” I ask.

Chris sighs. “I…Mia…I was with Mia when the explosion occurred. We had just gotten off the phone with an events coordinator for a fundraiser that I’m scheduled to speak at next month,” Chris says.

Auggie looks at me. “I guess my online gaming buddies can vouch for me if need be,” Auggie says with a sigh.

Chris gives him a look. “Seriously, Augs?” he says.

Auggie shrugs. “What? I like to play online, so sue me,” he says. “It’s one place I can be whoever, and they have no idea.”

Chris huffs. “Alright, so that’s five of us,” he says.

“Our fathers?” I ask next.

“Well, considering the bomb went off by their rooms, it seems unlikely they would be blowing themselves up,” Chris says.

“True…” I say, trailing off as I think.

“Lara…” Auggie doesn’t finish his sentence. Chris and I just both nod. No words need exchanging on whether Lara is our suspect.

“So, that leaves everyone else,” Chris says.

---