Page 21 of Iron Unicorn

To my amusement, the Texan monarchs shrugged their acceptance of Olivia’s evaluation of their daughter.

I snorted at that. “Then he is a fool.”

“He’s a dangerous fool,” the Texan king grumbled. “The wife won’t let me carry a big stick.”

The Texan queen lifted her chin, and I recognized the moment she’d gone from an irritated queen to a protective mom out to protect her daughter. “Deidre is an adult, and she must face the consequences of her decisions as a child. Of course we’ll help her, but this was her choice to make. Montana has delivered the severance documents, so the betrothal is as good as over—and Daphne took the liberty of sending copies to every last kingdom on the planet at Deidre’s request. The poor woman has spent all week speaking to monarchs or translators to make certaineveryoneknows the truth of the situation.”

I admired Daphne’s ability to fling herself into her new role without any regard for her sanity. “Do I need to intervene?”

Olivia laughed and shook her head. “Daphne is doing it to distract my brother. If he has to referee Daphne talking with foreign monarchs for the first time, he can’t be poking his nose in Texas to figure out where I’ve gone.”

“Is Daphne aware you’re here?” I asked.

“Yep.”

Goodness. “And she’s hiding that from His Royal Majesty?”

“He hasn’t asked her if she knows where I’m at, Terry. He’s an idiot. The ruse is up if he develops any common sense. And since Will won’t think to ask Mackenzie, we’re getting away with it. Mackenzie is helping to keep him unable to pursue my disappearance. And when everyone around him is saying they are certain, with confidence, that I’m fine—and their words ring of the truth—he just can’t justify pitching the fit he wants to.”

His Royal Majesty of Montana would go mad within a week, and I regretted I was no longer a part of the Montana RPS to witness his downfall at his sister’s hand. A cough caught me by surprise, and I grabbed for the nearby tissues in anticipation of a fit. Sure enough, I endured one strong enough to rattle my brain in my skull.

I abhorred unproductive coughs.

“Sorry about that. How can we help with this problem?”

“I want to send Eddie to California, but in the meantime, I need to give him a taste of an exterior role,” King Patrick admitted. “Because of his bond with Deidre, we have kept him interior. He’s good at his job. The problem is, he wants to do more. I’d like to send him out as part of the team apprehending you and Olivia during your ride.”

I read between the lines: if anyone looked at their little boy wrong, I was to show the Texan RPS what I could do. “A mass RPS exercise in a controlled environment should be safe enough for Eddie. If he needs coaching in the evenings in a way that won’t trip any triggers, I’m sure I can find an hour.”

“You can find two if needed,” Olivia stated. “If we win for the day, we get to cook over campfires, and Ilovecooking. I can make us a feast while you teach Eddie.”

“It would be really helpful,” King Patrick said, and his hesitancy startled me into staring at him. “It’s not that I wanted to keep him interior, but he shines at it, and the RPS has been great about praising his skill with it. They’ve tested putting someone exterior into his role, and it was a disaster.”

Personnel issues plagued every RPS agency in the world, and I’d seen the issues of interior versus exterior often enough. “Is he the kind who feels he isn’t doing enough through being interior?”

“Yep.”

“An easy enough problem to solve. But you’re expecting him to rule Texas one day, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

Interior RPS would be a huge asset for him in the coming years, especially after he was properly and openly bonded with Deidre. “I’ll do what I can. What’s the plan for after the trip?”

“The Californians have agreed to take Eddie as part of a trade, but he’s going to be working with Prince Ian—assuming Rachel can convince her brother to go to California.”

“He’ll be going,” my queen promised. “I’ve already secured his woman’s agreement to go, and she knows she’ll have to deal with him. I used the lip on her. I did it over video chat this morning.”

Yep, my queen had embraced the power of the lip, something that would drive me insane once back in New York. “And Prince Ian?”

“I’ll use the lip on him, too—or tell Ethan to dunk him in the river while I steal his jerky. I just need you to help push things along. Ifyou’rethe one breaking the request or tipping him off, he’s more likely to cooperate. With his depression…”

Prince Ian would be headed to California, like it or not. With the worry of depression on the table, it was more of a matter of approaching him when he was in a receptive mood.

I could handle that work. Rachel couldn’t sense her brother’s moods. I could.

I foresaw a disaster, one I couldn’t mitigate, as I would need to stay in New York once the Texans released me back to my life and I cleared my physical therapy requirements. Between Eddie and Prince Ian, I would be ready for another vacation by the time I made it home.

Oh, well. When duty called, I answered.

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