Page 3 of The Prince of New York

“Yes.”

All right. That meant she needed me to handle her husband’s home kingdom in some capacity or another. In a way, I appreciated that my sister had found her place in the world. However, when she decided she had a sword for a spine, I tended to be the one to pay the price for her assertion. “Are you sending me to California?”

“Maybe. I need you to pull a fast one on California for me. Texas asked for a favor. If you go to California, it’ll be easier to help Texas.”

That explained why Terry had shown some general uncertainty regarding my assignment; when my sister decided she was doing something, she did it—and she left the poor head of her detail to guess how best to help her efforts.

As the issue involved California, she struggled.

If she told Ethan about anything regarding California, she’d be torn apart trying to balance pleasing the Texan monarchs and placating Ethan’s loyalties to his home kingdom. That meant I would get to deal with California, something I didn’t mind.

The Californian monarchs treated me like a person rather than my parents’ son.

“I’m always game to toy with some Californians. Do I get to drive a rusty white van and engage in a kidnapping? I mean, it’s my van. I should get a chance to drive it during a kidnapping.”

My sister giggled. “You’d have to take the van all the way to San Francisco. I don’t think it would work. Would the van make it that far?”

“Very probably not. I’d spend more time fixing it on the way than driving. But it has such a nice aesthetic, Rachel.”

“If you like the murder vibe.”

“I mean, I do. People give me a wide berth and do their best to keep from meeting my gaze. I can go just about anywhere in that van. It prevents unwanted attention.” My truck, while not as rusty, put me firmly in the lower working caste, which rendered me utterly invisible. “What do you need me to do?”

“Texas is preparing to send Eddie to California as part of an agent trade. Pat wants to force his daughter to do something for herself, and that means Eddie needs to be in California. Your agent situation is absolute shit. You need a detail, and we’re not going to be getting you a detail here. Terry is flipping about it. He pulled your RPS records, and after he graduated to positively snarling curses, I abandoned ship. Ethan is trying to calm Terry down, but it’s not working. So, I need you to handle a project for me while in California preparing for handling the Eddie Disaster.”

The Royal emphasis on ‘the Eddie Disaster’ concerned me. “Is that a code name?”

“Basically. As long as Eddie is in Texas, he can’t work with principals. Texas let Eddie accompany Terry and pretend he was getting to be on active exterior duty. He’s flagged as Deidre’s bond. And because Deidre is her father’s daughter, they’re assuming it’s a Royal level bond with her as the originator of the bond. That’s complicated because Eddie is his father’s son—and I mean both of his fathers. Like us, Eddie is an empath when he shouldn’t be one. He has his father’s level of empathy as far as we know.”

“Horses or people?” I asked.

“I’d guess both.” My sister heaved a sigh. “So, we need to put him on a safe detail. That’s you. But I also need you to do legitimate work with California. We’re going to be finalizing the wildfire legislation and alliance between California and New York. You’re the only New Yorker I’ve got that the Californians trust.”

Ah. The assignment made sense. After the wildfire that had left my sister rocking second degree burns and needing a week of rest to recover from, the Californians had proposed an alliance with New York to help prevent the worst of the yearly fires. Upon realizing my sister hadn’t emerged unscathed and she’d hidden the severity of her burns, Ethan had flipped.

As such, the negotiation had been put on hold, although my sister had promised to help California should a large wildfire break out. But the rift between her and Ethan had become a sore point among everyone.

Ethan wanted to protect my sister. I respected that.

My sister needed a chance to shine, even if it meant she got some burns needing medical attention to heal without scarring. I would need to corner my sister and help her with her flameweaving lessons.

I could do similar work, but I’d made a point of hiding it from everyone.

“All right. If you need me in California, I’ll go to California. I’ll even help play interference for the Texans. I’m not sure what you think I’m going to be able to do for Eddie beyond trying not to be a dick.”

“Don’t be a dick does come to mind. And share your jerky with him without trying to drown him.”

I smiled at the taunt, another sign my sister conquered the demons of our past. “I think I can manage that much. I like Eddie. He’s a good guy, and he can give me riding lessons. You can pay me with a horse.”

While old age had caught up with the horse King Patrick of Texas had given me, I appreciated that he’d given me something my parents hadn’t been able to take away. With my parents out of the way, I could join my sister in having a horse.

“Sure. I’ll talk to Pat about getting you a horse. I’m sure he’d be happy to help you and send an animal to California for you. I didn’t think you’d get another.”

“Not while our asshole parents were around, no. Saoirse got lucky; had any other king given me him, he wouldn’t have lasted a week before being taken to slaughter or sold elsewhere.”

“But Pat made a point of checking in on your baby.”

I sighed. “Right.”

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