Page 26 of His Runaway Princess

The time had come to return to his place in the hierarchy of things. He’d completed his job of making certain the princess survived her excursion safely.

He remained behind as she entered the building with her arm intertwined with Princess Yvette’s and Prince Nicklaus following them.

Ryker recognized the man walking up to him as Tony, Queen Christiana’s head of security.

“Ryker Drasil?”

“Yes, sir.”

They shook hands and Tony led him to a different door.

Time for the debrief to begin.

“We’ll be leaving for the mainland momentarily,” Tony told him. “Queen Christiana as well as the princess’s parents will want to speak with you.”

Ryker simply nodded as they went straight through the building and climbed into another vehicle. Tony drove them toward the dock.

“Will we all be taking a boat back to the mainland?” he asked.

Tony looked over. “That’s the plan.”

“Princess Amalia isn’t fond of being out on the water.” That was an understatement if he’d ever made one.

“Who?”

“Princess Johanne,” Ryker corrected. “She’s gone by one of her other names for the last few days.”

“I see. You arrived here on a yacht.”

Ryker nodded. “But only because I essentially forced her to. Not really,” he quickly corrected. “I saw something that concerned me and asked her to trust me. It wasn’t easy for her, and she never fully relaxed during the whole trip over, but she did walk up the gangplank of her own free will.”

Tony frowned. “I don’t remember hearing or seeing anything about an aversion to being on the water in our preparations for her visit.”

“Was she supposed to be during her visit?”

“No.”

“I would imagine her security team wouldn’t say anything unless it became necessary.” That’s how Ryker would have handled it if Princess Genevieve hadn’t wanted anyone to know. He suspected Tony would be the same for any of his protectees, especially if it wasn’t already a publicly known aversion.

Tony simply nodded as he pulled to a stop near the edge of the dock. He climbed out, motioning for Ryker to stay put, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. A few minutes later, he waved Ryker over.

“We’ll be leaving now. A helicopter will be dispatched for their royal highnesses shortly.”

Ryker hesitated then followed Tony down to the yacht that waited for them. He didn’t feel right leaving Princess Amalia behind, even though he knew she would be safe.

This time the trip didn’t take nearly as long, given that Biansola was significantly closer to the northern island of Corsisnos than the southern one of Ichnusia.

The drive to the palace in Pagosa didn’t take long either. Ryker was taken to an underground entrance and straight to security headquarters.

Tony led him to a conference room and motioned for him to take a seat.

“All right, Mr. Drasil. Can you please tell us exactly how you ended up with a princess of Øyanord in your care?”

Ryker leaned forward in his chair, knitting his fingers together and resting his weight on his forearms. He launched into the story of how he saw her on the ferry and the allegedly homeless man who wanted to talk to her.

Tony and the security men from Øyanord took notes as Ryker described the man as he appeared on the ferry and later on the dock. He went into detail about the behaviors he found concerning and why he hadn’t contacted anyone.

The men in the room were well-trained to remain passive even in the face of the most startling information, so they didn’t give much of anything away in their facial expressions.

---