Page 43 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

Sicily held up his hands. “Sorry.”

“Anisa is a military war hero who took shrapnel in the eye defending her platoon. She’s the strongest person I know, and when my father was trying to torture me, she was taking care of me. She’d sneak me candy and toys. I loved it,” Nathan explained. “Cobalt… well, no one really knows what he did, but I did manage to get out of him once that hemayhave been in the Secret Service.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Cobalt said, and then winked.

“About five years ago, they left my dad’s employ, right before I started The Royal Court. Anisa tried to keep up with me, but my dad wouldn’t let her. Then when we trapped those two goons a couple of months ago, I called her for help,” Nathan explained.

“Ah, sothat’swhere they went,” Avery said.

Nathan crossed his hands. “It was a quick, darkened exchange, so I didn’t get to really see or say hi to them, and they’ve been keeping them for me, but I figured it was finally time to come together and compare notes, given that all of our trails seem to be running cold.”

Anisa frowned. “I tried to tell you we don’t have much. Those guys are pretty tight-lipped.”

“I know, but I wanted to see you, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to all toss some stuff around. Who knows, you guys could have a single piece of information that would answer a question we have.” He smiled at Anisa. “Plus I wanted to see you,” he repeated, earning himself a kiss on the cheek. “I hope it’s okay, but I didn’t want anyone just wandering back while we’re talking and hearing something they shouldn’t, so I just ordered large portions of their four main dishes to share. I said they could start them once the last two guests arrived, so they should be out soon.”

Over the course of the next hour, Anisa and Cobalt explained all of the information they’d managed to gather from the two men that had attacked us, whom they’d been keeping under lock and key. A lot of what they knew was already stuff that we’d managed to discern ourselves, and mostly it sounded like the men were being very tight-lipped.

“That doesn’t surprise me, knowing my dad,” Nathan said, but he seemed more frustrated than he did at first. He looked around the table, letting his eyes eventually land on me. “I’m sorry, Cherri. I really thought there would be more.”

“There is one thing that’s pretty obvious. Connor is still operating in and around Postings,” I said. “That’s better than nothing.”

“No wait,” Sicily said. “It reallyisbetter than nothing.” All eyes fell on him. “Connor had Deon snatched too, right? Would that suggest that he’s here too?”

Silence enveloped the table as we all pondered that thought. How had that never occurred to us before?

“Deon, wow. A blast from the past,” Anisa said. “You still haven’t found him?”

“No,” Nathan said. “We’ve had a few leads, but we’re coming up empty.”

“If only we could get into those guys’ phones. I’m sure they’ve been communicating with Connor, or at least other contacts of his. They get pretty regular phone calls, but the phones are so protected, you have to know the password just to answer a phone call,” Cobalt explained.

“You have their phones?” Nathan said, and then his eyes shot over to Sicily.

Sicily leaned back in his chair and a sly smile crossed his face. He interlocked his fingers and stretched them out away from his body. “Once again, it’s time for Sicily to save the day.”

“Once again?” Colette said. “We’re still grinding our way through the fifty thousand pings you dug up.”

“Hey!” Sicily snapped. “We are all learning a marketable skill, and we’re doing it together. Trade and friendship. That’s invaluable.”

I just shook my head and chuckled at him. Be it comic relief or just his pure inability to be anything other than laid back, Sicily was a much-needed light in the dark halls of The Royal Court.

“I can bring you their phones,” Anisa said. “Do you think you can get in?”

A voice we rarely heard croaked up. “He can do it,” Jaxon said, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “What? I can recognize talent.”

Sicily’s hands flew to his face. “Did… Did Jaxon just compliment me?” He picked up a napkin and dabbed it at the corners of his eyes. “I wasn’t prepared for this. I’d like to start by thanking my parents, and my best friends, Deon and Cherri.”

“You mean Cherri and Deon?” I said.

“Stop,” Jaxon growled.

Sicily nodded. “Stopping.”

Cobalt chuckled. “I like this one. He’s weird.”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, he is, but Jaxon is right. If you can get us those phones, Sicily can get in.”

Anisa smiled. “I’ll bring them by tomorrow.”

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