Page 81 of The Royal's Pet: A MMF Ménage Royal Romance

My heart hammers. The lock scratches, clinks, and then the door opens. Relief pours over me. My guard is unceremoniously slumped on the floor, unconscious, while Ben and Rory stand at the door.

I could kiss them.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I sigh.

Rory rushes to me, and I immediately take her in my arms. She smells like springtime and honeysuckle, and it makes my heart ache. I don’t want to let her go—not ever.

“I shouldn’t have left you,” I tell her. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Her voice shakes. “We’re here now.”

A thump distracts me, and I relax my grip and look up. Ben drags the bodyguard into my room and props the poor bloke up on the love seat. He wipes his hands over his pants. “What happened here?” Ben asks, scanning the destruction that is my room.

I half shrug. “I’m redecorating.” I point to the limp guard in my love seat. “What happened to him?”

“Nasty fall,” Ben states. “He’ll wake up soon. We need to go.” Ben is all work. There will be time for long embraces later.

Urgency spikes through my bones, and I extract myself from Rory. “Not without my mum. Iris… she’s lost it. I think she’s after the crown.”

Ben nods, his expression lacking surprise, and I realize he already knows. Of course he does. And they came for me anyway, even knowing the danger that was involved. My heart trembles, and I want to weep with gratitude.

“Can she do that?” Rory asks. “Just…take the crown?”

“After my mum dies, she’s next in line,” I tell her.

“You two stay here,” Ben says. “I’ll go find Iris.”

“No,” Rory pipes up beside me. “We came here together. We’re finishing this together.”

“I second that,” I agree.

Ben seems to recognize that there’s no use fighting two stubborn people, so he checks his pistol at his side. “Stay behind me.”

44

Rory

We leave the bodyguard tied to a chair in Roland’s room. I put a glass of water next to him. You know. Just in case he wakes up and needs hydration.

Ben leads us out of the bedroom and down the hallway. We walk quietly, against the wall, and stop frequently every time Ben signals us by lifting a palm. Every time he stops us, we pause only a couple of minutes for the guards to turn away before Ben ushers us down another hall.

It seems like forever until we hit the sitting room. Roland darts to the fireplace. He removes a globe from the mantel and hits a button engraved in the wood behind it. The wooden paneling beside the fireplace clicks and swings ajar.

“A shortcut,” Roland explains. “This goes straight to my mum’s room.”

One by one, we slip through the narrow passageway. This secret tunnel becomes shorter the farther you move through it, and we have to crouch by time we reach the end. It stops at a grate.

“Everything will be fine, dearest sister.” The voice sounds jarringly close through the grate… and then a pair of long legs step in front of us, only a couple of feet away. I find myself holding my breath to keep quiet until the legs walk past.

“It’s Iris,” Roland whispers. We’re all crammed together, and his rapid, panicked breaths hit my ear hotly. “She’s with my mother.”

I hear the clicking sound of spoon on porcelain. “Drink some more tea, ducky. You know that solves everything.”

“Thank you, Iris.” The queen’s voice sounds strangely soft and strained, and it makes me shiver.

Roland flips the latch and pushes out of the tunnel. Ben and I climb out after him and stand behind him.

“Mum—put the tea down,” Roland orders.

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