by Karen Lynch
“They can’t have visitors right now.”
Prince Rhys’s shoulders drooped. “Are they working on a big job?”
I twisted the napkin on my lap. “No. They’re in a treatment facility. They were tracking down a goren dealer in November, and he locked them up and gave them the drug.”
The prince’s face registered his anger as he listened to the version of the story that had been released to the public. For my family’s safety, the Agency had not mentioned the Seelie royal guard’s involvement in my parents’ disappearance.
“I’m so sorry that happened to them,” he said, sounding sincere. “I haven’t seen the effects of goren on humans, but I’ve heard it can be quite devastating.”
I nodded soberly. “The doctors had to keep my parents in a medically-induced coma for two weeks while the goren was flushed from their bodies. They’re recovering slowly, but they can’t remember what happened. The doctors said they’ll probably never get those memories back.” I added the last part in case one of the prince’s men was reporting back to Queen Anwyn.
“I cannot imagine what you must be going through.”
“They’re alive, and they’ll recover. That’s all I care about.” I reached for my water glass. “All we’ve talked about since we got here is me and my family. Why don’t you tell me something about you?”
He smiled. “I’m sure everything you could ever want to know about me can be found in one of those gossip magazines.”
“I don’t care what your favorite color is or what you like to have for breakfast. Tell me something I can’t find in a magazine. What do you miss most about home?”
His eyes twinkled. “Are you trying to get the scoop on me, Jesse?”
“You tracked me down, remember?” I retorted playfully.
“So, I did.” His eyes took on a faraway look. “I think I miss my tarran more than anything else. I ride every day when I’m at home.”
I tried not to let my surprise show. Considering how close everyone said he was to his mother, I would expect him to say he missed her.
“I’ve seen drawings of tarrans. Are they really twice as big as our horses?” A tarran was a Fae equine that resembled a larger, bonier version of a horse with two small horns on its forehead.
“Not twice as big but they do dwarf your horses, and they are much faster. There is a large meadow below the palace where I used to race my friends when we were children.” He cast a petulant look in the direction of his men. “Now, that activity is frowned upon. It is deemed undignified and unsafe for the crown prince to race.”
“So, you no longer race?”
“Of course, I do.” His smile was full of mischief. “I just make sure the queen doesn’t hear of it.”
It was the first time he’d mentioned his mother, and I used it to casually turn the conversation to her. “She sounds like my mother. I don’t tell her about all my hunting adventures, or she’d ground me for life.”
Prince Rhys chuckled. “Parents can be overprotective no matter where they live. Mother didn’t even want me to come to your realm, but she knew I would be miserable if I didn’t get to experience all of this. I grew up hearing stories about this world and waiting for the day I was old enough to see it for myself.”
“And did it meet your expectations?”
“Oh, yes.” He nodded fervently. “It is better than anything I could have imagined. There are so many different countries to travel to and cultures to experience. I could spend years here and not see them all. I cannot wait for the time when I don’t have to return home each week to replenish my energy.”
“The iron affects you that much?” I knew faeries new to this world had to return to their realm to recharge, but I thought it was more like once a month.
“No. It was one of Mother’s stipulations because she worries too much.” He smirked. “In truth, the iron affects Bayard and the others more than it does me.”
“Bayard?”
“My head of security.” He inclined his head toward one of the faeries standing beside the booth.
I wasn’t surprised to see it was the blond one who had spoken to Gorn. Bayard returned my look with a glare that said he still wasn’t happy about his prince’s choice of dining companions. I wasn’t thrilled about being in Bayard’s company either.
The waiter approached with our bill, but Bayard intercepted him before he reached the table. The faerie handed him some cash and told him to keep the change. I didn’t know how much he’d given the waiter, but the man’s rounded eyes told me it was generous.
Prince Rhys and I talked a bit more, but mostly about the places he had traveled to so far. I couldn’t think of a way to steer the conversation back to the queen without raising suspicion, so I didn’t try.
We had been there almost two hours when Bayard signaled to him that it was time to go. The prince nodded and smiled at me. “I can’t tell you the last time I’ve enjoyed lunch this much. Thank you for coming.”
I slid out of the booth. “I enjoyed it, too, Your Highness.”
He made a face as he stood. “Oh, no. That won’t do. Please, call me Rhys.”
I smiled without responding. I couldn’t deny he was very likeable, but I also couldn’t forget that his mother had hurt my parents and tortured Faris. She had stolen the ke’tain, which could lead to the destruction of my world and everyone I loved. She was my enemy, and it would feel like a betrayal for me to be friends with her son.
We walked to the exit with his guard surrounding us. Thankfully, the lunch rush was over, and there weren’t many people in the restaurant. Two people held up their phones to take pictures, but they lowered them and looked away when the guards glared at them.
“Keep your head down,” Prince Rhys said as we left the restaurant.
Before I could ask what he meant, I spotted the first camera. The royal guard closed ranks around us as a throng of paparazzi I couldn’t see shouted questions at the prince. The paps wanted to know who his date was and how we’d met.
My stomach twisted. They were going to follow me, take my picture, and splash it across every tabloid out there. I was supposed to stay under the radar, and that did not include being linked romantically to the Seelie crown prince. Panic flooded me. They’d find out who I was and they’d write stories about my parents being in a drug treatment facility. Tabloids didn’t make money off nice stories. They thrived on the ugly ones, and they had no problem filling in the holes with lies.
Prince Rhys took my arm. “Don’t be alarmed. My men will protect you.”
I stayed quiet because I couldn’t tell him that his celebrity was what I feared. His men couldn’t protect me from that or from the fallout.
We reached the sidewalk, and the photogs surrounding us gave us a wide berth. Even those guys were smart enough to keep their distance from the prince’s guard.
Through a gap between two of the guards, I saw a paparazzo lower his camera. I met his shocked gaze as we passed him.
“Help,” I mouthed desperately a second before he disappeared from view.
My phone rang, and Tennin’s name appeared on the screen. I rushed to answer it, ignoring the dark look one of the guards shot me.
“Go into Moore Books on the corner and head to the office at the back,” Tennin ordered. “The owner is a friend of mine. Tell her I sent you. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.”
He ended the call, and I looked at Prince Rhys. “I have a friend waiting for me at the bookstore on the corner. I can hide in there until the paparazzi leave.”
Disappointment flickered in his eyes, but he nodded. “Fame is not for everyone.”
“Especially bounty hunters.” I smiled, and his good humor returned.
“Bayard,” he said in a low voice.
“Moore Books,” answered his head of security. “Approaching now.”
We stopped outside the quaint store I’d visited on a few occasions when I used to have time to read for pleasure. I thanked the prince
again for lunch and hurried inside with my head down. Some of the paps tried to follow me, but the prince’s men blocked anyone else from entering the store.
A pretty brunette in her late twenties, whom I knew to be the owner, was the only person in the store. She looked up from arranging a magazine display by the window when the bell over the door jingled. “Welcome to Moore Books.”
“I’m a friend of Tennin’s,” I blurted. “He told me to hide in here until the paparazzi leave.”
She peered out the window, and her eyes went round. “Oh, my. Follow me.”
She locked the front door and led me to a cramped office at the back of the store. “Sorry for the mess,” she said as she moved a teetering stack of books from the visitor chair to the small desk.
“No need to apologize.” I steadied some of the books before they could fall to the floor.
She stood back to look at me. Her eyes searched my face, and I could see she was trying to place me.
I sank down on the chair and exhaled deeply. “I’m not a celebrity. I just had the incredibly bad luck to be caught walking with the Seelie prince.”
Her mouth made a perfect O shape.
“Yeah.” I smiled wryly. “You have seen me before, though. I’ve been in here a few times.”
The back door opened, and I briefly heard the sounds of traffic before they were muted again. Seconds later, Tennin appeared in the office doorway.
“Angela.” He gave the woman a quick kiss on the mouth, and her flushed skin told me they’d been a lot more than friendly at some point. “Thanks for your help.”
“Anything for you.” She practically glowed as she left us alone in the office.
I quirked my eyebrows at him. “Friends?”
“Yes, lucky for you.” He closed the office door and stared at me like a disapproving adult about to scold a child. “Do I want to know how you happened to be having lunch with the Seelie crown prince? I hope this is not another one of your crazy schemes, because I don’t want to be the one explaining it to Lukas this time.”
I groaned. “I’ve apologized for that three times already. And no, this was not a scheme.” I used air quotes around the last word. “Prince Rhys invited me to lunch, and I could hardly say no.”
Tennin didn’t try to hide his disbelief. “Since when do you know the Seelie prince?”
“I met him at the Ralston last month, and I saw him at Va’sha a few weeks later. I barely know him.” I picked up one of the hardcover books on the desk and looked at the cover. “I wonder if she has this in paperback.”
The book was plucked from my hands. “Does Lukas know about you and Prince Rhys?”
“There is no me and Prince Rhys, and Lukas has no say over who I talk to,” I replied a little harsher than I meant to. Scowling, I reached for the book, but Tennin held it away from me.
“You’re playing with fire, Jesse.”
I sighed. “There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Prince Rhys. He asked me to lunch, and I made it clear that’s all it was. You’ve been following him since before he made his debut, so you know how it is. He’ll be interested in the next shiny object before we know it.”
“For our sake, I hope you’re right.”
“What does that mean?”
He laid the book on the desk. “Did you drive here?”
“Oh, no. You don’t get to say something like that and leave it hanging out there.” I crossed my arms. “What did you mean by ‘for our sake’?”
Tennin looked like he’d eaten something that didn’t agree with him. “What have I ever done to you? Can’t you forget I said anything?”
I didn’t respond.
He released a pained sigh. “Lukas let it be known that you’re under his protection, and that any faerie who harasses or messes with you will answer to him.”
“He did what?” I shot to my feet and stared at Tennin. “When?”
“Early January. I was in Faerie, and I heard it when I came back.” He grimaced. “It’s not as bad as I made it sound. He did it to warn away anyone who might try to hurt you.”
I couldn’t believe this. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tennin gave me an are-you-serious look. “He said not to.”
“You’re telling me now.”
“Because I’m starting to think you are more trouble than he is.” Tennin rubbed his eyes. “I plan to throw myself on his mercy. He’ll probably grant me clemency just because he knows what I’m up against.”
I scowled at him. “Now you’re being dramatic.”
“Is that so? Do you know what he said to me at Davian’s party after you left? He told me he understood my predicament and that as long as my intentions toward you were good, he’d overlook me bringing you into Davian Woods’s home.”
I put my hands on my hips. “He had no right to say that to you.”
Tennin shook his head. “He has every right. He’s my prince, and he will one day be my king. And he wasn’t wrong. I know Davian is a dangerous person, and I never should have brought you there. I’m thankful nothing bad came of it, and not because of Lukas. I could not face your parents if I put you in danger.”
“At least I got to dress up and eat some of that delicious food.” I looked away so he couldn’t see my guilt for not telling him all that had happened that night. It was better that he didn’t know. “I’m sorry I put you in that position with him.”
“No worries. It only took me two days to recover.”
My gaze shot back to his, and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “You still haven’t told me why you hoped there was nothing between Prince Rhys and me for our sake.”
“Can’t you let that one go?”
“No.”
He put his face in his hands. “Why me?” When he lifted his head, he wore a look of resignation. “Don’t you get it? Lukas doesn’t give his protection to just anyone. He cares about you. He’s not going to take it well if he finds out you’ve been getting cozy with the Seelie prince, and I knew about it.”
I threw up my arms. “We are not getting cozy.”
“Good. You can tell Lukas that.”
“I’m not telling him anything.” I could only imagine how that conversation would go, and it was never going to happen. “I’m ready to leave now.”
“Thank the goddess,” Tennin muttered. “Do you need a ride home?”
“My Jeep is down the street.”
He extended a hand toward the door. “We can go out the back, and I’ll get you to your Jeep without them seeing you.”
“You think they are still out there? Won’t they follow Prince Rhys?” I asked hopefully as I trailed him out of the office.
Tennin made a derisive sound. “You might think your little lunch date was no big deal, but my colleagues out there are like bloodhounds on a scent. They’ll stay as long as it takes for them to learn the identity of Prince Rhys’s mystery date.”
My mouth went dry. “You don’t think they’ll figure it out, do you?”
“Not if I can help it.” He opened the back door and peeked out before he pushed it open all the way. “When your parents come home, I’m telling them we’re even.”
* * *
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Violet shook her magazine at me as I drove her home from JFK two days later. “I had to see the pictures in a magazine I picked up at the airport. A magazine, Jesse.”
I took the exit out of the airport. “I didn’t know there were pictures to tell you about.”
“I don’t care about the pictures. What I care about is my best friend going on a date with Prince Rhys and not telling me.”
“First of all, it wasn’t a date. It was lunch. Second, I was planning to tell you when you got home.”
“Lunch can be a date.” She opened the magazine and pointed to a picture of Prince Rhys and me leaving the Vietnamese restaurant surrounded by his guards. There was also one of me from behind as I entered the bookstore. You couldn’t see my face in
either photo. “According to this, you had a long cozy lunch, and then, you went shopping for books together.”
I would have scowled at her if I hadn’t needed to keep my eyes on the road. “Modern Fae magazine? Really, Vi? They’re nothing more than a celebrity gossip rag.”
“But that is you in the pictures,” she argued.
My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “Can you really tell it’s me?”
“Duh. I’d know you anywhere.”
“You would, but what about everyone else?”
Paper rustled as she studied the photos. “Well…they don’t show your face so probably not. Everyone is wondering who the mystery woman is, and the prince won’t give her – I mean your – name.”
My shoulders relaxed. “Good. And for the record, we did not have a cozy lunch or go shopping. We sat across from each other in a booth with two of his guards standing over us. Then I hid in a bookstore, and I had to sneak out the back to get away from the paps.”
“Oh.” She deflated like a leaky balloon. “When you put it like that…”
I looked around me as I changed lanes. “Exactly. Now do you want to hear the real story?”
“What do you think?”
Smiling, I told her about Prince Rhys’s visit and our lunch that had been anything but romantic. “He seems pretty down-to-earth when you get to know him. I got the impression he’d rather travel than live at court.”
“Are you going to see him again?” she asked eagerly.
“No.”
“Why not?”
I spared her a quick glance. “How do you expect me to explain to my parents that I’m on friendly terms with the Seelie prince? Prince Rhys might not be involved in what happened to them, but he’s too close to it.”
“I didn’t think of that.” She fell quiet for a minute. “Do you realize how crazy it is that you know princes from the Seelie and Unseelie courts? A few months ago, you wouldn’t have been able to pick either of them out of a lineup.”
“A lot of crazy things have happened in my life since November. And you wouldn’t have been able to pick Lukas out of a lineup either.”
She dropped the magazine into her lap. “I’ve wondered about him. Don’t you think it’s weird that no one seems to know his real identity? You would think someone would have let that secret slip by now.”