by Kat Mizera
I stared at her. “You want me to work for you?”
“I need trustworthy security all over the hotel, and the truth is, in a position like that, you’ll have access to all the celebrities, all the high rollers, all the people that move in your circles, making it easy for you to listen in and see if you pick up any interesting tidbits. I was thinking Daniil could go undercover as a limo driver.”
Daniil blinked, arching one golden brown brow. “Um, sure.”
“And me?” Sandor asked.
“You could become my latest boy toy or a bouncer at the club. Your choice.” Her eyes twinkled with mirth and Daniil snorted out a laugh.
Sandor didn’t bat an eyelash, though. “What does boy toy entail?”
4
Casey
As my due date approached, I felt Erik’s absence more poignantly. We were in the middle of finals at school, which was an odd feeling for me after being out of school for nearly five years, but I’d been enjoying the mental challenge. I kept to myself for the most part and so far, no one had recognized me. I dressed down at school, no makeup or anything, and the school had agreed to let me attend under an assumed name so I wouldn’t get any unwanted attention. Professors knew who I was but my last name was never mentioned and I went by Catherine in class. It was kind of nice being anonymous but now that I was close to giving birth, I couldn’t think about anything else. Pregnancy hadn’t been terrible, but it wasn’t fun either, so I was ready to get him out.
We’d found out for sure that it was a boy a few months ago, but hadn’t told anyone because I’d wanted to keep it to myself for a while. Nick hadn’t really understood the big deal, but he’d agreed because I’d asked him to, and I was getting excited to meet my little prince. I only called him that to myself, because he would most likely never have a royal title, but in my heart he was a prince like his father.
He gave me a hard kick in the ribs for good measure, apparently, and I rubbed my sore side as I tried to finish my final essay for my composition class. This was the last thing I needed to do since I’d taken my college algebra final yesterday and my world history final the day before. Once I turned this in, hopefully tonight online, I’d be free until summer classes started. The same professor as the one I had now was teaching Composition II, so we’d already spoken about the baby’s birth and she’d said she didn’t care if I came to class as long as I wrote the essays. All the lecture notes were available online so it worked for both Nick and me.
I wrote what I hoped was the final draft of this damn essay and went in search of a snack. A sharp pain in my lower back made me groan. The baby was definitely sitting on something tonight and I’d been miserable all day. Maybe I needed to go for a walk or something.
“Hey.” Nick came in the door smiling. “Did you get your paper done?”
“Yup.”
“You look kind of tired. You okay?”
“Just my lower back again.” I shrugged. “I took something, but I guess it’s bad tonight.”
“Why don’t you go lie down?” Nick suggested. “You want to watch a movie?”
“Sure.” I smiled gratefully.
“Okay.” He went to change into shorts and I got comfortable on the bed. We put on one of our all-time favorite movies, The Blues Brothers, and Nick gently rubbed my lower back. I’d just begun to relax and was almost asleep when I suddenly sat up straight and let out a screech.
“What just happened?” Nick demanded.
“I don’t know.” I looked at him. “I think I’d better call the doctor. Whatever that was, it was intense.”
Nick frowned. “You’ve been kind of uncomfortable for a couple of days… Is there any way you’ve been in labor?”
I made a face. “How would I know? I’ve never done this before.”
I called the doctor’s answering service and then lay against Nick weakly as we waited for the doctor to call back. “I’m nervous,” I admitted softly.
“I know.” He squeezed my hand. “But I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“You’ve been such a rock for me these last six months,” I said softly. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
“You’ll never have to find out. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I really thought Erik would be back by now,” I whispered sadly.
“I did too,” he admitted. “But however long it takes, I’m right here, so I don’t want you to worry.”
The phone rang and I grabbed it, grateful to hear the doctor’s voice and telling her what had been going on. After a brief conversation, I hung up and sighed. “She says we should go to the hospital.”
“Okay.” He sat up.
“Let’s watch the rest of the movie,” I said quickly.
“Casey…”
“We can roam around the hospital and get gawked at, or I can suffer here in private.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have a nice, comfy epidural?”
I sighed. “Oh, okay.”
“Come on. We can get over there, get you settled and then watch the rest of the movie on my laptop.”
“Okay.” I got to my feet. “I need one more favor.”
“Uh-oh.” He looked at me suspiciously.
“I don’t think I can deal with all of our families right now. Ben and Kari are going to want to find a way to be there. My parents are going to break records getting to the hospital. And if the press gets wind of this… Can we just call everyone once the baby is born?”
He seemed ready to protest but then nodded. “All right, darlin’. If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, burying my face in his chest.
“You’re welcome.” He kissed the top of my head and then gently pushed me away. “Come on, let’s get your stuff together.”
“Oh, shit!” I shook my head at him.
“What?”
“I forgot to turn in my essay.”
“Well, go email it right now.” He shooed me into the living room.
By the time my doctor examined me, I was dilated, and my water broke while she was doing it. I was quick to ask for an anesthesiologist and Nick had to leave the room while they inserted the epidural. When he came back in, I was lying back comfortably, my eyes on the television above the bed.
“Whatcha doin’?” he asked with a smile.
“First time in two weeks I haven’t had a backache.” I laughed. “I’m enjoying it.”
“You sure you don’t want me to call your parents?” he asked softly. “They’re going to be hurt.”
“It’s going to attract attention and we don’t want that, so let’s do this my way. I just want to go home and introduce the baby in private, without a lot of fanfare. I’m really struggling with Erik not being here. Please.”
“Okay.” He took my hand and squeezed. “Whatever you want.”
Lucas Kingsley was born just before dawn, weighing a solid nine pounds, with a shock of white-blond hair on his head. He let out a petulant wail of protest before opening his eyes and gazing into mine. As soon as they placed him in my arms, he fell asleep. He had ten perfect little fingers and ten tiny toes, with a button of a nose and an almost invisible dimple in his chin. God, he was beautiful. I smiled and looked at Nick with a bit of wonder.
“Look at him,” I said.
“He’s perfect,” Nick smiled. He bent and kissed the top of my head, putting a gentle hand on the baby. “You did good, honey.”
I blinked away tears I didn’t dare shed. I was afraid once I started, I’d never stop and I didn’t want to celebrate the birth of my son that way. Erik’s son. He’d known, the bastard. He’d known it would be a boy and now he wasn’t even here to see him. I was suddenly irrationally angry about that and I gently pushed the baby at Nick.
“Can you hold him? I’m kind of tired.”
“Of course.” Nick took the baby from me but was watching my face closely. “Whatever you’re thinking, let it go. Not today.”
>
“Then what day?” I whispered, swiping at my eyes. “He’s missing the most magnificent thing…” I cut off, unwilling to say any more with nurses around.
Nick put a tender hand on the side of my face. “It’s going to be okay. One day at a time.”
“We’re going to clean her up and make sure little Lucas is okay,” one of the nurses was saying as she plucked the baby from Nick’s arms. I watched her take him and reached for Nick’s hand. This was the most surreal day of my life, my emotions all over the place. One minute I was exhilarated, the next I wanted to cry, and after that I felt the need to punch someone. I’d read all about fluctuating hormones, postpartum depression and the like, but this was no fun at all.
Everything was a little dreamlike as I watched them clean the baby, clean me, clean the room. So efficient and impersonal. Though everyone smiled and was friendly enough, they seemed to take great care in disappearing the moment they were done. And then we were alone, Lucas in my arms, Nick sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, still watching me carefully. It looked like he had something to say, but only because I knew him so well.
“Whatever it is, you might as well say it,” I said softly, so as not to disturb the baby.
“I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now,” he said, though he didn’t look at me. He stared at some invisible spot outside the window as he continued. “Watching you give birth was amazing, absolutely the most awe-inspiring thing I’ve ever experienced. You must be incredibly sad that he isn’t here with you, instead of me.”
“No, that’s not—” I began.
“Let me finish.” He squeezed my arm. “I just want to say, I’m honored to have been part of it with you, to be the man you chose to share this with since Erik couldn’t be here. I mean that. It was incredible and I look forward to watching him grow up, in whatever capacity you allow me.”
I smiled. “I’ve been thinking about that.”
“Yeah?”
“When Erik comes back, I’m sure he’ll agree that we’d like you to be his godfather.”
Nick looked startled, but then he smiled. “I’d be honored.”
This had gotten a little too intense, so I opted to lighten the mood. “But for now, you’re his daddy, and you have diaper duty.” I handed him the baby.
“How come I have diaper duty?” he asked, frowning, though he obligingly took him from me.
“’Cause I had it the last nine months.”
“I don’t think that counts,” he muttered, reaching into the bin filled with the supplies we’d need.
5
Erik
“You have a son.”
I looked up from what I was doing on my laptop and squinted at Liz.
“What? Are you sure? When?”
She smiled. “I spoke to Nick a little while ago. Mom and baby are doing well.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, relief and regret shooting through me simultaneously.
“He was nine pounds even, twenty-two inches long. He has a bunch of light blond hair and I should be getting a picture of him momentarily.”
I nodded, a little overwhelmed. “Did he say how, uh, how she is?”
“Physically, she’s fine. Suffering a little postpartum depression but nothing too severe.”
“Oh, uh, good.”
“We have something else to discuss.”
“Okay.” I looked up warily. Her tone of voice didn’t sound good.
“King Anwar just closed the ports in Limaj. No imports or exports of any kind until further notice.”
“What?” That wasn’t good news at all.
“He’s gearing up for something, no doubt about it.”
“Most likely he’s going to close the gas pipeline so he can start stockpiling it.”
“To what end?”
“The people won’t have money, so they won’t be able to fight him. Summer is coming so they won’t notice as much. But once winter gets here, the northern part of the country will get hit hard, and by spring, the people will be desperate for food, medical supplies, all the things money buys. Anwar hasn’t had a lot of support since taking over, so this is how he forces the people to cave.”
“And the anti-rebellion will have to cease because there won’t be the manpower or money to fund it.”
“People will be scared. Spend a winter up in the mountains with no heat and minimal food—you’ll do anything to never go through it again.”
“So Anwar will go public and say he’ll release the supplies and/or the money if people start to support him? I’m not following you.”
I huffed out an impatient breath. I understood the inner workings of my country because I’d grown up at my father’s and uncle’s knees, listening to the talk. Our country was small, independently wealthy, and didn’t run the same way a superpower like the U.S. did.
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “The country is run by Parliament, which is made up of elected senators and trustees appointed to the general assembly. There are what we call factions, and they each deal with different things like imports, education, the military, et cetera. Normally, things function on their own, like the banks, schools, all the everyday things that most of us never think about. Parliament maintains our budget and the king almost always approves what they come up with, and things go on, business as usual. However, with Anwar in power, from what we’ve learned, he’s taken control of everything. He’s cut the budget to less than twenty-five percent of what it was, which means military, police, teachers, everyone has taken huge pay cuts.
“It’s a warning, to let the people know that things will only get worse if they continue to fight him. The media has been covering the changes in a negative light, the people are complaining, and there have been riots and protests in the streets. He’s had to invoke martial law twice in the last few months, so he’s losing his grip. By closing the ports, people are going to be hungry. That means not just the major exports like oil, but fishermen, hunters, farmers—and once they run out of money, they’ll stop spending in the cities. The country will begin to implode and it will be our wonderful, benevolent king who saves us. He’ll save us from the catastrophe he caused and the people will settle down, fall into line, thinking he’s wonderful without realizing that he was the cause of the issue in the first place.”
I was pacing now, unable to articulate all the ways Anwar was going to cause chaos in Limaj.
“I don’t know what we can do,” Liz said quietly.
“I don’t either, but I’m going to figure it out.” I stopped pacing and looked at her. “I have to do something. I don’t know what, but something.”
“If you’d taken the CIA up on their offer, you’d have all of the agency’s resources available to you.”
“I’m not a spy,” I grunted in response.
“No, but you could learn, and in return, you’d be better equipped to help your country.”
“Too late now.” I reached for my phone. “I need Sandor and Daniil. We have to get into the country and try to stop the anti-rebellion from folding. If they give up, because they’re afraid of what he’ll do, we all lose.”
“Erik, I don’t think—”
“I’m sorry, Liz, but I have to be there, I have to try to make a difference. I can meet with some generals and see if they’ll back us.”
“Back you for what?” Liz cried, throwing up her hands. “You don’t have a plan, or an army, or anything. You can’t take back the country by yourself.”
“I have to try.” I turned to her in frustration. “Don’t you see what Anwar is doing? I have to try.”
“So the three final blood heirs to the throne go in together and get themselves killed?” She shook her head. “Then you’ve really lost because I don’t think poor Elen is going to be up to the task. You’re not being rational.”
“No, you’re right. Daniil should stay behind.”
“Erik, this is crazy.”
“I know.” I ignored her warnings and called Sandor, askin
g him to meet me in my office, then I disconnected and turned to her. “Will you help me try to find a safe way into the country?”
“Through Turkey,” she said automatically. “I still think you’re fucking crazy, but we can make something happen if you take a minute to breathe and come up with a viable plan.”
We talked all night. After I’d had a little time to calm down—and had stared at the pictures of my son a few thousand times—I realized Liz was right. I needed to take a few deep breaths and think like a leader, not a crazy, gun-slinging soldier. My best course of action was stealth and a behind-the-scenes approach. By teaming up with allies, I had a much better chance of knocking Anwar off his game. This wouldn’t be accomplished quickly or easily, but I also didn’t have to stay in Limaj. I had to make this initial trip to establish my presence, though, of that I was sure. Anwar’s plans to undermine the economy and the safety of our people weighed heavily on me, and while I hated the thought of leaving Casey even longer, I didn’t feel I had a choice.
We contacted Aziz; he would meet us at a discreet location by the border and we’d head to the first of several safe houses while I contacted a handful of trusted allies. General Sannaro had voted against us for Anwar’s coronation, but he would work with me. There was a senator in the northernmost part of the country that I knew well—he was a close friend of my father’s—that would meet with me without an appointment. I could show up at his country estate and be welcomed, but caution was still mandatory.
“I need to talk to Casey,” I told Liz. “Can you arrange it?”
She nodded. “Yes. We’ve called her on Nick’s cell phone, the main switchboard at the hotel, Tricia’s phone, and Nick’s office phone. I’ll get you through Nick again this time but we don’t want to do this too often. We don’t want anyone to know you’re in Monte Carlo, but we also don’t want anyone to figure out you’re with me. That would add all kinds of complications.”