The Fractured Empire (The World Apart Series Book 1)

by Robin D. Mahle

  He must have seen the spark in my eye. His smile widened.

  "Shall we find out for ourselves?"

  Chapter Nineteen

  Adelaide

  Clark's face as he tentatively stepped onto the elevator sent me into a fit of giggles. Between that and this morning, I was afraid I was finally cracking. Besides, I was still trying to cover my discomfort from being so close to him earlier.

  It had felt unexpectedly familiar, maybe from his carrying me through the forest. Or because this situation had been such a nightmare that my mind wanted to cling to something solid, something not life-or-death. I pushed the thought out, though I no longer felt like giggling. He glared at me until I sobered up and heaved the lift lever into the top position. If I hadn't been on this thing dozens of times, I might have doubted its ability to carry us also.

  Up we went, in jerks and fits for several minutes, until it stopped and spit us out into another closet. I held a hand up to my lips and eased the door open, poking my head outside. It was unlikely these rooms would be occupied. The palace staff didn't bother to clean the guest rooms unless someone would be staying in them, and the only person who stayed in this particular suite was me. Even if there had been someone around to hear through the solid walls, this side of the palace was bordered by the river. The rushing water would mostly mask the creaking sounds of the lift.

  I gestured for Clark to follow me. We were in the bedroom of the many-roomed suite. From here, the door we had just come through looked like any other panel in the wall. Perry and I had found this as one of several secret passage discoveries in the days when we were thrown together constantly. It was one of the reasons he had asked that these rooms be reserved for me, so that we could sneak out and get into mischief late into the night.

  I had definite qualms about leading a potential terrorist into the heart of the Palace, but the hallway outside of this room was well-guarded. Besides, the Men of High Purpose didn’t seem to have a problem with the monarchy as much as they did with my father’s company. The irony of Clark and I working together did not escape me.

  Dark-paneled walls offset the alabaster furniture and the layers of pink bedding the prince had insisted on as a joke. Clark was examining my second bedroom, his brow furrowed.

  "We're in the palace," I offered.

  He cocked an eyebrow at me and crossed his arms.

  I knew he expected more information, but now was not the time. "I need you to stay here while I do the rest on my own."

  "That's a negative."

  "I'm serious. I won’t go unless you stay, and then we will have done all of this for nothing." I crossed my arms and sat on the bed, prepared to wait him out.

  He heaved a great sigh and threw his hands up in defeat before plopping down into a nearby chair. "Five minutes, or I'll come after you," he said.

  "I'll need a minimum of fifteen, and you don't even know where I'm going."

  "Trust me, I could find you. You can have ten," he replied.

  I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off.

  "They start now. Better get going."

  I wanted to knock the cocky grin off of his face, but not only did I lack the necessary skill set, I wasn't sure how serious he was. I couldn't risk him blowing up this situation. I stormed off into the sitting room, forcing myself to shut the door quietly behind me, just in case. Then I moved over to a bookcase and yanked on a false book. At the sound of a click, I slid the bookshelf over and entered yet another passageway.

  The narrow stone path was lit with soft emergency lights Perry and I had installed ourselves. I moved the shelf back into place and walked the short distance to my destination. If things went my way, five minutes would be ample time. If not, I may not make it back in ten. Or at all, but I doubted that outcome. I trusted Perry with my safety.

  This plan had always been a long shot. I was banking on the fact that the Prince would be home, in his rooms, alone. The first two weren't too unusual. After all, it wasn't yet noon and he was a late sleeper. That he would be the sole occupant of his bed was another story.

  I didn't bother with knocking when I got to his door. I slowly slid open the bookcase which was a twin to the one in my suites. So far, so good. His bedroom door was open, so I tiptoed just far enough to get a full view of his bed and let out a sigh of relief. Now came the fun part.

  Even asleep, Perry was attractive. The blanket came perilously low on his toned abdomen, reminding me that he slept in the nude. I sighed before shaking him awake. He came to groggily, blinking bleary eyes at me. At first, he smiled, then his eyes widened.

  "Addie? What are you doing here? The Peace Keepers are looking for you. It's not safe for you to be out." He stopped and took me in from bottom to top. "What happened to your foot? And what are you wearing?"

  "It's a long story that I don't have time to tell. Wait, how do you know it's not safe?"

  He leveled a look at me.

  Right. The prince may come off like a rogue and a scoundrel, but he was shrewd and had ears everywhere. I didn't have time to get into what he knew without risking Clark coming for me. As little as I knew about Clark, it wouldn't surprise me if he came before our agreed-upon time.

  "Come on, we need to get back to my suites, and I'll explain there.” I handed him the robe that was hanging on the nightstand and didn't bother to turn around while he put it on. I could see that I was right to put my trust in him. He didn't so much as blink before following me down the passageway and shutting the bookshelf behind us. I prayed Clark had stayed where he was supposed to.

  We came back to my suites. The bedroom door was still closed, and Clark was nowhere to be seen. Good. Hopefully he would hear that I was back and stay there until I was ready to fetch him. I told Perry to follow me and headed through the powder room to the suite's cavernous closet. I explained as much as I could of our situation while I ran a shower. My ankle felt fine, now, so I unwrapped the filthy muslin.

  The Prince didn't blink when I shed my clothes without thought and stepped under the steaming water. I had never been particularly modest, and it was nothing he hadn't seen before. Even my exposure to Clark was embarrassing more because it was unintentional than because I actually cared who saw what. On Alpina Island, where I had lived out my childhood, nudity was not equated with sexuality. We all frequented the sauna, the whole family together or more than one family at a time. There were even public saunas, and no one blinked an eye. Things were different on Ceithre Central, but I had never fully conformed to the social norms here.

  ”Where are your sister’s ashes?” Perry asked.

  I glanced down at the bulky necklace laying flat against my collarbone. It was obvious the locket was missing.

  “Being used as collateral.” I was glad Clark wasn’t around to hear. I didn’t want him to know how much the necklace he had in his possession meant to me.

  Perry’s jaw hardened, but he didn’t comment.

  After I emerged and dried off, I settled on a leather corset that flared into an A-line skirt for easy movement. I put it on over a short-sleeved white shirt and paired it with knee-high flat boots that supported my ankle. I topped it off with a red scarf, solid enough to cover the subtle blue glow of the amulet.

  Perry didn't interrupt me while I explained the events of the past eighteen hours, only nodding or narrowing his eyes at certain points. When I finished, before I got to telling him what I needed from him, I stopped.

  "Now it's your turn. What do you know about the PKs looking for me?" I asked.

  He appraised me for a moment. "Just that they've been ordered to bring that necklace in, and that it's up to their discretion how they remove it from your person. Or if they do." He said it flatly, but his hard expression and strained voice gave away his anger. I knew he wasn't telling me everything.

  "And did your father give this order?"

  "No."

  "Merde, Perry. Why are you being so close-mouthed? Just tell me what's going on!"

  The pi
tying look on his face filled me with foreboding, but I needed to hear what he had to say. He opened his mouth to speak, but a different voice filled the silence.

  "My guess is your boyfriend here doesn't want to tell you that you picked the wrong father to be accusing."

  To his immense credit, the prince did not so much as startle at Clark's voice. The same could not be said of me.

  How long had he been listening? My head throbbed with frustration. Will he never stop irritating me?

  "Clark, Prince Perry. Perry, Clark." I said without inflection. "If you have something to say, Clark, spit it out."

  "I just did. Everyone, you included, knows your father controls the PKs — no offense, Your Most Eminent," he added sarcastically. "You insist on lying to yourself about what's right in front of your face."

  "My father would never allow harm to come to me." I turned to Perry. His face told me he agreed with Clark. Again, Clark jumped in before Perry could speak.

  "I think you have no idea what your father is capable of."

  "Really? You've never even had a real father, Clark. Don't pretend that a handful of years being raised by someone you aren't related to makes you qualified to pass judgment on the relationship between a child and their parent." I wanted to take the words back as soon as they came out.

  Clark's eyes widened before his face shut down entirely, and even Perry gave me a disappointed look.

  “Really, Adelaide? You want to talk to me about understanding humanity?” He stepped closer, towering over me. “Poor little Kensington lost someone in the explosion. You still have a roof over your head and food in your mouth. Some people lost everything! Did you ever even bother to look around at the rest of the country?”

  “No. No, I didn’t, because everything in me that gave half a damn about other people died with my sister. Is that what you wanted to hear, Clark?” I couldn’t remember dredging up enough concern about anything to raise my voice in years, but I was shouting now. “So judge me all you want. There really isn’t anything left in me to care how you feel about me.” I was breathing heavily, my eyes burning into him. As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren’t true, not really.

  Clark didn’t tear his fiery gaze from me, but he didn’t speak, either.

  “All right, then.” Prince Perry dragged the words out. He looked between Clark and me with shrewd eyes, studying us. He put a hand on each of our shoulders and gently pushed us apart. At last, Clark looked away.

  "Addie,” Perry said evenly, “my sources are all telling me the order came directly from Redshaw."

  "Your sources are wrong," I spat out, my anger not yet mollified.

  Clark grunted. "I'm sorry the sycophants who cater to your every whim forgot to fill you in on all the details of your father's many indiscretions, but rest assured, you're the only one still in the dark, Princess. Maybe instead of lashing out at everyone in this room, you can grow the hell up and see what's right in front of you." Clark's face was stony.

  My eyes gleamed with what I told myself was anger. I shook my head, wordlessly, not bothering to correct Clark's rosy vision of my life. This wasn't naivete. I knew a man in my father's position hadn't gotten there by keeping his hands entirely clean. But I also knew my father would kill to keep me safe and had done so already. What they were suggesting was impossible, but this conversation was going nowhere.

  I closed my eyes and counted down from five in my head slowly, just like Locke had taught me. When I opened them, there was no threat of tears, no emotion at all. I had stuffed it all down where it belonged.

  "In any case," I began as though that part of the conversation had never happened, "We need a way to Alpina Island. I was hoping you could take us there on your yacht," I said to the prince, not bothering to look in Clark's direction.

  This was the heart of my plan. No one would notice if the prince went on one of his many yacht getaways, and a Royal Yacht would never be stopped by the Sea Guard. He shook his head, though.

  "As much as I'd love to go gallivanting off on an adventure with you, it's not a great time for me to leave. There's been too much upheaval, and I need to keep an eye on… things." The way he hesitated, I was fairly certain he was going to say he needed to keep an eye on my father, but I let it go.

  My face fell, but he continued.

  "I can, however, lend you the yacht."

  "That would be amazing," I said.

  I looked to Clark, whose expression was still stony. Finally, he nodded, not tearing his eyes away from my face. Perry left to arrange a few things, and Clark stormed back into the bedroom while I packed a small bag. I filled the time by applying my cosmetics methodically, the familiar action soothing my frayed nerves.

  I decidedly did not think about the hateful things that had just come out of my mouth, or any guilt associated with it. In any event, Clark’s substantial ego could likely handle anything I threw at it.

  I didn’t want to think about what Clark or Perry had said about my father, but the thoughts were coming unbidden.

  My father may have made some unscrupulous decisions on his way to the top, and he may not be well-loved. But he loves me. He protects me.

  What they were saying didn’t fit the man I knew. Round and round the thoughts went until my head was pounding and I could barely stand the tugging of my hair against the rollers I was putting in.

  I switched on my silver hair dryer, grateful for the palace air conditioning that made the heat encompassing my head bearable. Despite my best efforts, shame burned through me when Clark’s words about me echoed in my brain. I hadn’t been telling the truth when I said I didn’t care, but what he said wasn’t entirely un-factual.

  I had intentionally kept myself separate from anyone else who was grieving, because their emotions brought out my own, and I couldn’t afford to go down that road.

  But when was the last time I took a moment to be grateful for what I still have?

  The answer came too quickly for my liking.

  Never.

  The prince came back within the hour, putting a stop to my unwanted torment. I donned my leather hat and pulled my scarf up in an attempt to conceal my identity. Clark took one look at my made-up face and snorted. I graciously refrained from kicking him.

  And Nell says I have no self-control.

  I ignored the pang that came with thinking of her. All I could do was move forward. Locke had said that to me every day for months after the explosion until it had sunk in.

  We headed out to the prince's car. Him leaving with a woman on his arm and a friend in tow would not raise any eyebrows, and it's not like there were PKs in the castle. He assured me that he trusted his father. The unspoken warning was that he didn't know who was in Redshaw's pocket, hence the scarf.

  We took back hallways and sidestepped when we heard voices, managing to get out to the car mostly unnoticed. It would have to do. Perry drove us to the docks himself.

  "I'm not sure why I'm helping you go off into the sunset with another man," Perry called back to me from his position in the driver's seat. He was teasing, but there was something else in his voice. With everything that had happened, we had never had a chance to announce our engagement.

  Does he think our engagement is still on? I paused. Is it?

  Nothing that had happened would have changed that, but it felt like maybe it should have. In any event, it wasn't as though I had expected any kind of exclusive attention from him in the meantime. Hell, I'd be lucky to get that even after we were married.

  "Don't pretend it's like that with us." I said dryly.

  His features pinched for an instant, then he reverted to his signature nonchalance. He kept his eyes on the road. I'd like to say we had forgotten about Clark in the passenger seat, but his wasn't a presence you could avoid noticing. More accurately, I was deliberately pretending he wasn't there and Perry was humoring me. I only hoped I could keep that up for two days on the small boat.

  The Renegade

  "Shouldn'
t you be checking supplies right now?" Xavier's voice intruded on my rare moment of peace.

  "Look around, Xav. There's not a cloud in the sky. It's a rare, perfect day, and I intend to spend it above decks. There's nothing in those supplies that can't be checked later this evening."

  "Is that so?" This voice was deeper and had me hopping up from my lounging position to stand at attention.

  "I think so, Sir," I responded to my father.

  "You don’t sound very sure of yourself, my boy. Neither should you be. It's all good and well to enjoy the day, but don't assume there will be time to do your work later. Anything can happen at sea." He left without seeing if I would obey.

  I didn't. Two hours later, a massive a storm hit out of nowhere. It was all hands on deck, and I most definitely did not have time to check the supplies that evening.

  I learned two valuable lessons that day. One was that failure to do your chores in your given day meant a long, hungry night of no rations and night watch duty. The second was to never try to predict what will happen at sea.

  Chapter Twenty

  Clark

  I can't believe I’m about to spend two days on a boat with this insufferable woman. Why am I even bothering? We should have just locked her in the safe house, and I could have been there and back by tonight.

  That would also have eliminated the problem of her witnessing my questions to Langston about the cylinder, but I could figure that out on the way. Meanwhile, my thoughts remained sour.

  I snorted as I looked at her, all high and mighty. Better yet, I should have let Xavier hand her over to the Men of High Purpose.