by Zara Zenia
"I’ve got my people back at the office combing through the Corbin’s accounts," he said after a while. "Which brings me to the other problem with all the press. It’s a magnet for leaks. I can speak for the discretion of my office, but anything we send out for analysis that gets linked back to this case, and you, is subject to leaking."
A wave of anger over came me, burning at my temples. I slammed my fist on the table before I could stop myself. Special Agent Yadav’s eyes jerked toward me. His body stilled and his muscles coiled, as if he were ready to spring out of harm’s way in an instant if the situation turned on him.
"You have excellent resources, Agent Yadav," I said. "But you are not the target of my outburst."
"Had them drilled into me in the service, sir." He relaxed, but only by half a measure. "I don’t like the leaks any more than you do, but if we divert resources to trying to prevent them, we take away resources from finding the person behind all of this. And hopefully how they’re connected to Nora Morse and Tia Teller."
"It’s all the same web of poison, isn’t it? Committed to driving my brothers and me away from this planet in disgrace." I pushed away from the table and climbed to my feet. Suddenly, I felt the need to be mobile. Taking up a slow rhythm, I paced across the floor, turning my back briefly to Yadav.
"The UEG doesn’t intend to let that happen, sir," he said. "But patience—"
"Is a luxury I don’t have, Agent."
Yadav’s back straightened a little and his chin rose. "I see, your Highness."
I blinked in surprise at the slight shift in Special Agent Yadav’s tone and address. As I opened my mouth to correct him, his meaning dawned on me, to my shame. I hadn’t been speaking to him like a soldier or a valued liaison. I had been whining and snapping at him like a spoiled Prince about to lose his favorite toy.
Kelly was so much more than a toy, and I would feel her loss so much more keenly if we were separated now. I meant the promise I had given her at dinner. And after tasting her sweet lips would doom me to know exactly what I would be missing, I would do it even more readily now to protect her.
Please, not yet. Don’t separate us before I know.
"How can one find justice in a place so obsessed with lies for entertainment’s sake, Special Agent Yadav?" I asked, softening my voice.
"Humanity’s been wrestling that one pretty much since we formed civilizations," he said. "We keep trying. A few nuts like me make the hill we’d die on. A few like Nora Morse and Jake over in holding are just as committed in the opposite direction. And so the world turns."
"That cycle would drive a person mad," I whispered in disbelief.
Yadav merely shrugged. "Some it does. But, if you’ll forgive me for saying it, your Highness, I think it shocks you more because you stepped into it on accident while being a hero."
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. "I wasn’t being a hero when I stopped Jake Corbin, Special Agent Yadav. That was simple self-preservation."
"No, self-preservation would have been staying where you were and waiting for your heavily armed security team to come in and neutralize them. But you didn’t do that, your Highness. Why?"
"The building was wired to explode," I said simply.
Yadav folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Something there doesn’t sit right with me. If the mission was to assassinate you, why take hostages first? Why not just blow up the building as soon as you stepped to the podium?"
I furrowed my brow as I struggled to follow his logic. "Perhaps they wished to escape? Or gather an audience?"
The Agent shook his head. "They could have done that by staying outside and pushing the detonator as soon as you walked in. Maybe a few seconds after."
"You think they never meant to detonate the explosives at all? But why bother wiring the building if they didn’t mean to make good on their threat?"
"That’s the part I can’t figure out. The brothers never made any demands either— ransom or otherwise. Can’t figure that out either. But if I’m right, what Jake wants and what whoever hired him want aren’t the same thing."
I tented my fingers, considering his interpretation. I had to admit, it was plausible. For all their organization, the brothers hadn’t seemed to know what to do after they had control of the room except talk to us. It was possible their employer hadn’t let them in fully on the plan. We already knew one woman who had a habit of leaving her underlings in the dark. Sometimes fatally so.
"Do you believe Nora Morse hired Jake and Blue Corbin to attack our cultural center, Agent Yadav?"
Yadav took a deep breath and nodded. "I can’t prove it, but I think it’s a distinct possibility, sir."
What little appetite I had left vanished entirely. Of course the twin threats to our family and to my finding a mate were connected. How could they not be?
"Are you all right, sir?" Yadav asked. "You look a bit pale. Which is… saying something for you."
I smiled in spite of myself. The idea entered my head that Yadav had reverted back to using the more casual address in forgiveness of my shortness. Yes, I definitely liked him.
"It was rude for me to take my frustrations out on you, Agent Yadav," I said. "You’ve gone to great lengths to assist us."
"Okay, now I really am worried, sir," he said, canting his head to the side and glancing at me sideways. "Is something wrong? More wrong than the obvious, I mean."
"Until this very moment, I didn’t realize how wrong it was." I glanced at the discarded pad, still poised to search for the perfect winter picnic spot to charm Kelly Fillmore. "I’ve met someone."
Agent Yadav’s expression shifted from worry to surprise. "I take it things aren’t going well?"
"Better than I had any right to expect," I said. "Most people I meet, I have to learn who they are by the things they say. But I learn her by the questions she asks. She’s beautiful and she knows it. She’s brilliant and she knows it. She sees through the things that typically blind women here don’t."
"Things like all this?" Yadav said, gesturing to the sitting room around us with its high vaulted ceilings and a massive couch big enough for a dozen people to lay on comfortably.
Certainly big enough for Kelly Fillmore and I to lay on comfortably. Winters in my nation were harsher than in Baltimore. The cold chilled deeper and the snow fell in heavier bursts that made traveling with even a transport’s sensors as an aid an exercise in skill. If she would follow me there, I would build fires big enough to last the whole winter to keep her warm. And where the fires failed, my bed and arms would suffice.
"Like the things it could be but does not," I said. "The things we wish it didn’t mean but does."
Yadav shook his head, spearing another sausage with is fork. "I don’t really understand, sir. But if she does, it sounds like you’ve found a hell of a woman. I still don’t understand why you look like someone shot your best friend. You’re a hero!"
"We just established that it’s likely the Corbins didn’t intend to blow up the building at all."
"Which we only established on the way to you explaining why you didn’t wait for your security team."
"What does that matter?" I asked through gritted teeth. Why did he keep focusing on my action in that room? "If I had waited, innocent people would have gotten hurt."
Yadav nodded. "Maybe it’s different for your people, but for us ‘hero’ has a lot of meanings. One of them is ‘someone who shows great courage.’ Removing yourself from a situation where you’re somewhat safe because it puts other people at risk? Tackling a man holding a detonator wired to blow the building you're standing in to kingdom come instead of doing what he says? I call that courage any day, sir. I call that being a hero any day."
I listened as Yadav listed his evidence. When he was finished, I could find no way to argue. The version of myself he described didn’t feel like the version I looked at in the mirror every morning, and yet the actions he described were ones
I remembered taking. The motivations he ascribed to my actions were accurate.
"Then I guess I am a hero." The word still felt strange on my tongue. "I still have no idea how not to ruin things with a woman I find myself increasingly distracted by."
"Have you tried just being yourself?"
"My brothers keep suggesting that." I pushed away from the table.
Striding to the couch, I flopped down and let my full weight fall on it. The sturdy wood barely creaked.
"I stay locked in my office pouring over reports and projections and contracts until late into the night," I said. "The restaurant I took her too— the one you suggested to me —was the first Human establishment I’ve ever been to. Aside from my staff, my brothers, and ballrooms full of women whose name’s I can barely remember, the only person on this planet I’ve seen in days is you. And honestly, that’s the way I prefer it."
"You’ve seen her, too, sir."
"Yes, and her." At the mention of Kelly, a vision of her on the couch with me appeared in my mind. The dream version of her straddled my lap, smiling down at me in a wicked challenge. I repositioned my body, to avoid Special Agent Yadav seeing my growing erection.
"But you take my meaning," I said. "I am not what one imagines when they think of a Prince from another world."
Yadav took a bite of his sausage. He let his eyes roam the ceiling as he chewed, moving from one corner of the room to the other before finally swallowing and shrugging.
"Okay that’s fair," he said. "But is there a reason you couldn’t do those things with her?"
"Take her away from everyone and everything she’s ever known to live her life in a fortress on a mountain with a man she barely knows? It seems a poor trade to me, Agent Yadav."
"Then it’s probably a good thing your brother is the trader and you’re the administrator, sir." Agent Yadav hid his smile by taking another bite of his sausage.
"If the conversation is going to be this personal, Agent, I’d prefer you call me Lortnam," I said. "I don’t generally have these sorts of discussions with people I don’t consider friends."
"Not a problem," he said. "I don’t advise people I don’t consider friends. And if we’re dropping titles then it’s David."
"I appreciate your advice, David. Even if I seem reluctant to take it."
"You seem like a man who needs to find out some things so he can feel comfortable. The case is grinding along for now, Lortnam. Why don’t you focus on where things go with you and your lady friend?"
The dream Kelly smiled down at me, lifting a hand to caress my face. My cheek twitched in the spot where her palm would have been. I could almost feel the weight and warmth, bolstered by the memory of her kiss from the night before.
I would do anything to make that moment a reality. And at the same time, I would do anything to preserve the chance that it would ever happen.
"With everything that’s going on, do you think now is the time to pursue a relationship?"
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But if I know anything about love, it’s that it’s rarely wise."
Was this love? There was certainly nothing wise about it. Nothing wise about imaging Kelly while I was talking to David. Nothing wise about planning to whisk her away at my nearest opportunity. Nothing wise about how much the thought of her hurt on my account made my gut churn.
"I need your help again, David," I said. "A camping ground this time. One where I can build a fire."
Chapter 12
Kelly
Would it be convenient to spend an evening with me again soon? ~Lortnam.
For six hours, I stared at the text, unsure of how to respond. I knew how I wanted to respond. That was easy. The second the message from Lortnam hit my inbox, it was all I could do not to reply 'yes'. But that nasty little rational side of me wouldn't shut up. There were too many questions that needed answers before I could see Lortnam again. For starters, which Kelly was going to accept the Prince's invitation: the one that was falling for him or the one that had been hired to spy on him?
I was hoping to show up as myself, with some smooth talking to do if the subject of my real last name ever came up. But I wouldn't know for sure where things stood— where I stood —until I had closed Nora Morse's case. Fortunately, that should be the easy part.
Six and a half hours in, I walked into Laurie Dannon’s firm armed with a manila envelope, ready to give what I hoped would be my final report. Closing the case should have been a no-brainer. There was no evidence Lortnam or anyone in his family were involved, and nobody was likely to find any because it didn't exist. I didn't feel good admitting it in my head, but I had misjudged the Trilyn. The wanted exactly what they said. No more, no less.
Up on the sixth floor, Nora and Laurie were already waiting for me. Laurie wore another neutral pantsuit, her hair tucked up in a loose bun. She climbed to her feet and shook my hand as I entered, exchanging pleasantries.
Nora never moved. She slouched in the office chair on the other side of Laurie's desk, her ivory cashmere sweater slouched over one shoulder, leaving the pale flesh bare. The perfect picture of a sensual ice maiden— if any man had enough of a death wish to get close.
Her crimson lips tightened into a smile as I took my seat.
"I'm just dying to know, Kelly," Nora cooed. "How was your date with the Neanderthal? Does he know how to use flatware?"
I struggled to keep my face calm, managing only to wrinkle my nose. "It wouldn't have mattered if he couldn't. I wasn't there to investigate his table manners."
"No, you were there being wined and dined by the enemy in a fancy ensemble I paid for."
I reached into my envelope, pulling out a single sheet. "I went to the most reasonable department store I could find and purchased a dress that was on sale."
Nora sprang to her feet and snatched the paper from my hand. "The dress? What about the accessories?"
Un-fucking-believable! "All my own. The Prince didn't seem the type to be impressed by style and coordinating fashion."
She looked up, her icy eyes locking on me like a lioness. "You got to know him well, did you? Intimately?"
This time I didn't bother to hide my eye roll. "Only as close as required for the job you hired me to do, Ms. Morse."
“Care to share any insights?” Nora pressed.
“I would not,” I said smoothly. “That would be unethical. Is there something wrong?”
Nora passed the sheet to Laurie without even glancing in her direction. "What's wrong is I don't care for sympathizers, Kelly. When I hired you, I took great pains to make sure you had your head on straight when it came to those slavers."
"They're not slavers, Nora," Laurie said curtly. "You need to stop saying that."
"They will be one day," Nora insisted. "Why else would they need a ship that big?"
"It just so happens I've been inside the palace as part of the case, Ms. Morse," I said. "I didn't see any evidence of an army beyond his security team. We wouldn't send any of our leaders into a foreign country without a security detail."
A deep frown etched itself on Nora's lips. Her cheeks sucked inward. "What else is there? Hm? Tell me you found something else."
I glanced at Laurie, mentally asking her to keep control of her client during the impending blow. Her shoulders slumped.
"I wish I had better news for you, Ms. Morse," I said, using the same line I used for the wronged party in the cheating spouse scenario. "I didn't find any evidence that Prince Lortnam was involved in the bombing of the parking lot. I didn't find anything pointing to his family either. As far as I can tell, it was a terrorist attack that he genuinely managed to stop, a few embellished details aside."
Nora stared at me for several seconds in total silence, her face devoid of all emotion. The longer she sat, the further my heart sank into my stomach. I should have expected this.
"Did you learn that while you were having dinner with the slaver, Kelly, or while you were touring his bedroom?"
"Nora!" Lau
rie hissed.
I held up a hand. "It's no problem. I've heard worse from clients who didn't like the evidence I gave them. And I make it a policy to explain my expenses so clients make no mistake about my methods."
Nora gestured for me to continue, folded her arms across her chest, and crossed her legs. Her pants were as white as her cashmere sweater, but her riding boots were such a deep black they had to be brand new.
"A freelancer helped me compile a dossier on Prince Lortnam. We have a friendly relationship, so she did so at a discount. If you go through the receipts in the envelope, you'll find I bought a cup of coffee and a sandwich at a convenience store downtown while waiting to make contact with Prince Lortnam. The dress I bought for the date—which he paid for and for which I had your authorization to go."
"I didn't have much choice!" Nora said coolly. "You didn't get any information the first time!"
"Because there wasn't any information to get, Ms. Morse," I said. "It sucks that you lost your car. It sucks that a lot of people got the hell scared out of them for no good reason. But as far as I can tell, Prince Lortnam is as much a victim in that as anyone else. Your gripe is with the kid who's sitting in lock up. Not with the guy with the palace in the city."
Nora waited for me to finish speaking, her body posture never opening even a single inch. She wasn't listening to me. Just waiting for her turn to speak.
"Will you leave us alone for a minute, Laurie?" she asked.
Laurie and I locked eyes. She shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea—"
"Give us the room, or I'll find another lawyer who will," Nora snapped. "I’m sure I have at least one on retainer."
Laurie took a deep breath, pushed away from her desk and climbed to her feet. Our eyes met again, hers filled with mingled sympathy and confusion. I wondered how many rich clients had used their money to shut her up before. Nora definitely seemed comfortable with it.
After Laurie closed the door, Nora rolled her eyes and dipped her long fingers into her designer purse. She pulled out a black square electronic cigarette and brought it took her lips, taking a deep puff.