by Nana Malone
Jesus fucking Christ.
I forced myself to stop and breathe.
Sebastian stared at me. "Tris, what the fuck?"
I could barely hear him. It was like a faint murmur against the roar of my own heartbeat in my head. Shit. She knew. She knew something. Knew a little? Knew a lot? What did she know? Had she run from me?
No, you idiot. What would this new Ariel do?
Without even having to process that, I knew exactly what she'd done. I lifted my head to meet Sebastian's gaze. "Ariel and Penny aren't on the beach."
He frowned. "Where the hell are they?"
"They've gone to Stanstit Prison."
Six
Ariel…
Now or never.
We were keeping the plan simple. Get in, get the data, get it securely to Zia, then get the fuck out. With any luck, Sebastian and Tristan might never know we were there.
Once you get your proof… then what?
As a knight, I could bring formal charges against Ashton. I could call to have his title stripped. But as much as we hated him, the man was no idiot. He had powerful friends and that could get us hurt or worse.
We parked the rental car in the visitors' entrance. The blustering wind slapped me in the face, bringing me that sting of chill that reminded me I was acting insane. All because of what? Because I loved someone I barely knew?
You barely knew him then.
We had been kids. As grown-ups, how could I love him? I didn't know him. Or do you need to know everything about someone to love them?
I had no idea of the answer to that question. All I knew was that he needed help and I needed to be here for him now.
You're going to get killed in the process.
Maybe, but at least I'd be doing it for someone I cared about.
“You ready, home skillet?”
Penny smirked. “That’s Your Majesty home skillet to you. Remember, I need to be very royal right now. Much royalness.”
Despite the tension knot coiling in my shoulder tighter than a too-small pair of skinny jeans, I almost laughed. “Yes, much royalness.” With a sigh, I added, “It’s not too late to turn back.”
“Stop that. You know how much I want to put the screws to this asshole, so let’s do it.”
And when it came down to it, we walked right through the front doors, just like Penny had said we would.
The guards immediately stood at attention. It didn't matter if you were on a far-flung assignment or not, you knew who the Queen of the Winston Isles was.
After standing to attention, they all bowed. Penny gave them all a grim smile. "As you were, gentlemen. I need to check records for an Intelligence assignment."
Her voice was cool. I had to work to keep a straight face because I just wanted to snort a laugh. If they knew her at all, they would know that this was not Penny. And I just knew that any second now, she was going to trip, or if they looked really close at her outfit, they might find a speck of paint somewhere. But I needed to be serious.
One of the guards came forward. "Your Majesty, I will escort you to see the records. You may leave your guard here."
She smiled at him. "You will forgive me, but she comes with me everywhere. You know, after the conspiracy, I need to have my personal knight with me at all times."
His brows lifted. "Yes, of course, Your Majesty." But his face said, ‘How do I say no to the queen?’
He knew that wasn't protocol, but he couldn't really say no.
We passed the first barrier, the guards all looking terrified.
Penny turned to face them all. "My father called ahead to ensure that this remains private. We're here on assignment."
The main guard cleared his throat. "Your Majesty, no one has called."
"All right, then you’ll have to call him, but I know he's in transit at the moment."
The guy with the soft barber hair nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. When shall he arrive?"
"He'll arrive here within the hour."
Jesus, I hoped we were done by then.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll speak to the men. I'll make a note."
"Thank you."
They allowed us to pass, and I muttered to her, "Nicely done."
"Let's hope they still don't call."
We made it to the second checkpoint. There were two guards there. One was a ruddy redhead with pink cheeks, round and flush, the other, a tall lanky-looking islander. He had the same warm brown glow to his skin that Penny did, but his features were more European, and his hair was a sandy, light brown.
Both of them stood immediately. "Your Majesty."
Penny nodded. "We're here to access the records room. Please let us in."
They both shifted their gazes but did as they were told. I knew for a fact there were security protocols that they were using to lock and unlock the doors. I had my laptop with me in my backpack.
Another corridor, another barrier. Eventually, we were led into what looked like interior offices, and finally, into what was in essence the faraday cage. Even with the lights on, it was dark and chilly. The guard hung back, and Penny slid him a hard glance. “Thank you. We’ll call for you when we need an escort back.”
He rocked from one foot to another. “I’m not supposed to leave anyone alone with the records.”
Penny’s smile was almost sweet. “Have there been many people needing access to secure records?”
He flushed. “Er, no, Your Majesty.”
“So surely I don’t need supervision, especially when I’m working on an Intelligence assignment.” He promptly skedaddled.
“Remind me never to piss you off enough for you to give me queen voice,” I said as I opened my laptop to get to work.
She grinned. “Did you see him run? That was hilarious.”
I rolled my eyes. Now it was my turn to get to work. All Penny had to do was stand there and look terrifying. "Here goes nothing."
I accessed the files I needed easily enough. I just didn’t realize there’d be quite so much data. Though since I’d basically built the encryption, getting in my back door was easy enough. Now was not the time to sift through the data.
"Is it what you need?" Penny asked.
"I don't know yet. There's a lot of data here. Complete personnel files and job history. How long they've been working here, their entire history in the guard. We don't have the time to sift through it all now. Especially if your father is supposed to here in less than an hour."
She winced. "Yeah, sorry about that improvisation. I didn't think they'd call me on it."
"No, it's fine. We'll at least get the data and get the hell out. Maybe no one even has to—" The lights went out and cut me off. Total pitch darkness surrounded us like a shroud. Behind the cages where the servers were, we could see some blinking lights, but everywhere else was completely dark.
Penny's hand reached out and tapped mine in Morse code. She used the quick, pulsing taps of her fingers. How much information do you have?
The transfer device I was using was still blinking green. I tapped back, another five minutes maybe.
Stay still. I've a bad feeling.
And her instincts served her well. The motion behind me was quick, and I responded in kind.
A fight in the dark was never good. But the thing was Penny and I had done this before. Back in the early days when we'd been guarding Sebastian, there’d been an alley fight, and we hadn’t had the benefit of street lamps. Just like then, we worked together.
I reached out toward her last known location, and her hand was waiting for mine. Once I knew her location, I could angle to avoid her. Unfortunately, she was moving as well. Two assailants. Shit. I knew it had to be the guards.
I didn't want to hurt anyone, but if they were here to try and stop us, we needed to put them down. And they might be the guys working with Ashton.
I felt the rush of air going toward my left ear more than I heard it. Instantly, my arm went up in a block, and I leaned into it. I made an open-palm strik
e to someone slightly taller than I was. I missed face and instead got throat.
Okay that told me he was over six feet and I would have to aim any face hits higher. But I wasn't waiting for that. I angled my arm around to his trachea, pressing and then pulling him in. Knee, knee. He oofed and croaked, but then he reached for me around the midriff and sent me careening backward.
Next to me, all I heard were throws and punches, and more oofs and grunts. There was a curse, and Penny cackled with joy. She must have gotten a good hit. All I heard from her assailant was a groan, then something fell to the ground. I couldn't focus too much on that. I had my own problems.
I landed my elbows down hard between the guy’s shoulders, and he hissed. As I was nearly upside down, I wrapped my arms around his neck and then pulled, tightening my arm again and again until he started to wheeze. Using my other arm, I delivered as many elbows as I could. They were short of useless on his back, but I didn't let go of his neck.
Finally, he was forced to release me, and I pulled him down to me, landing a blow straight in his face.
"Oy. Jesus Christ."
In that hair of a breath, I paused. I knew that voice. Why did I know that voice?
"Tristan?"
The lights flickered back on, and I blinked rapidly as my eyes adjusted. Penny and I were staring at Tristan and Sebastian.
Sebastian was on his feet again, one hand cupping his nuts, the other with Penny in a headlock. Shit. I hadn't even heard her.
And well, Tristan and I were too evenly matched. I shoved him away from me. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
Sebastian gave me an evil smirk. "I could ask the two of you the same. Right Penny?" He released her, and they glared at each other.
I didn't dare take my eyes off of Tristan. I didn't trust him. "Start talking."
"You first.”
"Maybe this is a conversation we can have somewhere else, but not here. We have guards coming back any moment," Sebastian muttered.
Penny frowned and asked. "Wait, when did you guys get here?"
Her husband shrugged. “We arrived fifteen minutes ago.”
She glanced at the door. "Through the front door?"
Tristan shook his head. "No. It seems your husband has a back way into the prison."
My mouth fell open. "What the fuck?"
Sebastian rolled his shoulders. "We needed a back way in, on the off chance that I was the one interred in Stanstit Prison, so I hired some builders and a team from Blake Security a couple years back."
Penny and I exchanged a glance. “You?” She asked.
“Yeah. If the Council ever deemed me unfit to rule and packed me away, they’d put me here. Roone and Ethan wanted to make sure we had a way to get me out.”
"Jesus Christ,” Penny whispered. “What if someone found it and got Ashton out?"
"Well, that's why Blake Security helped build it instead of anyone on the Guard or the Council."
I tapped her on the shoulder. "If you two don't mind, we need to get Tweedle Prince and Tweedle King out of here before anyone sees them."
Sebastian lifted a brow. “And how do you plan on getting out?”
Penny crossed her arms. "We walked in the front door."
Now it was Sebastian and Tristan's turn to stare at us. "Just right through the front? You didn't sneak in?"
I shook my head. "No. We're here on a sanctioned mission."
He lifted a brow. "A mission that I don't know about?"
We heard footsteps, and I immediately shoved Tristan toward the shadows, and Sebastian quickly joined him.
They were barely hidden behind one of the server racks before one of the guards came back in. "Your Majesty. Lady Scott. We apologize. There was a power outage. One of the breakers flipped."
"Yeah, we noticed." Penny lifted her chin. "We're almost done. Has my father arrived?"
The guard shook his head. "No, not yet. If you don't mind, we'll escort you out now."
She lifted a brow. "We do mind."
Again, that same look of consternation flashed across his face, but he left us alone.
When he was gone and Penny had glanced around to make sure he wasn't listening, Sebastian and Tristan came back out.
Sebastian leveled a gaze at the both of us. "I suppose we have a lot to talk about."
Penny didn't miss a beat. "That goes without saying. But first, how about we all get out of here."
Penny…
He was pissed. I hadn't seen Sebastian this mad since... well since I’d lied to him and didn't tell him I was a Royal Guard. His expression was the same.
Remote. Cool.
As planned, Ariel and I had walked out of Stanstit. When we returned the rental car, my husband and Tristan were waiting for us. They’d left the same way they’d gone in. Then of course Sebastian commanded that we were flying back with them.
His silent condemnation, complete with disappointed, remote eyes, was killing me.
It was a stark contrast to how he normally looked at me. Now he sat across the aisle of the royal airplane, deliberately ignoring me. Up front, Ariel and Tristan were doing their own rendition of this dance.
So what if they were pissed? Ariel had called and she needed help. So that was that. What was I supposed to do, leave her twisting in the wind? Besides, she'd said it was for a good cause, and I believed her. So what?
I slid my glance to him, and he kept his eyes on the window. Fine. If he wasn't going to talk to me, I was going to try and lie down. I'd been tired lately. I pushed open my seat. Ariel looked up from her book and mouthed, I'm sorry.
I shook my head and mouthed back, Not your fault. Why did he always have to rush in like I was the needy wife who couldn't possibly take care of or think for herself?
I slid down the narrow aisle to the back bedroom. The bed was a queen size. God, I had a booming headache. The tension was tightly coiled behind my eyes. Maybe if I could lie down it would ease the pressure some. Lord knew I’d need the reprieve before the epic battle that was coming.
I laid down and willed sleep to come. But instead, the door to the bedroom opened. I lifted my head expecting to see Ariel for a good old-fashioned girl commiseration. Because Lord knew, I might be moving in with her soon.
But no, it was my husband, and he locked the door behind him.
I pushed myself into a seated position. "What? You think Ariel is going to come in here and stop our fight? You know I could take you, right?"
His lips tipped up in a lopsided smirk. "You're welcome to try."
Okay, no, I totally couldn't take him. Never mind the fifty to sixty pounds of pure muscle he had on me, and he was surprisingly good at hand-to-hand combat. Every time he had a training session or we sparred, he proved he wasn't bad. I was smaller, quicker, and deadlier, but he could hold his own. If I screwed up enough and wasn't paying attention, he'd best me. But I wasn't telling him that.
"Well then, we don't have a lot of room in here, but let's do it."
His lips twitched again, and I could see the smile he was fighting. But it wasn't a happy, playful smile. It was a let's work some of this energy out smile. The devil’s own smirk. And I was the latest soul to be toyed with.
God he was sexy as sin when he was pissed.
Oh, hell no. We were not screwing right now. I repeated that to myself just in case my lady parts needed the reminder. "What do you want?"
"You seem to want to talk. You’ve spent the last hour staring at my profile. You came in here, and I figured you wanted to hash it out."
I glowered at him. I had nothing to say.
"Okay, then let me ask you some questions. Do you want to tell me what's going on? Or why I have to hear from one of your guards that you slipped your fucking detail?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You do recognize that you sound like your father right now, right?"
That only deepened his frown. "I have to sound like my father, I'm the fucking king."
"Yeah, you are. And you make it a point t
o remind me of that, every goddamn day."
He threw up his hands. "Really, Penny? Really?"
"I might as well be a prisoner in the palace, Sebastian."
He winced, and his head snapped back as if I'd slapped him. "Is that what you think?"
"That's what it feels like."
"You're my queen. You are everything. Without you I don’t exist. I'm supposed to keep you safe."
I scooted to the end of the bed and stood so I could at least face him eye to eye, or eye to chest, as it were. I tilted my chin up. “I am a Royal Guard."
Fire flashed in his gaze. "When I met you, you wanted nothing to do with the family business. You couldn't get away from them fast enough. But I made you my queen, and now, all of a sudden, you're a Guard."
That was then. This was now. Once I’d finally let myself be good at it, I liked it. It was part of who I was. "Not all of a sudden. I learned that I could be good at this. I learned that by watching your ass."
He rolled his eyes. "Jesus Christ, how many times do I have to hear this? Yes, you saved my life. I completely understand. I'm grateful, because not only do I get to live, hooray, but I found the love of my life who refuses to obey orders."
"Why do I have orders in the first place? I sit by your side. We rule together, right? Why do you insist on giving me orders?"
He threw his hands up. "For your own goddamn safety."
"If I can guard your ass, why do I need five to forty guards?"
"Because people have tried to kill us. My father is dead, I’ll remind you."
I winced internally, but I wasn't backing down. "Don’t you think I know that? Every day I know that. I feel his loss just like you do. I feel your pain of his loss, and all I want to do is make it better."
"Then fucking do as you're told."
I shook my head. "The hell I will. I may be one of your subjects, but I'm my own person. You are afraid for me. I understand. And I know you love me and that's why you're mad. I know you just want to keep me safe. But we cannot go on the way we've been going."
"This is an old fight, Penny."
"Tell me about it. But it’s one that's going to keep coming up until you listen to me."