The Lion's Castle (The Lion Princes Book 1)

by Chase, Leslie

  Anna felt her jaw tighten at that. "Do we have to call him that? He's looked after me."

  "I can see that," Victoria said. "And I really am happy for you. But how he treats you doesn't matter, sis. He's the next tyrant of our country, the next king. We have a chance to change the world for the better, and just because he's nice to you doesn't mean we can forgive the crimes of his people."

  The anger that flashed in her eyes made Anna feel even more uncomfortable. Despite her father's stories, she'd never managed to hate the lion shifters who ruled their homeland for so long. Individuals, yes. The kings who had ruled badly, who had hurt the innocent and started wars for their own glory, they were easy to hate. And admittedly that seemed to be the norm for kings throughout history.

  But it was another thing to hate people who hadn't done anything just because of who their parents were. Or grandparents in this case — Roman's father never had a chance to be King, even.

  Victoria had always been better at picking up their father's hatred than Anna was, though, and now it showed clearly in her eyes. She wasn't interested in whether or not a given lion was innocent. All that mattered was that they were the enemy, and that was reason enough to hurt them. To kill them.

  "Roman is different," Anna tried to explain. "He doesn't even want to be King! Can't we just leave him be, go after the other lions who actually want to rule? Isn't a lion shifter who doesn't want the throne something we should encourage?"

  Victoria's eyes narrowed and she tensed for a moment before relaxing with a visible effort. She said nothing as their food was brought to the table, waiting until the waiter was out of earshot before continuing.

  "You don't understand, sis," she said, picking up a fry and gesturing with it. "Look, if we leave him alone and go for the others, he will inherit. That's how royalty works, right? If his brothers are dead, he is the only choice for their superstitious ritual, and then he'll have the throne whether he wants it or not.

  "What do you think he'll do then? Say no to what he's been raised to believe is his duty? I think you know better than that. And once he is in charge, he will come for us. We'll be the killers of his brothers; of course he's going to want revenge. I can't even blame him for that, but it means we need to strike first."

  Victoria popped the fry in her mouth and chewed with relish. Anna felt her own stomach turn at the idea of killing Roman, but she couldn't see any flaw in her sister's logic. Roman might not want the throne, but after a day with him she knew he'd take his responsibilities seriously. She couldn't have liked him so much if he didn't. If he was the only heir to the throne he'd take it if he had to, and his vengeance on anyone who harmed his family would be terrible. She nodded slowly, reluctantly.

  "In that case," Victoria continued with a grin, "you can see that we only have one option. A clean sweep, get all the princes. Then we can free the country and make it a better place for everyone. A country with real elections, wouldn't that be something?"

  And a grateful populace will sweep father into power, Anna thought. But wouldn't that be better than a king no one elected?

  "I don't want to hurt him," she said quietly. Saying it aloud to someone in her family was enough to bring up all her confused feelings, and Anna felt her eyes tear up at the choice she had to make. Victoria's perfect brow furrowed again, and she reached across the table to take Anna's hand.

  "You really like him, don't you? Don't tell me you've fallen for a lion."

  Glumly Anna nodded, and Victoria's eyes widened. At least I've managed to shock my unflappable sister, Anna thought. That was one achievement at least, though it wasn't anything to feel proud of.

  "Oh my God, Anna," Victoria said. She took a deep breath and managed to steady her voice before continuing. "That's— I can hardly believe it. You can't ever tell father!"

  The alarm in her voice was real. As bad as it made Anna feel, it was a bit of a relief. There was anger in her voice too, and pain, but Victoria's first thought was to protect her sister and that was something.

  They both knew that their father wouldn't take it as well, though. For him, the Cause came first, and second. Family was, at best, a distant third.

  "Look, you don't have to do anything," Victoria continued, squeezing Anna's hand. "I'll take care of it all, keep you out of it, and father never has to find out. It's—it's just a thing that happens, you got too close to him. That's all."

  Anna smiled faintly. Seeing Victoria lose some of her poise was a rare enough event to be a surprise, and a touching one. Even if she was still trying to talk her into letting Roman be murdered.

  "It isn't that simple," she said, squeezing Victoria's hand back and trying to smile. "I don't think it is anyway. He says I'm the one for him, and I— I kind of think he's telling the truth."

  I know he thinks he is, anyway, she thought as she watched Victoria's face harden. And who knows if he's right or not? How would I ever know?

  "I don't want to be a part of this, not at all. I can't be. There has to be a better way than killing."

  Her sister frowned and shook her head. It took a visible effort of will for her to relax and smile, but she did it. It wasn't quite as convincing as it might have been.

  "That's not for me to decide, Anna," she said, plucking a napkin from a dispenser on the table and offering it to Anna. "Not for you either. If you really want to change the plan, there's only one person who can do that. We'll have to talk to father about it."

  Anna winced at the thought of that conversation, but she knew that Victoria was right. Even if Anna convinced her — and she was far from sure she could talk her sister out of killing Roman — it wouldn't help. Their father would go ahead anyway, with or without them.

  "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be reasonable," Victoria continued. She sounded as though she were trying to convince herself as much as Anna, and it didn't sound as though she was succeeding. "We'll talk to him together, okay? Now, you go and get yourself cleaned up and I'll get him to meet us here. We have to do this quickly, before things will get even further out of control."

  Her smile brightened as she put more effort into it. "Don't worry, Anna, we'll work it all out."

  Anna sniffled, snatching the napkin and dabbing at her eyes. She hadn't dared to hope that the conversation would go this well. A shouting match seemed more likely, or being dragged in front of her father. It hadn't occurred to her that Victoria might be an ally. Afraid that if she tried to talk she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears, she hurried towards the restroom.

  Maybe this will all work out after all.

  * * *

  Roman sat in his banker's office and sighed. It was, like everything else in this damned country, something out of a history book. That wasn't quite fair; unlike the offices in the castle, at least here there were computers, even if they looked like they were a decade or two old. The bank had kept a little more up to date than the royal household, it seemed. He supposed it really had to. In the modern age, a bank that didn't use computers would hardly function at all.

  The banker himself was keen to help in any way possible, so keen as to be annoying, in fact. He couldn't seem to cope with the fact that a royal prince was really in his office, and ten minutes into the meeting Roman had started to think that the man wanted to pinch himself to check if he was dreaming.

  Looking up at the inevitable black-edged portrait of his grandfather that was prominently displayed on the wall, he wondered how the old man had put up with this kind of treatment.

  Maybe you actually liked it, granddad? You were raised to find this kind of thing normal. The painting didn't give any answers, just glowering down at him.

  Of course, these days there were still plenty of countries with kings, but a lot fewer where the king actually ruled. The old man had hung onto power and the old ways.

  "Of course, Your Highness's full fortune is at your disposal, ah, Your Highness," Mr. Hargraf was saying. It almost seemed that he was playing a game, trying to fit Roman's title into the conv
ersation as much as possible. "However, state funds won't be available to you until the succession is finalized, I'm afraid. Your Highness must understand that—"

  "Yes, yes," Roman interrupted, leaning forward. "I don't need access to those now. What I need is an idea of how much money there is, so that my brothers and I can plan for the future. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, and we can't plan for it if we don't know how much money the country has available."

  It wasn't the first time that he cursed the setup of the family funds. In any modern nation this wouldn't be a matter of inheritance, there'd be a government department that dealt with it instead. But the government of Leotania was the King, and there were few distinctions between the state's funds and the royal family's.

  The various parts of the bureaucracy did have their own reserves, enough that people would keep being paid in the time it took to install a new king, but starting any new projects or funding anything big would be impossible.

  "Ah, that is a difficulty, Your Highness," Hargraf said, loosening his collar and leaning back. "I'm afraid that such questions can only be answered with the authority of the crown. I said as much to your family's earlier messenger, and I am sorry to say that I must give Your Highness the same answer I gave him."

  Roman frowned, leaning across the banker's desk. Hargraf's unwillingness to come out and say 'no' was annoying, though not entirely unexpected. But what was this about a messenger? I haven't sent anyone. Did my brothers? He shook his head at the thought — who would they have sent, and why? If they had, they'd surely have let him know about it.

  Maybe I just haven't gotten the message, he thought. Given the country's awful infrastructure, he could believe that it hadn't reached him yet — aside from the landline phones there was so little contact between the castle and the outside world. I'll have to check my emails while I'm in town, see if I've missed anything.

  "When did you get a messenger, and what did he ask?" Roman asked, hearing the annoyed growl in his voice. He tried to control it, but it wasn't easy — his lion was on edge. Something was wrong, though he didn't know what it was. That only made it more infuriating.

  "Ah, Your Highness? That was the day before yesterday," Hargraf answered, sweat beading on his brow. "I'm sorry, is something the matter?"

  The day I arrived in the country, the day I was attacked. Something didn't sit right with him about that, but before he could press for more answers, his phone chimed. With a frustrated growl, he reached into his pocket to switch it to silent — he should have done it before the meeting, but even a couple of days out of contact with a cell network had let him forget to do that.

  A glance at the message froze him for a moment. It was from Anna, and reading it the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

  At Colso's Bar. Need you. Urgent!!!

  Roman leaped to his feet, forgetting about his questions. Whatever was wrong here could wait, he wasn't about to leave Anna in the lurch. He could feel his lion's anger racing through his veins and somehow knew that something was very wrong. That his mate was in trouble.

  "We'll finish this later," he said to the startled banker as he rushed for the door. Outside, his startled security guards leaped to their feet as he ran past. He regretted that he hadn't insisted on one of them following Anna, but it was too late for that now. At least they'd be there to help with whatever danger had found her.

  14

  When Anna emerged from the restroom and made her way back to her booth, she felt almost human again. The hope that things might actually work out burned like a fire in her heart, and she drew strength from that. Her sister smiled at her as she sat back down, and Anna even felt like she could eat a little of the cooling meal in front of her.

  "Father will join us as soon as he can," Victoria said, her smile widening. It was a disconcertingly snakelike smile, Anna thought, trying to ignore the prickle of apprehension along her spine.

  It was hard to ignore entirely. There was, she realized, a fresh tension to Victoria. She was almost vibrating with energy, her bright eyes moving constantly as she glanced around the bar, and her hand rested on her handbag protectively.

  "What's wrong, sis?" Anna asked, setting the burger back on its plate.

  "Nothing," Victoria replied distractedly, her eyes focusing on a couple of men coming in and then flicking away again. Anna glanced at the newcomers, a couple of big men in ill-fitting suits who looked like they were trying to act casual as they sat at a table near the door.

  There was something familiar about them. Not that she recognized the men themselves, but the way they behaved looked like the men her father surrounded himself with. The 'bodyguards' he'd never needed.

  I guess he needs to feel safe, Anna thought, a little disappointed in him. How paranoid must he be that he needed bodyguards to meet his daughters in public?

  A quick look around the bar and she frowned slightly.

  "Victoria, are those guys at the bar our people too?" she said, gesturing at a trio of strangers who must have come in while she'd been in the restroom. Five guards seemed excessive even for paranoid.

  "Don't worry about it, sis," Victoria said, now practically vibrating with nervous energy. Her fingers drummed a rhythm on the side of her handbag, and Anna realized she'd never seen her sister so nervous.

  "Vicky, what's going on? Where's Dad?"

  "He'll be here soon," Victoria replied without looking at Anna. Her eyes were fixed on the door. Anna's frowned, looking around at the room and not liking the tense atmosphere at all. Something's wrong, very wrong, but what? Starting to feel frightened, she went to check her phone for messages.

  It was missing, gone from the space on the table where she'd left it. Anna checked in her bag quickly, making sure she hadn't picked it up when she left the table, and then looked at Victoria. Her sister's smile looked a lot less friendly now. It was the smile Anna remembered from their childhood, when her sister had pulled some trick on her. A smile she'd learned to dread.

  "Where's my phone?" Anna asked, and saw a fleeting look of guilt on her sister's face. Victoria covered it quickly, but they knew each other too well for that to work. Anna's mind raced through the possibilities, trying to work out what her sister was up to, what she might have done. Whatever it was, Victoria didn't look entirely happy about it, and Anna had a very bad feeling about what that meant.

  Before Anna could finish that thought, the door of the bar flew open, and Roman entered. His powerful form filled the doorway as he looked around, his face a mixture of concern and anger. His gaze found Anna almost instantly, flicked around the room as though cataloging threats, and then he stepped inside.

  "Are you alright?" He strode towards her as he asked the question. He was intent on Anna and her sister, his attention focused on the two of them, and Anna paled, frozen as her duty to her family slammed up against her desire to help her man. He was charging to her rescue, unheeding of any danger he might face, and the thought that she'd been used to lure him into a trap horrified Anna.

  Where are his guards, why is he alone? She knew the answer, though. Their SUV couldn't keep up with his sports car, and if he thought she was in trouble, he wouldn't have waited for them. They'd be somewhere behind him, and that meant they'd be too late to help.

  Behind Roman, she saw the two men sitting by the door stand, pulling pistols from under their badly-fitted suits. That was enough to snap her out of her paralysis. She couldn't stand by and watch him gunned down, and if meant siding with him against her family, she'd sort out her tangled loyalties later. Right now, her man's survival came first.

  "Behind you! Run!" She screamed the warning, and Roman reacted with blinding, cat-like speed. He whirled, darting to the side out of the line of fire, moving fast enough to throw off the assassins' aim. They fired anyway, one bullet cracking into the floor, the other shattering a window, and then he was leaping at them. His angry roar had no business coming from a human throat, and it was enough to freeze the would-be killers in pl
ace.

  But not Victoria. As soon as he'd turned away, she plunged her hand into her handbag, coming up with a small, delicate pistol of her own. Oh no you don't, Anna thought. She wasn't about to let her sister shoot Roman in the back.

  Diving across the table, Anna slammed into Victoria. Where Roman fought with grace and ease, she flailed wildly, grabbing her sister's wrist just as the gun fired.

  "No!" Anna cried out, but the bullet had gone wide. She barely had time to see that before Victoria clawed at her face, trying to twist her hand free of Anna's grip and get control of the gun.

  "Let go!" Victoria's face scrunched up into a snarl as she struggled to pull free. "Let go and let me finish this!"

  "No chance!" Anna shouted back, clinging on for dear life. The pistol barked again, but the muzzle jerked around wildly — Anna had no clue where the bullet went, only that it was nowhere near Roman.

  Victoria snarled in frustration, digging her nails into Anna's arm and twisting. Anna ignored the sudden pain that shot through her and snapped her head forward, slamming it into Victoria's face. I might not know how to fight well, but damned if I'm not going to try my best.

  The impact sent a blinding pain through her, but she had the satisfaction of hearing her sister swear. Together, the two of them tumbled out of the booth and fell to the floor, Victoria raining punches on Anna and Anna just trying to keep her hold on the gun.

  I can't keep this up forever, Anna realized as a vicious knee to her side drove the air out of her. Her grip was loosening already, and Victoria would only need one clear shot.

  * * *

  Roman felt the rage boiling up out of his lion as he saw the two gunmen before him. Whatever was going on here — and didn't have the first idea what that was — they weren't going to get away with holding his mate.

  The roar he unleashed froze the two of them, but he could see another three men leaping into action as he bounded forward towards the attackers. Good. Two of them wouldn't be enough to take this anger out on. With a snarl, he leaped into the first pair of attackers.