by Raye Morgan
“How are you feeling?” she asked him.
“Stiff. My back is aching, but not as badly as it was earlier.”
“Are you getting drowsy?”
He grimaced. “A bit. It’s coming on. Don’t worry.”
“I just want you to be comfortable on the trip,” she reminded him.
He nodded, but his mind was obviously on something else. He searched her face. “So how did you become a guard, Janis?”
She hesitated, but decided to try to get closer to the truth if that was possible. “I’m not really a guard. This assignment just kind of fell into my lap.”
He nodded. “I have a feeling you did some military work during the war. Am I right?”
Her breath caught in her throat. Could he be beginning to remember? “Yes.”
“Special forces? Or intelligence?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Why would you think that?”
“Instinct. The kind of things you say. The way you handled Kylos. The way you look at me, as though you know what I’m thinking before I think it.”
She smiled. “So you think I can read minds?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past you.” He raised an eyebrow. “So am I right?”
She nodded slowly.
“Good. Then you are just the woman I need.”
“Really? In what way?”
“Talent and training. I have something I’d like you to do for me.”
“What is that?”
He met her gaze with his own and stared hard. “I want you to find my wife for me.”
Her heart stood still, then raced so hard she thought she would keel over. “Uh…did you remember getting married?” she asked breathlessly.
He shook his head. “No. But it seems I did.” He gestured toward a wooden box sitting on the dresser. “They gave me all the effects I was carrying with me when I was brought in, after the accident. I finally took a look at it a few minutes ago. You look, too—you’ll see what I mean.”
Rising, she went to the box and opened it. Inside she saw his wallet, his keys and his wedding ring. Their wedding ring. Her heart began to pound. She turned to look at him.
“You were wearing this ring in the accident?” she asked. That didn’t seem reasonable. They had exchanged rings in their wedding, but they only wore them at home, when they were alone. Their wedding had been a secret that could have resulted in them both being fired from their jobs if they’d been found out. And after the fight they’d had, after what he’d said, why would he have been wearing the ring? She stared at him, completely at sea.
He shrugged. “So it seems.”
“But…” She pressed her lips together to keep from saying something she would regret.
“Kylos doesn’t know anything?” She only asked in order to see what he would say.
“No. We didn’t have much contact over the last couple of years.” He shrugged. “At least, not that I remember.” He looked into her eyes. “You’re wondering where my wife is, aren’t you?” he said sensibly. “I don’t know. I feel like something must have happened. That’s why I want you to find her.”
She was numb. What on earth could she say to that? “What if she doesn’t want to be found?” she murmured, then wished she hadn’t.
“You’ve got a point,” he said, looking sleepy. “If she still wanted me, she would have shown up by now, wouldn’t she?”
“Oh! Not necessarily. Maybe she doesn’t know what happened.”
“Maybe.” He flexed his back and grimaced at the pain. “There are a lot of screwy things going on with this whole issue. For instance—look at the ID in the wallet.”
She pulled the wallet out and opened it, but she already knew what it would say. There it was, a picture of Mykal, and the name John Blunt on the card. John Blunt. It was a name she knew well. It was the name he’d been going by as he infiltrated a local shipbuilder’s union in the small seaside city of Pierria where they had both been working undercover.
So Mykal had been racing down a road on that old rattletrap motorcycle he loved with his John Blunt identity card in his pocket and the wedding ring he owned as Mykal Marten on his finger. It didn’t make any sense.
“When was your accident?” she asked him, her mind working a mile a minute. “Where was it? Do you know?”
He shook his head. “About two months ago. And somewhere in Granvilli territory, from what I’ve been told. But I don’t know where exactly.”
She stared at him. Certain things were beginning to put up little red flags in her thinking. “How did they find your real identity?”
“It took a while. I was in a Granvilli hospital for a few weeks, I guess, and then I got transferred to the royal side in a prisoner trade. It seems they figured out I was a spy for the royals.” His smile was endearingly crooked, but getting more and more sleepy. “I only wish I could remember. It sounds like I was living quite the life over there.”
“Yes,” she said softly, holding the memories close. “You were.” She stared at him for a long, trembling moment. This had gone on long enough. Her resistance was melting. He had to know the truth.
But he didn’t seem to notice what she’d said. He shook his head as though to clear it and looked at her through squinted eyes. “So will you help me?” he asked, his voice getting slurred. “I just have this aching void inside, and I feel like, if I could find her, if I knew who she was, I could fill this emptiness. And maybe find a reason to care whether I survive these operations or not.”
“Oh, Mykal.”
She went to him. She couldn’t help it. She slipped right onto the bed beside him, being careful not to put any pressure on him in any way, but taking his face between her hands and kissing him firmly on the lips.
He kissed her back and she clung to him, so hungry for his affection, so thirsty for his taste. It was heaven to hold him.
But she had to pull away so that she could tell him the truth.
“Mykal,” she said softly, touching his beloved face with the palm of her hand and looking into his eyes. “I know where your wife is. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you right away.” She took a deep breath and plunged in. “I’m…I’m the one. It’s me. You and I were married about four months ago.”
He was staring at her but his eyes were blank. She bit her lip, disturbed by his lack of reaction. Frustrated, she leaned her head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling as she talked. She couldn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see growing awareness in his eyes as he listened to her.
“We met in Pierria. We both worked there. I was with the Granvilli intelligence, and you were…well, I never understood exactly who you worked for or why. But we fell in love. Crazy in love. And we got married on a wing and a prayer, hardly knowing what we were doing. And then…”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “And then we had a terrible fight. I ran from our little house to my brother’s apartment. And I never saw you again.” She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “Until yesterday, when I…”
Her voice faded away as she realized he was asleep.
“Mykal!” she cried, but he didn’t budge. She stared at him and then she began to laugh until tears filled her eyes. Here she’d painfully revealed it all to him, and he wasn’t even listening. “Oh, Mykal.”
She rose from the bed and looked down at him, shaking her head. She heard voices out in the foyer. The ambulance had arrived. They’d come to take him to the castle.
Well, things had changed. She’d said she was leaving, but now she was going to stay with him. This was her husband and he needed her. There was no way she was going to stay behind.
She picked up her satchel and turned, looking at the wooden box. Should she take it along? She didn’t
like leaving it here. But did she have the right?
“Nuts,” she said to herself. She was married to the man. Of course she had the right. Moving quickly, she opened her satchel and put the box inside it. She’d barely completed the move before Kylos came rushing in the room and stopped abruptly as he saw her fastening her satchel.
“What are you doing?” he asked suspiciously.
“Getting ready to go to the castle,” she said, trying hard not to look guilty. For a second, she thought he was going to ask her to empty out her bag so he could take a look at what she had in there. But the moment passed and he turned to look at Mykal.
“Where’s the medication?” he asked her. “How much is left?”
“It’s in the bathroom,” she said, frowning. “I don’t think he’ll need it. They’ll surely prescribe their own preferences once they examine him.”
“Hmm.” He looked at her sideways, then disappeared into the bathroom at the same time the paramedics appeared in the doorway.
She turned to look at Mykal. This was it. Who knew what would happen once they got to the castle? She took a deep breath and said a little prayer. It was time to go.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“THE first thing you’re going to do,” Queen Pellea said as she swept into the personal royal library where she’d told Janis to meet her, “is tell me all about my brother-in-law, the new prince.” She took Janis’s hands in hers and beamed at her. “Tell me everything you know.”
Janis held on as though she were a life raft. She was overwhelmed by it all—the gorgeous castle, the sumptuous décor, the beautiful queen who looked like she’d stepped right out of a Renaissance painting. She’d helped bring Mykal in and she’d even had a chance to talk to one of the doctors about his symptoms over the last few hours. And then she’d received the message from the queen and had hurried here for a meeting.
“So you’re sure of it?” she asked, wide-eyed. “He is the lost prince?”
Pellea shrugged. “The wise men won’t say as yet, but I’m sure of it.” She smiled impishly. “I just peeked in at him in the examining room. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Janis smiled back, but the mood that filled her heart was melancholy, because she knew what that meant. “You may have to talk him into it,” she told the queen. “He’s grumbling about loss of freedom and that sort of thing.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. We’ll have him singing a different tune soon enough. I’ll have Monte deal with him,” she added, referring to her husband, King Monte, oldest brother of the new prince. “Come, let’s sit down and talk.”
Janis followed her to a pair of comfortable chairs situated in front of a wide stone fireplace.
“And I’ll tell you the second thing we’re going to do,” Pellea went on, eyeing her askance. “We’re going to get some decent clothes for you and get you out of that blue jumpsuit.” She shuddered. “Is that a uniform for something?”
“Sort of.” Janis drew in a shaky breath. She hadn’t expected this question to come up so quickly. It threw her off balance. She couldn’t lie to the queen—especially after looking into her calm, kind eyes.
“Where did you get it?”
Wishing she could disappear, she whispered, “Prison camp.”
“What?” Pellea said, leaning toward her and frowning as though she hadn’t heard.
“Prison camp,” she said aloud. Might as well own it. “I’ve been in a Granvilli prison camp for the last two months. I just got out.”
“Oh!” Pellea sank back into the chair and stared at her. “Oh, my.”
Janis drew in a sharp breath. She’d known this would make all the difference. The queen had been anxious to meet with her, but now they would throw her out. And who could blame them? You couldn’t let a recently released prisoner hang around in the castle. True, at least she’d been in a Granvilli camp, not one run by the royals. But still. Her heart sank. She should never have come here.
Even if the queen were ready to hear her side of things, what could she say? There was no easy excuse. She could still hear her brother Rolo’s voice hissing in her ear, “You really screwed this one up, Janny. You botched things so badly, your own husband turned you in.” But she couldn’t tell Pellea about that.
If she got up and walked out right now, could she avoid the humiliation of being escorted out by an armed guard? She eyed the doorway nervously.
But, though shocked, Pellea wasn’t through with her yet. “What on earth did you do to end up there?” she asked sternly.
Janis shrugged. Was there really any point in going on with this? Why didn’t the queen just call for the guard and get it over with? She took a deep breath and decided to give it a try. It was the least she could do, she supposed.
“You have to understand what it’s like in the Granvilli territory right now. Society is falling apart. Everything is in chaos. People are reacting out of fear and anger. I don’t really know why I was arrested. And I don’t know why they let me go when they did.”
That much was true. She knew what had angered Mykal, but she didn’t think that had anything directly to do with the reason she was held. If he really had been the one to turn her in, what reason had he given them? She didn’t have a clue.
Pellea frowned, searching her eyes. “You were never charged with anything?”
Janis made a face. “That would require a functioning court system. They don’t have that over there at present.” She hesitated, ready to get up and go. “I know this is a shock to you.” She began to rise. “I should have told you before.”
“No.” Pellea’s voice had the unmistakable tone of command. “Sit down right now and tell me all about it.”
“But why would you believe anything I say?” she protested, trying to be realistic about it.
Pellea tossed her head. “Talk,” she ordered firmly. “Start with what happened once you were arrested. Where did they take you and what did they tell you?”
That wasn’t as easy to do as it might seem. Janis licked her lips, remembering her conversation with the warden and trying to think what she could tell the queen about it.
“What is my crime?” she’d cried desperately.
The warden had stared coldly. “Espionage.”
Espionage. That was what they paid her to do. How could they arrest her for it? “What kind of espionage?”
The warden’s gaze didn’t waver. “Illegal espionage.”
That was all she was ever told. She was taken to the makeshift camp near the border, stripped of all her clothing and possessions, along with her dignity, and given her blue jumpsuit to wear. The next two months had been a nightmare. The food was terrible but not plentiful, so hunger was more important than quality. She lost twelve pounds, but she wouldn’t have recommended it as a diet experience. The work assignments were uniformly disgusting. And every night she had to fight off the prison guards. Luckily the army had given her some good basic self-defense moves and she held her ground, leaving the guards to go after easier pickings. But just the fact that she’d had to maintain that struggle night after night was enough to make her bitter.
What of all that could she tell the queen? But she had to tell her something and she tried. And she managed, haltingly, leaving out a few things, like the marriage, and her brother, and some of the seamier aspects of prison camp life. But all in all, she stayed pretty true to the real story line.
The queen listened impassively. “What was this espionage they arrested you for? You must have some idea of the catalyst.”
She took a deep breath. Maybe she was ready to give a fuller picture of what she was involved with now that she’d told her this much. Maybe she could outline a hint of what Mykal had caught her doing that had led to his outrage.
“It was a surveillance report on things an
other agent had done,” she said. “I…I made some copies and gave them to someone I thought I could trust.” Why she’d done that for her brother was a story she couldn’t get into. “But…” She stopped, fighting back tears as she remembered Mykal’s face when he found out what she’d done. Shaking her head, she couldn’t go on.
Pellea watched her for a long moment, making no move to comfort her in any way. “Well, that all sounds very spy-versus-spy, doesn’t it?” she said in a cool voice at last.
“Something like that,” Janis admitted, her voice choked.
“Janis, nothing personal, but you do realize I have a responsibility here. I must be the guardian of my people, the protector of all who are in this castle.”
“Of course. I understand.”
Pellea paused, then added, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Janis nodded. That was what she expected, once her imprisonment was known. It would be even worse if they knew about her family background. She was ready to go. She only wished she could see Mykal once more before she left, though. She had a feeling that, once she left, she might never see him again.
They rose together and Janis turned away. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. But she stopped, realizing she couldn’t leave the room before the queen did.
Pellea came toward her, hand outstretched, looking ready to say goodbye, but a courtier was suddenly in the doorway.
“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing deeply. “You are wanted in the hospital wing. Dr. Pheasar asks that you come to him immediately.”
Pellea turned to Janis. “This must be about Mykal,” she said. She stared at Janis for a moment, then reached out for her again. “You’d better come, too,” she said, then turned without another word and hurried for the elevator.
Janis was right behind her. Had something happened to Mykal? Her heart was thumping and she was hurrying as they exited the elevator on the hospital floor, but she could hardly keep up with the queen. In a moment they were in the medical unit.
“No entry, please,” the nurse said, jumping up to stop them, but then shrinking back when she saw who it was. “Oh, excuse me Your Majesty.”