Prince Incognito

by Rachelle Mccalla

  Knowing Lily’s words had exposed David’s sole negotiating point as a desperate bluff, Alec lifted his gun, motioning to his men to draw their weapons and stand behind where he stood, closest to the doors. “This is your final warning. Come out—”

  But before he could finish his sentence, the doors burst open, revealing David standing in the doorway, holding Sandra Bardici in front of him, his gun pressed to her neck.

  “Stand down,” Bardici shouted at the soldiers, his eyes roving crazily until they landed on Lily, tucked almost out of sight in Alec’s shadow less than a meter from where he stood. The sneer of a smile bent his lips. “Lillian, you will tell these soldiers to fall back, or you will never see your mother alive again.”

  Lily tensed against him, and Alec could feel her warring with how to respond.

  It was a call he couldn’t ask her to make.

  Moving quickly, deftly, he executed the move he’d replayed in his mind since the moment the general had pulled a gun on Lily on her father’s boat. His hand snapped forward, jerking the gun away from the general.

  Just as quickly, Sandra Bardici lunged toward the weapon.

  “Mother, no!” Lily screamed, darting out from under Alec’s arm to stop her mother.

  Alec couldn’t let her step past the shield of his body armor. He turned his back on the Bardicis, covering Lily as a gun went off behind him.

  When he spun around again a second later, David Bardici had crumpled to the floor, and the soldiers on the other side of the doorway leaped forward to restrain Sandra, pulling the gun easily from her trembling hands.

  “Mother?” Lily gasped, looking down at her prone, bloodied uncle on the floor, and then back up to her mother.

  But Sandra sneered down at David. “You’ll never pull a gun on me again!”

  The soldiers led her away, while Titus crouched by the general’s side and checked his pulse. “He’s gone.”

  “And with him, any answers he might have given us about the elusive 8.” Alec looked in the direction the men had taken Sandra. “I wonder if that’s why she felt she had to kill him?”

  “She won’t tell you anything,” Lily predicted. “But my father—”

  “Your father has been cooperative ever since your mother left him.”

  “I don’t know how much he knows, though. In many ways, I think he was his brother’s puppet, not a knowledgeable conspirator.”

  Alec pulled her close against him, taking comfort in the knowledge that he’d kept her safe. That she’d taken a stand on his side.

  But would his siblings agree?

  “Let’s get things closed up here and get back to Lydia.”

  * * *

  Lily focused on breathing slowly, evenly, as she accompanied Alec onboard her uncle’s helicopter. After refueling the copter he and his men had arrived in, Alec had sent Sandra back to Lydia in the custody of his men. Grateful for the use of the second Lydian helicopter, Lily felt relieved that she didn’t have to face her mother for the ride home.

  She tried to tell herself everything would be fine, even though her mother had left her father and shot her uncle. Even though she was still deep in debt and could easily be charged with treason for signing the oligarchy covenant at her uncle’s orders.

  “How’s your foot?” she asked Alec as he situated himself in the seat and the copter lifted off.

  He didn’t answer, but settled his gaze on her face.

  She felt a blush rise to her cheeks, and tried to shake it off. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry my uncle shot you, that my family has been attacking yours—”

  His hand slid over hers. “I’m sorry, too.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “I don’t know. It’s all up in the air, isn’t it? My father’s still in a coma, my brother, Thaddeus, is still missing. As near as I can tell, the only way to ultimately resolve the question of the crown is to find my brother. He’s the only one who knows where to find the Scepter of Charlemagne.”

  “The Scepter of Charlemagne.” Lily immediately recalled her uncle asking her about it. “Why is it so important?”

  “The crowned head of Lydia has always held the scepter. There’s a document inside the scepter that has been signed by every monarch in the history of the kingdom. Whoever holds the scepter controls the crown.”

  Lily let out a slow breath. “No wonder my uncle was so determined to get his hands on it. But how are we ever going to find it? No one even knows where Thaddeus is.”

  “Kirk thinks he may be able to locate him, but it could take a while.”

  “What’s going to happen until then?”

  Alec offered her a cautious smile. “The ruling oligarchy will remain in place until Thaddeus is crowned. With your uncle dead, that leaves you and your dad to rule along with my sisters.”

  “But won’t we be charged with treason for conspiring with my uncle?”

  “To my knowledge, you never conspired with David Bardici.” Alec looked at her with trust in his eyes.

  Lily felt her own eyes well with appreciative tears. “I never did—but Uncle David said all those terrible things—”

  “Your uncle David was a terrible man. I don’t believe any of the accusations he made against you. In the case of your father, however, it gets a little trickier.” Alec conceded, “But, if he can give us information that would lead us to this 8, if he can help us end this once and for all, I’m sure he could get a lighter sentence. Now your mother, on the other hand—”

  Lily shuddered. “She murdered my uncle.”

  “It could be classified as self-defense.”

  “She murdered my horses. All this time, I thought she was a sycophant, going along with whatever my father or uncle said. But she was playing them just to get her own way.” Lily thought for a little while longer, realizing that her uncle had tried to paint her as just such a character. Alec said he didn’t believe the terrible things her uncle had said about her, but in light of her mother’s actions, Lily still felt the burden of proof. “My uncle accused me of behaving that way.”

  “He said you deliberately made me fall in love with you so you could manipulate me and learn my secrets.”

  “I didn’t—”

  But Alec raised a finger to her mouth, shushing her. “If that’s what you were trying to do, you were awful at it.”

  Her eyes widened. Was he saying he hadn’t fallen in love with her after all?

  “You didn’t learn anything from me,” Alec clarified. “You didn’t ask me about any of the things your uncle wanted to know.” He leaned closer to her over the armrest that separated their seats. “But, as far as falling in love with you…” He removed his finger from her lips and leaned closer.

  Lily’s mouth fell open. “I don’t know if it’s wise to act on feelings right now,” she cautioned him. “You’ve got a country to reassure and a Parliament to placate. If they see you with me, how will they ever trust you?”

  “I’m not part of the ruling oligarchy. You are. Perhaps they need to see you with me to know they can trust you.”

  “Be careful, Alec. Be very, very careful.” She settled back into her seat.

  Alec leaned back in his seat as well. “I will.”

  * * *

  The sun was rising on a new day as the helicopter neared Sardis.

  Lily realized what she needed to do. “Is there any way I can get to my uncle’s estate?” she asked.

  “Right now?”

  “It’s rather urgent.”

  Exhausted though he was, Alec didn’t want Lily visiting the place alone. “We can land in the courtyard.” He passed the order along to the pilot, then asked Lily, “What’s so important that we’ve got to go now?”

  “If we can p
rove that Basil abdicated, that will erase any question of whether your family has the right to rule Lydia, correct? This oligarchy nonsense can be done away with, and your family can be returned to the throne.”

  “But your uncle burned the abdication documents.” Alec had gotten enough of a glimpse of the papers as Lily and her uncle had waved them around to know they were the real thing.

  “Trust me.” Lily smiled as they arrived at the sprawling mansion.

  Alec hesitated at the thought of trekking through the halls on his injured foot.

  Lily must have realized how exhausted he was. “You can wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  She hurried inside.

  Alec stepped out and leaned against the copter, easing the pressure on his foot, and heard a vehicle approaching. Immediately on his guard, he was relieved to see his sisters and their fiancés jump out of the vehicle when it came to a stop.

  “There you are,” Isabelle accused him. “We’ve all been going crazy waiting for you to return, and no sooner does your helicopter come into view than you head here.”

  “What are you doing here?” Stasi asked.

  “Lily needed to get something.”

  “Couldn’t it wait?”

  He shrugged.

  Kirk leaned against the car beside him and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “On the night of the state dinner, you were supposed to learn about your next promotion, weren’t you?”

  “That’s right. With everything else that’s been going on, I almost forgot. But my promotion was arranged between my father, as head of the military, and General Bardici, the head of the army. Neither of them can tell us what they decided.”

  “Your sisters have been discussing it.”

  Isabelle smiled up at her brother. “We want you to be the new general in charge of the army.”

  Alec reeled back. “From lieutenant to general? That’s quite a promotion.”

  “We don’t know who else we can trust,” Stasi explained. “Bardici’s highest-ranking officers followed his orders—including orders against our family.”

  “We may never know for certain the extent of their allegiances.” As Isabelle finished her statement, Lily burst from the building, papers in hand.

  Alec watched his sisters eye her warily. He knew they didn’t trust her because she was a Bardici. “What have you got, Lily?”

  She laid out the papers on the back of his sister’s car. “These are Basil’s original abdication documents. They prove that the members of your family have every right to the crown. The papers my uncle burned were only copies I made on aged paper. If he’d stopped to examine them under better light, he’d have realized he didn’t have the originals.” She looked at Alec with hope in her eyes. “These should restore your family to the throne.”

  “Are you sure?” Levi, the law expert, bent over the papers, studying them closely.

  While he analyzed the documents, Stasi and Isabelle eyed each other over his head.

  Isabelle raised an eyebrow.

  Stasi turned to Lily. “Why would you help our family?”

  Lily looked up at Alec, and he watched a familiar blush rise to her cheeks. “Your brother,” she began softly, then bit her lip, unsure how much more to say.

  Alec decided there was no longer any need to hide his feelings. If he was ever going to convince his family that Lily’s devotion was true, this was his chance. “I’m in love with you, Lily Bardici.”

  Her face bunched up as though she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to smile or cry. “After you watched my mother turn against my father and then my uncle?”

  “You’re not your mother.” He took a step closer to her. “Nor are you your father or your uncle. You’ve suffered enough because of them. You don’t have to pay for their crimes any longer.”

  Kirk cleared his throat and, to Alec’s surprise, instead of questioning him, said, “I know what it’s like to be falsely accused. And I know how much it means when those you care about believe in you.”

  Stasi beamed up at her fiancé as he wrapped an arm around her.

  “If these documents prove that Basil abdicated…” Isabelle began.

  “Then all we still lack is…” Stasi’s words hung in the air.

  “The Scepter of Charlemagne,” Alec finished for his sister.

  “Only one man knows where that is.” Kirk pulled Stasi close.

  No one spoke the name of Thaddeus aloud. No one had to.

  “These papers are legitimate.” Levi broke their silence. “They should stand up in any court. More than that, if I’m reading this passage correctly, it seems Basil didn’t simply abdicate because he didn’t want to rule. He left on his own terms in an agreement to keep his true parentage from being revealed.”

  “What does that mean?” Lily asked.

  “It seems—” Levi looked at the papers again “—Basil wasn’t the king’s biological son. The king’s first wife was unfaithful. Basil wasn’t a true descendent of Lydia.”

  Lily squealed happily, and Alec gave her a questioning look.

  “We’re not related,” she declared joyously.

  “What?”

  Her cheeks blushed red as Lily explained, “If Basil and your great-grandfather were half brothers, that meant you and I would be cousins of some sort.”

  “Distant cousins,” Alec noted. He’d thought of that, but hadn’t seen it as an issue. Apparently Lily had found it troubling. He was relieved that she no longer had to be concerned about it. “So, you’re glad to learn that you don’t really have any claim to the throne of Lydia?”

  “I don’t want the throne. I just want—” Lily looked at him with affection in her eyes, but her words dropped off as she glanced at his extended family gathered around them.

  Isabelle smiled. “I don’t think any of us are in any position to question Lily’s allegiance any longer.”

  “In that case—” Alec grinned “—I need to rest my injured foot.”

  He dropped down on one knee, his injured foot stretched out behind him as he cupped Lily’s hands in his. “Lily Bardici, would you marry me?”

  Silent tears leaked down Lily’s cheeks. “Are you sure, Alec?”

  “More sure than I’ve ever been about anything. You helped me realize who I am. I want you by my side, always.”

  “Yes.” Her voice was little more than a broken whisper, but it was enough for Alec. He stood again and kissed her while his sisters clapped.

  “Welcome to the club,” Kirk said with a playful shove.

  “Welcome to the family,” Isabelle and Stasi joined in.

  “A real family,” Lily whispered between kisses.

  “A family that loves you,” Alec promised. “No matter what happens.”

  He thought for a moment about the uncertainties that hung like a cloudy sky over their future. But like a beam of sunshine, his love for Lily was enough to light the way.

  * * * * *

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Loads of people contributed their expertise to make this book possible, and I’m grateful to every one of them. Thanks especially to the Drs. Kent and Jodi Pulfer, who in addition to being lovely people and wonderful servants of God, can also list deadly horse diseases from off the tops of their heads. I am grateful to leech off your brilliance!

  I’m indebted to the tremendously talented Marion Laird, who set the Lydian National Anthem to music—in Lydian mode, no less! Your contribution makes Lydia feel even more real.

  As always, thank you to my phenomenal husband, Ray, who patiently listens as I try to sort out character motivation, reads my manuscripts and gently reminds me that, fond as I may be of writing them, sentences of more than a few dozen words aren’t appealing to many people. I w
ill try to remember that next time.

  And thanks also to my amazing editor Emily Rodmell, who is able to make sense of the disjointed synopses I deliver her (how do you sort them out?) and patiently prods them into shape. I would not be the writer I am if it weren’t for her.

  As ever, eternal thanks to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has already won the victory. Thank you for hope and happy endings.

  Dear Reader,

  Family. Love them or hate them, like them or merely tolerate them, we are all influenced by our families. It’s more than the genetic imprint they give us. Every interaction or lack of interaction influences who we are, molding and shaping us, or sending us running in the other direction.

  In Prince Incognito, Alec can’t remember who his family is. He can’t even remember who he is! But even though he doesn’t know he’s a prince, he still behaves with integrity and honor, struggling toward uncovering the truth about where he came from.

  In contrast, Lillian struggles to escape from her family. While her uncle and parents are motivated by greed and pride, Lily refuses to be a part of their plans. In spite of her background, Lily chooses to act with integrity and honor. And so, though their families are pitted against one another, Alec and Lily are drawn together by faith and the love that blossoms between them.

  Of course, the Lydian royal family is still missing one member. Please look for the next book in the RECLAIMING THE CROWN series, The Missing Monarch, a September 2012 Love Inspired Suspense release, which follows the story of Thaddeus, the heir to the Lydian throne.

  No matter where you came from or what your family was like, I pray you’ll be encouraged by Alec and Lily’s story. Are you trying to sort out where you came from? Or are you running from a family whose choices are contrary to your faith? Know that, no matter what your family is like, you have a heavenly Father who loves you, who will see you through all the challenges ahead and bring you to the happy ending you long for.

  In Him,

  Rachelle

  Questions for Discussion

  As his story opens, Alec has the impression that something isn’t quite right. He feels out of place, but more than that, he suspects something is wrong. Have you ever had a similar feeling? What caused it? How did you respond?