Huntress

by Susan Copperfield

  “I’m sorry about her.”

  “Don’t be. I expect she gives all your potential agents a difficult time. Now, there’s an evaluation I need to do to check on your general health, Your Highness.”

  As Eva enjoyed catching me by surprise and putting me on the spot, I watched her warily. “What sort of evaluation?”

  “Your mouth, my tongue.”

  I discovered a whole new appreciation for unmonitored supply closets. “You caught me. It seems unfair of me to deny you an opportunity to do an examination at your leisure.”

  She smirked. “I thought you’d say something like that, and we forgot in Montana. A foolish oversight on our parts. Who knows when we’ll get a little quiet time alone for the next few weeks? We better make use of every single moment.”

  As I had no doubt privacy would come at a premium beginning tomorrow, I wasted no time wrapping my arms around her and taking the initiative, ready to prove I could be an instigator, too, if she took too long taking advantage of every opportunity.

  It took the RPS ten minutes to contact Eva on her earpiece, puzzled over how we’d managed to vanish into thin air. While I caught my breath, she assured the RPS she had the situation under control, and that she’d allowed me a breather before my next run.

  I admired how she told so many lies using nothing but the truth.

  “There are security gaps in the camera feeds, so if you could kindly close them, it would be appreciated.”

  “Kindly?” I mouthed at her.

  “I don’t want fucking excuses, I want the gaps closed!” she barked, shooting a glare at me.

  I grinned.

  Tapping her earpiece to shut off the microphone, Eva shook her head, opened the door, and peeked into the hallway. “Surprise, surprise. It’s clear. That’s going to be our job for the rest of the day, identifying more gaps in the security system here. There’s no excuse for this, not here. If this place is a disaster of gaps, what is the castle like?”

  “Well, my bedroom is monitored more than I like, although there’s a deliberate gap over the bed itself,” I grumbled.

  “Sound and video?”

  “Yes, both. The outer rooms of each suite are monitored while the inner areas are recorded but not actively monitored.”

  “Royals do need some privacy.”

  “That was the logic behind the choice, yes. One I’m appreciative of. It’s bad enough I can’t walk through my own living room without knowing I’m being recorded.”

  She chuckled and snapped her fingers, pointing down the hall. “Brisk walk, Your Highness. You’re on a light schedule until after lunch, then I’m going to run you into the ground so hard you’ll be half asleep during dinner. After dinner, you get to walk for however long it takes for you to pass out. During our walks, we’ll be discussing basic protocol for relocations. There are some rules, as no one wants anyone to be injured running any scenarios. While you’re expected to fight back and do everything you can to prevent a relocation, there are certain cues the agents will use. When you’re hit with one of these cues, your job is to drop limp and play dead. Depending on the cue, you’ll count to a certain number. That’s how we’ll mimic you being unconscious for a capture or simulating a fatal or critical hit.”

  “That sounds less than fun.”

  “Oh, it’ll be fun. For us. You might even enjoy it if you like playing hide and seek. Try to think of it like a game, although it’s a game that might save your life down the road.”

  And hers, which is why I’d treat it seriously. “I’ll do my best, but don’t get your hopes up too high.”

  “Your job is simple. Survive. You do that, and you pass with flying colors. This training is to help give you the tools to accomplish that goal. I’ll be taking a walk in your shoes doing the same thing, but I’ll be giving the agents more of a challenge because I’m skilled, good at evasion, and am much healthier than you are. Don’t sweat that, by the way. It’s going to be at least another month or two before you’re closer to average. Dr. Hampford is hopeful you’ll start bouncing back fast, but patients recovering from chronic illness often take longer to get back into shape.”

  “I’m honestly impressed I’m progressing as fast as I am.”

  “You’re doing well.”

  I glanced her way. “Well enough for another adventure in a supply closet?”

  “If we can find another one that hasn’t been secured.”

  “I’m suddenly much more interested in this running and walking I have to do to earn lunch and dinner.”

  Eva arched a brow. “Of course you are, Your Highness. Typical, bird-brained man.”

  Only for her, but if she hadn’t figured that out yet, I’d enjoy showing her the truth.

  True to Eva’s threats, she ran me into the ground until dinner, but I was in such an exhausted daze I barely remembered any of it. I almost felt guilty over communicating with my parents in grunts and other forms of wordless communication. Instead of walking with Eva as planned, I staggered to my new bedroom for the next month, flopped, and passed out.

  My day started at dawn, and a bright-eyed Eva woke me bouncing on the bed. “How the hell do you have so much energy?”

  “I’m on your sleep schedule, so I get to sleep when you sleep, and since you wussed out on me yesterday, I got time off work. I’m refreshed and ready to go. How about you?”

  “No.” I rolled over, grabbed my pillow, and shoved it over my head. “No.”

  “No once was sufficient. You’ve been down for almost twelve hours. Rise and shine, sleepyhead. You need a shower, then you have a mountain of paperwork to tame. And it’s a literal mountain. I watched a herd of people bring it in last night. There’s a nice office filled with many papers waiting for your attention. Also, Grégoire will be arriving within the next two hours to help you with the transition.”

  “Get him to make a list of priorities he needs shifted off, then tell him to get his ass to North Dakota for a while.”

  “Isn’t that a bit mean? He wants to help.”

  “He’s covered my ass for months. My turn. Tell him to give me a list of the critical matters so I can deal with them. He deserves some time off, and Abby’s probably itching to be going home by now.”

  “She is. Do you want to see her before she goes?”

  “And delay her taking Grégoire out of the war zone? Hardly. Tell her I expect her to be at the wedding, though. I’ll go to North Dakota and relocate her skinny ass here if she puts up a fight about it.”

  Eva chuckled. “Is that a hint she should be in the bride’s party? Mackenzie wanted names. She called me last night about it. I have a ten-page list of things we need to tell her so she can plan everything. It’s on the list to be handled this week.”

  “I’ll put her in my party if necessary.”

  “She’s not a man.”

  “I don’t see how this is relevant.”

  “Men go into the groom’s party, women go into the bride’s party.”

  “I see no reason why the bride can’t have men in her party if she wants.”

  “I’m not sure that’s how it’s supposed to work, Your Highness.”

  “If it makes the stuffy royals feel better about it, we’ll pick an equal number of men and women and assign them to sides regardless of why they’re there.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s untraditional, but I like it. I guess the answer to ‘Do you want a traditional wedding?’ is no?”

  I sighed, rolled out of bed, and grimaced that I’d gone to sleep still wearing my sweats from yesterday. “Unfortunately for the bride and groom of this wedding, there needs to be a Cinderella makeover for the bride, and the prince has to be even more princely than usual. Weddings are productions. I’ll be contemplating escape before this is over.”

  “Well, you have plenty of time to worry about it. Your shower situation is fringing on critical.” To prove her point, Eva pinched her nose closed and pointed at the bathroom I shared with Meredith and Eva. “Please take a
shower. Use extra soap.”

  “It’s your fault. I hadn’t thought you’d run me into the ground quite so literally.”

  “I underestimated the power of a food coma. And anyway, you seemed content and happy sleeping once you went down, so we decided to leave you alone. Try to stretch out the kinks so you don’t get too sore being a desk slave for the morning.”

  “I’ll try.” Moving hurt enough to warn me I’d be miserable if I didn’t heed her advice, and I checked the closet to discover someone had moved in most of my wardrobe. With a half day of work ahead of me, I selected a suit for the day, decided against the tie, and went to take the hottest shower of my life.

  It helped some, but I’d earned a few bruises from my close encounters with the floor. I expected I’d have a lot more by the end of the day, but I refused to complain. If all went well, I’d have a real detail, as would Eva.

  A few bruises wouldn’t kill me.

  Dressed for the work I knew best, I emerged from the bathroom to discover Meredith, Eva, and Christian having a discussion. Where Christian went, my father wasn’t far behind, and I peeked through the open doors. “Where’s the cat?”

  “His Majesty is waiting in your temporary office, Your Highness,” Christian informed me. “You’re looking well.”

  “That’s only because the suit hides the evidence of my latest beating.”

  “Physical therapy doesn’t count as a beating,” he replied.

  “I may have tossed him around some to better motivate him. He wasn’t running like he meant it. I figured if I took him down like one of those damned wolves after a baby deer, he’d run faster. It worked. I got an extra whole mile out of him last night through carefully timed takedowns.”

  Christian laughed. “Whatever works. How’s the schedule looking?”

  “He might be on track by the end of the month if there aren’t any setbacks.” Eva looked me over and nodded her satisfaction. “He has a lot of work ahead of him, but he’s going to pick up a lot of it quickly. The offense will be a challenge, but I think I can I can bring him to tolerable levels on the defensive side of things. The morning paperwork will delay things.”

  “And you begin scenarios this afternoon?”

  “Yes, we do. We’re going to start him light with a few unconscious relocations. We’re going to go through the cues and do a staged scenario so he gets a feel for how they work before we start him on the unexpected scenarios. Tomorrow, anything goes. If his paperwork schedule allows, we’ll start him up on twenty-four-hour scheduling.”

  I wasn’t the only one to grimace at Eva’s enthusiasm, and I sighed. “I’d like to survive this.”

  Meredith offered one of her consoling smiles. “Agent Evangeline has a good eye for the training regime. It’s harsh, it’s more than a little brutal, but if we stick to her game plan, it’ll be an effective way to bring you up to speed. His Majesty asked me to go over the strategy. He’s concerned.”

  There were times I contemplated murdering my father, and I wondered if I’d get through the day without wanting to strangle him. “Why now?”

  “Ironically, he’s concerned you might be trying to hurry your recovery too much.”

  I blinked, furrowed my brows, and tried to think why my father would want my recovery slowed. “Say what?”

  “He’s concerned you’re going to push yourself too hard and suffer a relapse or get sick. Mostly, he’s concerned you’ll get sick.”

  “Dr. Hampford checked him over last night after he went to sleep,” Meredith announced. “He’s fine. He’ll be checked every night for any evidence of illness. Sore muscles and bruising is being ignored as long as they’re within her level of tolerance. So far, Dr. Hampford is pleased with his progress. Muscle development is her primary concern, and while Agent Evangeline wanted him to fit in a little more exercise after dinner, he surpassed her expectations for the afternoon.”

  I hunted for my shoes, shoved them on, and searched the room for my briefcase, which was nowhere to be seen. “My briefcase wandered off again. Why does that damned thing keep wandering off?”

  “It’s in your office, worrywart. Your bedroom is a no-work zone, so your briefcase will stay in your office,” Eva informed me. “Keys, wallet, and phone are in the nightstand drawer.”

  I retrieved them and put them in their proper pockets. “All right. I suppose Dad wants something more than have you poke your nose into my detail, Christian?”

  “You grunted at him last night, Your Highness. You were so tired you ate some of your least favorite foods without even noticing. His protective instincts are going haywire. Reassure him you’re fine, and he should go away.”

  “He better. I have a lot of briefings to read today, and if he doesn’t get out of my hair, nothing will get done.”

  “He has to go to Chicago with Her Majesty to finalize the new set of paperwork you brought from Montana. The Montana delegation is going with them to ensure there aren’t any mishaps.”

  That would keep them out of my hair for a while, much to my relief. “All right. I can take care of that.”

  “Good. If you need me to keep him busy because he’s bothering you, tell Meredith. I’ll take care of it.”

  Fighting against the urge to laugh, I arched a brow and glanced at Meredith. “Please contact Christian and tell him my father is bothering me.”

  “Christian, I’ve reason to believe His Royal Majesty is bothering His Highness, if you wouldn’t mind dealing with it,” she relayed.

  Eva snickered, shook her head, and lifted her hand to her ear. “His Royal Highness is headed to his office.”

  “That’s code for the interested agents to scatter so you don’t feel like the latest addition to the menagerie,” Meredith translated. “Everyone’s eager to start the afternoon session, so there’s been a lot of loitering. Most got a look at you yesterday, and after reviewing a truncated version of your medical file, they’re impressed you’re doing as well as you are. Everyone’s been briefed about your physical limits, and they’re getting a taste of dealing with an indisposed principal. I meant what I said before, Your Highness. The next three weeks will be an endurance test for you, and I fully expect you to try to run when you reach your snapping point. At no time are you to notify anyone you’re about snap, either. Let it happen. I’m trained in dealing with the fallout, and your new agents need to experience it for themselves.”

  The thought of being pushed to the limit, especially when Eva would be involved, worried me.

  My expression changed as Christian chuckled. “It’s normal, Your Highness. We did it to your father. We did it to your mother, too. We’ve done it to every Illinois monarch since the founding of the RPS. The RPS shouldn’t have delayed this stress test for this long, but without a stable team, it’s difficult. Starting with a stress test is unusual, though.”

  “He can handle it,” Eva promised.

  I worried I wouldn’t live up to her expectations. “All right. Show me to the office so I can handle the paperwork. It’ll take me months to catch up, but there’s no time better than the present.”

  It would take months to dig out of the paperwork hell waiting for me; an unfortunate amount of the documents dealt with my absence. As I’d requested, Grégoire left a note with the critical matters listed in order of priority. My father watched me read over the letter.

  “Hey, Dad?”

  “Yes?”

  “Make sure Grégoire doesn’t come back to Illinois for at least three months.”

  “Isn’t that a little excessive?”

  “No. He can keep Abby company.”

  My father scowled. “What game are you playing, kiddo?”

  “I’m not playing a game. I’m merely giving him a chance to convince Abby she should keep him. In North Dakota. Out of my hair for at least three months.”

  “Are you angry with him?”

  I looked up from the note and snorted. “No. I’m thanking him for putting up with this shit on my behalf.”


  “I’ll make sure he’s aware his eviction from the kingdom is a gesture of good will.”

  “Tell Abby I’ll call her after things settle down to plan a visit. Grégoire can handle all the kissy-kissy crap she likes so much.”

  “Kissing your cheek is hardly kissy-kissy crap, kiddo.”

  “It is when she does it to annoy me. The last time I let her, she licked me.”

  My father snickered, coughed to cover it, and then shrugged. “She has a sense of humor.”

  “She knows I head right for the bathroom to try to scrub the skin off my face, too.”

  “There is that. I’ll pass along the word. Your mother and I are going to be in Chicago for the next few days. Will you be all right on your own?”

  “I’ll be fine. Please give my regards to King William and Queen Mackenzie.”

  “I will. If you need anything, give me a call.”

  “Dad, I’m at the RPS training compound surrounded by RPS agents. I think I’ll be fine. If there’s anything the matter, I’m pretty sure one of the fifty-some agents loitering around here will notify you.”

  “Kelvin.”

  “Should I for some unfathomable reason require your assistance, I will call you.”

  “I raised a mouthy boy,” my father muttered, heading for the door. “Call me.”

  I waited until he was out of earshot before I turned to Meredith and said, “The only way I’m calling him is if I’m somehow relocated, abandoned in the middle of the forest with my phone, and have absolutely no other choice. I really hope the RPS has similar feelings on this matter.”

  She chuckled. “I’ll make certain that His Royal Majesty is only contacted should there be an actual emergency.”

  “Appreciated.”

  Lunch signaled an end of my return to familiar ground, and as soon as I’d eaten enough for Eva’s satisfaction, she herded me to the compound’s gymnasium where two younger men waited.