by Gemma Hart
Chapter Nineteen
Sofia
I sat on the edge of my bed, preparing myself.
Preparing myself for…what? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know where things would go from here on out. I was pretty sure I would be killed but from that moment to now, I didn’t know what else would happen.
But I tried to prepare myself nonetheless. If there was anyway I could manage to try and save the mess Loranza was in, I would. I would bargain with my own life if I had to, although I wasn’t sure how valuable it was now.
I tried pushing away all thoughts of Xander. Miles away and in a different country, he couldn’t help me now. I would only be putting him in danger if he were here. Although…it was impossible to extinguish that tiny flame of longing. It was impossible to stop myself from imagining myself safe in his arms once more, no matter how unrealistic that was.
I was in the middle of trying to figure out what I could do to demand a meeting with Pryto when the bedroom door suddenly opened.
I gasped instinctively and stood up.
The door slowly swung open and in the doorway stood the man who had haunted and defined my entire life.
Argus Pryto.
“It’s been a long time, Your Highness,” Pryto said, a slow smile wreathing his long face.
By now, I was positive he had been the one to incite the mob months ago when I had arrived in Loranza for a rededication event in the palace. He had lured me there with implications that the event would allow me to re-establish myself in Loranza. I had thought it would be my big chance to finally prove myself to Loranza.
But I had been wrong.
“I’m surprised you are addressing me so formally,” I said coldly. But despite my tone, my body began to shake. It was just an instinctual reaction. No matter how many years separated myself from the past, I couldn't forget that this was the man who had literally orchestrated years of torture for me. And the fact that we stood in the very room of my misery was not lost on me. Or him, I was sure.
“This is still your home,” Pryto said, stepping into the room and gesturing. “And, for now, you are still the princess of it.”
The ‘for now’ rang ominously through the room.
Pryto was not as tall as Uncle Gregory. In fact, he stood only a few inches above me. He was of average height and average build. Physically, there was nothing remarkable about him. Maybe that was why he was so engaging publically. He had to make up for his physical deficiencies.
“You are making a big mistake here,” I warned. “Everyone will know soon enough what you’ve done. Loranza will be outcast from any real political realm of power.”
Pryto scoffed. “Ha! Let’s see them try. They may look down on us at the moment but there’ll come a time when soon they’ll be begging for an alliance with us.” His eyes gleamed with power hungry greed. “And they’ll see who I will remember for being loyal and who was not.”
I stared at him. “What are you talking about? What does that even mean?” Loranzian economy was in the tank and now there was political coup. I couldn’t think of a worse off country that would ever be able to hold political sway.
Pryto eyed me speculatively. “You’ll find out soon enough. But right now, I need to prepare the final touches for my speech. I just wanted to stop by and make my greetings before I do.”
“Speech?” I echoed. Immediately I remembered Pryto’s speech before Uncle Gregory’s hanging.
Pryto smiled, reminding me vividly of a snake. “I have one due in a couple hours with some very special announcements planned,” he hinted at. His dark beady eyes narrowed as he gave me a meaningful smile. “Hopefully, they’ll be joyful announcements. It’ll all depend on you, Your Highness.”
I was so confused. “What are you talking about?” I demanded, completely lost.
Pryto gave a little chuckle, clearly relishing his authority over me. “I will explain. Soon.” He stepped towards me and I forced myself to stand my ground and not cower. But it was hard to stop the overwhelming shudder as the man who had made my entire life a living hell leaned in towards me.
He ran a hand down my arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps.
“I will leave you with one thought though,” he said, so close his breath brushed my cheek. “Caring for this country requires sacrifice. Meaningful sacrifice. Your uncle’s was foolish and it was a waste of his life.” Pryto smiled when he saw me jerk and shake in outrage at his words. “But you can make a better sacrifice. Something worthwhile that will benefit generations of Loranzians.”
He stepped away, heading towards the door. “Just something for you to think about before I return.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, I collapsed onto the floor. All the strength I had used to hold me upright seeped out of me. Pryto, Uncle Gregory, Loranza, everything that I hate, loved, drove me up the wall, was here in these four walls and it was overwhelming.
Sacrifice?
What did he mean by that?
Did he mean my death? My death would be a sacrifice for Loranza? I had expected that already. I had expected my execution.
But seeing Pryto, so close and in person after weeks and weeks of seeing him only through the news, brought home just how imminent my death was. He had killed Uncle Gregory so easily. I had no doubts he could do the same for me.
Without even feeling them, tears rolled down my cheeks. I had tried so hard to fight against Pryto. From the minute he had control over me, it was clear he wanted to kill me. Either through starvation, beatings, or an abusive governess, he wanted me gone. And I fought with every fiber of my being to be brave and to stand my ground and to survive.
But now, trapped in my old haunted bedroom with no possible means of escape, I realized it had all been futile. My life had always been rolling towards this inevitable moment of death and nothing I had done could’ve changed that.
Tears seared down my cheeks as ground rush overwhelmed me. I felt like I had jumped off a plane without a parachute and I could see the ground coming towards me at a hurtling pace.
If only there was something that I could’ve—
“Sofia!”
I whirled around, my heart nearly in my throat as I heard an impossible voice.
Impossible.
Impossible because there was no way in the world he could possibly here.
But there, crouched in my window, was Xander.
He quickly scanned the room before jumping into the room. Without hesitation, he strode towards me in three long steps before kneeling down and gathering me up in his powerful arms.
Never in my entire life had I ever felt something so good.
I gasped as I felt my body enveloped in his powerful embrace. I breathed in deeply, inhaling his scent and realizing this wasn’t a hallucination. Somehow, against all odds, my soldier had found me.
“Don’t worry, Sofia,” he said, his voice solid and reassuring, just like his arms. “I’ve got you.”
Hot tears rolled down my cheeks but this time in utter happiness and relief.
“I got you.”
Chapter Twenty
Xander
I could feel the small tremors that shook her body and it only made me hold her tighter. The urge to pick her up and carry her far away from this place was overwhelming. It had taken everything in me not to smash the window and fucking strangle Pryto when I had glanced into the room and seen him standing in front of Sofia.
“You’re here. You’re here,” Sofia kept murmuring in disbelief as I helped her stand up.
“Of course I am,” I said. I pulled back a little to inspect her. She had been drugged and carried a good distance away by people who wanted to harm her. But she seemed whole and physically unharmed. “Where else would I be, sweetheart?”
“How did you know?” she asked, her lashes still wet with tears. I brushed a thumb under her eyes. “How could you possibly know where to find me?”
I gave her a mirthless smile. “Let’s just say there’s an aide at the French emba
ssy who’s going to have a hard time breathing through his nose for awhile.”
Sofia gave a surprised watery giggle as she wiped her tears away. Shaking her head, she whispered, “I can’t believe it. I had secretly hoped….It was selfish of me, I know. But I had hoped…that if the impossible could happen—”
“It’s not selfish of you,” I said, grabbing her hands. “Just like it’s not selfish of me for wanting you. And I promise you, for as long as I breathe, I’ll use everything I have to keep you safe.”
She looked up at me, her smile shaky but brave.
“And I promise to get you out of here,” I said.
She nodded, completely putting her trust and heart in my hands.
“But just not yet,” I finished.
She paused, her brows raised in surprise.
“What?”
“I need you to be brave for just a little bit longer,” I said, pulling her towards the bed. “You can do that for me, right?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my plan.
“We’re not leaving?” she asked, still looking shocked. There was a pleading note in her voice and it nearly broke my heart.
“Not just yet,” I said. From my pocket, I pulled out two small black round disks. I grabbed one and pressed it discreetly onto the side of one of the posts of the bed.
Then I took the second black disk that was a little thinner and began untying Sofia’s robe.
“Why aren’t we leaving?” she asked. I could tell she was trying her best to keep the panic from her voice.
“We need to make sure that once we leave here, you don’t ever have to worry again about Pryto. We need to make sure that this is the end of it all,” I said, running my hands along the length of the robe’s collar till I could find a good edge to hold onto. With as much delicacy as my pressed time allowed me, I carefully ripped the seam and slipped the black disk into the collar of the robe. I pressed from the outside of the fabric to make sure it was in place. Then I carefully retied her robe.
Preparations done, I pressed the comm in my ear. “Bugs in place,” I said. “Testing now.”
I turned to Sofia. “Say something. Anything,” I said.
Still confused but willing to trust me, she said, “Hello, hello?”
“Read her loud and clear,” Ajax reported. “Both bug signals strong and steady. Recording on your command.”
“Roger.” I turned towards Sofia, her eyes wide and confused. I grabbed her arms and pulled her close to me.
“Alright, sweetheart,” I said, explaining quickly. “This is what I need you to do. Pryto is going to come back.” I felt her body jerk in fear but I held her steady and squeezed her arms reassuringly. “We’ve got eyes on him and he looks like he’s just finishing up preparations for some kind of speech. When he comes back, he’s going to talk. And I need you to get him to talk as much as possible. Do you understand?”
I tapped her robe collar. Her eyes darted confusedly about before I saw the wheels click into place.
“You’re recording him,” she said.
I smiled at her, proud of her. “Exactly,” I said. “And you need to lead him on, making sure you get as much as you can. Let’s let the man incriminate himself. Clearly, he’s not shy when it comes to talking about himself. Let him do it. This bug in your robe should get everything but I have another one on your bed for insurance. Can you do that?”
Sofia took in a shaky breath. “Yes, I think so,” she replied. “But I don’t understand. Even if you get him on tape, how will anyone listen—”
“Just focus on getting him to talk,” I said, cutting her off. Time was of the essence at the moment and I needed to make sure she knew what she had to do. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her fiercely. The fright of having her separated from me had made my body as sensitive and charged as a live wire. I needed her badly but for now, I satisfied myself with a kiss.
Pulling away, I kissed her forehead in encouragement.
“I’ll be right outside, baby,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She watched me take a comfortable spot on the rock waterfall below her window. I wanted her to see that I really would be nearby.
She gave me a lingering look before whispering, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, my gaze dark and fierce. “And I’ll show you just how much after all this over.”
I saw Sofia’s frightened eyes glow with the warmth of security for a quick moment before she turned around to face her enemy.
I watched her leave, her long copper blonde waves whirling after her.
Brave and beautiful hardly did the woman justice.
Chapter Twenty One
Sofia
My lips still tingled from his kiss.
And my heart was still racing from seeing him.
He was here! He was really here!
He had actually found me. He had done what I had assumed to be the complete impossible and had raced across the continent to reach me.
And it blew me away.
When he had appeared in the window, it was as if every childhood fantasy of a knight in shining armor had manifested itself all at once in Xander. It felt impossible, fantastical, and utterly beautiful to see him there.
And when he wrapped his arms around me, it was impossible to hold back the tears of relief as I melted against him.
Knowing he was here, knowing he had come for me, gave me a second wind that filled me with strength and confidence. I knew there was still a rising mob outside shouting for my head and Pryto was somewhere in the palace plotting my execution but I wasn’t as scared now.
I had Xander.
I took in a deep breath and carefully felt for the black disk he had slipped into my robe. I wasn’t exactly sure what I could get Pryto to say that would be meaningful enough to record.
Plus, I wasn’t sure who would listen to this recording. Just because we got him to say a few revealing things doesn’t mean it would cause his army to suddenly disband. After all, a group that could execute their prince was a group serious about their movement.
But I would do whatever it took to get me out of here and if Xander said that meant recording Pryto, that was exactly what I would do.
My heart was still racing and my adrenaline pumping. I wanted Pryto to come right now while I still was on my high. I felt like if the moment was going to happen, I wanted it to happen right now when I couldn’t feel my nerves yet and I was still feeling the strength of Xander’s touch on my skin.
But of course, the universe would never want to take it that easy on me. I paced the room back and forth, trying to keep my adrenaline up and my mind focused. But no one came. And I didn’t dare look out the window in case Pryto came in at that moment and caught me looking at Xander.
After nearly wearing a hole in the rug, I slumped into a chair. All my emotions came crashing down on me at once. I was exhausted from the tension and fear and adrenaline. My shoulders were so knotted and tight, it felt painful just to turn my neck.
I leaned back against the chair, trying to force my shoulders to loosen up. My chair faced the window and I imagined Xander out there, waiting, watching, guarding.
Imagining him there soothed my shoulders a bit and I was able to loosen up just enough to ease back into the chair. I let my mind and body focus on the feel of Xander’s touch, the roughness of his stubble, the steeliness of his muscles, and that determined glint in his caramel eyes that made me think he could make anything possible.
I don’t know when I fell asleep but I suddenly felt a hand stroking my cheek. My eyes closed, I made a small murmur as my thoughts drifted towards Xander. I imagined him smiling at me when I realized the hand that touched me was quite soft. Nothing on Xander was soft, especially his hands. The man owned a ranch, for heaven’s sake. He had constant callouses.
My eyes fluttered opened and I saw Pryto standing in front of me, his hand touching my cheek.
Immediately, I stumbled to my feet, jerking away from him. I near
ly tripped over the chair in the process.
“What do you think you are doing?” I demanded, wanting to scrub my cheek free of his touch. I was both disgusted and horrified.
Pryto raised a sleek brow at me as if unperturbed by my reaction. “It has been a long while since I have seen you, Your Highness. And in your sleep you remind me very much of when you were a child.”
He spoke as if recalling fond memories, which my childhood severely lacked.
“What did it remind you of?” I asked coldly. “The years when I was black and blue from beatings or thin and sickly from being starved?”
Pryto tutted at me as if I was being melodramatic. “Now, now,” he said. “Everything was done with your best interests in mind, Your—”
“You’ve driven me out of my country, arranged a coup for my crown, and have murdered my uncle,” I said, my voice frigid and icy. “Could we now finally drop any pretenses we might’ve had? You never had any interest in my welfare when I was growing up. In fact, the only interest you probably had was in destroying it.”
Pryto still stood in front of the seat I had just left. He was about a foot and a half from the edge of the bed. Still a safe distance away from the recording bug.
He stared at me with a look of amusement and calculation. I watched as his gaze studied me from head to toe and I suddenly felt very naked. I glared at him.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Pryto said suddenly. He gave me a look of reluctant appreciation. “Perhaps my motivations back then had been to destroy you and your welfare but, clearly, I hadn’t.” He gave me another appraisal. “You didn’t die. You thrived.”
“Once I was away from you,” I quickly corrected.
Pryto gave a small chuckle as he rubbed his chin. “So perhaps you can be grateful about that. That school Switzerland was obviously a good one.”
“Not that I had any choice,” I added again. “You made sure you threw me as far as possible from Loranza. I was already on a plane before I knew what was happening.”
Pryto dismissed my accusations with the shrug. “Not much worse than what most royal children receive,” he said. “Besides, clearly you took advantage of the education. I have to admit, I had started believing those tabloid stories about you and your dabblings with Hollywood actors. Who knew a girl like you went to Harvard?”