Cheeky King
Page 23
“Oh my God, give the man a cookie. He’s a genius. Of course I’m not a thief. Who would be a thief? Who would dare steal in front of the King and Queen? You know there’s a rumor that they have dungeons here, right?”
He shook his head. “They don’t have dungeons here.”
“Oh yeah? Then where do you think they’re keeping the traitor?” Everyone knew what had happened at the end of last year. One of the Royal Guard had launched a plot to kill King Cassius and Prince Sebastian. All because he thought he could somehow take the throne for himself. He’d been successful in killing King Cassius, but now the then prince, all thanks to Queen Penny, who’s been Prince Sebastian’s royal guard and saved his life.
The scuttlebutt was that Robert was one of the missing royal children. The Regent’s Council had passed a law to legitimize and half-royal children of any Monarchs. Rumors in the islands about who they might ran rampant. Everyone claimed to be royal now, but so far, the palace had not announced who they were. And no one had actually seen Robert after he was sentenced. Hence...the dungeon theory.
He scowled then. “What do you know about the traitor?”
“What? Nothing. I know nothing about the traitor, which is why I’m asking you. I assumed the traitor is in the dungeons, as would be any thief.”
He sighed. “Okay, you’re not a thief. But where are you going in such a hurry? And why aren’t you using the front door?”
“It’s a long stupid story, okay? My parents, they love all this royalty shit. I could care less. As a matter of fact, I want nothing to do with it. While I’m sure that King Sebastian is wise, and just, and all that jazz, I just think that he’s a product of a spoilt upbringing. Pampered and spoiled, probably rotten to the core. I don’t know they guy, but I can assume.”
His brows lifted. “Oh really? Do tell.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “Come on. Even you must have seen all the tabloids from before. He was running around acting like a doofus. Granted, when he met the queen, everything changed. And from what I’ve heard, she’s pretty bad ass. Actually, she’s one royal I don’t despise. She’s like a real person, you know?”
Okay, so I got a little excited when I talked about the Queen. She was like a hero of some sort. First of all, she didn’t need any guy to save her. She’d been the one to save him because she was a Royal Guard. Okay, well, had been a Royal Guard.
There was speculation about whether or not she would stay Royal Guard or not in some king of advisory capacity. As Queen now, she obviously had a whole other set of duties. But I kinda like the idea of her still being Royal Guard. A Queen with a job, a real job… in charge of protecting the islands. She was my kind of feminist hero. Anyway, after the King had met her, I guess that had been lights out for them, which even though I despise romances, it was kind of sweet. And then she’d saved his life and they’d uncovered this murder plot together. God, she was everything. He, the jury was still out on.
The guy in front of me laughed. “Wow, you are incredible.”
I scrunched my nose. “Why do you say that?”
“You should see the way your eyes light up when you talked about Penny. She’s like your shero or something.”
“You know, when you’re referring to her, you can just say hero. You don’t have to like feminize it up or something.”
“Easy does it. Where are you headed anyway?”
“I told you. I have things to do. Besides, I’m not sure about making friends with random strangers. My mother might have sent you.”
“I promise you, no one sent me.”
I turned on him then. “And exactly what were you doing out in the gardens during the ball yourself?”
“I was just trying to get some peace and quiet and think. It’s not really my crowd in there.”
I eyed him again. There was something familiar about him. I couldn’t place it though. Did he go to the University here? I have taken a couple of classes when I was still in high school. Is that where I recognized him from?
“I’m just not one for these kinds of parties. No one in there is real. You’re the first real person I’ve met all night.”
“How do you know I’m real?”
He laughed. The sound was low and rumbling and poured over me like sin and bad judgment mixed in with chocolate and topped with whipped cream. “Well, for starters, I caught you climbing out of the window. None of the debutants in there would dare mess up their makeup, or a nail, or risk their pretty, pretty dress. So, you’re at least a real person. Now, how about you tell me your name?”
I shook my head. “Not a chance. I know not to trust anyone. One word to you and you’ll be running in there to my mother and telling her I’m making my escape. And then she’ll get on the phone and get someone else to stop me. Nope. Sorry, see you around.”
I took a left, sure I was headed towards the parking lot, but I heard the chuckling behind me. I turned around and glared at him. “Just what are you laughing at?”
“Are you trying to get to the parking lot?”
“Yes, if you really must know.”
The laughter only deepened. “You realize you’re in the South tower, right? Parking is the other way.”
I blinked at him. “No. No, no, no. I left the ballroom, I made a left, made the other right, and then –“ Oh shit. I’ve been in a hurry. I hadn’t gotten my original bearings right. I was in the South garden, for the love of Christ. He was right. I yanked off my shoes again. I would go faster if I didn’t have to avoid the gravel in my heels. The only problem with that was that, I was barefoot, on gravel. Awesome.
“You don’t have to laugh, you know.”
His chuckle had turned to a full belly laugh as he clutched his hand around his middle and doubled over. “I’m sorry. It’s just your face, your expression.”
“Jackass.”
“Oh come on. Play nice. I can give you a short cut.”
“A short cut? Why would I trust you?”
He shrugged. “That’s the thing about trust and faith. It’s sort of a blind thing. You don’t know if you can. Do you want the short cut or not?”
I had no choice but to follow him. “Fine, but first, what’s your name? I’m going to text my friend. Just in case you turn out to be a kidnapping murderer, or something. At least my bestie is going to have your name.”
“Lucas. I’m Lucas Newsome.”
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Read Lucas and Bryna’s story in ROYAL BASTARD!!!
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Cheeky Prince
Cheeky Royal
Cheeky King
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ROYALS UNDONE * Coming soon
Prince of Thieves
Royal Bastard
Bastard Prince
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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Cheeky King
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COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Nana Malone
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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Photography: Wander Aguiar
Cover Art by: Amy Daws
Edited by: Angie Ramey, Sara Lunsford, Daisy Cakes Editing
Published in the United States of America
About Nana Malone
USA Today Bestselling Author, Nana Malone’s love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick butt heroines ever since.
Nana is the author of multiple series. And the books in her series have been on multiple Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists as well as the iTunes Breakout Books list and most notably the USA Today Bestseller list.
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