by W. J. May
“Don't you ignore me-”
The guard by the flat entrance opened the door. “We never do, mum.”
“I am under direct orders from the queen-”
“For Pete's sake!” Sarah stomped her foot. “Devon works for the Privy Council! They outrank you two any day! I'm in more than safe hands here.”
Alfie refused to give up. “How can you be sure…?”
“I know Karen! And I know Devon!” Sarah lowered her voice. “Outside, please, Alfie.” The please did not sound like a request. Soon-to-be princess-power all the way.
“Yes, Mum.” He bowed and with an unreadable face, followed Lenny out the door.
Sarah sighed. “I apologize. They seem wound a bit too tight these days.”
“It's okay. They're just focussed on protecting the future queen.” Devon's face looked like he agreed with them completely. He walked over and held his hand out. “Not sure if I'm supposed to do this or if your men would frown upon it. But I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Devon. This is R-Karen.” He nodded toward Rae. “The rest of our team will be staying in Heath Hall also.”
“Sarah.” She shook his hand. “Just, Sarah. Unless we are in public, and it calls for something else, but I prefer Sarah.” She strode to the couch facing the window and sat down, perfectly poised; her legs crossed at the ankles, and her hands folded neatly on her lap.
No slouch in those shoulders. Rae wished she could remind herself to sit like that all the time. She realized she had been kicking her big toe against the floor and quickly stopped. Bad habits were impossible.
If Sarah felt uncomfortable or nervous, she didn't show it. At all. She glanced a moment at the door. “We have about two minutes before Alfie returns. He won't leave my side if Philip isn't with me.”
Devon came over to Rae and gently nudged her toward the couch. She blinked and quickly moved to sit across from the soon-to-be princess, realizing too late that she had used Devon's tatù to travel. Her hand went to her mouth as she felt her eyebrows rise.
Sarah smiled. “No sense in wasting time, right?” She tilted her head slightly. “So what type of tatù do you have? Speed? Is it an animal?” She sighed. “I hardly know anyone with a tatù. I wish we were not in such a rush right now.”
Devon stepped forward, pulling his sleeve up to show his tattoo. “Mine gives me speed, agility, strong hearing, better night vision, plus more. Karen's is sort of similar.” He shot Rae a look.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Yes, it is.” What was with her today? Smarten up, Rae! “What is your ability?” She knew better than to ask Sarah to show it to them. What proper soon-to-be princess would lift her shirt to commoners? Rae also didn't dare reach out to touch her either.
Quiet commotion outside that only Devon and Rae could hear, unless Sarah had a similar ability, sent them a warning that Sarah's bodyguards would be coming around the front of the house, ringing the front buzzer to be let in in seconds. Or they might just let themselves in without needing to press the outside button. She glanced quickly at Devon.
Sarah was oblivious to the sound or their silent communication. She giggled. “It's nothing fancy like yours. It gives me Omnilinguism.”
“Pardon?” At least I didn't say, What?
Sarah's voice dropped. “It's the ability to understand any form of language.”
“Spoken?” Devon moved toward the door.
She nodded. “And written.”
“Very handy.” He put his hand on the door knob.
“Especially for a soon-to-be princess. In a room full of foreign delegates.” Sarah smiled. “Philip thinks I'm brilliant. I hate keeping the truth from him.”
“Does it help protect him?” Rae asked. It wasn't hard to tell Sarah loved Philip. She smiled at his name and the sadness in her eyes as she spoke about hiding her tatù was obvious to Rae.
“It has, several times,” Sarah replied.
“Then you're doing the right thing,” Devon said. “It's not always the easiest choice, but in the end, it's the right thing to do.” He glanced at Rae.
He's warning me the guards are about to come back into the room. Rae turned back to Sarah. “I'm an old college friend of yours.”
“Yes. I've memorized the information that was sent to me. You and I both studied language and graduated together.” She frowned slightly. “Philip took classes with me, too. He's going to wonder why he never met you.”
Rae pressed her lips together and then snapped her fingers. Curtis' tatù! “It'll be sorted. Not to worry.” She smiled. “It must be nice to travel the world and never have to worry about the language barrier.”
“I love it. I…” Sarah stopped when Devon opened the door for Alfie and Lenny. She then continued as nothing surprising had happened. “Philip enjoys traveling as well. It is a shame we will not be leaving the country until after the Masquerade Ball, but until this,” she gestured with her hand, “mess is cleaned up, we must be on high alert.”
Lenny returned to his position by the door, and Alfie traveled around the room in a way that one barely noticed he was moving. Rae watched out of the corner of her eye. She wished she could learn to mimic that ability! “We—I agree. I can't believe someone would be after you!” Rae tried to play the part of a concerned friend.
“I'm so glad you came to visit.” Sarah leaned forward. “I wouldn't have asked you to come and help me organize the Royal Tea Masquerade if your boyfriend didn't work for the Privy Council. I hear they are one of the best black op divisions in England.”
Sarah was playing her part better than Rae. Alfie stopped scouting the room and turned his full attention to Devon. “You work for the Privy Council?” There was a teeny ounce of respect in his voice.
“I do.”
“You working now?”
Devon crossed his arms over his chest. “I'll do anything to protect Karen. She wants to help Sarah, then I'm part of the package.”
Alfie grunted. “Good.” He moved strategically by the window but stopped searching the room.
“See Alfie?” Sarah beamed at him. “I told you there was nothing to worry about!”
He made no comment back to the soon-to-be princess, instead trying to appear invisible, like part of the surroundings.
Devon moved not far from him, posing in a similar fashion.
Sarah clapped her hands. “We only have two weeks till the Masquerade! I have a massive list for the two of us to get through. Why don't you and Devon come by tomorrow? You can meet Philip. There's a small luncheon, come to it and then we can get to work for the afternoon. At the palace, we will have more time to catch up and go over everything.”
“We would love to.” Rae hoped their wardrobe would be in on time. She didn't plan on wearing the red gown or the tight black thing to a luncheon. Crap!
Sarah checked her watch and stood. “Wonderful. Why don't I have a driver come by and pick you two up around eleven?” Sarah checked her watch and stood. “I apologize for having to jet, but there are a group of children waiting to hear a story read by me. It's a mini tea party. I've been doing one a week for the past seven weeks, leading up to the Masquerade. Royal Tea with royalty.” She giggled. “Everyone gets to be a soon-to-be princess. Big and small kids.”
“It sounds like fun.”
“It is. I'm really enjoying it.” When Alfie cleared his throat, Sarah waved her hand. “I know, we are going.” She began walking to the door where Alfie stood holding it open, and Lenny had probably already left to have the car ready. Sarah spun around and hurried back to Rae. She hugged her tight. “Thanks for coming here. It means the world.” She straightened and smiled at Devon. “See you tomorrow, Devon.”
As Rae watched Sarah leave, a new tremor zinged up her spine and exploded inside her brain. When the door closed, and she and Devon were alone, she whispered, “That's unbelievable!” She couldn't wait to try it out. “Are there any foreign books on those shelves?”
Devon checked the door to make sure it was locked. “N
ew mission and instead of working on the case, you want to study a tatù?”
Rae's head shot up in surprise. She was tired. It had been a hell of a day yesterday, then off on a new mission today, a near-fatal car wreck, meeting the Prince of Wales' fiancé and now Devon had to make a snide remark? “You're a…a jerk!”
It was his turn to look surprised. “Excuse me? What did I do now?”
She huffed. “And a dummy! Why would you make a comment like that?”
“Like what?” He looked behind him to make sure she was talking to him. “I didn't say anything.”
“I heard you loud and clear, Devon Wardell.” Her hands curled into fists as she set them on her hips. This was not the place to shoot electricity or bolts of fire at Devon.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
She opened her mouth to bark back at him and hesitated a moment. Had she heard the words or just made them up? “You're just jealous!” There. Take that!
Devon scowled at her. “I don't know what your problem is, but I am NOT jealous of you!”
“I think you are. I think you wish you had my ability.” She couldn't believe she was saying the words to him and yet she couldn't stop herself. “You get annoyed with me all the time. Or you tell me to go faster or harder. You were always pushing me at Guilder.”
“That's because of your talent!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Women!” he muttered as he headed toward the kitchen.
“I heard that.”
He spun around. “You hear everything! But that doesn't make it right. You hear me pushing you and call it jealousy. Well, it's not. Just because you hear it, doesn't make it true.” He ran a hand through his dark, thick hair. “You've got a tatù I'm sure a lot of people are jealous about. I'm not one of them.” He stomped into the kitchen and came back out a moment later, his face red with anger. “You're still a child. You're trying to act like the big, all-knowing adult, but you don't know everything, Rae. You don't.”
“I have never said I did!” She knew she was screaming, but his I'm-older-than-you-with-more-life-experience-voice ticked her off. “You, just like everyone else, just have to judge me! I always have to defend myself! Defend being a girl. Defend being a Kerrigan. Defend being good at my job. Defend-”
“Then stop doing it.” A single eyebrow rose on Devon's face. “Why do you care what other people think? I don't mean your friends, but everyone else. Like the Privy Council. Do you think Jennifer gives a toss what anyone thinks about her?”
Rae shook her head, baffled why he sounded like he was now on her side.
“She doesn't. And everyone respects her.”
“Or is crap-scared of her.”
Devon's mouth twitched in one corner. “Crap-scared?”
She was still mad at him. He wouldn't be able to pull his sexy man-charm on her tonight. “Whatever. Don't make comments under your breath about me. So what if I get excited about a new tatù? I'm going to have to know how to use it tomorrow when we meet Philip.”
Devon ground his teeth together. “I never said anything!”
Maybe he had said it in his head, and she had somehow heard his thoughts. Either way, it was still wrong. “Fine! Be the technical, by the book, guy you always are.” She stepped toward him and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I'm the best person for this mission. That's why the Privy Council hired me. I'm not saying I'm better than you. I'm saying I can get the job done. You will never get the opportunity to work with someone like me again. Don't screw it up.” Like you did our relationship. Funny how words could be a double-edged sword sometimes. “We're partners here. If this is going to be even remotely believable you need to start respecting me or our fake relationship,” she used her fingers as quotation marks around the word fake, “isn't going to fool anyone.”
“I won't have a problem faking the relationship,” Devon shot back, his bright blue eyes moving back and forth as he looked into hers.
Did he mean something by that? “Good!” She didn't know what else to say. She moved around him into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She grabbed an apple from the fridge as well. As she slipped by him still standing in the same spot as before, she said, “I'm going to my room to study the file. I'll see you in the morning.” She hurried, using his tatù ability so he wouldn't have a chance to reply.
She heard him as he noisily banged pots and pans around in the kitchen and slammed cabinet doors. She tried to ignore it by switching her tatù to one without sensitive hearing. Going through the antique dresser, she found a drawer full of nightgowns. A lot of silk. And lace. Rae pulled one out and stared at her surprised reflection in the mirror. It was a negligee. Black silk with fancy black lace. What was the Privy Council thinking? A sound near the door made her jam the tiny thing into the back of the drawer and quickly shut it. She glanced at the door and realized the sound was coming from her backpack. The noise repeated again. Her phone.
She walked over to her bag and pulled out the iPhone. There were a few missed texts from Molly, and the last one was from Devon. From a minute ago.
She switched back to his tatù and listened to see if he was standing by her door. She could still hear him in the kitchen, just not slamming things down anymore or muttering to himself.
His text read: Wardrobe person coming at eight tomorrow. Meet upstairs at eight am.
She replied: Got it.
She set the phone down on the dresser and pulled open the drawer beside the sexy pj drawer. Empty. She tried the other one. Thankfully there was a pair of turquoise blue long silk pajama bottoms and a tank top style top. The material wasn't her style, but the design was.
She slipped into them and hung the striped dress back on its clothes hanger before retrieving her laptop from her backpack and her phone from the dresser. She settled on top of the comfy bed and nestled the pillows perfectly behind her.
The blue light on her phone flashed, indicating another message. She slid her thumb over the phone's face to turn it on. Devon had messaged again. “Truce?”
She typed back: Okay.
A moment later her phone vibrated again. I'm making an omelette. Do you want one?
No thanks.
It'd be like breakfast in bed.
She laughed. Maybe tomorrow.
I'm using all the eggs now. I'm starving. And bacon, I'm going to use all the bacon. I just found sausage too.
Explains the hungry, grouchy bear from before.
I thought you said truce?
Sorry. My bad. Rae laughed and tapped the keyboard again. We're in the same flat. Why are we texting?
Too far to walk?
If I speak in the room here, could you hear me?
Maybe. I heard you laugh a moment ago. What about you?
Not sure. Say something. Rae perked her ears and focussed on any sound.
“Why don't you ever see hippopotamus hiding in trees?”
Rae blinked. “What?”
A second later her phone buzzed. Because they're really good at it.
“You're sad!” she called out, laughing.
“Got you laughing.” Devon's voice sounded like he was smiling. “Sure you don't want an omelette?”
“Maybe a small one?” Her tummy rumbled in agreement.
“I'll bring it to you… If you want.”
“Sure.” She reached for her laptop and opened it up. She knew she should be reading the file but opened her browser to Google instead. She typed in: woman survives strange fire.
Several photos and articles showed up on her screen. As she scrolled through them, she mentally checked most of them off as useless. Devon knocked on her door five minutes later. “Come on in,” she called.
Devon came in carrying a tray with two plates on it. He hesitated as his eyes grazed over her. He set the tray down on the bed and hopped onto the vacant spot beside her and handed her a plate before reaching for his own.
She took a bite of the hot omelette. Sausage, onion, egg and cheese teased her
taste buds. She moaned. “This is really good.”
“Thanks.” He leaned over and glanced at her computer screen. “What are you looking at?”
She shrugged and took another amazing bite. “I just wanted to see if there might be something on my mom. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for.”
Devon sat quietly eating for a moment. “I wouldn't know where to start either. Where do you think she is? Do you have a theory about what happened after the fire?” He typed: PEOPLE WHO DON'T BURN.
Rae stared at the screen results. “Thanks,” she said. “For believing me.” She couldn't look him in the eye.
Devon elbowed her gently. “I hope you find her.”
“Me too.” She tried joking, “Just not on the cover of some tabloid magazine.” She closed the laptop and yawned. “And maybe when I'm more awake to focus.”
Warm fingers collected the empty plate in her hand. Devon shifted, and his weight disappeared off the bed. Rae leaned back against her pillow and let her eyes close for just a moment. Soft lips pressed against her forehead. “Night, Rae.”
When she opened her eyes, Devon had already disappeared out of the room and closed the door.
Chapter 9
Rae rolled over and tucked deeper into the soft covers. Her bed at the dorm didn't hold a candle to this luxurious piece of art. Even the pillows held dream-like feathery softness. She could lie in the bed forever.
Except for the irritating buzzing of her phone. Someone wanted to get a hold of her - persistently.
She reached for her phone sitting on the nightstand beside her and swiped it on, keeping one eye closed for better focus against the bright sun shining behind her. She should have closed the shutters to the large windows in her room before she fell asleep. Too late now.
Privy Council sent us a message to say the clothing-person is coming.
Rae, wake up! Did you get the message from the PCs? Jennifer just called me to say you aren't answering.
I'm giving you three minutes and then coming in.
Two minutes.
One Minute.
“I'm up!” Rae sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Give me a minute.” She made her way to the bathroom and skimmed over the messages from the Privy Council and Jennifer. She yawned and washed her face with cold water. The past few days had left her exhausted and she didn't have her healing tatù to fix her tired body. She sent Jennifer a text to see if there was any chance Charles could be up London way so she could get it back. His healing tatù only worked on himself, but if she mimicked it, she had the ability as well. She had lost it fighting Kraigan the other night. She didn't dare ask Carter. He might think she was weak. Then again, Jennifer might think that as well.