by Katee Robert
She’d earned it long before then.
She watched Ryu drop the Bookkeeper into the boat. “You’re going after her.”
“Yeah.” He hesitated. “She might tell me to fuck off. I’d deserve it if she did.”
“Maybe.” Amarante shrugged. “Or maybe you finally found something worth fighting for that isn’t tied to blood and death and our past. I won’t stand in your way, Luca. I can only keep us alive. The power to make us happy lies beyond my abilities. If you have a chance …” Now it was her turn to hesitate. “You should take it. Find your princess and make things right.”
He turned to face her fully. “If things go well … If she’s willing … I want to bring her back here, Te. No matter what Thalania thinks, my future isn’t there. It’s here. I think Cami’s could be, too.”
Amarante took him in with dark eyes. She reached out, almost hesitantly, and put her hand on his chest directly over his heart. “You don’t need my blessing. But you have it all the same.” She gave him a tiny push. “Go get her.”
He was already moving.
Luca left the island from time to time, but never for personal reasons. He had absolutely no reason to think that Cami would want to see him, but he had to try. He’d fucked up time and time again when it came to her, but he would start making up for that immediately. She wanted her freedom? Luca would help her find a way to realize that. She didn’t need Amarante’s favor to make it happen.
It was only when he climbed aboard the helicopter to take him to the mainland that he registered exactly where he was headed. Thalania. The land of his birth. The place he’d intentionally avoided since the abduction. Luca closed his eyes. It didn’t matter. If Cami would give him a chance, he’d fight the king himself for the right to be hers.
Cami’s oldest brother, the King of Thalania, met her at the airport. He wasn’t alone, of course. He’d never be truly alone for the rest of his life, and watching him walk toward her with a handful of suited servicemen flanking him made her stomach clench painfully.
I don’t want this life.
Theo took her hands and held them out, casting a critical eye over her. “You don’t look like you were maimed or unduly injured.”
“I’m fine.” Except for the broken heart beating weakly in her chest, and the walls closing in around her despite standing in the spacious private hanger. “I lost.”
Sympathy settled over his features. “I’m sorry.” Theo actually sounded like he meant it. “I know that was important to you.”
Cami wanted to snap back, to yell at him that this was exactly what he wanted—her crawling home with her tail between her legs—but she couldn’t dredge up the energy. None of this was Theo’s fault. Not really. He played the part laid out for him from birth, and he’d found a way to take his happiness in the mix as well. She shouldn’t begrudge him that, no matter how much being home felt like someone clipped her wings.
For that week on the Island of Ys, she’d felt … Alive. Free and powerful and so wonderfully alive. Things hadn’t worked out the way she planned, but she chose that.
Theo took her hand and placed it on her forearm, easily pivoting to fall into step next to her. “It should come as no surprise to you, but Lady Nibley decided to grace the palace with her presence earlier today. I’m assuming she’s there for you since she has been ignoring every invitation I’ve sent for years now.”
“It will be good to see Yael.” It would. Her brother might try to be supportive, but Yael was one of the few people she felt truly understood her. Being able to walk through the events on the island again might help. She hoped.
Or it could drive the knife deeper into her chest with every word.
They reached the town car and Theo opened the door for her. It wasn’t until they were enclosed in the backseat that he spoke again. “I really am sorry, Cami.”
“I know.”
He sighed and slouched back against the seat. “I know you’re looking for something, and we’ll figure it out. I want you happy. I have that. Even Edward has that. You deserve it, too.”
“You have a love match with two of the people you care most about in the world. You can’t pretend that the public would allow another Fitzcharles to make the same call.”
He clenched his jaw. “I stand by what I said, Cami. You can be pissed at me for breaking that mold if you need to, but I try really fucking hard not to be a hypocrite.”
She knew that. Of course she knew that. Theo wouldn’t try to stand in her way, no matter what she did. She couldn’t even pretend to paint him as the jerky overbearing brother. It wasn’t his fault that Cami felt crushed by the weight of expectation. Edward had married a noble and that union restored some of the goodwill that Theo’s marriage to Galen and Meg had tarnished. It stood to reason that her following in the same footsteps would stabilize things further. No matter that Theo said he would support her, she knew he hoped that she’d make the safe choice of falling in love with a suitable candidate.
The irony that Luca would have been a suitable candidate was not lost on her, though she had a feeling Theo wouldn’t appreciate it.
The drive to the palace passed mostly in silence. She could tell he wanted to say something to fix this, but for once her big brother had no idea how to mend the situation. Cami wasn’t much help. She didn’t know how to move forward, either. All she could think about was the island and what happened there. About how much it hurt to leave.
She made the right call. She had no illusions about that, especially after her conversation with Luca went so sideways. No matter how she felt about him, he was just like so many other people in her life—they wanted to put her in a safe little box and expected her to stay there and be content.
Cami didn’t want to be protected. She could protect herself.
She wanted someone who’d trust her to fight at their side as equals.
Being back in the palace felt like voluntarily entering a gilded cage. It was beautiful and perfect and practically glowed … and she hated it.
Theo walked her to her rooms and hesitated. “I’m here if you need me, Cami. I’m serious.”
“I know.” And she did. Theo would move heaven and earth for those he loved. As king, he actually had the power to make things most people considered impossible happen. Since Cami couldn’t quite put her finger on what she actually wanted, what course of action her path should take, she couldn’t ask Theo for help. Not yet. It would be like renting out a wrecking ball before you knew what you wanted to demolish.
“Meg and Galen would like to see you. How about dinner later?”
“She has plans.”
They both turned as Yael, Lady Nibley, walked up. She leaned more heavily on her cane than she had last time Cami saw her, but she was still moving of her own power. Cami didn’t miss the two attendants hovering just out of reach, though. No doubt one of them was a doctor who would administer help as needed. Yael was never without one anymore.
Cami moved to her and pressed two quick kisses to her wrinkled cheeks. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too. You, too.” She turned a hawkish look on Theo. “Is it customary for the king to keep the royal princess lingering in the hallways?”
Theo didn’t quite curse in exasperation, but he looked like he wanted to. “Of course not. Cami, I’m glad you’re home. We’ll set up something soon.” He turned and stalked away, his striding eating up the distance until he turned the corner and disappeared.
Cami turned back to Yael. “Would you like to come in?”
“No, girl, I want to stand out in the hallway and gossip where anyone can hear.”
Cami rolled her eyes. She should have known better than to ask a stupid question. She opened the door and let Yael precede her into the suite. It smelled just as fresh as when she’d left it, despite her avoiding the palace more and more over the years. They sank onto the couch in the sitting room and Yael took her hands. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
“Yael—”
/>
“If you’re in a cage, it’s of your own making. Do you think Theodore would hunt you to the ends of the earth if you told him you’d be happier somewhere else?”
Theo was more than capable of it, but she didn’t think for a second he’d do something that would actively harm her if she communicated her needs. That was the problem, though. Cami didn’t know what she needed. Something not here, something unattainable.
Something connected to the Island of Ys.
She looked at her hands clasped in her lap. “He won’t come back.”
Yael took the change of subject in stride. “I gathered that after the third delegation we sent returned without him. For better or worse, my grandson knows his own mind.” She chuckled. “It runs in the family.”
That it did. But Cami couldn’t leave things there. “The whole thing—the Wild Hunt, the guest list, everything—this year was a bait to draw in someone they’ve attempted to track down for a long time.”
“They’ll use him to find the others.”
“Yes.”
Yael studied the large ruby at the top of her cane. “Purpose. Exactly what you’ve been missing this entire time.”
That was exactly it. Purpose. The chance to contribute to the greater good in a truly meaningful way instead of posing for pictures and doing charity work that, while useful, was not Cami’s strength. It was all too passive, too constrained. What she’d had on the island, what they accomplished there … It was neither. “It doesn’t matter.”
“That’s a defeatist attitude. I taught you better.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just feeling morose and it’s making me dramatic.”
Yael tapped her cane a few times, and finally said. “More happened on that island than you’ve told me. Was it my boy?”
Cami pictured the expression on Luca’s face at being called “my boy” and smiled. “He’s something else.”
“Tell me everything.”
This time, she did.
19
Luca weighed several different plans of action during the flight to Thalania. They were all bad. It might have been different if Cami was in one of the country estates, but when he landed, Ryu confirmed that the king himself had transported her to the palace. Luca was good, but even he couldn’t sneak into the Thalanian palace without some serious preparation and time. He didn’t have the luxury of either.
He couldn’t shake the belief that if he didn’t make things right now, he’d never get another chance. Cami was somewhere within those walls, and he’d move heaven and earth to get to her. If she turned him away …
Well, he’d deal with that when he got there.
After about thirty seconds of consideration, he said to hell with it and walked up to the guard station at the gate. The white man was in his thirties and fit, and he gave Luca a suspicious once-over. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Princess Camilla.”
“You and every other jerk-off around here.” The guy shook his head. “Yeah, mate, that’s not going to happen.”
Damn it, he didn’t want to do this. Words had meaning, no matter what the intent was behind them. If he claimed his heritage now, he couldn’t go back. Luca glanced at the palace. It was so fucking close. He swallowed against his suddenly dry throat. “I’m Lady Nibley’s grandson.”
The man looked at him, and then looked at him again. He pointed to a spot a few feet away. “Wait there.”
Luca obediently walked to the indicated spot, even though all he wanted to do was rush the gates. So close …
He wouldn’t get a chance to talk to Cami if he was in the dungeon or whatever the hell they had in this place for prisoners. Luca knew security—he’d handled it enough on the island—and the palace’s seemed to be above reproach. There were cameras all over the place, and in the fifteen minutes he stood there, guards passed by in pairs several times. Lot of security.
But then, he’d heard that the lady Consort had just recently had another baby. After the trouble they had when the king took the throne—retook the throne—it stood to reason that he and the male Consort would be overprotective. They had … He couldn’t remember. A couple kids now.
Plenty of people between Cami and the throne.
A pair of men walked through the gate. One of was a giant fucker who had to be nearly seven feet tall and had a nasty scar around his throat where someone apparently tried to cut his head off. The other was closer to Luca’s height, though his expression said he was the dangerous one.
He was the one who looked Luca over. “Isaac, search him.”
Luca held still as the giant patted him down none too gently. Only when the guy backed up did the first one nod. “Let’s go.”
He opened his mouth to ask questions, but ultimately decided against it. They were taking him through the gates and into the palace. That was what he wanted … Even if Luca didn’t like the way either of them looked at him. He thought he could take one of them in a fight. Both? He was good, but he wasn’t convinced he was that good. Especially with his injured shoulder. This is what I get for rushing in here without a goddamn plan.
They led him in through a side door and down several hallways to a room that gave all appearances of being a sitting room. The furniture was all dainty and feminine, and Luca moved deeper into the room. No telling if the palace had passageways the same way the casinos on the island did, but he couldn’t afford to assume it didn’t. Finally, he took up a spot near a pretty chair he could break with one hit and use as a weapon.
The mountain of a man stood next to the door and crossed his arms over his massive chest. The other paced slowly back and forth, never taking his attention from Luca.
After two minutes of that bullshit, Luca finally said, “As fun as this has been, I was telling the truth about who I am.”
“I know,” the pacing man said. “You think we sent three fucking delegations to that island of yours without knowing who you are and what you look like? Give us a little fucking credit, Luca.” He practically snarled the last word. “Or is it Famine?”
“Luca is fine,” he said, trying to hold onto his temper. This man might grate him in way that made him want to beat the fucker’s face in, but he couldn’t afford to lose his temper.
The man stopped short. “You said you were here for Cami. What the fuck do you want with her?”
“That’s between me and the princess.” Who was this guy to her? Not her brother, the king. Luca hadn’t met with the delegations, had purposefully been in a different part of the island each time someone from Thalania was sent to convince him to come back, but he knew what Theodore looked like. This wasn’t him.
“Wrong. That’s between you and three other people before you ever get to her.”
He was so over this shit. Luca stared the guy down. “Unless you’re planning on tossing me in some dungeon, get the fuck out of my way.”
“We don’t have a dungeon,” the giant said. “Haven’t for ages.”
Luca ignored the man and focused on the other one. “I’m waiting.”
The door opened and a third man stepped in. One look at him confirmed that this was, in fact, King Theodore Fitzcharles III. He had the same coloring as Cami, though his eyes were dark where hers were blue, and he carried himself as if the entire world held its breath at his whim. Power. A whole shit ton of power, and comfortable with it, too. He gave the angry one a mild look. “Are you threatening one of the peers of the realm, Galen?”
Galen. As in Consort Galen, one third of the Royal Triad. Head of security and husband to the king.
Luca studied him with new interest. This was Cami’s brother-in-law, which meant he was family. Fuck me.
Galen snorted. “He’s here for Cami.”
Theo turned back to Luca. “My little sister came home hurting, and it’s not solely because she lost the Wild Hunt. Are you to blame?”
He could deny it until he was blue in the face, but Luca would rather fight it out in an hone
st battle than try to lie. “We had a misunderstanding, and she left before I could make it right. I’m here to do that now.”
“I see.” Which could mean anything or nothing.
“You can’t honestly plan to let him talk to her,” Galen growled. “Look at this asshole. If he hurt Cami, then I don’t give a fuck what Lady Nibley will say, he needs to be sent back to that little shithole of an island he loves so much.”
“Galen.” Just the man’s name in that same mild tone, nothing more. Theo sank into the chair across from Luca with a careless grace. “Let’s put it all out on the table, shall we?”
Luca reluctantly sank into the tiny chair he’d previously considered using for a weapon. That path was lost to him now. Even if he could fight his way free, touching the monarch of a country would paint the kind of target on his forehead that no one wanted to deal with. If the glowering Galen didn’t kill him, Amarante sure as fuck would for being such an idiot.
Theo didn’t appear to need an answer. “You and your people have turned us away every time we’ve sought reconciliation in the last few years. You’ve shown no interest in claiming your heritage, despite some rather aggressive tactics on your grandmother’s part. Until now.”
“Until now,” Luca echoed. There wasn’t a question in there, and he refused to offer information unnecessarily. He was here for Cami, not to draw Thalania into the Horsemen’s plans.
Theo looked at him for what felt like a small eternity, though it was likely only a few seconds. “Is this some deeper game or are your intentions pure?”
“I’m here for Cami,” Luca repeated for the millionth fucking time. “Nothing and no one else.”
“We’ll see.” Theo motioned to the giant. “Isaac will take you to an appropriate room. If my sister wants to see you, then she’ll see you.”
“And if she doesn’t.”
Theo raised a brow. The expression was identical to the one Cami wore when she thought he’d asked a stupid question. “Then we’ll see,” Theo repeated.
That answered that. If Cami didn’t want to see him, they’d kick his ass to the curb. Luca wanted to argue further, but in the end his best bet lay with following orders and hoping Cami was willing to see him.