“Except for the traitor who’s being treated like a prince.”
“They hardly caughtGrant. Lexington pardoned him.”
“By claiming my uncle framed him.” The Prince pursed his lips. “I know.”
Zane scuffed his boot in a drift of mud. Kalie had vehemently denied it as they’d watched Iliana’s press conference, but he remembered the old guard’s words in the lounge, and they made his gut churn:“The people loved him. More than Roth, even. They called him ‘the Count of the Commons’.”
Landon Grant’s rise in power was definitely motive for a power-hungry suit like Roth to frame him.
“Do you think it’s true?”
The Prince arched a dark eyebrow. “What exactly do you want?”
Point taken. The question of Landon Grant’s innocence didn’t matter. His traitorous son had nearly killed Kalie, and between the Dalian terrorists who’d broken out last week and the legionnaires Iliana had summoned to Dali to stop them—so she claimed—he had bigger things to worry about.
“Your sister mentioned you fence.” Zane breathed in the sea’s sulfuric air. “I wanted to talk to you about training for Fal?—”
“I’m not dueling to the death for her. Even if I wanted to, I’m not a Dalian citizen.”
“Not you.” Zane wrung his hands, trying to vent the nervous energy thrumming under his skin. “Me.”
“You heard my father. He said no.”
Zane grimaced. He didn’t know what he’d expected. Laughter? Agreement? Argument? He hadn’t expected nothing at all.
“I know, but?—”
“You thought I’d see it differently? The answer is no, Wells. Kalista is not going to invoke Fallé di Azura. My father will come up with something.”
Zane shoved his freezing hands into his pockets. “What if he doesn’t? What if the Feds find us?”
As the Prince pulled out his beeping comm and unlocked it, Zane tensed. He almost couldn’t bear to look. Another bombing? More deaths? People Kalie knew? A fleet? In her guise as a guard, Mira had grown close to Iliana, and she’d heard whispers of Carik’s increasing desperation to kill Kalie. Thatwas why he had to train, so she wasn’t in danger. Surely, the Prince saw that.
“They won’t.” The Prince rose to his feet and pocketed the comm, apparently unconcerned. “If that’s all, you can see yourself back. My wife needs me.”
A smile curved at the Prince’s lips, and Zane did a double take. They’d yet to announce the name of the new Hannover princess. Even Kalie didn’t know, and he’d assumed that meant her brother was disappointed his wife hadn’t given him an heir. But the mention of his wife was the first time he’d seen the Prince smile. His family clearly mattered to him.
“I hear congratulations are in order. For your daughter.”
The Prince’s smile disappeared, and his jaw tightened. He folded his arms, and his expression turned guarded
“She could be a Dalian Duchissa someday.” Zane edged closer. “Obviously, Iliana will never do it, but if Kalie only has sons…”
The words turned to ash in his mouth. Now that he’d said it, he couldn’t help but see it: Kalie marrying someone else, having kids with someone else. It bothered him, and the fact that it bothered him bothered him.
“How long have you known Kalista?”
Zane tried to tally the weeks in his head, but it was too cold for calculations. “Four weeks? Five?”
“And you’re willing to give up everything for her. That doesn’t sound irrational to you?” The Prince dusted dirt off his pants. “Kalista is not some wanton woman?—”
“Of course she’s not,” Zane huffed. A gust of wind tore through his clothes, and the fire altars crackled behind him. “I’m only her guard. I know that.”
“Do you? I think,Guardsman,that your feelings for my sister go beyond guarding.”
Zane clenched his jaw. The Prince’s icy eyes made shivers creep up his spine. If he got the wrong idea, it would be all too easy for Kalie’s brother to make him disappear.
So he rolled his eyes. “Your family cost me my father and my barony. Your sister got me charged with treason. You think, after all that—” Zane snorted, shaking his head— “you think I’d have any shred of interest in her?”
