Page 38 of Retrograde

Me as well.

The list never fucking ended, okay?

“No, and it’s bad,” I warned him. “I’ll show you, but I’m not ready to report it.”

Darkness filled his eyes. “That little fucking maggot threatened you after he was served the lawsuit, didn’t he?”

“Well done, because I hadn’t thought he’d be this stupid,” I grumbled and handed over my unlocked phone with the messages pulled up. “I didn’t read them all. I couldn’t. I couldn’t…” I swallowed loudly. “I read enough. I called his mother and it didn’t go well. She—fucking bitch hung up on me after saying not to be petty about texts.”

Fraser nodded as he scanned them and then shocked me when he pulled out his phone. “I need to fly. Now. Handle it however.”

“What is going on, Your Highness?” Benson worried from the other end of the line. “The queen just told me the same—”

“Get it done, Benson,” he cut in and hung up. He read on and then carefully set down my phone face down. “Promise me you won’t read the rest, okay?”

I swallowed loudly. “What could be worse than bribing prospects to rape me?”

Oh, something so bad that Fraser looked like he might shift right there. His dragon was moving behind his eyes and… It was bad.

“Let’s go fly and then figure this out.”

“I know how to handle this. It’s time to remind those fuckers that I have diplomatic immunity. I’ll fly out—one of the planes is fixed, right? Completely cleared?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure if the runway is done?” I hedged.

“All clear came back Saturday. Repaved or… Whatever the flight terms are. The hangars are being repaired and—it’s fine to take off and land. I just didn’t know if any planes were cleared.”

“Yes, but I don’t know if the fuel tanks—one was leaking.”

“There is not a hole of misery deep enough for those bastards,” he seethed.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

We flew hard and it was exactly what I needed. I saw how much better the Queen’s Guards handled everything and plotted it all out. They’d definitely been upping their training—Benson as well because he managed to stay with me for a bit.

But it was still fun to leave him in my dust.

Fraser was impressive. He was faster than I remembered and I couldn’t hide my surprise when we landed.

“You’re not the only one stepping up and getting ready for these never-ending threats, kid,” he teased under his breath. Once we were both covered, he leaned in and kissed my hair. “I’m going to send it all to my phone, and then please delete it off of yours, okay? Block him and delete it. I will handle this.”

“Thank you. Really.”

I let out a slow breath as I watched him walk away. He was the real threat needed for sure.

“I need to know, Your Majesty,” Benson said quietly. “Please stop leaving me out of things that I need to know to protect you.”

That was fair this time. I told him the same thing I did Fraser and let him see.

And he had about the same reaction, making sure that I didn’t read it all and the rest. It left me with one question.

“Seriously, what could be worse than what I already read?” I asked.

“I don’t know the scale of worse, but it’s more perverse and grotesque and you don’t even need the mental images of something so fucked up,” he answered in a whisper. “Just don’t, okay? Please?”

I agreed and he handled it with my phone, getting it all to Fraser and backing it up just to be safe. When he handed me back my phone, it was gone and Kole was blocked.

“I’m sorry you’re suffering through this,” Benson whispered, leaning in a little too close.