Page 14 of Cross Me

His eyebrows lifted. “That would be an ill-advised stance to take. Particularly if you want to touch her again. I assume you didn’t insinuate that this evening.”

We both knew that I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Norris was the best at pretending not to notice rumpled clothes and mismatched buttons and freshly yanked hair, but he wasn’t stupid. He also knew me well enough to know why I’d spent the afternoon in bed with my wife. It was something we’d never had to discuss. He just seemed to understand.

My anger ebbed into a dull frustration. He had a point, and we both knew it. It wasn’t Brexton’s fault. It wasn’t Norris’s. Or Clara’s. “It’s my fault.”

“There was no way to know what would happen. You can’t spend your life expecting the worst,” he said. “And neither of you can spend your marriage making power plays.”

He misunderstood me. I wasn’t to blame for not being there or for fighting with her over her security. I was to blame for not overruling her when I knew what was best for her safety. “But I have to plan for it. She’s not going to like it, Norris. But we have to increase security or...”

“You can’t lock her away,” he said, guessing what I was thinking. “Perhaps a dedicated team chosen by yourself and your wife would help to ease her into an increased security presence.”

“I need you overseeing the entire family’s security,” I mulled aloud. “I’ll want you to attend any events she has scheduled, but day to day, I need you.”

“Even I can’t be in two places at once,” he said dryly.

“Georgia got her out of there. Perhaps—”

“She’s not going to like that.” There was warning in his voice.

I was well past caring. I would do anything to keep her safe. “I’d hire the devil himself to keep her safe. She’ll get used to it.”

He didn’t argue with me. He would later. Clara would, too. We had all known this was coming. We’d never defeated the darkness that plagued this family. It had only retreated for a moment. Now it was sweeping towards us—all of us.

“And the rest of the family?” he asked.

“Edward is coming home. I’ll brief him, but there’s no need to wait. I want dedicated security on each of them. All hours. People we trust explicitly.”

Norris’s jaw clenched as if it was hard to hold back his opinion. “The usual family then?”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head, choosing my words with a meaning only he could understand. “All of my family—seen and unseen.”

CHAPTER SIX

CLARA

Alexander had become even more unbearably paranoid, a feat I wouldn’t have thought were possible if I wasn’t experiencing it firsthand. For the last week even my movements inside the palace had been tracked. There were more security guards than ever before. At one point, I thought I saw one of the cooks wearing a gun holster. I wouldn’t put it past my husband to arm everyone down to the gardeners. Despite my unofficial house arrest, there was one bright spot: Edward had returned to London.

Part of me felt horrible that his honeymoon had been cut short. The other part of me—the selfish part—was glad to have the company. Not that I had seen much of him yet. He’d been laying low with David as he prepared to move into the new house Alexander had gifted him. If I felt like I was under scrutiny at the castle, it was nothing compared to what Edward was facing on the streets of London. Paparazzi were following him and David’s every movement. It was one of the perks of being the most recent Royal to wed. They were also pestering him for details about last week’s attack.

Not that Edward had any answers. None of us did. That was probably what was driving my husband so crazy. But regardless of what we did and didn’t know, he couldn’t keep me here forever. The first few days I’d been more than happy to stay home and process what I’d experienced. Now things were getting out of hand. If I didn’t put a stop to it, there was no telling how far X would take this.

Alexander was leaving our bed earlier and earlier each morning and taking meetings and calls later and later each night. I’d had enough. As I stepped out of our private quarters on my way to tell him that, Norris met me in the hall.

“Your Highness,” he began, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“If you’re going to tell me to go back to my rooms, I’m afraid you aren’t going to like my response.”

Norris had always been an ally, which was why I wasn’t telling him the response rattling around in my brain at the moment. It included a few choice American words coupled with a few choice British words. None of them were ladylike. None of them were suited to the vocabulary of a queen. I didn’t give a fuck.

He mustered a slight smile, shaking his head. He knew better than to try to convince me that Alexander was right. Probably because Norris often thought he was wrong, too. “I’m here to tell you Prince Edward is here to see you.”

“Finally! Where is he?” My eyes darted around Norris as though he might be hiding Edward behind his back.

“I’ll take you to him,” Norris offered.

My excitement grew as he led me through the castle’s long corridors. It wasn’t going to solve my problems. I still needed to talk to Alexander. But if I couldn’t go out into the world, at least the world was coming to me. It also meant there would be a friendly face around. Edward always sided with me over his brother. I could use the back-up.

He had been shown to one of the formal sitting rooms. One of the parlors we reserved for entertaining important dignitaries and diplomats. Occasionally, we used it for larger family gatherings. It seemed a bit grandiose for a meeting between best friends. Was X keeping everyone but top level security out of our private rooms now? We seriously needed to talk. Edward looked ridiculous sitting alone in the giant room, but the smile that lit up his face when I rushed into the room filled the whole space. We collided in a fit of giggles, hugging one another. I couldn’t tell if I was just really happy and therefore prone to laughing or if I was going quietly mad and likewise prone to laughing. I trusted him to tell me.