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Clenching my teeth, I hate seeing her afraid. “Wade Paxton would be a fool if he dared step foot in my country to hurt you. I hesitate to say it, but I think Logan might be as intent on breaking his neck as I am.”
“Logan?” Her pretty brow lines, and she looks over her shoulder. “Why—”
“Don’t look now, but I think you’ve charmed the pants off my best guard. He’s no use to me now. I’ll have to send him back to the regiment and find a replacement.”
“Oh, stop it!” She rolls her eyes and leans back in the chair, flipping the pages of that silly magazine. “You’re being ridiculous.”
I can’t resist teasing her. I exhale a long sigh. “When you go missing again, I won’t be searching uncharted islands.”
“I will not go missing again.” She cuts those eyes at me, and I do a little wink in response.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“You tricked me into saying that.”
I lean forward to kiss her firmly. It makes her melt against my chest, and I’m not lying when I say I want to carry her inside and help her out of the bikini she’s wearing.
“I’ll book the plane and tell Logan and Reggie we’re going back. Would you like to take your new friends?”
Her hand is on my chest, and she slides a finger around the button of my shirt. “I’ll talk to them. Staying here will be far less of a shock and there’s no reason for them to go with us.”
“Give them the run of the house. We can be ready to go this evening.”
“I’ll go inside and pack.”
* * *
Rowan stands at the head of the table in the war room, and Reggie, Logan, Freddie, and I are with him, looking at what we know and what we’re able to do.
“Hampton has pulled back entirely. You wouldn’t even know we were once allies.”
“You didn’t cave on any of their demands,” I say. “We got Zelda back, and you emerged from this ordeal stronger and more ready to lead than ever.”
“Your mother is drafting the succession referendum as we speak,” Reginald says. “She would like the coronation ceremony to occur around the same time as the wedding, if not before.”
I don’t say it out loud, but I’m pleased my mother has come around to accepting Ava as her future daughter-in-law. She was downright shitty before Zelda’s kidnapping and the assassination attempt on Rowan. Spending time with Ava started her evolution in thought, but once Ava exposed the rat at Occitan, our mother couldn’t deny her bravery any longer.
“She’s a lovely girl,” is how our mother references Rowan’s fiancée these days. I haven’t presented her with Zelda’s and my good news just yet. We’ll let her process one royal-commoner mix at a time.
“What is the timeline on the wedding?” Logan asks, holding a small agenda book and scrolling through his phone.
“It takes months if not a year to plan a royal wedding,” Rowan says. “Or so I’ve been told. Ava would like us to be married in the fall.”
We all look at him a bit surprised. “By fall, is she meaning September? October?”
“I think she’s hoping sooner rather than later,” he says, and he can’t hide the hint of a smile curling his lips.
“So you’re planning to do it in two months?” Reggie straightens in his chair. “It’s unorthodox and might shock the people.” A minor pause, and he quickly adds, “Or you might catch them at the height of optimism and joy over a new king, a victory over Totrington, and a beautiful new queen consort. It could be exactly right.”
“I’m going with exactly right,” my older brother says in his usual confident tone. Oh yeah, he’s grinning. Then he abruptly turns to me. “And how is my new little niece faring? Have you decided when to broach this joyous news?”
“I confess, it is nice to have control of the flow of information again, isn’t it?” I glance up at him, remembering well how trying the last several months have been.
“I’m trying to decide the best punishment for the girl. Apparently she was hired by Lara to keep tabs on my dating habits.”
“And she fell for that Hines fellow,” Freddie says. “Seems punishment enough.”
“Facing the wrath of Nesbit is more like punishment enough,” Logan says with a laugh. “She won’t sit easy for the next month, from what I understand.”
