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Jamie sat back in his chair, relief in the relaxed lines of his body. “I need you to protect Jules.”
Rowan’s eyes narrowed. “Juliana doesn’t need anyone’s protection.”
Jamie smiled, and Rowan felt his approval from across the room. It made him squirm in his seat. He’d apparently passed some test he hadn’t realized he was taking.
The grin slid from Jamie’s mouth. “I shared some information with Juliana today that changes everything for her.”
Rowan sat straighter in his chair. “The runner,” he murmured.
“The runner,” Jamie concurred. “You have to understand, Jules isn’t like most people. It’s funny. She favors Robert the most in that they are their own counsel. Ele and I, we don’t make many independent decisions. I suppose as much as anything, it’s so extraordinary Ele ended up with Tristan. She and I, we need our people around us, to mete out our confidences and weigh our options. But Jules, she’s always figured everything out on her own. And normally, I would say, you have to let her do that”—he turned to Rowan—“but things are changing and moving at a rapid pace. And what we’ve discovered puts Jules in danger. I fear the only way she’ll be safe is if she is a Barrington.”
Rowan pushed to his feet and regretted it instantly. It was the first time he’d moved without thought to his injury, and it fucking hurt. He growled with frustration and dropped back into the chair. Rubbing his knee, he glared at the prince. “What are you saying?”
“If you care about Juliana at all, you will marry her in two weeks. You’ll get on board and follow the queen’s plan. You’ll be as conciliatory as you can imagine without raising Barrington’s suspicion.”
Rowan opened his mouth to protest, but Jamie waylaid him by holding up his hand.
“Even if I agree to this, Juliana won’t. She’s spent her whole life feeling like she doesn’t belong and wanting to so desperately. The last thing she wants is to be forced into an obligatory marriage where, again, she is a pawn rather than the queen she deserves to be.”
“Interesting choice of words,” Jamie said, his tone suddenly cold.
It took Rowan a moment to register his perceived misstep. He chuckled as the prince glared. “I didn’t mean a literal queen. And look, the only place I want to be king, is in Juliana’s bed.” It was then, as the words left his mouth, that Rowan understood Barrington’s plan. He shot forward, his whole body vibrating with a combination of excitement for figuring it out and dread for the coming battle. “I think you might be in danger.”
“Oh, I am that.”
“Barrington is diabolically smart. He wants control, but he knows if he goes at it alone and loses, he could be tried for treason.”
Jamie nodded his assent.
“If he gets rid of you and Juliana and I are married, he thinks we would be next in line. With the joining of the Barrington and Altamirano families, he knows he can sell Nava on supporting a new monarchy.” Rowan shook his head. Puzzling out the potential problems of the plan and immediately focusing in on the piece that didn’t fit. “But Juliana is not next in the line of succession. What am I missing?”
“What has she told you about the circumstances of her birth?”
Rowan’s confusion must have been apparent. Jamie sighed. He quickly relayed the story Juliana had lived with and then the true story. The confusion melted away, replaced with sympathy, which then hardened into a puzzling sense of betrayal. He had shared his life story with her, and yet she’d never revealed her family’s dark secrets. She’d protected them over giving him her trust. It didn’t matter in the least to him that their relationship had been a farce. Because over the last several weeks, he had grown to trust her, to truly like her, to want her in a way he’d never really wanted anyone or anything besides football.
Jamie must have sensed the growing blot of anger sweeping through Rowan because he gently said, “Today, I told her the truth, what Robert, Ele, and I had discovered over the last few weeks.” Jamie leaned forward in his chair, his eyes a swirl of empathy and understanding. “I understand you’re hurt right now—”
“Not fucking hurt,” Rowan bit out.
Jamie held up his hands, like he was soothing a wounded animal. And Rowan understood the prince’s compunction because he was sure there was an open wound inside him somewhere and it was bleeding profusely.
“Rowan, I know you’re hurting. I can see it in the stiffness of your countenance and the black pools of your eyes.”
Rowan bristled, and a low growl vibrated in his throat. He watched as the prince fought a smile. The twat was laughing at him. Reaching around for his crutches, he got to his feet, afraid if he remained in striking distance, he might knock the bloody smile off the prince’s face.
When he was far enough away that he was no longer a physical danger to Jamie, he said, “What the fuck are you smiling at?”
Jamie stood, straightened his shirt, brushed lingering dog hair from his pants, and then met Rowan’s glare. “I thought, hoped, imagined you might be falling for Juliana. Now, I see you do care for her. And more importantly, you understand her.”
Rowan let the statement hang in the air between them. Jamie was right. It was why he was so angry she’d kept such important information from him.
“Remain angry with her or choose to forgive her for guarding her heart. Because it’s what she is doing. See, once Juliana decides to love you, it’s a forever bond in which she gives her whole self to the protection of you. Imagine the burden of thinking you always have to protect the people in your life because you think it’s how they will return your love.”
“Fuck,” Rowan sighed, sinking back into the chair.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to fix your love life right now. Robert, Ele, and Juliana are in grave danger. And I fear you are the only one who can save them.”
“Yeah,” Rowan said. He rubbed his head. “How?”
Jamie walked over to where Rowan sat. Crouching down so he was eye to eye with Rowan, the prince held something up in front of him.
Rowan eyed. Without hesitation or thought, he reached for the ring. Rowan sat with it for a bit, turning it over and examining it from all sides. There was potential for failure in all phases, but it was solid.
“Aye,” Rowan finally concurred. “I have one stipulation.”
Jamie nodded to him.
“I have to get Violet from Nava. I cannot leave her to fend for herself.” Even as he said it, he cringed inside. Loving people sucked.
Jamie nodded. “You can’t go. Is there anyone you trust to get her?”
“Nico.”
Jamie’s eyes widened for a split second before his prince mask returned to its rightful place. “He’s a perfect person to send. No one in Nava will give him a hard time.”
Rowan’s relief was palpable, knowing Violet would be safe. But his heart rate kicked up. He would now be responsible for his half-sister, and the responsibility of it already was an ill-fitting pair of boots. “Right, so what’s our next move?”
Will, Jamie’s personal protection officer, entered the room with Nico.
“When you come to visit, you really take over,” Nico remarked with a wide smile and laughing eyes. He was trailed by Pelé, Leo, and Leia. He walked directly to Rowan, and they embraced. Nico kept his hands on Rowan’s shoulders and looked him up and down. “You look better, mate.”
The commotion in the room had amplified with the dogs and Nico’s and Will’s arrival.
Then, Jamie said, “Rowan.” The tone of his voice carried.
The dogs immediately sat at attention, and Rowan and Nico turned toward him, their reunion abandoned.
“We have a problem.”
