AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” She gestures to the tea set between us. “It’s this kind of thing. The friendliness. Your Majesty, I can’t be an effective bodyguard and your friend at the same time.”
“Oh.” That kind of stings.
“It’s not personal,” she assures me. “I’m supposed to be on alert to all threats at all times. If I’m distracted by emotional or familiar bonds, I could make the wrong choices or misread important situations. It’s not safe for me to be anything other than your employee.”
“Right.” I smack myself upside the head lightly, as if I already knew that and forgot it. But I didn’t know it. I assumed Xiao would fall into my little group with Hannah and Tara.
Both of whom are loved ones I’ve made employees. I guess it’s not a huge surprise that I don’t understand the difference.
“My number one priority is to keep you safe,” Xiao promises. “It might mean I miss out on a potentially awesome friendship, but this is what I’ve dedicated my life to, in service to the pack.”
“And I really appreciate it.” I slap my hand on my knee and stand, saying, “Well, I’ll let you get back to work.”
“I thought I’d do a quick sweep of the rest of the house,” she says, all business. “You’re staying in here, for now?”
“I am.” I gesture over my shoulder toward the bedroom. “Nathan is taking a royal nap. If anything happened, he’d be awake in two seconds.”
“He’d need to be awake a second before it happened,” Xiao says, then blanches. “Sorry. Bad professional habit.”
“It’s okay,” I assure her.
I walk her to the door and open it.
The tea cart is sitting at the end of the hall.
“I thought she left,” Xiao whispers.
“You can take a whole trolley down the stairs,” I whisper back.
Xiao holds a finger to her lips and motions for me to stay where I’m at. She creeps into the hall, scanning every centimeter of the walls and ceiling as she does. She stops between two of the large oil portraits and softly raps the dark wood wainscotting. With a gentle press of her fingertips, it springs open.
She hurries back my way. Disused gas lamps flank the doorway; they’re shaped like lilies on long, ornate stems.
Xiao touches one. “It’s warm.” She gives it a tug and it turns downward. There’s no scrape, no creak from the antique metal. She presses her ear to the bell of the lily for just a moment before pushing it back into its original position. “It’s a listening device. An ear horn, right into your parlor.”
“What?” I step back into the room and examine the wall, searching for the opening at the other end.
There’s a vent near the ceiling.
Xiao spots it immediately when she enters the room again. Never taking her eyes off it, she pushes a button on her watch and speaks into it. “Orange team, I need you outside the royal chambers. We may have a problem.”
CHAPTER 62
Nathan isn’t as concerned about the discovery of the secret spyhole as I am—or as concerned as Xiao wants him to be. He’s more focused on our meeting with Jonah, who’s set to arrive any minute with the outcome of the tests he ran.
“Old houses like this have concealed passages all over, so that servants can move around unobtrusively,” Nathan explains, like I’ve never heard of such a concept. “And my uncle imagined malice around every corner; it’s likely he knew about the eavesdropping mechanism already. He may have had it installed for his own use.”
We’re headed downstairs to the receiving room. I thought somewhere cloak and dagger like a servant’s entrance would be more fitting, but Nathan pointed out that we’re less likely to be overheard by thralls if we meet in a part of the house they’re not allowed.
When he said that, I exchanged a glance with Xiao. Though we didn’t speak, I could tell she’s of the same mind as I am regarding what the servants will or won’t overhear. I plan to always conduct myself like I’m on live television, because I don’t know who’s watching.
I have a feeling she’ll approve of this plan when I have a chance to share it with her.
“You know,” I begin as Nathan and I descend the stairs into the great hall. “If your uncle was so freaked out about people watching him or spying on him, wouldn’t he have gotten rid of the secret passages? I mean, since he knew about them?”
Nathan doesn’t have an answer for that.
“That’s what I thought.” I lift my chin and stride ahead of him toward the receiving room doors.
I skid to a stop when I see Jonah is already inside. He’s not dressed to meet royalty. He’s barely dressed to go grocery shopping without getting arrested for public intoxication. Ripped jeans, a wrinkled, over-washed gray t-shirt with a long drip of what looks suspiciously like ketchup down the front, and sunglasses inexplicably on the back of his head all combine into an ensemble that answers any questions I might have had about his daytime life. And raised other questions I wish I didn’t have.
