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Her lips twitched. “Essentially.”
Whipping around, he pointed up at the Hellhound’s face, not impressed with the slight tip at the corner of his mouth. “You jackass! You will pay for that. I will… I will…” He floundered, unsure what he could do to make the man’s life difficult, and finally settled on, “I don’t like you. Stay away from me.”
“Can’t do that… Your Highness.”
The pause before his title was noticeable, at least to him, and he knew it was only for his mother’s benefit. Bristling, he whirled back to face her. “I don’t want him anywhere near me. Greg is the point person on my detail.”
“Greg nearly lost you at a fucking nightclub,” the Hellhound scoffed. Stepping forward, he addressed the queen. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, Remington here is the biggest risk to the family’s security. I’ve read through his protections’ reports, and they describe a protectee who is irresponsible, uncooperative, and constantly slipping past their safety net. And”—he raised his voice when Remi tried to defend himself—“I can only assume they’re leaving things out due to a sense of loyalty to him. They’ve been assigned to him since before he left for university, correct?”
His mother’s mouth was tight as she nodded. “That’s correct.”
“That’s too long. He doesn’t respect their authority anymore, and they’ve grown complacent. You should be switching out detail assignments every six months.”
Remi’s mouth dropped open as his mother nodded again and sighed. “You’re right. Thorne has been suggesting the same for years, but we’ve all just gotten so comfortable…”
“Too comfortable,” the Hellhound said, voice softening just a little. “I’ll speak with Thorne about changing assignments immediately.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Remi exploded, throwing his hands up. “This guy has been here—what? A day? And he’s already changing everything. Things worked just fine before.”
“If that were true, the group at the hospital wouldn’t have gotten so close.” The Hellhound turned to him, glowering down at him with glowing blue eyes. “No one should have been able to lay a hand on the boy—”
Remi gasped and met his mother’s sad eyes. “They got that close to him and Sadie?”
She glanced at the Hellhound, then turned and moved back to her couch, settling on it once more. “They did. And they got you away from your friends and outside the building before your protection got to you. Mr. Avril is right. About everything.”
He flinched at the hard edge her voice had taken, spotting his dad at the end of a nearby bookshelf, sympathetic grimace on his face. He wouldn’t interfere though—in Midlona, his mother’s word was law, and his dad respected that. He’d never contradict her in front of others, not even if the beast wasn’t there and it was just Remi.
“Your recent behavior has me seriously contemplating whether you’re mature enough to be attending university so far from home,” she continued. His stomach dropped as his face heated at the reprimand. “For the foreseeable future, you will remain here in Midlona, and Mr. Avril will be taking over your protection since you don’t seem to listen to or respect any of the others. Mr. Avril has the means to keep you safe, even from yourself.”
“Mother—!”
“Your Majesty—”
She held up a hand, and they both stopped. “If we leave the castle grounds, you will, of course, be able to join us.”
“Again,” the Hellhound said through his teeth, “with all due respect, there will be no leaving the castle grounds. Not until we can ascertain who and why someone is coming after the royal family.”
Eyes narrowing, she leveled him with a look that brought most people to their knees, but the Hellhound seemed completely unfazed. Remi couldn’t help but be impressed even as he continued to silently fume.
“I cannot hide away in the castle,” she said. “The people need to see that we are unafraid, not cowering under our beds.”
“I appreciate that, but that’s a PR problem, Your Majesty, and I only deal with security. If you want me to do my job effectively, then you need to listen to me. For the next few days at least, your family needs to be in lockdown while my team works to find out what happened.”
She didn’t look happy, but she finally gave him a slight dip of her chin. “As you wish. We will stay within the grounds for… three days.”
“Five.”
Eyes narrowing, she said, “Four.”
The Hellhound sighed. “Fine. Four days. Starting tomorrow. Your Majesty.”
Her lips twitched, and Remi looked between them in confusion. No one told his mother what to do. No one. Yet this hellbeast just negotiated four days of zero movement beyond the walls from a queen known for visiting among her people and allies quite often. Being seen as strong and in control at all times was more important to her than her own safety, he knew that.
But apparently, not more important than her family’s.
He started to turn for the door, planning on going to pout in his bedroom for the rest of the day and text Thad about the insanely hot but annoying new bodyguard he just got himself, but her soft words drew him up short.
“And Jeremiah?”
