Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

So I determined to handle it myself.

I struggled, flexing in ways no person should flex, and I knew Theo could hear me. My breath was too loud, coming out in short gasps. Theo remained stoic at the door, not so much as flinching. When I fell off my chair and knocked over my coral porcelain lamp after another attempt, his cool, even voice finally drifted inside the room.

“Need help?” His head was still forward, his shoulders loose.

“No,” I snapped.

Yes.

“Five minutes,” he replied.

I chewed my bottom lip, staring at his back. Theo was a sentry. He didn’t so much as straighten his spine at my presence.

I watched my clock tick down. Four minutes. Three… I was going to be late for Gemma’s party, and Tansy Crowne would have me drawn and quartered.

“I need your help,” I blurted.

A barely-there perk of his slightly crooked ear was the only response I got before he came to me.

Theo was behind me for a long time, his fingers just beneath the lace of my dress. It only took Story only five minutes tops, yet he leisurely worked the laces. My heart rose and rose with each skim of his finger, the pad of his pointer sliding along my spine, teasing to the base. It took everything in me not to grasp the doorframe for support.

“What’s taking so long?” I demanded.

Silence.

Then, “Done.”

But his touch stayed, as if memorizing each traitorous heartbeat beneath my flesh.

“Thanks,” I said. Thanks? I didn’t thank people, especially not bodyguards. Not getting them fired was thanks enough.

Theo froze, and his grip tightened on the laces, forcing the dress so taut against my skin I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth to suck in air, but nothing came. I think I squeaked out a word, but if he heard, he didn’t act like it.

Suddenly he let me go, and I stumbled forward.

“It’s part of the job, princess.”

We were late, rushing through nearly empty halls to the ballroom where the party was being held. We were almost there when I heard, “Oh shit, the mutt’s back!”

Geoff, one of my brother’s friends, laughed with his friend Drake. I didn’t see any drinks in their hands, but it smelled like weed.

“Does that mean we can’t make the princess cry anymore?” Drake mused, watching me with sparkling interest.

“Not if you don’t want to get bit,” Geoff sneered.

I snuck a clandestine glance at Theo, wondering if their words affected him as much as they did me. There’d been a time when he’d been the only one at my back, and of course our world had afforded him cruel nicknames for his kindness.

Dog. Mutt.

He was stone.

Fine, I would be too.

We kept walking, leaving them to their laughter.

We rushed straight down and sat at the table high above the party without doing the regular meet and greet, and I could tell Mother was already upset.

I quickly scurried to the table and found my seat, but froze when I saw the item in my chair: a long-stemmed gold rose. I brushed the rose to the floor and took my seat. Roses were perfectly normal, especially at such an opulent party.