It’s just … my mom thinks it’s Marius, because we’re such close friends. She thinks that building block is what’s going to catapult our hearts together.
Sweet woman.
My eyes cut over to my father, and I feel my ire rise. When I demanded he tell me what’s going on—because I know he’s hiding something—he patronized me. Patted me on the head, figuratively, and told me not to worry my pretty self on such things.
I wanted to kick him, but I would never because I love him too much.
“What could he be hiding?” Marius asks drolly. “He has the dullest monarchy in the history of monarchies. There’s no political intrigue or royal scandals. His business operates so smoothly a monkey could run the mines, and he has the perfect family, except for one highly suspicious and daft daughter.”
There’s no stopping my elbow as it shoots sideways and catches him in the ribs. Marius was expecting it, though, and turned slightly so I only grazed him.
He laughs, sliding an arm around my waist and drawing me into him. To most, this would seem a romantic gesture. To Marius and me, it’s his way of offering comfort. His shoulder is the one I’ve cried on the most over my lifetime, and while he’s teasing, he knows I’m legitimately upset. I told him everything that happened after Dmitri busted me outside the walls, including the meeting with the American security team. I told him Dmitri and Father are hiding something, and I know there’s an important reason Dmitri isn’t handling my security. I also told him that after Father pointedly refused to tell me anything, he did order that I was never to step foot outside the walls again without security, and if he caught me doing so, he’d lock me in my room until I ascended the throne.
He wouldn’t, of course, but I know I have to cool it. If Marius and I want to go cliff diving, I’ll need permission and arrangements for security. This will obviously defeat the spontaneous acts of adventure Marius and I take together, not to mention our privacy to talk about all the secretive things we share.
Mostly his active sex life and my nonexistent one, but still… that’s private.
“There’s something wrong,” I say adamantly, although he’s right—we’re probably the dullest monarchy in history. “This whole story about the American government insisting on this Jameson company to lend protection and that’s why Dmitri is staying back doesn’t make sense. Especially since Father and Mother have suspended all their travel while I’m on my trip. They’re going to be safe at the compound, so why would Dmitri not accompany me?”
“Why do you care?” Marius asks curiously. “You can’t stand Dmitri. Don’t tell me you actually want him glowering at you for the next few weeks.”
“That’s beside the point,” I snap. “There’s something fishy about him not traveling.”
I mull it over, again scanning the venue. I nod and smile at those I make eye contact with. I pass over Jackson Gale as he stands at a table ten feet from me and Marius. He’s in a tux, and I have to say, he wears it well. Because he’s not supposed to look like security, he has a drink in hand, but I’m sure there’s no booze in it. Deception at its finest, but admittedly, he looks like he belongs.
He looks very fine indeed.
I grit my teeth at the unbidden thought.
“What if Dmitri’s refusal to accompany you has nothing to do with your parents but has something to do with Dmitri himself?”
My head quickly turns his way, brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Marius shrugs noncommittally. “I’m just saying, we all know the rumors—”
I can’t help but snort. “You mean that he’s former KGB?”
“Why is it you can’t possibly consider that?”
The expression on his face looks almost sympathetic.
Piteous.
As if I couldn’t possibly understand the ways of the world, and it’s the saddest thing he’s ever seen.
It’s true… I’ve led a sheltered life, much of it on this island surrounded by a stone wall. It’s why this trip to the United States—my first ever—is so incredibly exciting. All the wonders of the Land of the Free. The great melting pot of the world.
Granted, my parents let me go to Switzerland for university. They’ve allowed me to travel across Europe with friends and family.
But every bit of that was done with heavy security and a long list of rules. To my parents, the United States seems far more dangerous and unpredictable, and they’ve always been hesitant to let me visit.
“Darling,” my mother would say, “it’s so big and full of so many walks of life. We would fear for your safety.”
I thought this was ludicrous because everywhere I go, my safety is an issue. It was a constant debate, my parents feeling like Europe was safer for me, but after pressing my case for a few years, they finally relented.