Orient Fevre

I vented out to Fluffy for another ten minutes until I felt better about myself. A good thing about pets was that they were excellent listeners and they didn’t talk back. I stopped ranting when the ship communication system flared a transition shift alarm. I changed into my uniform and went to report to my captain.

Captain Hawk was waiting for me in his office when I reported for duty. With a headache pounding my head and my pussy thrumming dull pain, I was sure I looked like a train wreck, which Captain Hawk noticed the instant I arrived.

“For the love of Darian’s balls, Cross, you look awful. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, sir.”

I smoothened the creases on my uniform and double-checked on my weapons.

He narrowed his eyes, nodding his approval. He hated whiners. He shuffled a stack of hard copies from his desk and flipped open a folder. “We have a VIP passenger we must escort to D’Keghan. Since Mackenzie called off sick, I’m assigning you to guard the prince to the Yule Ball when we make transit to Chereshaz-X.”

“The prince?”

“Prince al’Tarakh of D’Keghan. We’re cancelling our original route to the Froste system and heading to D’Keghan. It was a last minute order from our corporate office. The prince was supposed to board with Wyler & Crat’s security ship this morning, but he changed his mind and requested us instead. Lucky us, I guess. We’ve been privately chartered for this trip.”

“Hooray,” I said in a bland tone. I wasn’t looking forward to playing bodyguard with any prince. I’d done it in the past and it had been nothing but a pain in the ass. Royalty and rich people were nothing but a bunch of cranky, over-pampered assholes.

Captain Hawk scrutinised me under his gaze again. “You having problems with Mackenzie?”

“I was, sir.”

?

?I heard rumours you broke the engagement.”

My cheeks blushed. “True, sir.”

Captain Hawk tapped his fingers on the desk, arching his eyebrows. “Why?”

“It’s a private matter, sir.” I liked to keep my personal business my own.

Captain Hawk lifted his palms up. “Fine with me if you don’t wish to share, Cross. I wanted to make sure your personal problems wouldn’t interfere with your performance.”

“I’m fit for work, sir.”

“Good, because I heard this prince is rather tricky to handle.”

“Why are you punishing me with this assignment, sir?”

“If Mackenzie hadn’t asked for an emergency personal leave, I wouldn’t have given this job to you. The prince must be escorted by one of our senior officers. With Mackenzie and Blue not around, this job belongs to you, Cross. Congratulations.”

I sighed. “How tricky is the prince, sir?”

“Rumour has it he’s a womaniser.”

“Fantastic. You must really hate me, sir.”

Captain Hawk roared.

The holocom buzzed and Hawk’s aide’s voice seeped through the speaker, announcing that the entourage from D’Keghan had arrived.

“Well.” Captain Hawk rose from his seat. “Let’s see our prince.”

I tailed my captain to the ship’s main entry hatch. A multi-terrain lander glided through the cavernous hall and stopped at the end of the hatch’s bridge. The lander’s door opened. A throng of men dressed as D’Keghan royalty climbed out. My jaw dropped when I saw one of them. Levy Frye caught my eyes and winked.

I felt woozy when Captain Hawk introduced us, saying Levy was the one I was to escort to the Yule Ball.

Like a fool, I mumbled in disbelief at the revelation, “You’re Prince al’Tarakh?”