Chapter 4 – Sebastian
SEBASTIAN
“Papa!”
The girls come screaming into my office, running straight over to me. I make a quick last-second adjustment and push my chair back just in time for them to both land on my lap. I hug them to me, their small bodies and bony knees pummel my thighs, and I emit a small oomph as I shift them.
“Hello, girls. What brings you in here? Aren’t you supposed to be up in your rooms playing?” I admonish. “And where are the guards who were supposed to watch you?”
“Probably searching the palace for us,” Sabrina quips, flashing me a wolfish grin. She immediately starts bouncing on my legs. My little troublemaking princess never sits still.
“That’s not safe. You were to stay there for a reason.
” Today it was as if someone had reached into the darkness of my mind and pulled one of my nightmares straight from it.
A man broke into the palace carrying something that the guards were concerned was an incendiary device.
It turned out it wasn’t, and he’s subsequently been detained, but I have zero patience for any of this.
Not here. Not in my palace where my children are.
“But we met a girl,” she continues. “There’s a girl here in the palace.”
“A girl,” I parrot, confused.
“More accurately a woman,” Emily supplies, holding up a broken bust for me to see before setting it down on the corner of my desk. “Evidently our interloper’s daughter came to take him home, and while she was waiting for him, she accidentally broke this.”
“Hmm.” I’m not sure what to say to that.
It was sculpted by Vincenzo Alrimi and is considered one of his finest works.
It’s worth more than I care to think about.
It’s also something I haven’t given any thought to in years, if ever.
Still… “How did this second person get in the palace?” I grit my teeth. It aggravates me to no end.
“One of the guards brought her in.”
My eyebrows shoot up and Emily gives me a look, telling me to calm down. Only I can’t. That will have to be dealt with. Not to mention, we’ll have to beef up our security here.
“The woman who broke it is waiting outside your door,” Emily informs me.
“She’s right out there?” I point in the direction of my door. “Emily!”
“We brought her up, Papa,” Phaedra informs me. “She’s very nice.”
I shake my head, incredulous of everything I’m hearing.
“She asked if there was some way she could pay for it,” Emily says.
“How about by not breaking into my palace?” My voice booms, but I check myself with my princesses on me. I blow out a breath, lowering my voice. “Where is her father now?”
“He’s still being held, but the woman said he meant no harm. He’s unwell.”
“Papa, you must meet her,” Phaedra commands, and I can’t help my amused, indulgent grin at her enthusiasm despite the riot in my mind.
“Oh, must I?” I tease, only they don’t catch it.
“Yes!” they both cry. “She’s our beautiful friend. That’s what her name means. And she told me I’m a queen of Athens, and Sabrina is a legendary princess.”
“She did, did she?” I rein in my ire. “How long were you speaking with this strange woman who broke into our home and then broke our statue?”
They shrug in unison.
I glance from my girls up to Emily. “What do I do about this?”
She’s at just as much of a loss as I am.
“I’ll have her wait in your study.” Emily scurries off, leaving me alone with my princesses.
Zayer is finally down for a nap, though that took the better part of an hour to make happen.
I’m not sure my aunt will ever be the same after taking on that charge today.
He’s at the age where he’s starting to outgrow his naps but still needs one, or he’s a monster by the end of the day.
“Girls, you know you’re in trouble, right?
You had orders to obey. You weren’t to leave your room for a reason.
It wasn’t safe. If something had happened to you…
” I trail off, unable to finish that. Today was too close.
Heads will roll. First for two people entering the palace, but also for the girls getting the slip on their attendants.
“But she’s lovely! Papa, we want to keep her,” Phaedra informs me in earnest, her small hands clapping on my cheeks, and I nearly laugh.
“Keep her? How do you mean? You can’t just keep a stranger. She’s not a pet.”
“As our nanny.” Sabrina continues to bounce, and if her knee climbs any higher up my thigh, she’s going to hit something I’d rather she not.
“Sweet darlings, this is a stranger who came into our home uninvited. She is not going to be your nanny. She’ll be lucky if I don’t have her arrested along with her father.”
Both girls look stricken, their eyes even glassing over with unshed tears, and what the hell is going on here?
They just met this woman. She could be a raving lunatic.
She could have broken that bust on purpose with the sole intent of meeting my children or me.
This could all be a setup between her and her father.
“But, she’s pretty and smart and our friend. She’s English.”
“No, Sabrina, she speaks and teaches English, but she’s not English.”
“Then what is she?”
“An English speaker. Obviously.”
I shake my head, cutting this off before it gets out of hand. “It doesn’t matter where she’s from. She’s not staying here.”
“But she told us if we closed our eyes and pictured Mama, she’d always be there with us.
” Phaedra straightens, placing her hand on my chest as she stares up at me with those wide eyes of hers.
“Her mama is dead too and she knows what we’re going through.
Please, Papa. We want to keep her. She’s the first nanny that we like.
All the others have been dreadful and mean.
Nothing like Mama. Our beautiful friend is kind like Mama was. ”
Nice one. Well played. My little girls are painfully skilled at twisting that particular knife in deep and hitting every artery they can manage.
I unfasten the top button of my shirt, suddenly feeling as though I’m being strangled.
“Girls, she’s not your nanny.” I lower my voice, making sure my words are slow and even, but firm. “You need to stop thinking of this stranger like that. She’s likely a tourist, here for a visit before returning to her home.”
“No. She lives in Messalina,” Sabrina promises me. “Can’t we ask her to stay?”
“Oh, Sabrina.” I kiss her forehead and then Phaedra’s, praying this is nothing more than a glancing blow that won’t turn into a hurricane of emotions. “I’m sorry, darlings. I don’t see how that’s going to be possible.”
With a knock, the door opens and Emily returns.
We had been finalizing the details for the prime minister’s visit when we were interrupted by the news of the man breaking in.
The palace had gone into lockdown, but evidently lockdown in my mind is something very different from what had actually happened.
“Sir, if I may have a word in private?” Emily asks. “I have two attendants waiting outside to escort the girls back upstairs.”
Oh fuck. This isn’t going to be good. I can tell by her expression.
“Girls, run along. But under no circumstances are you to come out of your room until we know for sure it’s safe and someone comes to get you. Promise me.”
“We promise, Papa,” they say in unison and jump off me to run for the door like their asses were just set on fire.
I sigh, leaning back in my chair, my hands resting beside me. I’m in no mood for this. For any of this. Certainly not for dealing with a woman my children seem to want to keep as if she’s a golden retriever. She’s not that special. I don’t even have to see her to know that. No woman is.
“Tell me how this happened. Tell me how my daughters escaped their room. Tell me how two fucking strangers got into my palace. And tell me why we do not already have the police here?!” My voice climbs with each word, my hands fisted on my desk, ready to tear these strangers apart.
Emily steps forward, her hands falling to the top of my desk, her lip caught between her teeth. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“No more than I typically do,” I reply dryly, though my words cling to the back of my throat.
She ignores that. “You asked for different. This woman is different.”
I groan, scrubbing my hands up my face. Fuck.
“Not you too. This is ridiculous.” I shake my head back and forth, confusion swirling through me.
“The girls were just begging for this woman to be their new nanny.” My hands fly through the air.
“Who the hell is she and what magical fucking spell is she putting everyone under? She doesn’t belong in my palace.
As far as I’m concerned, she’s dangerous.
Not to mention, she broke a priceless piece of art. ”
“Bellamy Wright. American. Currently lives in Messalina, so not a tourist. An English teacher and definitely not dangerous.”
I laugh mirthlessly, cutting her off. “An English teacher is not a nanny.” My words drip with sarcasm. Am I the only person in this palace thinking rationally? “You have no clue if she’s dangerous. Her father certainly seems to be.”
“Sir, allow me to finish, please. Her father has dementia and was confused. He thought the palace was some school back in America. Anyway, Miss Wright attended university here, though she was unable to finish because she’s been caring for her father.”
“Not well,” I interrupt sharply.
Again, she ignores me. “She is smart. She is educated. She is not from Messalina or even Europe but speaks French and currently lives here. She seems sweet and kind and patient and the girls liked her instantly.”
“So. Fucking. What? You cannot be saying this, Emily. The girls are desperate to connect with someone and this is the first one to pop up.”
“I liked her instantly as well, and you know I do not suffer fools. Her father is ill, Sebastian. That’s why she came. I think you should meet her. As you said, she broke a priceless piece of art, and her father broke into the palace. There might be something to barter with.”
I stand to my full height, heat scorching me from head to toe. I’m shocked the floor is not burning beneath me. I stare at her incredulously. “You want me to coerce a strange woman into staying and being my children’s nanny?”
A coy smile. Then a shrug as she rights her body and folds her arms over her chest. “Couldn’t hurt to feel her out a bit.”
My hands dive through my hair. “For fuck’s sake.
No. We know nothing of this woman. She could be a fucking terrorist. She could be just like everyone else, here to exploit us for her own personal gain.
Some random American walks into my palace and suddenly everyone is so in love with her?
There can’t be anything that special about her. ”
“You haven’t met her yet.”
“Nor do I want to!” I shout, losing my patience. “You spoke to her for two minutes. Nannies require screening, and royal nannies must have a certain skill set I can promise you this woman does not possess. And what of her father?”
She straightens her spine, and I can already tell I’m not going to like what she has to say next.
“I think she’s special and different. Exactly what you asked for.
The rest she can learn. The girls already seem taken with her when they’ve never been taken with anyone we’ve brought in to be their nanny.
Her father lives in a facility. The guard who brought Miss Wright in has been on the phone with them, working all this out.
They confirmed Mr. Wright’s diagnosis and will come and retrieve him if necessary when we’re ready to release him. ”
My hands fall to my hips. “Do you hear yourself? I can’t just allow some intruder to care for my children.”
“I’ve asked Javier to run a background and information check on her. He’s doing it as we speak.”
This is getting out of control. The sooner this woman leaves my palace, the better. “Where is she now?”
“In your study, sir.”
Fan-fucking-tastic. She’s likely stealing or breaking more priceless items. Without a word, I storm past Emily and out of my office, down the hall, and into my study.
My favorite room in the palace, my sanctuary, my quiet place.
This is where Emily had to stick her? I open the door and find the woman standing by my bookcase, reading a book she has no business touching.
But the moment she turns and our eyes lock, it’s as if the breath is being stolen from my lungs.
Long, wavy dark hair, a little wild like it’s been tussled by a man’s hands.
Golden, heart-shaped face kissed by the sun with a dusting of freckles along the bridge of her slightly upturned nose and across her cheeks.
Large, round blue eyes more luminescent than a summer sky and more stunning than the rarest of jewels framed by long, dark lashes.
Full, pillowy, naturally red lips parted on a silent gasp.
Petite, with generous curves, they’d fit perfectly against me and overflow the palms of my hands.
Instantly, visions of her naked and open to me in a hundred different ways consume me.
Spread-eagle on the sofa, arms bound behind her, and at my full mercy.
Bent over the sofa, ass in the air, moaning around my spankings as she takes my punishments while begging for more.
On her knees, blue eyes on mine, ready to take my cock down her throat.
Heat floods me everywhere, sending sparks of electricity across my skin and thickening my cock.
I can’t handle how fiercely my body is reacting to her.
How wild and uncontained my thoughts are at the mere sight of her.
There is a natural innocence about her that awakens the depraved savage within me.
Fuck me.
What do I do with this, and how do I get it all back under control?