Chapter 21
A lexandra
Our return trip to the palace was short, but the urgency inside me made it feel unending. Raphael coaxed me to drink water from the stash we always had in the cars and checked on any symptoms.
I felt nothing other than upset. Maybe a little foolish. If I’d gone to a club with Dori, I would never have accepted a drink I hadn’t ordered. But a waiter handing me one in a situation where that was the norm? I’d never even suspected it.
If I’d drunk deeply, I could be in the grip of a drug right now. Raphael had saved me from that.
Finally through Ossington Palace’s gates, Raphael leapt from the car, helping me out.
Riss was already waiting. “Ma’am, I’ll escort you inside.”
I couldn’t do this. If anyone else spoke to me, I’d probably burst into tears.
“No, thank you. Wait for me in your office. See me upstairs?” I added the last part for Raphael.
He gave a curt nod, moving with me through the palace and upstairs. I slammed and locked the door behind us, my emotions boiling over.
“I’m done with this. I’m just…done. A man likely spiked my drink tonight. Why would he do that?”
Raphael parked himself against a wall, his jaw tight. “For a picture.”
God. Of course.
I released a breath that was somewhere between a gasp and a sob. Plenty of times, I’d given them that kind of photo opportunity for free. I’d fallen out of taxis, sang while arm in arm with friends as we left a club. Hadn’t I given enough?
Raphael’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “It’s Riss. I turned off my comms.”
My shoulders sagged. I gestured for him to answer.
He did, listening to his boss. “I’ll tell her.” He hung up and eyed me. “The palace doctor has been summoned and will be here in fifteen minutes. The police are also on their way.”
I managed a small nod.
Raphael dropped his head back against the wall. “What do ye want to do? Because all that’s in my head right now is tracking down that bastard so he can never do anything like that again. I also don’t want to leave ye. Ye should also know that if I walk out of here, I willnae be able to come back.”
“Why?”
“I was fired again this evening. That makes three times. I’m out.”
No, no! The one thing I was certain about was how I wanted to be close to him. Even if just for a little while longer. Raphael equalled safety.
“Just tell me what ye need,” he asked.
I swallowed my panic. “To get out of here. But I won’t be able to. Not if the police are coming. Then palace security will need their piece of me, Sir Reginald, the list is endless.”
Raphael’s eyes gleamed. “You’re telling me that a determined and sneaky princess can’t find her way out of a palace with two dozen exits then make a run for it through the city?”
My pulse stuttered.
His next words were the death blow to staying. “I’ll get ye wherever ye need to go.”
I was already in motion.
In my bedroom, I snatched up my overnight bag and grabbed handfuls of clothes and essentials, Raphael taking over packing duty so I could move quicker. Without thinking, I picked up my sleep shirt, his t-shirt, gifted to me all those years ago, but bundled it quickly into a hoodie and shoved them in the bag, my heart racing.
When I had all I needed, I stood in the middle of the rug. “I need to get out of this gown.”
“Not the way I pictured undressing ye, princess.”
My cheeks heated, but he was already behind me, and with warm fingers, he unzipped me. A shiver ran down my spine. Raphael grumbled and went to the door. I shot him a grin, excitement hurrying me on.
Out of the dress, I hung it next to the cream one I was supposed to be wearing on the weekend. That banquet had given me nightmares. Now I was leaving, I’d never wear the damn thing. I stuck up my middle finger to the gown, tugged on shorts and a t-shirt, and fitted my favourite short, blonde wig.
In the living room, Raphael shouldered my bag, his eyes darkening as he took me in. “I’ve left my radio and ID here. Riss has tried calling me twice. We need to go now before she comes knocking. We probably don’t have long.”
Riss couldn’t keep me here. Nobody could. I was a woman grown. But the night would get chewed up with meetings and conversations, and if Sir Reginald put in an appearance, I’d never get away.
Glee chased the last of my upset away. “Let’s do this thing.”
At the door, Raphael paused to check the coast was clear. In this corner of the palace, I was at the end of the corridor, which meant only one way to go.
“We’re good,” he whispered.
Without looking, he reached for my hand. My stomach did a funny flip when I laced my fingers with his.
Together, we padded down the hall’s thick carpet. The first staircase, the one I’d given Raphael access to, led down to the exit by the bodyguard office. That wouldn’t work.
I squeezed his hand. “If we keep going, there’s another around the corner, or at least three more further on.”
Raphael gave a single nod then stilled, listening. Abruptly, he tugged me against his body and spun to the next doorway, twisting the handle in a fast move that left me breathless. I blinked, and we were inside a darkened bedroom, the door open just a crack.
Still clutching Raphael, I didn’t have to ask what happened as sounds from the stairwell clued me in. Riss appeared, talking to someone I couldn’t see. Their voices grew louder as they entered the hall.
“Go right, it’s the door at the end,” she instructed.
Had to be the police as the doctor who came to the palace regularly knew my rooms. If we hadn’t hustled, they would’ve spotted us.
Their noises moved away.
Raphael peered out then glanced at me to mouth, “Okay?”
“This isn’t the way I pictured being in a dark bedroom with you.”
His expression of surprise at me throwing his words back had me grinning bigger.
We snuck out and crept in the opposite direction. The curve of the corridor hid the others from sight, and I was glad because another look at Riss and I probably would’ve wanted to talk. She’d been kind to me, but after the last two times of asking her to cut visits short and getting disapproval, something had changed.
At the main flight down, the wide staircase was empty, but a tilt of Raphael’s head said to keep going. I agreed. It would be too risky to pop up in the central entrance.
We trotted down a more narrow set of steps at the far end of the palace, pausing to be sure we weren’t about to get busted. It had taken long minutes to get this far. Enough for Riss to realise I wasn’t inside my flat.
The bottom of the stairs opened onto a ground-floor exit, visible through a porthole in the door. A guarded car park was on the other side, and beyond that, the road and freedom.
I peeked up at Raphael. He’d never let go of my hand. “We can leave this way, but if the guards on the gate recognise me, they might stop me.”
“They can’t keep ye here.”
“They could delay opening the gate if they’ve been told to look out for me. If Riss is summoned and brings the police with her, I’ll have to stop. I don’t want to.”
Something in his gaze shifted from calculating to a decision. “I’ll go out alone. The second the gate is open, I’ll stand in it and ye run.”
I pushed up on my toes and did what I’d wanted to do all evening. I kissed him, claiming the lips of the man who’d protected and cared about me more than I deserved. I half expected to be pushed away, but Raphael took over. He groaned in need and drove his fingers into my hair to hold my head. Passion exploded through me, hot and needy. Enough to make me want to slide to my knees in the very place I had to run from.
It was short-lived. He broke away, that talented mouth curved in a delicious grin. With one more glance through the round window, Raphael was gone.
I watched him, breathless and ready. He strode out into the night and approached the booth with my bag over one shoulder, raising a hand to hail the guards. They must have said something back as he replied, his smile still in place but fixed now. They weren’t opening the gate. Why?
Panic swirled in my belly. If Riss sent out an alert to find me, this was all over.
Raphael patted his chest, like he was searching for something. His pass? He’d left it upstairs.
My heart sank. I’d have to walk out there and demand they let me leave. It might work, it might not. If I failed, it meant the banquet and the speech. It meant not seeing Raphael because the one person I trusted wouldn’t be here.
Then miracles happened. The gate shivered then cranked open slowly. Raphael stepped into the gap.
I sucked in a breath and didn’t hesitate. Diving out of the door, I sprinted to him, spotting an expression of surprise on the face of the nearest guard. That was all the attention I’d give him. I caught Raphael’s hand in mine and ran.
Away from the palace. Away from duty I hadn’t asked for.
“Stop,” a voice chased us.
We didn’t. Not for a second.
When we were streets away, Raphael finally slowed and snatched out his phone. “I’m ordering us a cab. Ye can hide in it while I get my things from my room.”
I blinked. “You’re leaving, too. It didn’t occur to me that meant right away.”
He shrugged, stepping into the road so I could stay on the pavement as we passed a couple who were staggering along, clearly drunk. The London streets were as busy as always, and it was barely ten in the evening.
“I was going to head home tonight, but where ye go, I go.”
The giddiness in my stomach returned in full force. “You don’t have to. You don’t work for me now.”
His lips curved. “Fully aware. Just tell me where to take ye.”
I needed to pick a location. “Home, I guess.”
“Scotland?”
I nodded. Dad’s house was where I’d spent summer holidays and Christmases, though it never felt like a place of my own.
“Then we’re going the same way.” He dug his fingers into his hair and raked it back. “Ah fuck. I’ve had the best idea. Dream come true.”
“What is?”
Happiness radiated off him. “How do ye feel about watching me fly?” Whatever expression was on my face made him laugh. “Seems I get ye as my passenger after all.”
Half an hour later, we were in a taxi and heading through central London. Raphael had taken mere minutes to clear his room at the bodyguard accommodation, luckily finding the place empty so avoiding awkward questions.
He’d rung ahead to book a helicopter, and by the time we reached a riverside transport hub with a helipad on the banks of the Thames, one was on its way.
We left the car and entered the building, Raphael talking to a waiting staff member while I drifted to stare from the windows. The city sparkled around us. I trusted Raphael completely.
He came to me. “I have to file a flight plan before the heli gets here. I’ll need an address, and ye might want to warn anyone in the house that we’ll land in their garden in the wee small hours, assuming that’s possible.”
I grimaced, imagining the ruckus and second-guessing my excitement. “Can you give me a minute?”
He nodded. I dialled my dad.
The call went straight to voicemail, so I called the landline instead.
“Lancaster House, Perkins speaking. Your Royal Highness, how may I help?”
Perkins was my father’s butler and a kind man. “Hi, Perkins, sorry for calling so late. Is Dad asleep?”
“He is indeed, ma’am. I’m afraid he’s had a couple of tricky days. Is the matter urgent?”
“What’s happened with him?”
“We believe just a cold, but it has tired him out. His sleep has been affected. Nothing to worry about.”
Which meant he’d told them not to inform me. I was the worst daughter alive for not contacting him for days. Another fact solidified—we couldn’t wake him with the drama of a helicopter landing on his lawn.
With a promise to call my father tomorrow, I got off the phone, twisting it in my hands. I turned back to Raphael. “Change of plan. Dad’s unwell. I don’t want to disturb him. Even if we landed a mile away, he’s a light sleeper and he’ll know I’m home.”
Disappointment drove over my dreams of escape and squashed them flat. I had friends I could call, but no one all that close. Not anymore. Only Dori would throw open his doors no questions asked, but he was still missing.
Silence played out between Raphael and me. The airfield operative down the room did a great job of looking busy at a tablet screen.
“I think I’ll have to go back—” I started.
“Come home with me.”
“W-what?”
“I live an hour away from your home. Stay the night at mine and I’ll drive ye there tomorrow.” His cheeks reddened in the warm office light. “I mean as friends. I wasn’t suggesting anything else. Just a place to stay so we don’t wake your da. Let me take care of ye.”
My breathing stuttered. “The picture you painted, the loch, the mountains, a hideaway, that’s where you mean?”
“Aye, it is.” Something shifted in his expression. “Say yes, or do I need to kidnap Her Royal Highness to get to keep ye for a little longer?”
I’d never wanted anything more.
“One hundred percent yes.”
Raphael exhaled in relief then shifted to action mode. He filed his flight plan then left a voice message for Riss, drop calling her first to chew up the line, then telling her exactly what he saw in quick, succinct sentences.
I did the same, keeping my focus on the view outside the window to control my nerves. Then at Raphael’s request, I switched off my phone. A helicopter landed, rattling the glass. Raphael strode out to greet the pilot then came back for me.
Him reaching for my hand in quiet enquiry would never get old.
We lifted off and sped over the city I’d escaped. It was under two hours’ flight time, and I was consigned to the back seat, a requirement of the hire being the other pilot, whose name was Colin, copiloting so he could return with the craft the same night.
I watched Raphael at the controls, performing his checks then flying us with a steady hand. In the low light, I curled up on the seat and just stared. Helicopter flight wasn’t new to me; my father used to prefer it, when he’d worked, as it was so much faster than driving or the train. But another part of the evening was entirely novel.
The sensation in the centre of my chest when I caught Raphael glancing back at me. The way I couldn’t stop tracing his jaw with my gaze, and the happiness in my soul each time he smiled.
I was in trouble. Not only from rogue photographers who wanted me acting up for their lens, or for fleeing the palace rather than facing the authorities, but because of something else strange and unexpected.
A dangerously warm and generous spark that I didn’t even try to stop from catching aflame in my heart.