Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Julian
Lilac Avenue was where I’d begun my tour last year.
It was a quiet street that was pleasing to the eye.
I liked the colors and that there were only three businesses on it.
The crowd wouldn’t be too large, unless word got out that I was here before I had a chance to leave.
I loved Penny’s chocolate croissants and if I was going to get through all the fakery of wooden smiles and limp handshakes, I needed one.
“Your Highness, it’s safe,” Edward, the head of my security, said once he opened my door.
“Of course it is, Edward.” I stopped myself from rolling my eyes.
At this point, I had to put my mask on. Inside the vehicle, in my bedroom, anywhere people weren’t, I could let it slip—but not in public.
I stepped out and moved swiftly into the bakery, where a redheaded freckle-faced girl grinned at me. I could tell she was nervous, and while I was doing my best to put on a happy face, she was still intimidated by me.
“Hello, welcome to Penny’s. How may I help you, Your Royal Highness?”
“Good afternoon. I couldn’t even think about beginning my tour without delicious chocolate croissants and a cup of coffee from Penny’s.”
Her cheeks bloomed red, and she giggled. “We’re honored to have you here, Your Highness, and that you enjoy our refreshments.”
The café had a few patrons and when I turned, they all glimmered with excitement and the desperate need to ask me to take selfies with them.
All but one, a man in the far back of the café.
I knew he’d seen me—every few seconds he’d lift his eyes, but all too soon he’d either stare out the window or at his phone.
“Here you are, Your Royal Highness. No charge.”
“I couldn’t possibly. Edward, please pay; I’m going to go enjoy this bounty.” I took the croissant and coffee and moved to a table beside the lone man.
I’d do the selfie thing and autographs after I ate, but right now this guy intrigued me and I had no idea why.
“Good afternoon,” I said to him.
His face was turned away until I spoke but upon my greeting, he met my gaze.
To the everyday person he was unremarkable.
Brown hair and eyes, lithe in stature, dressed casual in earthy tones.
He had good bone structure, high cheekbones, a button nose.
He was adorable, and I was immediately captivated.
“Uh, hi, I mean hello, Your Royal Highness…or is it Prince? I’m sorry, I’m from America.” He bit his lip, and the sudden urge to suck on it almost overtook me.
“You say America as if that explains any mistake.”
He shrugged. “I mean, yeah.”
He was funny. I imagined most would be laughing, and I was enjoying his company—an odd feat in itself.
“How about for this short interlude, you refer to me simply as Julian?”
His eyes got as big as saucers. “I couldn’t possibly.”
I sighed. “Very well, Prince Julian?”
There was no hiding the uncertainty in his expression. “Is that legal?”
Now I did chuckle, which surprised me. “It is if I say so.”
He nodded. “Okay, if you say so. Hello, Prince Julian. My name is Wynn Carter.” He held out his hand, and I immediately took it like a dehydrated man finding water.
His skin was soft and warm but not clammy. There was a nice firmness to his grip, and I could tell that this was how he genuinely greeted people.
“A pleasure to meet you, Wynn. Are you in Lamdera for a while?” I hoped he was moving here so I could see him every day.
“I’m on this island for a couple of days; then I’m visiting the others. I just turned thirty, and the Lamdera Islands has always been a dream of mine to vacation.”
I’d have to get his schedule and see about altering my itinerary to match his. I was sure it was possible.
“Happy birthday.”
He smiled, and two dimples appeared on his cheeks. “Thank you, Prince Julian.”
“I’m touring for the month. By chance are you going to be on the islands for that long?”
He snorted, which was endearing, and once more I was struck by how strange it was that he brought out such feelings from me.
“Two weeks was what I could afford.”
That wouldn’t do at all. I was about to tell him he could come on tour with me when Edward stepped up to my table.
“Your Highness, we must get moving.”
Shit. “Very well.” I returned my attention to Wynn. “Hopefully we’ll meet again before you leave.”
“Oh, I doubt that. It was very kind of you to talk with me.”
I wanted to sit there with Wynn Carter until I knew everything there was to know about him. It was like a buzzing under my skin, a need.
“Never say never, Wynn.”
I took selfies, signed autographs, visited the shops, and then I was back in my limo. I glanced at the cafe window, but Wynn was long gone.
“Edward.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Find out what you can about Wynn Carter. Where he’s staying, what his vacation schedule is.”
He was silent for a beat. Me asking about someone was no doubt worrying Edward. When I fixated on people, they tended to die. But I didn’t feel like killing Wynn Carter. At least not yet—maybe never. He drew me in, and that had never happened to me.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Edward finally answered.
The remainder of my day was almost clinical. Smiles, selfies, autographs. By the time night fell, I was craving a kill. Wynn’s face whispered in the recesses of my mind, but the monster I was, the one who’d never lain dormant too long, was waking up.
Once everyone had gone to bed, I dressed in a perfect disguise so nobody would recognize me. Normally killing two nights in a row was dangerous, but I’d be gone from the main island long enough that people wouldn’t think much of it. Besides, it wasn’t like they ever found the bodies.
As I walked the streets, searching for a soul that called out to me, I thought of Wynn…and I wondered what his breath tasted like.
“No!” a woman shouted, and I spun on my heels and raced toward the sound.
I arrived in time to see a man running away, her handbag tucked under his arm. He’d do nicely.
I had a syringe with a sedative in my pocket, which I only used if I couldn’t gain compliance from my victims. This guy was going to be a problem. As soon as I cornered him, he growled at me and shouted that he’d shoot me. But he didn’t have a gun, so I advanced on him slowly.
“Stay away!”
I didn’t say anything; he had nowhere to go. I gripped the syringe in my pocket, and when his back hit the brick wall of the building I moved swiftly, plunging the needle into the side of his neck.
What was great about this sedative was it gave the person a drunk-like demeanor that allowed me to tuck him under my arm and tell passersby that he’d had a little too much and nobody would think otherwise.
I dropped the woman’s purse on the cement—I didn’t give a shit about that—and walked to the car I’d taken from the castle.
It was very nondescript, an average silver sedan.
I couldn’t throw him into the trunk in case someone was watching, but I secured him in the passenger’s seat and soon enough I was driving us to his fate.