Chapter Thirteen
Valeris
I stormed down the hall, straightening my jacket.
She would regret her decision.
For all her cunning, she lacked the critical thinking skills to make the right decision. The little—
I rushed down the stairs of the inn, muttering under my breath about the absurdity of booking the sixth floor. No one in their right mind would choose a higher floor when a lower was available—unless they wanted to remain inconspicuous.
Out of the way.
... hiding something.
I stopped, my assistant Carl nearly running into me.
“Sire?” He tried to hide his labored breathing, but it was like attempting to hide a coyote in a hen house. He clutched his note pad under his arm and adjusted his spectacles.
“Catch your breath. I’m thinking.”
I ran the history of the Ferris Way Inn through my mind. I didn’t know much about it—except it was the closest to the palace. My eyes flicked back up the steep stairs.
And the highest floor would provide an excellent aerial view of the palace grounds.
That was not by accident.
She was working for someone. If it wasn’t my father, then she could be working against the crown.
I raced back down the last flight of stairs, Carl hurrying to keep up behind me.
When we reached the bottom landing, I turned to him, eyes glancing everywhere to make sure we weren’t overheard as I whispered, “Bribe the innkeeper. Pay him whatever he wants, but I want to know where that girl is going, who she is going with, and what she is doing while they are out. Post a set of guards outside the inn and put a tail on her, but make sure they are discreet.”
Carl nodded. “Anything else, Your Highness?”
“Let’s keep what happened in the room up there between you and me, shall we?”
No one needed to catch wind of my groveling.
Carl nodded with a little too much enthusiasm.
She had lied when she had said no one else was there with her. Someone else had been in one of the adjoining rooms. I had seen their shadow hovering near the door, but how many?
I pulled up the hood of my cloak before stepping into the foyer, but with four royal guards waiting for me at the entrance it was difficult to avoid recognition. Most people bowed as I passed, but others, mostly foreigners, simply stared or didn’t recognize me at all.
“Shall we order a carriage, Your Highness?” Howland, my head bodyguard, asked.
He gave me a disapproving look chiseled from stone, glaring down at me from his height of nearly seven feet.
His crossed arms made his shoulders appear broader, the muscles bulging underneath his dark skin.
Sometimes he even scared me, and I knew the intimidation of his presence granted me a large radius from any onlookers.
He had nearly rebelled when I had told him to wait down here, but it was the first time I had left him anywhere in fourteen years.
Faithful as he was, I needed to establish my own independence.
I wasn’t a little boy who needed protecting anymore.
“We’ll walk back,” I said.
“Is that wise, sire?”
I ignored Howland’s question, striding out into the afternoon sun, my boots slapping against the cobblestones as I maneuvered up the street to the palace gates.
I needed to blow off some steam, and by the time a carriage showed up I could already be back in my rooms. The crowds parted before me like a sea, well, more like they parted for my bodyguards who formed a square around me, eyes peeled for any danger.
Going outside the palace walls was a chore and a nuisance I avoided.
I drew too much attention. I had snuck out once, thinking I was being clever as I disguised myself.
I had thought I was alone, but I couldn’t fool Howland.
He and a team were trailing me the entire time, but he had let me have my fun for a while.
He had only intervened when I had gotten into trouble with a band of street thugs, trying to help the poor boy they were ganging up on.
He had said if I ever tried anything like that again, he would tell my father.
I never sneaked out again.
Not because I feared my father finding out, but because I feared what he would do to Howland for allowing it to happen.
Best case scenario, he could lose his position.
Somehow word of my escape got out anyway, and he only was able to keep his job because I intervened on his behalf.
Howland was too important. Too much like family to me, though I longed to feel truly alone for once.
My predicament was frustrating. As seventh in line for the throne, I had never been as important as my other siblings.
Everyone overlooked me, which was sometimes nice but more often annoying.
No one viewed you as a worthy player when you had little to bargain with other than your royal title, yet bodyguards surrounded me like I was a prisoner.
The palace loomed before me, and I gazed up at the immense structure, not used to seeing it from this vantage point.
Home.
Such a strange word that should mean the same thing to everyone, yet to everyone it meant something different.
My attention caught on a family of four walking down the other side of the street.
The father held a parcel beneath one arm, his daughter’s hand tucked in the other.
The mother carried a toddler on her hip, curls peeking out beneath their cap.
The daughter said something and both parents turned to each other, laughing.
I looked away.
I lived in the palace, but it wasn’t a home.
I wasn’t sure what a home was supposed to feel like, I just knew mine wasn’t the answer.
I had heard others talk about their families before, about the things they did and shared together.
They weren’t things my family and I had ever done.
I had watched husbands with their wives, and it was not the same thing I witnessed between my parents.
They acted more like political allies than any sort of friends or even lovers.
Yes, we were royalty, but should it really affect us that much?
I knew guards who came from broken homes or no homes at all, and we all seemed to share the sense that there should be something more, something we were missing.
Family.
I wondered if I would ever know what the word meant.
You have a family.
The voice echoed in my mind. Yes, I did. Maybe it wasn’t like the others, but it was mine. My job was to protect it. Protect the integrity of the royal family. Protect them at all costs. Never show weakness, and guard from any threats.
I looked back at the Ferris Way Inn.
Weed out the threats.
Protect at any cost.
At any cost.