Chapter 18 #3
Xavier shook his head. “They weren’t attacking me. They attacked Alina. I was just getting some air, with these two,” he indicated the guards, “and Zuzu. Zuzu flew off, then I heard Alina call for help, and Zuzu reappeared and led me right to her.”
“Quite the resourceful creature she’s turning out to be,” the captain said dryly. “Maybe it’s best not to train her to lead you into danger, however.”
Xavier ignored this, looking around the group crammed into the space. “What’s your plan for returning to our lodgings?”
The captain stepped close to the prince. “Alina will have to stay here with her family now.” He’d lowered his voice, but it wasn’t as quiet as he seemed to think. “Since it looks as though she can’t walk.”
“Absolutely not.” There was no compromise in Xavier’s voice, which he made no effort to lower. “Under no circumstances will I allow her to separate from the group again. I was mad to let it happen last time.”
“I can walk,” Alina said quickly. Her movements were careful as she sat, but she was glad to find she felt no worse for them. She pushed herself to her feet, only wobbling slightly.
“Alina.” Xavier was at her side in a moment, a warning growl in his voice.
“I’m just getting my balance,” she told him.
“Sit down, Alina.” The steel was back in Xavier’s voice, and Alina found herself obeying on instinct. She scowled. Why was it so irresistible when he used that voice? It was very annoying.
Seeing her irritation, Xavier knelt down beside her. “You can rest,” he told her in a more normal tone. “The captain and I will make a plan, but you don’t need to worry. I won’t leave you behind.”
“But—” she tried, only to be ruthlessly cut off.
“And you won’t be an imposition on anyone, so you can stop fretting, you ridiculous girl.”
Xavier’s tone was as far from flirtatious as possible, so it was absurd that it brought a tinge of color to Alina’s cheeks.
When he’d called her a ridiculous girl, for a moment, he’d been her Xavier.
It wasn’t that he’d reminded her of the boy she’d known.
He’d been that Xavier. She lay back against the settee, closing her eyes so her family wouldn’t ask her any questions.
Her exhaustion was all-consuming, and the feigned sleep turned quickly into reality. She was stirred some time later as strong arms slid under her shoulders and knees.
She blinked groggily to see Xavier’s face hovering over hers. The next moment, she was lifted from the settee, once again cradled against his chest.
“Where are we going?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Back to our lodgings,” Xavier told her. “There’s a carriage outside.”
Xavier deposited her inside the vehicle then climbed in beside her. Seeing that she’d woken a little more, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Captain Mitchell and I have agreed on a plan. There’s obviously no longer any doubt that the disappearances have been abductions.
The captain is…uncomfortable with me having found myself in danger twice now.
We’re going to leave some men here to discreetly observe and try to find any trail left by your attackers.
But the rest of us are going to the capital immediately. We’ll leave tomorrow.”
“To the capital?” Alina sat up straighter on her side of the swaying carriage, trying to clear the fog from her weary mind. “You’re abandoning the investigation?”
“Of course not,” Xavier said. “We’ll return with reinforcements, and hopefully a better plan. The man we interviewed earlier today will travel with us, as will you, of course.”
Alina shook her head. “I’m not going to the capital. It’s too far away and I…don’t want to.”
She was too tired to find a way to put her reluctance into better words without being revealing.
“You have to come,” Xavier said firmly. “I’m not willing to leave you behind undefended, Alina, after you’ve been targeted once already.”
She frowned. “You really think they’d follow me back to my town?”
“It’s not a risk I think we should take,” Xavier said. “I’m serious about this, Alina. If you refuse to come with us, then I’ll refuse to leave. And that will be a headache for a lot of people.”
Alina was about to protest further when a thought occurred to her.
“The travel expenses will all be paid for by the crown, right?”
“Yes.” Xavier narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Of course.”
“And accommodation in the capital, too?”
He let out a soft sigh of exasperation. “Yes, Alina, you miser.”
Alina ignored this dig. “I want Benji and Lilah to come.”
“Benji and Lilah?” Xavier was surprised. “Why?”
“I’m not leaving them for that long with no one looking out for them,” Alina said. “I’ll only go if they can come. Both of them.”
“Yes, all right.” Xavier said it like it was nothing, and to him it probably was.
But as far as Alina was concerned, she’d won a huge victory. No more careful scrimping and saving to get Benji to the capital to apply to the guild. It would all be covered. Lilah would be able to go as well.
Content, Alina leaned back against the carriage seat, pleased to surrender to her exhaustion again.
“No flirting with Lilah on the way,” she told Xavier, her eyes already closed. “There’s only so much poor Benji can take.”
Xavier’s soft chuckle chased her into sleep.