Chapter 12
“What are you doing here?” I ask, the words coming out breathless because I was not in any way prepared to see my coworker this morning.
Callum stares up at Hex, clearly confused about why the prince is standing, then turns back to me as he opens his bag and pulls out a laptop. “We’re making a plan for the retreat, yeah?”
“Are you sure you trust this guy?” Hex asks, still standing stiff. Ready to fight.
At the moment I’m doubting that, and I have so many things I want to ask the man next to me that I’m not sure where to start. “Callum. How did you know where to find me?”
Pausing with his computer midair, Callum furrows his brow and gives me a look that seems to be questioning my intelligence. “Your phone,” he says simply, then goes back to opening his computer and turning it on.
I swear under my breath. “Do you always track my phone?”
“Of course.”
“So you’re tracking mine too,” Hex says as he slowly sinks back into his chair, hands in fists.
“Well, yeah. All RIA operatives. You never know when one of you might be nabbed by some villain, eh?” He laughs, the sound falling flat between us.
He doesn’t seem to notice the building tension.
“More importantly, Storme, you have been hired through Starlight Security to help with security for Mathis Fennor’s retreat this weekend. ”
“What?” I’ve said that word far too many times this morning.
Grabbing my phone, I open the email inbox I forget I have because it so rarely gets used.
Sure enough, there’s a new email, sent last night.
All RIA agents are employed by a very real security firm run by the RIA to give us a cover if we’re ever working a public-facing mission, and while it’s rare, sometimes we get contracted by actual people needing security.
I can’t even remember the last time I was contracted.
Reading the email quickly, I can’t stop my eyebrows from rising higher with each new line.
Ms. Storme,
As you are aware, His Royal Highness Prince Hendrik has been invited to a weekend retreat hosted by one of my clients, Lord Fennor.
The invitation has since been extended to Prince Aleksander as well.
To this end, I am requesting your security services for the duration of the weekend.
You have both a rapport and a level of control over Prince Hendrik, which makes you uniquely qualified to ensure the weekend remains safe and enjoyable for all parties involved.
Please respond as soon as you are able so I can know if I need to look elsewhere for added security. Details will be forthcoming if you accept.
Yours,
Nathaniel Greywick
“And to think,” Callum says when I reach the end, “you might not have had a reason to join the boys’ weekend.”
This almost feels too convenient, but I’m choosing to be optimistic and think I’ve made enough of an impression to be seen as someone valuable by the anti-royalists. Fennor wants the prince there, and Greywick wants me. The real question is if they’re on the same side.
“Care to share, Storme?” Hex asks, lifting a blond eyebrow. His eyes are on my phone, even if he can’t see my screen, and he’s sitting so stiffly that he looks like a solid wind could knock him over. “Or are you going to leave me in suspense?”
I snicker. “If I could, I would always leave you in suspense, Prince. Someone should have the privilege of catching you off guard now and then.”
He narrows his eyes. “You do that constantly.”
Stomach twisting, I ignore the thrill his response ignites and hand him my phone. “It seems I just got myself an invite to your retreat.”
His forehead wrinkles as he reads, and I can almost see his thoughts whirring behind his eyes. “You don’t control me,” he says as he hands my phone back to me.
Callum snorts a laugh, glancing between us before turning his attention to his computer.
“Don’t I?” Chuckling, I shake my head. “Now you see why I thought it was a good idea to make you fight for my interest. People are starting to think I could be important.”
“Who is Greywick? Obviously he works for Fennor, but he kept your attention last night.”
I wish I knew more about the man, but there wasn’t much to find about him in the RIA’s database.
His company is legitimate and has been used by respected members of the nobility for well over a decade, including some who are unequivocally loyal to the crown.
“He runs operations for several estates,” I tell Hex, repeating the client list Greywick told me last night.
“He was rather cagey last night and did his best not to give too much away.”
“Why would he hire an RIA agent as security?”
“He wouldn’t,” Callum says and rolls his eyes. “As far as anyone in Candora knows, Astrid Storme is employed by Starlight Security and has been for the last eight years.”
Frowning, Hex tilts his head to one side. “Eight years,” he repeats. “We graduated ten years ago.”
I groan, knowing he won’t let it go if I try changing the subject. “I told you,” I say in a low tone. “I needed that mentorship, and when I didn’t get it, I—”
“It took you two years for the RIA to hire you? Are you serious?”
His fury is so unexpected that I don’t have a response beyond, “Er…”
Callum chuckles. “She took the hard route and kept applying for an internship. She should have done what I did.”
“Which was…?” Hex asks, eyeing the tech agent warily.
“Well, since my mam met my da in Ireland after she left Candora, the RIA thought I’d be more of a threat than an asset—they’re not fond of outsiders—but after I broke into their computer system when I was seventeen, they had no choice but to hire me to strengthen their security.”
With the way the prince leans slightly away from Callum, I’d guess he’s as intimidated by my colleague as I was when I first met him. Callum comes across as harmless, but he always knows more than he should and is never afraid to leverage the information.
It’s one of the reasons I like him so much.
“You hacked the RIA?” Hex looks like he can’t decide if he’s terrified or impressed, halfway between a smile and a grimace.
Callum shrugs. “Had to get their attention if I didn’t want to waste two years like Storme did.”
“But—”
“Can we focus?” I scowl at each man, pleased when they both shut their mouths and wait for me to continue. I gesture to my phone. “Virek’s never going to let me take the gig.”
Rolling his eyes again, Callum clicks a few things on his computer as he says, “Virek has the techies digging into bank statements of two dozen nobles, and he set up a tail to follow Alaric Blackmere. He’d rather have you out of the way.”
Callum is probably right, though I’m not willing to admit that out loud. “You must think there’s something at this retreat worth pursuing, or you wouldn’t be here.” That makes me feel marginally better about chasing gut feelings instead of evidence.
“Fennor is known for his weekend retreats,” Callum says, his eyes flying over his screen. “He’s well-liked and respected among the nobility.”
“I could have told you that,” Hex mutters.
“But you can’t tell me who’s been attending those retreats for the last six months,” Callum counters.
He spins his screen to show me a complicated spreadsheet full of names and dates.
“I only have so much data to work with, but plenty of people have talked about Fennor’s retreats since we’ve started bugging houses and listening in on conversations, and I’ve mapped out a fairly comprehensive list. Enough to see a pattern.
Bellgaard started regularly spending weekends two months ago, never at the same time as his son, Northam.
Crowell only visits Fennor after Vardane has been there. Blackmere—”
“Don’t tell me,” I say with a wince. I’ve already come to terms with Blackmere’s involvement, however small, but if I’m about to learn that he’s been at the heart of things from the start, I’ll never hear the end of it from Virek.
But Callum squints at me. “He’s never attended. From what I can gather, he likes Fennor about as much as he likes Hex.” He jerks his head toward the prince without taking his gaze from me.
“Crowell,” Hex says with a frown, ignoring Callum’s comment. “As in the second son of Lord Velbrant?”
I sit up. “Velbrant. He’s the executive lawyer for the House of Lords, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and as loyal to the crown as a man can get.”
“I didn’t say Velbrant has been at Fennor’s retreats,” Callum snaps, though his glare isn’t very effective. “His son has. More than anyone.”
That could mean nothing, but Callum wouldn’t have brought up Crowell if that was the case.
“He hasn’t been to any of the events we’ve attended this week,” I say, quickly sorting through my memories to make sure I hadn’t somehow missed him.
There’s the chance I didn’t pay attention to a second son with his lack of impending title or fortune, but I don’t think so.
Humming, Callum turns his laptop back toward himself. “No, he has not.”
I narrow my eyes. “But?”
“But he’s on the guest list for this weekend, along with Bellgaard and Vardane. The three of them have never been at Fennor’s estate together before now, and breaks in patterns are dangerous.”
Callum’s attention to patterns is the reason we’re here in the first place, and I know better than to question him. “So I need to accept Greywick’s offer,” I say, then turn to Hex. “And you and your brother are going to have to help me get to the bottom of this mess before things turn ugly.”
However I expected the prince to respond, it wasn’t for him to turn pale. “My brother?”
Furrowing my brow, I point at my phone. “You read the email. Aleksander was invited as well, and I’ll take all the help I can get.”
“He can’t.” His voice cracks.
I’ve never heard Hex’s voice do that.
Glancing at Callum, who presses his lips together like he’s hiding a grin, I shift closer to the prince. “What do you mean, ‘he can’t’?”
Hex swallows and sits up straighter. “I mean my brother can’t come this weekend because he’s…on an assignment.”
I narrow my eyes. “Have you always been this bad of a liar, or…?”