Cheeky King Page 16

  "He did. So with the five you inherit as the new monarch, and the five from your grandfather, that’s ten. There are nineteen additional seats on the council. You need to fill your vacated voting seat. Your mother will almost always side with you. If you fill your vacant seat with someone sympathetic, you will then have twelve votes. There are at least five other members of the council who were loyal to your father. That puts you at seventeen, meaning you have full command of the Regents Council.”

  "You’re saying I can push through anything that I want?”

  “Essentially, yes. The Regents Council isn't even aware, though they will be made aware at the next meeting. My theory is that someone wanted to prevent your father from pushing through the law of succession change. If your father passed of natural causes, they could call you unfit and put Prince Ashton on the throne with Prince Aidan as the heir apparent."

  "But I am the firstborn. It's my birthright. They are no threat to me." One you were willing to throw away just a few months ago.

  "But as we know from this situation with the quack king, anything can happen.

  “Someone killed my father. I want to know who. I want to know why. And I want to know the easiest way to make them pay.”

  “Now that it’s confirmed, we need to take more care. You obviously already have round-the-clock guards, but I need one stationed in your room, someone above reproach, someone who will keep you from harm, until we find out who committed treason, and why.”

  My first thought was obviously Penny because it was a no-brainer. She’d apparently already saved my life, but I knew that wasn’t going to fly. “For now, we’ll make it Roone, and then we can determine anyone else who might be safe.”

  Ethan nodded. “When Roone needs a night off, I’ll stay with you, Your Majesty.”

  “Ethan, you have a family. I do have other friends.”

  Ethan shook his head. “Until we find out who killed your father, assume you have not a single friend. Trust no one.”

  24

  Sebastian

  I rolled my eyes as Roone and Lucas hung on to each other. “Seriously you guys, you’d think you’re some long-lost couple that will never see each other again.”

  Roone lifted a hand and slowly unfurled his middle finger directly at me. “Don’t listen to your brother. He’s a total asshole.”

  Lucas and Roone clapped each other’s backs and bro-hugged it out. I told myself I wasn’t jealous. While the two of them had been busy bonding, I had been taking care of affairs of the state. Oh yeah, and banging Penny.

  To be fair, that hadn’t happened in several days. Yeah, and you’re pretty twitchy and edgy about it. A part of me wanted to run and find her as quickly as possible, just to take the edge off. I was like an addict, and she was like my own personal brand of heroin. I was too far gone to quit, and the withdrawal was almost as much of a killer as each hit I took. Roone finally stepped back and clapped Lucas on the shoulder. “Man, it was good to meet you. Try and stay out of trouble, yeah?”

  Lucas shrugged. “I’ll try my best, but no promises.”

  And then Roone did what he did best: he always knew exactly when to exit a situation, never sticking around for too long. “Well, I’ll let you two say goodbye. Your Majesty, I’ll see you back at your quarters. You’ve got four guards on you right now.” Quietly, he pointed out where my guards were, so I would know, and then he excused himself. When he was gone, I turned to my brother. “So, I guess this is it.”

  “You’re going to miss me, aren’t you?” He grinned.

  "Yeah. Actually I am." I was going to miss him, plain and simple.

  Lucas grinned and stretched out his arms wide. "Bring it on in. I feel a bro hug coming here."

  I couldn't help but laugh. “All right. Fine, mate. Since you asked so nicely.” I embraced my brother and felt for the first time that I wasn’t alone.

  Lucas's eyes were mysteriously misty. "Thank you, Sebastian. You've changed the course of my whole life."

  I clapped him on the back. "And you changed the course of my mind."

  He frowned. "How’s that?"

  I spread my arms wide. "If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have known I was supposed to be king."

  25

  Penny

  I was determined. I could do this. My father was right; I could go and see Sebastian to say goodbye. I could go and tell him that I was leaving.

  But you're not going to talk to him are you? No. I was totally going to cheat and leave a note. Whether he chose to read it or not was up to him. But I'd finally put down my thoughts. Being close to him was too much, too difficult.

  As I strode down the hallway to the king’s office, I tried to be strong, tried to tell myself that I could do this, that I wasn’t afraid and my heart wasn't breaking into a million pieces. I lied.

  “Well, if it isn't the king’s consort."

  I whirled around. There was Ashton, leaning against the hall in front of Sebastian's office. "Ashton, what the hell are you doing here?"

  “Are you forgetting something?"

  I didn't want to do this with this dipshit today. "Oh yeah, what's that?"

  "Your Highness. You can pretend all you want, but it’s still the truth. I'm a prince. You will treat me according to my station."

  "What's your station these days, castle reject? You failed and now you're even farther down the list of importance."

  His lips flattened "You know, you've always thought you belonged, that you were one of us. You weren't. You were the help and still are.”

  "I can't wait to get away from this. People like you are the reason I'm leaving. You think of no one but yourself. And still somehow, you think you deserve everything."

  "I do deserve everything. I am a fucking prince."

  "Yes. Yes, you are. But then what does that actually mean for you? You didn't do anything to earn it. You got it by sheer blind luck, and that blind luck is what has you as fifth in line to the throne and not second. Or first. That must really eat at you."

  Okay, yes. I heard the internal alarms, but I was fresh from New York City and all my new Americanisms. But before I could dazzle him with more, he had a hand around my neck and had me flat against the wall.

  My head banged into the wall, and my vision went blurry He blocked my attempts to free myself. I coughed and wheezed as he dragged me into the darkened hallway. But I wasn't down for the count. He grabbed me around the shoulders and shoved me backward, but he must have pressed one of the hidden levers because the wall behind me started to turn and rotate and I went with it. Unfortunately, he followed me inside.

  Inside the dimly lit passageway, panic rose in my heart and against my ribs as sweat popped on my brow. Oh God. What recourse did I have? He was a fucking prince. But it wasn't in me to give up. Hell, if this was gonna be a fight then it better be to the death. Bring that shit all the way on because Ashton had always proven he was cruel. "Whatever you think you're going to do I promise you it is a bad idea. You might be a prince, but even princes can go to jail."

  "You really think my cousin will put me in jail? You think you're special to him? He will see you as the whore you are. I refuse to pay for my cousin’s sloppy seconds though, so it’s time to take what I want."

  “The hell you will.”

  “You've already fucked him. Now you'll fuck me."

  “You try this and you will be sorry. I will end you.” Yep. Just as soon as I found a weapon.

  “I just think I should get as good as he got. I know you fucked him in one of the staff offices. You're pretty much open for business. If he cared about you he would have fucked you in a bed.”

  I hated everything that came out of his mouth. But most of all, I hated how some of what he said echoed what I felt. I balled my hand into a fist then I popped him good in the nose.

  His head snapped back, but he grabbed me again by the hair and smashed me against the wall. Pain settled in the base of my skull, and my head spun. Something warm trickled down my neck. It
was probably blood.

  Ashton fumbled for his belt, and I saw my only chance to escape. While he was trying to hold me in place with one hand and remove his belt with the other, I let loose with a head butt. Then an elbow. Then a fist. Then a quick succession of knees brought him down close to my height, and I delivered an elbow to his temple. When I had him down on the ground, holding his balls and clutching his head, I ran out of the passageway. And of course, the first person I ran into was Sebastian.

  "Penny. What are you doing here? What were you doing in the hidden tunnels?"

  Adrenaline still flooding my veins, my gaze darted to the panel then back to Sebastian. I needed to leave here because Ashton was right; he would use Sebastian's relationship with me against him. I didn't want to be a party to that. All I wanted was to be free. “I know you won't believe me. But I love you too. I've always loved you."

  Then I ran toward freedom.

  * * *

  Sebastian

  Ethan walked into my office. "Your Majesty. I did as you asked, but we can't find your cousin. He seems to have disappeared."

  “Exactly what do you mean disappeared? We need to question him. His diplomatic pouch from his last travels were the only possible entry point of the compound. I spoke with the lab. Outside of a cryo environment, the drug deteriorates. So the average person couldn’t walk it into the islands. And he is one of three who could have brought it into the county. Perhaps unwittingly, he carried something for someone. But we need to question him.”

  “When it comes down to motive and who could have poisoned your father, he is our prime person of interest. Interestingly enough, a member of the Royal Guard is also missing. He was on your father's detail the day of his death, and there's been suspicious bank activity between him and Prince Ashton. That Guard, Anders, could easily have slipped your father something or injected him with something that would've induced a heart attack."

  I planted my hands on my desk, the pain tearing through me. I needed a better way of dealing with this, needed to know what happened.

  "Your Majesty, I'm already on it. We will find them both and the perfect solution to this situation."

  "Oh, I have just the solution for Prince Ashton." I could think of all manner of ways to torture my cousin. But I knew what the royal decree said: any royal deemed to have committed a crime would be exiled and not jailed. I was going to say something about that. But first I had more questions. "Ethan, I know I'm overstepping here. But I need to know … Where is Penny?" Wow, I sounded paranoid and pained when I asked.

  "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. I’m not sure. She left."

  I frowned. "What do you mean ‘left’?"

  "I mean she left the island. And not for a holiday. She's gone for good.”

  The pain finally made my legs weak, and I sank into the chair. "She didn't even say goodbye."

  Penny's father cleared his throat. "All due respect, sir. I believe she wanted to but something upset her."

  I frowned. "What day did she leave?"

  "She left the island yesterday."

  Shit. I’d made her run and there was no getting her back.

  26

  Penny

  As soon as I landed in Miami, my phone started to ring as if Ariel knew exactly where I was. I didn’t want to ignore her, but I figured maybe another few minutes to myself before I had to deal with the reality of what I’d done would be good for me. I grabbed myself a coffee, found my way to my next gate, and parked it in the corner far away from everyone. I had a two-hour layover before my flight to New York, so it seemed like the ideal time to get berated by my best friend.

  And sure enough, Ariel was calling again.

  I answered and let out a deep breath. “Okay, don’t be mad.”

  Ariel’s voice was surprisingly calm. “Who’s mad?”

  “You’re not?”

  “No, of course not.” Again, there was this note of utter Zen in her voice, and I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong. “I mean, my best friend just vanishes in the middle of the night and leaves me a goddamn text to wake up to, and all it says is, ‘I couldn’t do it anymore. I have to go.’ And no one seems to know where she is, so of course I wouldn’t be mad. Granted, I was a little panicked, and almost went to the fucking king or king regent or whatever the hell we’re supposed to call him right now. Regardless, it’s fine. You know, just making sure you’re still alive. I mean, I didn’t get a call. No one said Condor. The way Condor works is you tell me and I take you, so I know what’s going on. But oh, no, I’m not mad. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”

  She totally had a point. I couldn’t even defend myself. I ran in the middle of the night. I’d already known I was going to leave, but that thing with Ashton and running into Sebastian like that right after totally escalated my exit because I knew how risky everything was. I was a total coward. I admitted it. The problem was admitting it to Ariel. “Listen, I know I fucked up, and I am really, really sorry. I just couldn’t … ” Tears were starting to sting my eyes, and I blinked them rapidly away. I refused to be that girl crying in the middle of the airport and have some overly eager stranger try to come and talk to me. I was in no mood for that mess. “With everything going on, I couldn’t stay any longer.”

  “I get that. You don’t think I get that? If you ask me, you never should have come back. At the very least, you should have come back for a week and then quit. I was frankly surprised you stayed as long as you did. But why couldn’t you give me a heads-up?”

  “I just couldn’t. I am so sorry. I just—I had to go. I had to leave.”

  Ariel was silent for a moment. I didn’t know what she heard in my voice, but her tone changed immediately. It went softer, somehow more worried. “What happened, Penny?”

  I didn’t want to think about it. Ashton’s hands on me, the stench of alcohol on his breath that lingered by my ear, his hands shoving in my pants. I didn’t want to think about any of it. “Ariel, I don’t—” I took a deep breath and held it for two seconds before exhaling. I could do this. I could lie to my best friend. “Nothing happened. I just needed to leave. The situation with Sebastian, it’s not good for me, and it’s even worse for him. The coronation is in a week. If anyone found out what we were doing, it would be really bad for him. The Regents Council could vote him out. They could decide he’s not fit, so it was the best thing for everyone that I just leave.” I sighed and hoped to God she would believe me.

  “This is bullshit.” So much for that. “You needing to get out of town, I understand. But you were supposed to say goodbye. What happened? I was worried. I’m not getting off this phone until you tell me. And if you don’t tell me, I’m getting on the next plane to New York. Then you’ll have to tell me in person, which—given the way you ran in the middle of the night—I think will be even more difficult. So you choose.”

  Damn it. I’d always loved her persistence, but this shit was ridiculous. “Why can’t you just let anything go?”

  “Because you’re like my sister. If your brother or Robert did anything to you, you need to tell me. I will kick their asses so hard—“

  “It wasn’t them. It was Ashton.”

  There was a bit of silence on the line. “What?”

  “I talked to my mom and my dad, and I was determined to leave. I was on my way to Sebastian’s office to leave him a note telling him that I wouldn’t be his personal guard anymore and that I was leaving. Fucking Ashton grabbed me and pulled me into one of the old consort tunnels. Then he—” I forced myself to swallow the bile that had traveled halfway up my esophagus. The briny acid didn’t go down easy. “He attacked me. He insisted that since I was giving Sebastian sexual favors I had to do the same for him.”

  “I will fucking kill him. I’ll do it now.” I could hear movement on the other end, and I knew Ariel meant it. Her temper was legendary. Her loyalty was second-to-none. She would commit treason for me if I okayed it.

  “Ariel, stop it. This is exactly what I didn’t want. I do
n’t want you flying off the handle. I don’t want you doing something you can’t take back. What you’re talking about is treason against a member of the royal family. You need to cool it.”

  “You told Sebastian, right? You told him what Ashton did?”

  The shame washed through me. I knew logically it wasn’t my fault and that what Ashton tried to do was all about him. But still, I couldn’t let it go. The feelings surrounding it, I couldn’t shake them. Maybe if I’d just steered clear of him, if I hadn’t run my mouth so often. But that was stupid thinking. “I got away. Then I ran into Sebastian in the hallway and he tried to talk to me, but I just couldn’t. I just bailed. I went home, grabbed my bag and my passport, and I was out. New York seemed like the best place to go right now. I need room to think.”

  “Sweetheart, I understand. But you could have told me. I would find a way to make him pay.”

  “And go to jail for me? I love you, but no.” After her experience with her father, I knew that was her secret fear: being locked up or being labeled just like him.

  “You should have told Sebastian. Ashton might be a prince, but there are ways of dealing with him.”

  From history lessons, we knew that there were some laws protecting noble people. Royals were mostly immune to the common laws. I honestly didn’t know what, if anything, would have happened to Prince Ashton, but I knew I couldn’t very well just go to the police and say that he assaulted me. “So anyway, that’s why I ran. Awesome, huh?”

  “No, it’s not awesome. Look, I know you ran because you want to be alone, because you need space, but let me come help you. I’ll ask for some more time off. And hey, like I was saying, that whole Blake Security idea is still an option. Let me come. Let me help.”

  “I love you, Ariel. But this is just something I have to do on my own. Please don’t tell Sebastian where I’ve gone. And I know that I’m ridiculous thinking he might even ask. And he sure as hell wouldn’t come after me, but just in case he does ask, please don’t tell him.”