Raines, Elizabeth - Captivated [Wicked Missions 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

She gave Jayce a cool smile and smoothed her hand over her intricately styled hair. “I’m quite well. Kamala must be devastated at what happened at the ceremony.”

Izzie glanced over to see Kamala laughing with Damian. “She seems okay to me. Plus, she can wait a while longer before donning the veil and
wenora
. That’s reason enough to be happy.”

“What would you understand about our traditions?” Fraudi sneered, her eyes growing hard. “Jayce should be careful. Breaking beloved traditions comes at a cost.”

Jayce gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Beloved? Hardly. The people seemed fine with it. The laws on women covering themselves up are antiquated. When I become king—”

“
If
you become king.” Fraudi stared at her daughter as she said the words.

“
When
I’m king, my first change will be to repeal all laws requiring
wenora
, veils, and robes.”

Izzie’s radar was working overtime, but she needed to talk privately with Damian to get more information. This woman had motive to want Jayce gone. Her daughter would be next in line for the throne since Jayce had no brothers. What did Damian know about Fraudi and her ambitions for Vilanna?

“We shall see,” Fraudi said. “Change can come in many ways for many reasons. Come, daughter.” With that, Fraudi turned, walking away from the gathering area with Vilanna at her side. One of the guards who’d been standing just to the side fell in step behind them, just as two guards had followed Steraph out of the room.

“How many bodyguards are there in the palace?” she turned to ask Damian.

He took the last few steps to join them. “The king has four personal bodyguards, two who are constantly following him and two who guard his apartments. All the children have one. I’m Jayce’s.”

“I want to meet them all, including the captain.”

“You just missed him. Vilanna’s guard is the captain. His name’s Hock. A good guard. He was a schoolmate of Vilanna and Jayce’s from the time they were children. He and Vilanna have always been…close.”

That came a shock, considering how protective most Bromondi men were about their daughters. She’d assumed the princesses were kept fairly cloistered. “Does the king spend much time with his kids?”

Damian shook his head. “The children keep to themselves and well out of his way, especially with the size of the palace. The guards keep him informed of their activities and who they see, but they keep a few secrets. Just look at Jayce and the compound.” He glanced around, probably to be sure they weren’t being overheard. “If Steraph knew about…us…”

“I know. I know.”

Jayce distracted her by taking her hand, raising it to his lips, and kissing the back of her knuckles. “I’m ready to go to my apartment. I imagine Damian is as well. I’ve thought about you all day. Your soft skin. Your beautiful breasts. Your sweet, wet—”

Izzie’s cheeks flushed hot as she put her hand over his mouth.

He pulled it away and then pressed his lips to her palm. “Join us?”

“The king won’t like it.” Staying close to Jayce was what mattered most to her right now, but he’d caused enough uproar today. If he allowed her to stay with him in his private quarters, he’d surely get all sorts of hell from Steraph. When she finally got him alone, she could give him the hell
she
wanted to for his high-handed announcement of their engagement. Oh, yes…she’d make sure he knew
exactly
how angry she was to have him reveal his plans without her consent.

“From that look in your eyes, I might just want to reconsider that invitation. How does it feel to officially be my fiancée?” He winked at her.

“Oh, you can bet we’ll talk about
that
later.”

“Then let me show you my home.”

“Already saw it. Remember?”

She loved his smile. “Not the bedroom, you haven’t.”

* * * *

Jayce grabbed her just as soon as Damian locked the door, tugging her hard against his chest and claiming her mouth for a kiss that was almost brutal as he thrust his tongue between her parted lips and squeezed her breast. Izzie let herself drown in the intensity that his touch and kiss inspired. Damian quickly joined them, molding his front to the planes of her back. He brushed her hair aside and gently nibbled on the tender flesh of her neck.

Her body caught fire, heat shooting from her core to fan out to every limb. Moisture rushed from her pussy, and she whimpered in need when Damian’s hand slipped between her and Jayce to reach the apex of her thighs. Even through the material of her shorts, she could feel him rubbing deeper and deeper, seeking her sensitive clitoris. All Izzie wanted was to get them both naked.

Jayce pulled his lips away to say, “Bedroom. Now.”

Before Izzie could even reply, Damian’s hands snaked around her waist, and he lifted her until her feet dangled above the tile floor. She tried to look around to see what Jayce’s home was like, but Damian moved too quickly for her to take in too awfully much. Behind large ornate double doors was the master bedroom.

The bed itself was enormous. Set up high on a dais, it was made of dark wood and had four tall posts carved into intricate designs that reminded her of totem poles she’d seen back on Earth. The faces of the animals seemed to keep watch over the room. A bulky black comforter covered the mattress. Jayce buried his fingers in the folds, jerking the comforter aside, and then he gasped. “What the hell?”

Izzie turned to see the enormous snake writhing over the beige silk sheets. It curled into a ball, raised its head, and bared a set of enormous fangs at Jayce who had frozen on the spot, clearly afraid of provoking an attack. “Fuck,” she whispered, fighting the urge to shout.

Damian dropped her back on her feet, grabbed for his pistol, quickly aimed, and fired. The green pulse hit the snake’s head, splattering disgusting fragments of green tissue and red-brown blood on the sheets.

Damian holstered his weapon and hurried to Jayce. “You’re okay?”

An angry scowl on his face, Jayce nodded.

“From now on,” Izzie said, “you don’t touch
anything
without someone touching it first.”

“Surely, you’re jesting,” Jayce said as he knit his brows.

On this, she wouldn’t bend. “Not at all. And I want permission to carry my pulse pistol. You don’t touch anything before I do or before Damian does, and you don’t eat or drink anything unless a servant does first. Does the king have a food taster?”

“Of course,” Jayce replied. “But—”

“Then he’ll taste your food as well.”

“Why?”

Since there was no delicate way to break it to him and keep him safe, Izzie used her usual bluntness. “Because someone in this palace wants you dead.”

* * * *

“How could you not have had someone search his apartment when you knew he was coming back today?” Izzie was having a hard time holding her temper as she faced the man she held responsible for Jayce’s near miss at becoming snake food.

Hock seemed unaffected, his stony expression pushing her anger a little further toward explosion. “Damian works outside of my command. I assumed he’d handle the prince’s security. As usual.”

“Damian’s his bodyguard, but the palace should be
your
domain. You’re the head of the guards, right?”

He nodded, setting his mouth into an angry line.

“Then
you
are responsible for keeping the palace secure!” She’d clenched her hands into fists to keep from grabbing the man’s shirt and shaking some sense into him.

The first crack in his calm demeanor came as his voice grew louder. “The prince has made it known that he wishes his privacy in all things, especially his home. His…association with Damian makes them shun my protection.”

“I don’t give a shit if he wants it or not—you’re going to watch out for the crown prince! Now…I want a guard on the door to his personal quarters at all times. He wants to go somewhere, a guard brings the car, drives him anywhere he wants to go, and follows him the entire time he’s gone, whether I’m there or not.”

“But…Jayce…I mean, his highness will object!”

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t give a shit!”

“But…you’re a…a…woman!” Hock shouted.

“Ya think?” She took a deep breath to try to find some calm. “Whether I’m a woman or not is irrelevant.”

“You have no right to order me about,” Hock insisted, “let alone order the crown pr—”

“Silence!” Steraph’s shout echoed through the great hall. He marched over to Izzie and Hock, his bodyguards scurrying behind him to keep up with his long strides. Stopping in front of Hock, who bowed at the same time Izzie did, Steraph set his hands against his hips. “What happened in my son’s quarters?”

“A snake was found,” Hock replied.

“A snake?”

“Yes, sir,” Izzie interjected. “A sand rippler a good two meters long. Quite poisonous and poised to strike in the middle of his bed.”

The king quirked an eyebrow. “You were in the bedroom when this happened?” Steraph’s voice held a note of accusation as his eyes bored through her.

Although her cheeks grew warm, she refused to let his intimidation tactics bother her. Keeping Jayce and Damian safe was all she could think about. “Yes, sir.”

Steraph folded his arms over his broad chest. Until she watched him using the same wide-legged stance and intense frown Jayce liked to use when he was angry, she hadn’t realized just how alike the father and son looked. Even though he was Jayce’s father, the king was still a handsome man—strong and lean with a striking face. “You share my son’s bed before marriage?”

Yep. He fucking asked me that. Aloud
. “Um…that’s between Jayce and me.”
And Damian
.

“He’s my heir. Nothing he does should be kept from me.”

“He’s an adult, and so am I. We are our own keepers, sir.”

Steraph narrowed his eyes as he took a step closer. Although she was tall, he was taller—even taller than Jayce—and he tried to use that height for intimidation. Izzie had to fight hard to keep from smiling as she glared right back at him. When the corners of his mouth began to twitch, she knew she’d gotten to him.

He stepped back, turned to Hock, and said, “It will
not
happen again. While this…woman might be his personal bodyguard, you are my captain of the guard. You will protect the crown prince!”

Izzie held her tongue despite the desire to scream that Hock was just telling her how he
wouldn’t
protect Jayce. If he wouldn’t fucking watch Jayce, she sure as hell would.

“It won’t happen again,” Hock replied.

“See that it doesn’t, or you will be the one held accountable.” On that pronouncement, Steraph left just as quickly as he’d arrived, making her feel as if she’d been caught up in a whirlwind. And she realized something important when she’d come so close to losing Jayce.

No matter how much she hated this place, she’d never be able to leave Bromond. She needed Jayce, she needed Damian, and she would spend the rest of her life loving them both.

But she had to keep them alive to do that.

“Now,” Izzie said when Hock returned his attention to her, “we make some solid plans on protecting my future husband.”

Chapter 8

While the servants cleaned up the mess, Hock and Damian helped Izzie search the rest of Jayce’s suite. Since Jayce refused to sit casually aside, she made him stay close to her as she looked through the rooms, checking the closets, opening every bureau, and poking through anything that could conceal a danger—urns, vases, even the elaborate sculptures Jayce collected.

He kept touching her, making her breath catch as his fingers brushed through her hair, over her breast, or across her ass. His caresses made it hard to concentrate on her job, so she finally started smacking his hand every time he touched her. It wasn’t much of a deterrent.

After the search was over, Hock left with a bow to Jayce. Izzie locked the door herself, checking every other possible way into the suite and securing all the windows. The place was locked up tight, but she still felt nervous. Her gut was twisted into knots at the thought of something happening to either of the men she loved.

How odd
. In all her years protecting people—both behind the scenes and at their sides—she’d never worried as much as she did about Jayce, Damian as well since he was putting himself between danger and Jayce every bit as much as she was. Her own safety barely registered on her radar, but Jayce and Damian had to stay out of harm’s way. They just had to.