Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra) (11 page)

“Speak for yourself. In my world, broody vampires are an excellent thing.” She called her group over to start practicing, and the teen girls reluctantly tore themselves away. It was then that Rafe spotted me, giving me one of those smiles that made my blood blaze.

I wanted to ask him about his business plans and how they related to me. I wanted to understand why he had done it. But if I let him explain, it might be one less thing for me to be upset about. So instead I asked, “Where did you learn to build things?”

He looked down at the hammer still in his hand. “I worked for Habitat for Humanity in Eastern Europe the summer after Veronique died.”

Veronique? Who was Veronique? I nearly asked him. I didn’t have to, though. I could have looked it up online. But I wouldn’t. What if I looked it up, and Veronique was related to this explanation he kept hinting at, and it changed how I felt?

Would that be such a bad thing?

Stupid voice. Yes! That would be a very bad thing. He had already destroyed my heart once. If I let him do it again, I wasn’t sure I would recover. Rafe was dangerous. He was not the reliable, husbandly type. He was the international, hot, supermodel-esque, royal prince type. The kind of guy who probably had to spend a good twenty minutes every morning peeling off all the women who had thrown themselves at him.

I believed in forgiveness, and in theory I wanted to practice it, but I wasn’t dumb enough to forget.

“Okay. Cool. I’m supposed to be over there.” I pointed to where the elementary and middle school kids were working on props and routines for the talent show. A whisper of a smile played over his lips, and I knew he knew that I was trying to hide from him.

Exasperated, I walked over to the kid I knew and liked the best. Henry. He was eleven years old and reminded me of a young Harry Potter, with dark brown hair that was always sticking out in forty different directions and thick glasses that he could never keep up at the top of his nose. He wore a magician’s hat and a cape.

You like that he looks like a young, Americanized Rafe
. The voice was back. I told it to shut up and leave for the night. I was busy.

He stood in front of a large cabinet, which was all scraped up on one side. “What’cha up to, squirt?”

Henry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Magic. I’m going to make somebody
disappear
.” He said “disappear” in a low, whispery voice. Like he would do real magic. “My grandpa gave me his old disappearing box. Will you help me?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do?”

“Get in the box.”

My throat constricted, making it difficult to breathe. Dark circles appeared at the edge of my vision. “I don’t know if I . . .”

“Please, Genesis.”

I swallowed hard, trying to reopen my airway. If it had been anybody else, I would have refused and walked off. But I’d never been able to say no to Henry. I had been his babysitter since he was two years old. His parents had died in a car crash, and like me, he had been shipped off to Frog Hollow to live with his grandparents.

“Can you keep a secret?’ He was adorably serious, which helped my panic abate a little.

I was the world’s greatest at keeping secrets. “Yes.”

“It’s super easy. You step in, I close the box, and the secret is you pull the latch here.” He used his magic wand to point it out, hidden in the top right corner. “The back will open, and then I’ll open it up to show everyone that you disappeared.”

He gave me the same face Laddie did when he wanted bacon. I was powerless to resist. It would be a few seconds. I could do it for a few seconds.

“Okay.” I nodded, realizing that my lips had gone numb. “Okay.”

I could do this. To help Henry. And maybe to prove to myself that confined spaces weren’t as bad as I thought they were.

“Step in!” he directed, waving his arms widely. “Watch closely, everyone, as I make Genesis
disappear
!”

Bracing myself, I stepped into the box. “Don’t go out the back until I say abracadabra,” he whispered. I nodded, unable to speak. It was tolerable until he shut the door behind me. I clutched my hands together, closing my eyes as my stomach churned. I counted out loud. I’d give him until twenty, and then I was leaving no matter what he said.

I reached up to find the latch, keeping my fingers on it while I counted. My heart beat ridiculously fast as my dinner threatened to make a return visit.

“One, two, three,” I counted as Henry went through his prepared speech. Sweat formed at my hairline, spilling down my forehead. It was stuffy. Why was it so stuffy?

“Abracadabra!” he called out loudly. Finally.

I pulled hard on the latch, but nothing happened. I pulled again, pushing at the back of the box. Still nothing.

My tongue swelled up in my mouth, making it so I couldn’t breathe. My chest hurt and felt unbearably tight. I would not freak out and terrify Henry and half of the kids in the town. I would not get hysterical and start screaming.

Why had I agreed to this? I kept tugging at the latch, willing it to work. Praying that this time it would make the door spring open. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks, and I banged on the door as gently as I could manage. “I’m stuck, Henry.”

There was a sound outside, as if Henry was trying to open the front of the cabinet. “I can’t get it open.”

The box shook as he tried his best, and I sat down on the floor, curling myself up into a ball. I rocked back and forth, trying to stave off a full-blown panic attack.

“Go get help,” I told him in the calmest voice that I could manage. Pretty soon I wouldn’t be able to think at all because I was about to suffocate and die.

“Okay,” he replied, but suddenly the front of the box was flung open.

And there stood Rafe.

Chapter 11

Light, cold air, and relief flooded in as Rafe reached in to pick me up. I put my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder as he carried me to the back of the auditorium. I should have protested, but I felt too weak.

He sat me down in one of the seats. He knelt in front of me, rubbing my arms up and down. “You’re okay. Everything’s okay. You’re okay.” He just kept repeating himself as my tears dried up and my breathing started to return to normal.

Henry approached, his eyes big. “Is Genesis all right?”

Rafe tried to turn his body to talk to Henry, but I realized he couldn’t because I was gripping his sleeves too tightly for him to move. I attempted to relax my fingers. They weren’t cooperating.

“She’s fine,” Rafe told him. “Can you do me a favor and go see if Miss Brady has a blanket we can use?”

I got a chance to collect myself before he returned. I even finally managed to let go of Rafe’s sleeves. Rafe took the blanket and put it over me. “I’m okay.” My voice sounded creaky. Fortunately, the only person who seemed to notice what had happened was Henry.

And Rafe.

“How did you know?”

Rafe cocked his head. “How did I know that when you stepped into a small, confined space things would go bad?” His voice had the slightest trace of sarcasm, which I probably deserved. He had been there the last time I freaked out like that, and he had been the one to comfort me.

That was also when I’d treated him like my own personal confessional and told him way more than I should have.

Henry kept pushing his glasses up, and I leaned in to whisper to Rafe. “I don’t want him to be scared.”

Nodding, Rafe stood up and went over to Henry, crouching down so they could be eye level. “I should have tested it first,” Henry said.

I pulled the edges of the blanket tightly around me, the cocooning pressure making me feel safer, for some reason. I was starting to feel ridiculous. I knew I had totally overreacted. I wished I didn’t have such horrible claustrophobia, and that I didn’t get totally hysterical and irrational because of it.

“Now you know. Maybe I can help you with it. I bet together we can fix whatever’s wrong with it,” Rafe said.

Henry visibly brightened. “Okay!”

Rafe looked back at me, over his shoulder. “Although we should probably find you a different assistant. Genesis is going to be very busy that night.”

“I didn’t think of that. You’re right.” Henry screwed up his face, like he was concentrating. “I can find somebody else.”

Watching Rafe talk to Henry and smooth over the situation, I could feel the ice around my heart starting to fracture. Little fissures were spreading all over the surface.

It didn’t matter if he was nice or rescued me or was good with children or saved the town’s economy.

What I had to remember and focus on were the lies.

Because the next time I let him in, those fissures would give way and I would fall in and drown.

We didn’t talk about what had happened. I didn’t want to relive it, and Rafe knew me well enough to back off. My days proceeded as normal—school, work, volunteering. Only he was there. All the time. At meals, driving Aunt Sylvia to doctor’s appointments while I was out, clearing our porches and driveway when it snowed, building scenery, sitting at the diner surrounded by people who wanted to talk to him and thank him.

He had pretty much won everybody over.

Except for me.

He was always around, but he didn’t try to have any serious conversations with me. That was the whole point of him coming to Iowa, wasn’t it? To explain why he had done what he did? Part of me was morbidly curious, but the other part didn’t want to think about his reasons or about him.

The second part was failing miserably.

Early Friday morning, there was a knock at my door. Which surprised me, because people didn’t typically just show up. They usually called or texted first. Laddie ran to the door, barking gleefully. He kept jumping up toward the knob, like he wanted to open it himself.

And I couldn’t have been more shocked to find Lemon and her best friend, Kat, standing on my porch.

I grabbed the knob tightly, my other hand flying to my chest. “Rafe’s not here,” I told them. What in the world did they want?

Laddie leapt against the screen door, paws up, tail wagging, tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“We know,” Kat told me. She had dark hair and brown eyes and a smirk that indicated she’d enjoyed surprising me. She was a bit taller than me, while Lemon was a dainty little thing in ridiculous high-heeled boots. “Our bodyguards talked to his bodyguards and we timed our visit for while he’s out running.”

It didn’t surprise me that his bodyguards could perfectly time him coming and going. Rafe’s running routine was common knowledge in our town. His route had become like his own personal mini-parade route, whether or not he realized it. All the women in town lined up at their front windows to watch as he went by.

“I don’t understand why you’re here.”

They exchanged glances, and it seemed like they could read each other’s minds.

“I know you’re angry with me,” Lemon said in her Southern drawl, her bright blonde bob swinging as she talked. “But I need to talk to you. Can we come in?”

“She’s not angry with me. Hey, how’s it going,” Kat said, opening the screen door. She patted Laddie on the head and then went by me, sitting on our couch. “I thought Monterra was cold. It is freezing here!”

“Sure?” I didn’t mean for it come out as a question, but Lemon accepted it. I moved back, grabbing Laddie’s collar so he wouldn’t jump. She sat next to Kat on the sofa, both of them looking around the room.

Before I closed the door, I saw several men in sunglasses and black suits, wearing earpieces and walking through the yard. Gianni was with them. I closed the door slowly, trying to gather my thoughts.

After telling my dog to stay and behave, I sat in the armchair across from the couch, perched on the edge of the seat. Lemon put her expensive purse on the coffee table while Kat put up her feet. I was sitting across from two future princesses. They were engaged to Rafe’s twin, Dante, and his oldest brother, Nico. That shouldn’t have seemed like a big deal considering a prince was living in my guesthouse, but it felt different somehow.

“You have a lovely home,” Lemon said, her back straight, legs crossed at the ankle.

Kat’s eyebrows went up. “Yes! A lovely home. Sorry, I’m still working on this gracious etiquette thing.”

“Thanks,” I said. I watched as Laddie edged across the floor in a doggie army crawl toward the women. He caught me looking at him and stopped.

“Thank you for letting us in,” Lemon said. She brushed some hair away from her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She rubbed her hands together in her lap. “I know you don’t want to talk to me, and I deserve your anger. But I wanted to apologize for what I did. I thought Rafe was Dante, and when I saw the two of you kissing, well, I kind of lost it.”

That was the understatement of the year. She had been like a hissing polecat, throwing things and calling Rafe names.

“I only thought about myself, and I’m so sorry. That’s not how you treat a friend.”

I knew she was sincere. Since she’d found out about the switch and had gotten engaged to Dante, she had reached out to me repeatedly. I didn’t know how she’d gotten my email and my phone number. I’d guessed one of the producers from the show must have given them to her. Or she used the royal private investigator to track me down. I didn’t know if they actually had one of those, but it wouldn’t have surprised me.

I didn’t read her texts, I didn’t take her calls, and I didn’t open her emails. The only way that I knew how to get through that dark time was to keep away from everything that would remind me of Rafe. When I made those appearances I didn’t have a choice, but in my private life, I absolutely did.

Now I felt guilty as I saw the pain on Lemon’s face. “I should have talked to you. It was just so awful and you were a reminder of him.”

“I totally get that. You should have seen me after I left Nico,” Kat interjected, talking about her fiancé. I must have looked confused. “We broke up and I left Monterra and went back to Colorado. I told him I never wanted to see him again. I was like the living dead. I didn’t let Lemon talk about him or his family, either.”

Relieved that someone finally understood, I settled back into my chair. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. At first I was too angry, then too hurt, and then I didn’t know what to say.”

Lemon moved over to the chair closest to mine, holding out her hand. I grabbed it and she squeezed. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course. If you promise to forgive me too.”

“Done.” She stood up, pulling me along with her, and we hugged. It felt like a massive weight had been taken off of me. I didn’t like that we hadn’t spoken in six months. I was glad to have my friend back.

Laddie had taken advantage of my distraction and was lying on the floor in front of Kat. He was on his back, tongue lolling out while she rubbed his belly. It was his favorite thing ever.

Lemon went for her purse. “I brought you a bribe to sweeten the pot.” She handed me a beautifully wrapped present with a bow so perfect I was afraid to open it.

“Just tear into it,” Kat offered. “She always does that.”

So I did. It was a picture frame. When I turned it over, I started to gasp and sputter.

“I think that means she likes it,” Kat said with a wink to her best friend.

“You brought me a personalized, autographed picture of William Shatner? Freaking Captain James Tiberius Kirk?” It was one of the things Lemon and I had bonded over while on the show—her obsession with zombies and mine with intergalactic space travel. “Thank you. Thank you! How did you even get this?”

“Royalty has its privileges,” Lemon said with a sweet smile.

I put it down on the table next to my chair. Then I moved it so that he was looking directly at me. I was aware that this made me weird. I didn’t care. Lemon sat back down on the couch next to Kat.

“Your nerd is showing,” Kat teased, and I smiled back.

“Where are my manners?” I said. “Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

“We’re good,” Kat responded. “Oh! Offering guests drinks. I need to be better about remembering that.” When I met her in Monterra during the show, she’d told me a bit about her background. I knew she’d grown up mostly in a trailer park, was homeless for a while, and then ended up in foster care. I could only imagine how difficult her transition would be from regular girl to queen of an entire country after her fiancé became king.

Lemon asked about my aunt, and the conversation took off from there. Lemon showed me her engagement ring and told me how Dante had proposed, including a charming story about how the men in their family knew when they’d found their true loves because of a gypsy. She also filled me in on her former friend and field producer Taylor Hodges, and how Taylor had conspired to keep Lemon in the dark about both brothers being on the show. Kat told me about the details of her upcoming wedding, which was only a couple of weeks away. She was getting married on Christmas, and apparently there had been less planning and strategizing involved with the invasion of Normandy.

A beep sounded from Lemon’s phone. She picked it up. “Rafe will be back soon. We have to go.”

“You don’t want to stay and see him?” I asked, confused.

“If he finds out we’re here, he’ll be madder than a wet rooster in a tote sack.” That made me smile. I’d missed her Lemon-isms.

“Yeah, this is our stealth mission. None of them know we’re here,” Kat added. Laddie had moved onto her lap and was snoring. She petted him absentmindedly.

“We’re supposed to be in Paris getting this one lingerie for her honeymoon,” Lemon said as she elbowed Kat. Kat blushed, and I was glad to finally meet someone who had the same issue with blushing that I did.

“And with Iowa obviously being on the way you thought you’d swing by?”

“It was important to me that I apologize,” Lemon said. She pulled out a compact, checking her bright red lips before putting it back in her purse. “And I thought with Rafe being here that you might be open to . . .” Her voice trailed off at my expression. “What? What is it?”

“Maybe you should stay until he gets here so that you can take him back with you to Monterra.”

Kat and Lemon exchanged serious and heavy glances, again seeming like they could communicate telepathically. “What the frak? You want him to leave?” Kat asked, sounding really confused.

Hadn’t she watched the show?

“You haven’t forgiven him?” Lemon asked, just as confused.

Obviously Rafe was not making regular reports home on his lack of progress here. “No.”

“But hasn’t he explained?” Lemon went on.

“No. And I’m not interested in his explanation.”

She wasn’t going to be deterred. “Out of anyone, I understand where you’re coming from. We were both lied to and deceived.”

“Dante didn’t lie to you. Taylor did. Rafe lied to me. Deliberately and repeatedly.”

“But that was only for Dante’s benefit!” she protested.

I let out a deep sigh. It was bad enough he was winning over my whole town. I didn’t need his future sisters-in-law here fighting his battles. “Whatever’s happening with Rafe and me is between the two of us. I understand that you care about him, but he’s a big boy and I’m a big girl.”