The Lost Princes of Ambria 06 - Taming the Lost Prince (13 page)

“Why don’t you put on a suit and go in and give it a try? It might just open your eyes.” She snickered. “Or kill you.”

He gave her a baleful look, but before he could make a rejoinder, someone hailed him from the floor.

“Hey, Max. Come on down here and give me some competition.” The fencer pulled up his mask and slashed the air with his foil.

Max laughed, realizing it was his brother Joe. “I don’t know one end of a sword from another. I’d probably end up stabbing myself,” he called down.

“I was just like you a few months ago,” Joe said. “Hey, I spent most of my growing up years on a surfboard in California. What did I know about these ancient ritualistic sports?” He grinned. “But I learned. And it’s a lot of fun, actually. Gives you a good workout, too. We’ll have to get you set up with lessons.”

“Cool,” Max said back. “If a surfer boy can learn, I guess a seat-of-the-pants flyer can.”

“Absolutely.”

“Though I don’t know if I can fit it in,” Max added, teasing Kayla, though he was still talking to Joe. “I’m real busy learning how to be a prince, you know.”

“You have somebody teaching you?” Joe cried. “Hey, how do I get in on that gig?”

“I’ll tell Pellea you’re interested,” Kayla told him with a laugh.

“Do that.” He saluted them both. “See you later,” he added as he pulled his mask back down and took the ready position.

“He doesn’t need any lessons,” Max said in admiration. “Look at him.”

She did, then she turned back, eyes sparkling. “Max, you ought to look at yourself. You look just as good as he does. It’s only a matter of time until you have the confidence to carry it off without a waver.”

“Sure,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “Whatever you say, teacher lady. I’m here to learn.”

Next stop was at the tailor. Mr. Nanvone’s father had been the royal tailor thirty years before, and now his son had taken over. Max was less enthusiastic about this visit.

“Why don’t we just wait awhile and see if we’re really going to need formal wear and all that stuff?” he suggested as they reached the shop. Mannequins in tuxedos lined the show windows. “After all …”

Just then a smartly dressed man emerged from the shop doorway. It took a double take for Max to realize it was another of his brothers.

“Max,” Mykal said jovially. “Come to get your fancy formal wear ordered?”

Max made a face. “Unfortunately, it does seem to be the goal here.”

Mykal laughed. “We all have to do it. You want to play, you’ve got to wear the gear.”

Max looked him over and blurted out, “What made you decide?”

Mykal looked wary. “Decide what?”

Max shrugged. “Whether you wanted to play or not.”

They stared at each other for a long moment and then a grin broke through Mykal’s reserve. “So you’re still at that stage, are you? Wondering if it’s all worth it.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Been there, done that. And as you see, I’m still here.”

He gave Kayla a wide smile, winked, then turned back to Max.

“Listen, come see me one of these days. We’ll talk.” And he was off.

Max watched him go, still favoring one side of his body over the other. Max sighed and then turned and followed Kayla into the tailor shop.

“I guess that motorcycle accident really did a number on him, didn’t it?” Max murmured to her.

“Yes. He almost died. He had shrapnel in his back, very close to his spine, and they didn’t want to operate because of that. But Mykal decided he would take any chance to be whole again, so he insisted on surgery.”

Max nodded. “Brave guy.” He squared his shoulders. “If he can do this, so can I. Where’s the man with the measuring tape?”

Kayla laughed as Mr. Nanvone instantly appeared from behind the curtain barrier into the back room, a measuring tape in his hand.

His session didn’t last very long, but by the time the measuring and other necessary particulars were finished, he seemed exhausted.

“The questions were the worst,” he told her as they left the shop. “‘Which do you prefer,’” he mimicked, copying the tailor’s accent, “‘ostrich-or pearl-gray, teal or military green, oxford or gold-ore brown.’ Too many decisions!”

“Hold it,” Kayla said, reaching for her phone. “There’s a message from Pellea.” She read it quickly. “She wants us to come in right away. They’ve had a response from Mercuria.”

Her gaze met his and he reached out and took her by the hand.

“Let’s go.”

But as they walked toward the elevator, Max’s mood grew more somber.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Kayla looked up at him, curious. “What do you expect to go wrong? Things like this usually go on forever. We send our ambassador, they send theirs, they talk, they negotiate, they go back to their respective corners and it all starts again. You hardly ever see anything actually resolved.”

He considered her description as they got onto the elevator and punched in the right floor. “I’d feel better if I knew what that historical artifact they think I took was. I mean, one person’s historical artifact could be another person’s used piece of trash. I wish I had some idea of what we’re looking for.”

Pellea’s face wasn’t giving away any clues as they walked into the office.

“Thank you for getting here so quickly,” she began. “I feel like things are escalating and I don’t want them to spin out of control.”

“Of course not,” Kayla agreed. “What have you heard?”

The queen waited while they took chairs, then continued. “I think I explained to you how the charges were addressed by our ambassador. He handed our letter to King Juomo personally. Here is the king’s response.”

She held up a large, embossed and very official-looking document.

“‘The plane and the horse are nothing to us. We are willing to let them go. The artifact is everything. We must have it back. There is only one way we will accept its return. Max Arragen must himself bring it back to Helgium Castle and offer it by hand to the Princess Nadine. No other method will suffice.’”

Pellea looked up and cocked her head in Max’s direction. “Princess Nadine?” she said questioningly. “A new element has been added. Care to elaborate?”

Max sighed and looked guilty. “I should have told you about Princess Nadine.”

Pellea’s eyes flashed. “Yes, you should have.”

Quickly he told her the same thing he had told Kayla, explaining how crazy this was, at least in his opinion. “She’s just a teenaged girl with a teenaged crush. Nothing more.”

“A teenaged girl with the power to start a war.” Pellea glared at him. “And possibly have you executed.”

Executed. That was an ugly and very serious word. Everyone in the room seemed to reverberate to the vibes coming off just the sound of it for a moment.

Pellea was the first to break out of the spell. “All right, here’s the rest. ‘You have only three days left to comply with our demands. We are preparing for an invasion.’” She looked out at the others. “An invasion. The man is crazy, but then, those who invade other countries often are.”

There was a long silence, and then Max looked up.

“Why don’t I go? They can’t hold this whole country responsible for me if I’m not here and haven’t officially been made a part of the royal court. Just call me the black sheep, the one you can’t control, the one you can do nothing about. They can’t expect you to pay for my crimes.”

“Impossible. You are a prince of Ambria. We can’t let you go.”

He looked down again, then up. “You know, I didn’t do anything,” he said softly to Pellea.

She half smiled. “Max, if I thought you had done anything at all with a fifteen-year-old girl, we wouldn’t even be talking here anymore.”

He looked relieved. “Of course not.”

Kayla moved restlessly. “I think you should tell the queen about what happened to your rooms last night.”

Pellea turned a questioning face Max’s way. “Yes?”

“When I got in late last evening, I found my apartment ransacked. I think it was probably Mercurians after that darn artifact, whatever it may be.”

“Interesting.” She frowned. “Why weren’t you better guarded?”

He shrugged. “I’ve talked to the captain of the guard. I think conditions will improve.”

“Good.” She frowned again as he told her the situation and what had been done to his things.

“You’re sure nothing was taken?”

“As far as I can tell.”

“And you think it was the Mercurians?”

He nodded. “I’m sure of it.”

“Well, I guess we all had better be on our guard,” Pellea warned. “Those darn Mercurians.”

“Mercurians!”

That was the first thing Kayla thought when she opened the door to her own apartment later that afternoon. Everything looked normal at first, but she could tell. She had the distinct feeling that things were different. Strangers had been in her place. Nothing seemed to be missing. But there was a sense of invasion. Her personal space had been violated. She was sure of it.

She called Max right away.

“They tried hard to put everything back just the way it was,” she said. “But I can tell. These creepy people have been all through my things. Ugh!”

“Did you call the security guards?”

“No.” She felt a bit abashed. “I called you.”

“I’ll call them. And I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Oh, I don’t want to bother you, Max. I know you have things to do.”

“I’m coming over and I’m bringing my toothbrush and jammies.”

“What? You can’t stay here.”

“Try and stop me.”

She had to laugh after she hung up. He did have a way about him. But amusement fled when the security people arrived and claimed they couldn’t find any evidence of a break in.

“How can you be sure your things were moved? Suppose you moved them yourself and forgot you did it?”

She had a feeling they were snickering at her behind her back, but they got serious when Max arrived. He wasn’t pleased that they hadn’t been watching her apartment more carefully, as he’d requested. They promised to be more vigilant.

“You see, you don’t have to stay,” she told him once they’d gone. “I’ll be okay.”

“Yes, you’ll be fine. Because I will be here with you.”

“Really?” She gave him an exasperated look. “And how long do you plan to stay here?”

“Until the Mercurians stop looking for the artifact.”

She made a face at him. “That could take a long, long time.”

“Look, this is just for tonight. We’ll deal with the rest of our lives later. Okay?”

He had a few errands to run but he was back an hour later. He’d been looking forward to his night with Kayla with mixed feelings. It would be a delight to be with her, even if the mood was platonic, but he knew that Teddy probably came with the package. When he arrived at the door and glanced around the room, sure enough, there was the kid, sitting in a little plastic chair and playing with a stuffed dinosaur.

He wanted to like Teddy. The child was beautiful with huge blue eyes and a head of dark bronze curls. He looked adorable. But the kid hated him. He really seemed to have something against him. But that wasn’t fair. He was only a baby. Babies didn’t hate. Did they? They wanted what they wanted the minute they wanted it. Teddy wanted his mama and didn’t want to share her with some strange man. Who could blame him?

Sure. He grinned to himself. That was all it was. He had to stop letting his imagination run away with him.

He’d thought about this ahead of time. He knew what he had to do. He went right up to the child. “Hi, Teddy,” he said in a friendly manner. “What’s that you’ve got there? A tyrannosaurus?”

The blue eyes glanced up at him and shot back down to stare at his toy.

There you go
, he thought.
The kid hates me
.

He was at a loss. He’d never had any experience with children this age and he had no idea how to deal with them. He looked up at Kayla for help.

She stepped forward and he thought she seemed a little nervous. “Teddy, can you say ‘hi’ to Prince Max?”

Obviously not. Teddy’s lower lip came out and he stared very hard at his dinosaur.

“All right, we’ll work on that later,” she said with forced cheer. “But you’re going to have to learn to be polite to visitors.”

“Leave him alone,” Max murmured to the side. “Let him get used to me.” As if he knew the secrets to popularity with the Rugrat crowd.

She produced a batch of oven-fried chicken that was as good as anything the colonel made, along with crispy biscuits and a nice green salad. Even Teddy took a few bites. She’d also made some rubbery green gelatin squares that were so tough, they could play catch with them. Once he saw those, Teddy suddenly had an appetite. He came over to watch, hanging on his mother’s leg and leaning his head on her knee, and when Max tossed a square into the air and caught it with his mouth, Teddy couldn’t help it—he just had to laugh.

When it was time for bed, Teddy went down fairly easily.

“Help me tuck him in,” Kayla urged.

“Why?”

She gave him a look and he reluctantly followed her into the bedroom. When Teddy saw Max, he hid his face in the covers.

“You see,” Max whispered to her. “He doesn’t want me to be here when you tuck him in.”

“He’s a child,” she muttered back. “You’re a grown-up. You’re the one in charge of the situation. Don’t let him con you.”

So he helped tuck Teddy in. But the kid still seemed to hate him. He wasn’t sure why that should be—or why he cared. He’d known other kids who didn’t seem to adore him and it had never bothered him before. Maybe it was the fact that he’d expected to have instant rapport with Eddie’s boy. That hadn’t happened.

He came out into the kitchen and helped her with the dishes, taking a towel and drying them as she put them up on the counter, sparkling clean. They talked about old times and laughed about old stories. And Kayla realized that Max was really her only link to Eddie, physical or emotional. The memories were all in his head, like they were in her heart. Was that what drew her to him so strongly? Was that what made her feel something very close to love whenever she looked into his eyes?

No. It was more than that. Much more. If only she could pin down exactly what it was.