Huntress Read online

  “Maybe.”

  “I’ve already agreed to help you perform the assault but only if there’s any actual evidence of threat to your princess.”

  “You’re going to call Eva a princess as many times as possible to drive us both insane, aren’t you?”

  “It’s in the parenting handbook. Also, I’m pushing her buttons to see how long it takes for her to go on a profanity-filled rampage. Your mother misses the profanities already.”

  “I do not.”

  “Your mother is also a little cranky the doctors didn’t warn her you’d be taking unplanned naps.”

  “That part is true.”

  “I don’t think the doctor really knew, Mom. Anyway, I’m feeling fine, and I’m finally getting to enjoy coffee.”

  My father chuckled. “They’ve been rationing coffee like it’s an illegal drug around you. You’re going to be wired.”

  “Wired is better than sleeping until we’re through this.”

  “That’s true enough. Alright, kiddo. Why are you plotting assault, and why did your agent barge in and inform me I’d be cooperating with your attempted assault? You’re not a fighter. All that’s going to happen is that I’m going to have to shift and do the fighting for you.”

  “The man Eva’s biological parents attempted to fraudulently marry her to is afraid of birds.”

  “I take back everything I just said with the exception of having to shift and help you with the fight. I’d been briefed there was an illegal certificate, but I hadn’t gotten all of the details. Wouldn’t a warrant for his arrest be better? She was a minor when the forgery occurred.”

  “I see no reason both can’t occur at the same time. I’ll just helpfully accompany the arresting officers. I like that idea. King Jacques informed me the bastard requested an audience.”

  “Yes, he did. And yes, I’ll grant the audience, which is when he’ll be arrested. Evangeline has already agreed to be present for the audience, as we want to record his reaction to her presence. Initially, the plan was to have the audience after dinner while you were still sleeping, but as you’ll be awake, we’ll make some adjustments for your inclusion. This could be a political disaster for Nevada, so it’ll be addressed immediately. There’s another concern we’ll need to address as well.”

  I considered the worst-case scenarios, grimacing at the severity of each one. At the top of my list was a violation of parole terms, which could easily lead to the execution of Eva’s mother. While my wife had been on the run for years, I wasn’t sure how she’d handle the news.

  Some things remained a mystery with my wife, and I looked forward to long years of solving them.

  “Does this incident violate parole terms?”

  “Yes, it does. While evicted from the royal family, the parole terms state that she must obey all of Nevada’s laws. Nevada doesn’t have stellar protections in place for children of marriageable age, but forgery and fraud are illegal, as is offering and accepting money for a child’s hand in marriage. Dowries have been barred in Nevada; the laws were put into place before they attempted to marry Eva off. We have uncovered documentation and financials proving they’d arranged her marriage for direct profit. While evicted from the royal bloodline, my sister has a strong talent. It’s stronger in Evangeline. Evangeline’s talent is likely on par with mine, although we’ll want to do proper evaluations after everything has settled. I’m not convinced she has adequate control over her talent.” King Jacques stared at my wife, and she bristled, matching him glare for glare.

  “Just curse him out, Eva. He already signed the paperwork, as did his congress. If he wants to disown you, he’d have a hefty battle ahead of him. I think your talent is perfect as it is, so don’t worry what he thinks about it.”

  “You’re both fucking nutters.”

  “The nice thing is that you get to come home with me and you don’t have to see that fucking nutter unless you want to. You’re stuck with this fucking nutter, though.”

  My mother’s pained sigh made me unreasonably happy.

  My father drummed his fingers on the table. “You’re going to be using her favorite words trying to give your mother and me more gray hairs, aren’t you?”

  “Good idea. Thanks for the suggestion, Dad. Being serious. When is this audience, should I wait to have my coffee until right before it to ensure I don’t miss out, and at what stage can I be involved?”

  “It’ll be right after dinner. I’ve already issued the royal summons, which he won’t ignore as he put in the request to be summoned. I expect he’ll contrive some bogus accusations regarding Evangeline’s involvement with the assault at the training center. Be prepared for that, Your Highness. While everyone at this table knows that’s a lie, he’ll be convincing. This man’s a snake and has been the entirety of his time in my court, but he’s a cunning snake who hasn’t done anything I’ve been, until now, able to prove.”

  No matter how many obstacles came between me and Eva, I’d tear them down so she could have a safe, stable, and comfortable life, one where she wouldn’t have to run from her past. I couldn’t protect her from everything, but when she faced her demons, I’d face them with her. I glanced at her before giving King Jacques a long, serious look. “If he raises a hand against her, I make no promises I won’t kill him.”

  My father raised his hand like he was a little kid in school rather than a king. “I’ll be helping him.”

  A gusty sigh exploded from my mother, startling us all into staring at her. “I’m inclined to agree, but I’ll have to keep my contributions purely magical. I don’t want to break a nail on a worthless piece of slime.”

  The rest of my family, scattered around the big table, snickered.

  “This is the problem with inviting a bunch of predators into my house. There’s inevitably bloodshed.”

  “The Your Highness over there isn’t a predator,” Eva said, pointing at me. “First, he’s too pretty to be a predator. Second, actually, I don’t need a second. He’s too pretty to be a predator.”

  “Predators can be pretty,” my father protested.

  “Predators exist to be trophies in my photography collection, Your Majesty.”

  “Do you take requests?” my mother asked. “Would you pose your prizes in certain ways? Do you do group hunts for trophies?”

  “If you’re asking if I’ll tag and bag multiple members of your family, your husband and king included, we can discuss the details.”

  “Is a pile of unconscious predators with a lively white turkey on top displaying his feathers feasible?”

  I liked the idea enough I leaned forward for a better look at my mother. “You have my attention, Mom.”

  “I thought that would. Evangeline, I’ve lost count of the number of times those freaks have paraded around the castle in the nude because they couldn’t wait to shift until they returned to their rooms like civilized beings.”

  Ah. Having heard the complaint my entire life, I accepted it as a long-standing grudge an incriminating photograph would help soothe for a while.

  “The problem here is that you view them as civilized beings, Your Majesty. If you don’t train the beasts appropriately, they’ll do things like run around the castle in the nude. I recommend a training regime. Poor behavior can result in a trophy-hunting session. I think we can work the initial hunt as a sneak peek of what they’ll face if they can’t moderate their nudity to tolerable levels.” Eva smiled. “I promise you my Your Highness will not be walking around any castle in the nude. I don’t share.”

  “This is where the pretty part of the equation comes into play, I see,” King Jacques murmured. “Could you two possibly be any more possessive of each other right now?”

  “No,” Eva and I chorused.

  “It’s going to be a long night,” Nevada’s king predicted.

  As warned, the coffee had its way with me, filling me with restless, jittery energy. All in all, I preferred it to needing an immediate nap, but if I didn’t find something to do with
myself while waiting for Jerome Dansen to arrive, I’d lose my mind. The man, aged seventy-nine, bothered me in more ways than I could count. Even his photograph managed to give me a serious case of the creeps, as he leered for the camera without even bothering to hide his disgusting tendencies.

  He’d been married and divorced six times, and not a single one of the women had been over the age of twenty-one. Had he succeeded in his plot with Eva, she would’ve been his youngest victim.

  The file did a good job of riling up every member of my family, but my mother’s determination to get in her hits worried me. If Dansen even looked at my mother, my father would rip him to pieces, resulting in a lot of ruined carpeting in the king’s personal office and cranky RPS agents. Because my father would be doing the killing, he wouldn’t even attempt to cover up the murder.

  He’d own it and use it as an example of what would happen if anyone tried to hurt his wife. Then, because he was my father, he’d lay out the various crimes the old man had committed, including the attempted theft of my wife.

  I’d need a lot of coffee to get through the next few days.

  “I’d be a lot happier if you avoided transforming,” my father grumbled, taking over King Jacques’s couch with my mother, leaving my great-grandpa, as a bear, to decorate a corner while I stood off to the side with Eva.

  Eva shifted her weight from foot to foot, and at a loss of how to ease her anxiety, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pinned her to my side. It didn’t stop her from fidgeting, but it offered me the illusion she wouldn’t fidget her way through the floor or otherwise escape me.

  A knock at the door ended the conversation, and one of Nevada’s RPS agents stepped inside. “Your Majesty, Mr. Dansen is here to see you.”

  Showtime.

  I tightened my hold on Eva, keeping her nestled to my side. I recognized the move for what it was, purely possessive and territorial, but she pressed against me. I couldn’t view her as weak.

  No, my wife wasn’t weak, but the fear lurking under her skin and reflecting in her tense expression made me want to put a quick end to the man who’d terrorized her since she’d run away too many years ago.

  “Show him in,” King Jacques ordered, and he sat on the edge of his desk, casual and composed. My father used the pose sometimes when he wanted to trick people into relaxing their guard. A king behind his desk intimidated. A king perched on his desk seemed more approachable.

  Anyone who thought so knew nothing of the game of politics.

  King Jacques prepared to wage a quick and vicious war.

  After, I’d need to sit him down and have a talk with him, as behind the desk was a great deal safer than on it when my family expected bloodshed. Then again, he’d learn the truth soon enough, around the time he had to replace his pale carpeting because blood often left stains most cleaners couldn’t handle. I supposed magic might clean the mess.

  My father typically replaced the carpet in a new color and called it a day.

  Dansen stepped into the king’s office, his leer in place, his hair so grayed it fringed on white, and eager enough I wanted to fist my hand and knock the pride out of him. I’d seen his expression before in my father’s court.

  He believed he’d won, that he would get exactly what he wanted, and what he wanted was my wife.

  “Your Majesty,” he greeted, dipping into a bow.

  Had the man bothered to acknowledge anyone else in the room, he might’ve noticed Eva, although she shrank against me and trembled. A quick glance at her face eased most of my concerns.

  The fear had made way for rage, and she wasn’t shrinking against me, she prepared to do battle, and I expected I’d become a launching block for her assault if he crossed any one of her lines.

  Was I better off restraining or encouraging her?

  “I hope you have a very good reason for interrupting my time with Illinois’s delegation.”

  “I wish to lay charges of kidnapping and conspiracy against our sovereignty, Your Majesty.”

  “Against whom?”

  “Illinois.”

  My father snorted, and then he laughed. “You win that bet, Jacques. And here I thought only one of my court would have the audacity to try such a foolish thing.”

  As it happened so often with men utterly convinced of their superiority, Dansen woke to the fact he hadn’t walked into a private audience with his king. He turned to face my father.

  Something about the motion, something about the way he dared turn his back on me, who stood to lose the most from his interference, infuriated me. My blood rushed in my head, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears and throat.

  “Kelvin,” Eva whispered in my ear. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  Protecting her would never be stupid, but I stood still, watched, and waited despite wanting to wade in and teach the old man a few lessons about terrifying young women.

  “You,” Dansen spat.

  “Me,” my father cheerfully agreed, and he took his time wrapping his arm around my mother and holding her the same way I held Eva, possessive. “It’s considered rude to try to take another man’s woman, Mr. Dansen. It’s even ruder to attempt to rob a kingdom of its future queen. It’s downright criminal when a man attempts to force himself upon a little girl.”

  Eva stiffened at my father’s description of her.

  To my father, to most in my family, fifteen was little, a child in all ways, and little more than an infant in arms, albeit a mouthy infant prone to fits of independence. I reined in my temper and sighed, my turn to do the soothing. “They’re old men who look young, Eva. To them, we are babies.”

  She grunted but stayed put.

  “Excuse me?”

  I considered banging my head against the wall but thought better of it. Instead, I lifted my free hand and rubbed my brow, convinced I’d contract a migraine due to Dansen’s general ego and stupidity before he was dealt with and arrested.

  “What part was incomprehensible for you? Did you really believe the forged documentation would hold up to scrutiny?”

  “How dare you accuse me! My papers are accurate and legal.”

  “They’re a confirmed forgery.” My father rose from the couch, crossed to the desk and picked up one of the papers. “This claims you married one Evangeline Estrin two days after she turned fifteen.” He picked up another piece of paper. “This document is a visa application, submitted in person, for a ninety-day visa to remain in Texas signed the day before your so-called legal documentation was signed.” My father snatched a third piece of paper. “This is a confirmation of asylum in Texas signed on the same day in Houston. Please explain to me how a little girl on the run in Texas, seeking asylum to get away from you, can sign a paper in Nevada.”

  Uh oh. I heard the fury in my father’s voice, and I wondered if Dansen would make it to trial.

  “This is preposterous! Those documents aren’t real.”

  “Oh, they’re real,” the voice of Montana’s king said from the phone, and everyone save King Jacques jumped. My heart skipped a few beats, and I wondered how King Jacques had put through the call without any of us noticing. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m King William of Montana. I’ve been brought in to verify the truth of your words, and you, Mr. Dansen, are aware the documents you claim are real are a forgery. Also, Your Majesty, congratulations on your adoption. You’re wise to bring such an accomplished woman directly into your royal bloodline, and I’m glad we could see eye to eye on this matter.”

  Talent? A clever RPS agent tapping into the phone lines? A sneaky use of computers? No matter how the pair of monarchs had pulled it off, I was grateful I wouldn’t have to call in for a truth seer to put the man’s lies to rest.

  I forced myself to relax, although I kept a firm grip on Eva.

  “Adoption?” Dansen blurted. “What adoption?”

  “As my sister and her husband are obviously incapable of caring properly for a little girl and filed an incorrect disowning to terrorize her and coerce her in
to a marriage, I’ve decided to ensure the disowning was properly finalized, as we have confirmation Evangeline was informed she was no longer a part of the Estrin family. This is to protect her from men like you, who believe little girls should be the property of the wealthy. This is also to protect the interests of Illinois, who wisely chose my new daughter to be their future queen.”

  Eva did her best to hide behind me, and I preferred her embarrassment over her fear. I made enough space she could cram her face against my back.

  Dansen’s gaze flicked to me, and his eyes widened. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  I raised a brow. “Haven’t you been watching the news?”

  “What? No. I don’t need to watch the news. You’re supposed to be dead.”

  My father stilled, and he locked onto Dansen, a low growl slipping out of his throat. “Your Majesty?”

  “He speaks the truth,” Montana’s king reported. “As does the money trail, which indicates he helped pay for the unpleasantness in Illinois. Answer me true, Mr. Dansen. Were you involved with the plot to murder Prince Kelvin of Illinois?”

  Hatred twisted Dansen’s leering face into a repulsive mask. “What is it to you? Things would be simpler without a defective prince around.”

  Defective? I supposed requiring a bone marrow transplant due to the family talent did count as defective, which made it easier to shrug off the insult.

  “Answer the question, Mr. Dansen.”

  Something in King William’s voice changed, as though he’d become a thunderstorm poised to break overhead and fling the terrors of nature down on our heads.

  “Yes.”

  “Truth. There’s your confession, King Jacques. Do with him as you please. Should you give him to the lynx, I recommend you make him take his prey outside first, as I doubt you’ll be able to get the bloodstains out of your office no matter how hard you scrub.” A click and dial tone announced King William’s departure from the conversation, and King Jacques reached across his desk to hang up his phone.