77: Palace Intrigue

Quincy St. Martin

All our luggage and bags are already taken downstairs by the luggage fairies. Okay, not really. But they are all gone by the time we come out of the shower.

I’m almost ready when he emerges from the walk-in closet.

Our eyes meet in the mirror, and he leans against the doorframe with his hands in his pants’ pockets to watch me twisting my hair up into a French braid. He’s looking sharp and flawless...and regal. His jaw is clean-shaven, and his golden hair is shiny and styled back.

He’s wearing a navy blue, V-neck cable-knit sweater over a white shirt and a blue silk tie, dark gray trousers, and shiny black leather boots.

“You look beautiful no matter how you wear your hair,” he says as he pushes his broad shoulder off the doorframe to stand behind me.

His warm, hard body presses against my back, and he runs his long, elegant fingers along the strands of my hair before he brings it aside to wind it around his hand like a rope.

“But I much prefer your hair down.” He kisses the slope of my neck while his eyes stay locked with mine in the mirror. “All wild and wrapped around my fingers.”

“I know,” I whisper as I reach up to kiss his cheek. He smells like aftershave, the faint trace of an expensive cologne, and his own addictive scent, which I always crave.

“Now let’s go.” Before I cave in to the temptation again.

It’s only 5:15 a.m. by the time we get to the kitchen. It’s still dark outside, but all the lights downstairs are on. There are some fresh fruits and an assortment of cereals on the kitchen island. There is also a big carafe of coffee and a pot of tea at the end of the granite counter, along with sugar, cream, and milk.

Everybody is already sitting at the breakfast table, drinking tea or coffee, but no one is having anything to eat. Jonah and Jorden are also here. This is the first time that I see my two cousins dressed so smartly. I have to admit they both clean up nicely.

Lady Celeste is sitting on a wingback chair, facing the big window overlooking the well-lit backyard and the pool all by herself. She’s dressed in a peach-colored designer dress, and her hair is beautifully done up as always.

She tries to appear relaxed, but I notice her beautifully manicured fingers fidgeting with the strap of her Birkin bag.

Serena and Penny utter a quiet good-morning to us, and the men just nod their heads in acknowledgment. I think Genesis is still half asleep. She mutters something unintelligible into her mug. It sounds like a threat of something violent…if you listen carefully.

“It’s only her second cup,” says Constantine, as if that explains everything.

Caspian pours us both a mug of coffee each. He adds two cubes of sugar and a touch of cream to my coffee before taking the mugs to the breakfast table for us.

There are three SUVs and a limo waiting in the driveway.

Apparently, the limo is for Lady Celeste with the driver slash personal bodyguard who traveled with her from the palace.

The driver opens the door of the first SUV for us. Caspian and I share the ride with Genesis and Constantine. Again, these lycans don’t know how to drive at an appropriate speed. We go flying along the highway.

We are driven straight to the tarmac, where the plane is already waiting.

We are greeted by the captain and the co-pilot at the bottom of the steps. The flight crew seems to be familiar with the rest of the lycans.

I think the crew is all werewolves. Two flight attendants who stand by the door introduce themselves as Anna and Yuliya. They give Caspian a flirtatious smile, and he stiffens. They seem confused when he ushers me inside without a word or a smile in their direction.

Penny snickers, and I hear her mutter as she walks past him, “Your past catching up with you, pretty boy?”

I shoot him a look, which he avoids meeting. I try to pull my hand out of his grasp, but he just holds on tighter. I know I could never win this war with him, so I just let him drag me to the plush leather seats at the very front.

I know he was a player and a flirt, but I never thought I’d see more of them after Helen Jessica Rabbit What’s-her-name. I guess I should have known that I’d be seeing plenty of them when we get to Russia. Well, as long as they know their place, we’re good.

Let’s see how long I can manage without tearing someone’s hair out. This is going to be so much fun! Not!

This plane is even more luxurious than the one we took when we were flying back from my old pack. The interior is lavish and classy. There are eight cream leather seats with tables that can be folded in front of them and two plush curved sofas after that.

Beyond the sofas are two bedrooms, a washroom, and a full bathroom. To their credit, the two air-hostesses remain professional and friendly. They serve us breakfast an hour after takeoff and make no attempt to flirt with him again.

So, I think we’re good. They got me at breakfast.

My mate, on the other hand, is still in the doghouse, though it’s quite hard to keep him there.

Reasonable or not, I’m feeling hurt, and I’m punishing him for what I might have to deal with when we get to Russia. The more I try to ignore him, the more he insists on keeping me close.

Some people might say he’s being charming. I’d say he’s being annoying. Like right now, he’s force-feeding me breakfast while explaining the names of the food in front of us.

“Come on, open up, my love. I know you’ll like this one,” he says, holding a forkful of something that’s called ~sharlotka~, some sort of apple cake, to my mouth.

He’s already fed me ~blini~, a cross between a pancake and a crepe served with butter, sour cream, jam, and caviar, semolina porridge, as well as the usual fried egg, sausage, yogurt, and fresh fruit.

The food was delicious, and I’m already full, but I can’t tell him that because I’m not talking to him, see? This is all part of his plan to get me to say something. This is our battle right here. He’s so hardheaded and devious and obnoxious.

I’m tempted to sucker-punch him in the throat. I mean, if I didn’t love him so much, I would.

“Caspian, can we have a minute?” says Constantine, tipping his chin toward the back.

“I’ll be right back, ~moya printsessa~.”

Caspian leans in to kiss me on the cheek before he follows Constantine to the back of the plane where they huddle with Lazarus, Darius, and Jonah.

I stand up to join Serena, Genesis, and Penny, who are sitting on the sofa.

“What’s up with Her Ladyship?” I ask them, indicating Lady Celeste, who is sitting on one of the seats at the front beside Jorden. She seems rather pale and is very silent. Jorden is talking to her quietly.

“She’s scared of flying,” whispers Genesis.

What? The mighty, bratty, annoying lycan is scared of flying?

My face must register my shock because Penny grins and nods her head before adding, “That’s why she never travels much.”

“The word is she was in a terrible plane crash in the sixties and never fully recovered from it, emotionally,” explains Serena.

“Hey, I know how to make this flight more interesting,” says Penny excitedly. Her eyes are bright with gleeful menace.

“Penny, don’t!” warns Genesis.

I know Genesis is trying to act more mature. It’s her new resolution for this month. Each month her resolution ends up a failure. Last month, her resolution was to eat less. That didn’t end very well, according to Penny. Let’s just say, a hangry lycan is not a pleasant lycan.

So she’s trying extra hard this time. I can already see the crack, though.

I see how her eyes dart between Penny and Lady Celeste, and her face falls into curiosity and a longing to do mischief.

Serena is trying hard not to laugh. She pats Genesis’s shoulder in encouragement.

“You’re doing great, Gen,” I tell her in support, though I’m dying to know what Penny has cooking in that cuckoo brain of hers.

“Awww, you guys are no fun,” complains Penny with a frown.

“~Malyshka~, you’re not planning to bring the plane down, are you?” asks Darius as the men come to join us.

“Bring the plane down? Psshh. Why would I do that?” she says before gazing up at him with an angelic-looking smile.

“Sweetheart, let’s go before Beany makes you her minion to carry out her devious little plans to destroy the world,” says Caspian as he takes my wrist and pulls me up.

Penny gasps in indignation. “You…I’m not...what? That’s you! You evil mastermind you!” she shouts at our backs.

“Beany, you know I’m a lover, not a fighter. I only make sweet, sweet, wonderful love, not war,” replies my mate with a wink as he ushers me into one of the bedrooms at the back.

“And I’m a monkey’s uncle,” she answers.

“That you are,” says Caspian.

I don’t get to hear her comeback, as Caspian closes the door firmly behind us.

Even the bedroom is very richly decorated. It carries the same plush cream, white, and black decor as the front cabin. The lights are dimmed, and the windows are drawn.

He strips down to his boxers then drags me to bed and wraps his arms tightly around me. I fall asleep almost immediately.

When I wake up a few hours later, I’m not mad at him anymore.

***

It’s dark, and the door opens to flurries of snow at Vnukovo Airport, Russia.

The security here is tight. We are surrounded by big serious-looking men who remind me of Darius once we get out of the plane. Caspian’s hand is clasping mine as we step onto the icy tarmac where limousines are already waiting.

It seems that we are already assigned which cars are to take us. We share the spacious limo with Constantine, Genesis, and Lady Celeste.

Caspian lifts me up and settles me onto his lap once we got into the car. He rests his chin on the side of my head and wraps his arms tightly around me as if he’s going to lose me if he lets go for one second.

I grab the front of his jacket and rest my head on the curve between his neck and shoulder while watching Russia pass by in a blur from the window of the car.

I breathe in his scent and feel his thumb drawing circles on my upper arm.

After a while, I notice that he’s actually writing something on my arm.

I L-O-V-E U, he writes.

I L-O-V-E U 2, I trace back on his chest.

T-H-I-S C-A-R R-I-D-E S-U-C-K-S, he writes.

I giggle and reply, I S-U-C-K U.

He suddenly lifts his head up and looks down at me with a raised eyebrow and a wicked smile. “Promise?” he asks.

“Maybe,” I whisper coyly.

“Hell yeah!” he says.

I can feel Lady Celeste’s burning gaze on us, but at this point, I couldn’t care less about her. I’m the one with the prince’s heart.

***

Banehallow Palace is impressive, to say the least. It takes my breath away as soon as I see it in the distance. It sits on a huge tract of land on top of a mountain, surrounded by white, snow-covered forest.

We drive through several werewolf packs’ territories just to get to the road that goes up to the heavily guarded front gate. It’s still quite a drive, going through some more wooded areas and a large field from the front gate to the palace’s massive front doors.

The building itself is magnificent. It must have been sitting here, withstanding natural elements of ice, sunshine, and rain for centuries. There are turrets and big windows with eerie-looking stone gargoyles on the slanted roofs.

There are humongous columns supporting the arched roofed entrance and bronze statues of lycans standing guard on the front steps. A huge frozen pond with an ice-covered statue-fountain of a woman with the face of a lycan sits in front of the mighty structure.

This is it. I’ve entered my mate’s world. It’s like a different universe.

The guards open the door for us, and I feel the change in Caspian’s mood as soon as we enter the palace. His naughty, playful spirit is replaced by a stiff, heavily guarded demeanor.

We are met by a solemn, dignified-looking man in a stiff black suit. He’s thin and tall, almost as tall as Caspian.

His dark hair is parted on the side, and he has a pencil-thin mustache like that French actor Jean Dujardin once had. His face gives nothing away.

“Welcome back, Your Highness,” he says with a little bow.

“François,” acknowledges my mate while handing him our thick jackets. “Quincy, this is my PA, François. François, this is my mate, Quincy Romanov.”

François bows respectfully. “Your Highness, King Alexandros and Queen Sophia are expecting you for dinner shortly.”

Caspian’s hand tightens around mine. Something cold and heavy sinks into my stomach. I’m so not ready for this.