Trinity

I had no idea where we were in the palace. If I ever got out of this, I would get someone to take me on a tour. This room hadn’t been used in a long time, perhaps since my mother had been around. I dropped my earring behind me, thankful my big skirt hid the action. I had nothing left to take off. My dress wasn’t coming undone without help. The only good thing was that we were moving the dust all around, our footprints and weird swirls from the hem of my dress now marred the floor. Someone would easily see someone had been here, and recently. Hopefully, in time.

The guard reached out, grabbed my wrist and tugged me toward a corner. There was no escape, no way out. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it.”

He laughed. “I told you, Princess, you’re wanted by my master.”

His hand pressed against the wall and a doorway was revealed. Crap. A hidden passage. Now no one would ever find me, especially since I had no idea where the passages led. Out, I assumed.

He tugged me down the narrow corridor parallel to the abandoned room’s wall, then we turned. It was dark within, but I could see my feet, Zel before me. When Leo had led me through from my bedchamber to his, it had been exciting. Romantic even—except for the consort and his balls—but now I felt getting farther and farther away from anyone who might be able to help.

When I heard the pounding of heavy footsteps—not ours—I quickly changed my mind. Zel stopped, listened. Yes, someone was in the passageway.

“We’re here!” I shouted, the sound echoing off the narrow walls.

“You bitch,” Zel hissed, spinning around and backhanding me. I fell into the wall and I put my hand to my cheek. The metallic tang of blood filled my mouth and stars floated in front of my eyes, but I was fine. I could do this. I could survive until whomever was in the corridor got help.

He shoved me back the way we came and I stumbled. A tight grab on my elbow kept me from falling, then I was shoved again. We came back out into the abandoned room. Without letting go of his hold, he stormed toward the exit—the way we’d originally come in—but the door flung open.

Two guards burst through, pistols raised. With a harsh yank, Zel pulled me into his side, his arm banding about my waist. The knife was back, this time at my neck.

It was Leo’s father who stood before us, along with a second guard in a matching uniform.

“Put the weapons down!” Zel shouted.

Travin and the other guard held their arms out away from their sides but didn’t drop their ion pistols.

The footfall we’d heard in the passageway was loud behind us. Zel spun partially so he could see who came in behind us.

Leo!

A thrill shot through me at the sight of him, but I frowned as I recognized the assassin from the suite. The one who’d killed the consort, Cassander and tried to kill me and my sisters.

Was Zel and the assassin in on it together? Was he Zel’s master?

But the assassin—Vennix, I remembered—held his ion pistol steady. And it wasn’t aimed at Leo or even his father, but at Zel.

I didn’t understand, but with the knife at my neck, I wasn’t going to try and figure it out now.

Leo eyed me, raked his gaze over me from head to toe. I was whole, but I was sure I had a swollen cheek and would probably get a black eye. And I knew I had stained the dress red with a bit of blood where Zel had poked and twisted the blade under my ribs.

“It’s over, Zel,” Travin said.

“Put the weapons down or she’s dead,” he shouted.

I felt his ragged breathing against my back, the shaking of his muscles.

“You’re dead. You just haven’t realized it yet,” Leo countered.

We were at a standoff. When the knife pricked my neck, I hissed.

I could tell Leo wanted to jump him, rip the knife from his hand and kill him, but I’d be dead first. No ReGen wand in the universe could heal a jugular from being severed.

“I will go with you,” I said, glancing at Travin, then Leo, although my words were for Zel. “Leo, tell the guards to stand down. Spread word to let us pass through the palace.”

“No fucking way,” he vowed.

I wasn’t Destiny. I couldn’t fight my way out of this. I wasn’t Faith. I couldn’t humor my way out of a knife at my throat. But I was Princess Trinity, and I could think my way out.

“Remember the saying, mate. If you can’t get out of it…”

Leo’s eyes flickered with awareness before he finished. “Get into it.” He slowly squatted down, put his weapon on the floor. Told the others to do the same.

They didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but they followed Leo’s order.

“You got what you wanted, Zel. The weapons are down.” I tried to keep my voice calm, my tone even. Diplomatic, although it was totally fake and coated with lies.

“They’ll let us pass, but I can’t walk with a knife in my neck.”

Leo took a half step back and the others did as well.

After a few seconds, Zel moved the knife away and nudged me toward the door. I moved forward about two feet, then did what I’d been waiting for. I stepped back, my leg going between Zel’s. Since my hands were at my sides, it was easy for me to grab his crotch. Yeah, I could easily feel his cock and balls beneath my palm. This wasn’t a lover’s caress. No, it was a get the fuck off of me grip just like with the Royal Consort.

I grabbed, squeezed and tugged as I dropped my weight. Zel’s hold loosened and I could see out of the corner of my eye Leo grabbing his weapon and firing.

One shot. That was all it took. Zel’s head was gone, his body falling to the ground with a hard thud. His groin slipped from my tight hold as he went. It was only then that my brain stalled, that I couldn’t even think of what to do next.

But that didn’t matter. Leo had me in his arms and was carrying me across the room before I had a chance to blink. The feel of him, god. He felt so good. Big, strong. His steady heartbeat beneath my ear. He was safe. Whole. Alive.

So was I.

I started to shake as Leo looked down at me, studied my face, my neck. Setting me on my feet, he grabbed the ReGen wand from his belt and waved it over my face. I closed my eyes to the blue glow, but felt the sting in my busted lip disappear, the nick in my neck no longer throb. He ran it over the small cut under the bodice of my dress, then twirled me around, must have seen something similar in my back, and used the wand there as well before spinning me back around to face him.

I heard voices behind me, but ignored them. Others had come into the room, but Leo didn’t move, didn’t even talk to anyone else, just tended to me.

“Better, mate?”

I opened my eyes, saw that the ReGen wand was gone and so was all my pain. I nodded and that was all Leo needed before he lowered his mouth to mine. Kissed me with all the fervor and need we both felt from the incident. His hands cupped my face gently, but his lips told the truth. He’d been scared. Worried.

Yeah, I had too.

“Excuse me, Princess.”

A voice from behind me had Leo lifting his head. He wasn’t ashamed though. No, he looked annoyed at being interrupted.

Leo pulled me into his side, just as Zel had, although this time I wanted to be there. I wanted to feel his hand on my waist, the heat of his strong body along my side.

The assassin bowed. “I wish to introduce myself properly. I am Vennix of the queen’s guards. I apologize for deceiving you since your arrival.”

Travin moved to stand beside him, blocking out the four or five other guards who were dealing with Zel’s dead body. “You are well?” he asked.

I nodded.

“That was an interesting… move,” he commented. “I apologize for not protecting you better.”

I reached out and touched his arm. “None of us knew he was a traitor.”

“I did,” Nix commented. “And yet he still got to you.”

“I am fine and he is… dead.”

“I should have kept him alive to get him to talk,” Leo said.

When I glanced up at him over my shoulder, I saw he was mad at himself. “He talked to me. Told me he had a master. That he wanted the queen’s jewels.”

Nix and Travin looked to each other.

“We will talk with you more later,” Nix said, then bowed. “I am sure your mate wishes to see to your wellbeing.”

He said wellbeing in a way that meant naked body.

Another guard came over, handed my shoes to Travin, who turned to me. “I believe these are yours. We followed them, along with one of your earrings, to find you.”

“Yes, an Earth children’s tale had a good lesson in creating a trail.” I held up my hands in surrender. “The other earring is on the floor somewhere. As for the shoes, they’re lovely, but I never wish to see them again.”

Travin and Nix bowed, then departed.

“Come, mate. You’ve been getting your hands on too many males’ balls. I feel neglected.”

Instead of taking my hand and leading me from the room, he swept me up in his arms again, and carried me out into the hallway.

I’d left a glass slipper for Leo to find, just like Cinderella. He was my hero.

But I didn’t remember the part of the movie where the princess gets ravaged by her prince.