“I punched him.” Angelica winced as Ludwig finished cleaning her hand and then held the ice pack to her knuckles.

As soon as she had left the hotel, she hailed a cab and called him, telling him what had happened and asking him to meet her at the palace. When she arrived there, he was already waiting for her, along with Valantín, Anchela, Maria, Chief Bandres, and the very displeased Roger, Harrison, and Celipa.

“You what?” All the occupants of the Harem living room asked in unison.

A smile played on her lips. Even with her bruised knuckles, she would do it all over again to hear the yelp from his lips. “I punched him in the nose.”

Ludwig chuckled, some of the tension easing between them. “Well that tells me what you thought about the date. Remind me to never piss you off.”

Angelica’s lips trembled. “So, you aren’t mad at me?”

Ludwig drew himself up, affronted. “Nein, Kätzchen.”

But Angelica heard Valantín’s heavy sigh and she knew her brother was one of those who were angry. Along with Roger, Harrison, and Celipa, who were leaning against the wall, all three with their arms crossed over their chests.

“I’m not happy that you thought you could be safe with him, mi hija,” said Anchela, shaking her head at her daughter. “You have to be cautious of everyone’s intentions now, especially with the unrest going on in Aragon.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I just, I wanted someone to help me with healing this country.” She hated the images of the explosion, the angry cries that seemed to drift from beyond the palace walls into her mind, no matter where she was at.

Would things ever be the same again?

“And what were you doing? Alone, I might remind you,” asked Guardia Civil Chief Bandres.

“Well…” Angelica shifted on the chair, embarrassed and lifted her shoulders. “I was going to meet with His Highness.”

“Alone.” It was not a question, nor a statement, but it was said in a tone chilly enough to be felt as a reprimand.

Angelica gave Chief Bandres a sheepish smile. “Well, Chief…”

With a snort, Chief Bandres waved her explanation away. “Do you have any idea how he would know you were not at the palace?”

“No, unless that proves he is obsessed,” Valantín said. “Dangerously so.”

“Angelica, where were you when you told your brother you were meeting me?”

“We were in the courtyard, just at the edge of the living room,” Valantín answered, a frown marring his brow. “Why?”

“Are you sure this place is free of bugs?” At Ludwig’s question, the room went silent and still for a moment.

Angelica’s eyes widened. “Do you think—”

“Well, they knew your schedule for the museum inauguration. They also knew the itinerary your limousine was going to take.” He shrugged. “I know it was pretty easy to get that…but you might be bugged.”

“We’ll do a quick sweep.” Roger straightened, already speaking into his mic, and motioned to Harrison and Celipa to go to the other rooms separately.

“It’s very interesting you had this…encounter today with Señor Gutiérrez. We’ve recently come into some…new information that might lead us on a new path of investigation, Your Majesty,” Chief Bandres told Valantín. She leaned forward into Angelica’s direction and rested her elbows on her knees. “One of the deceased had some dealings with an organization of ill repute.”

Ludwig noticed that Chief Bandres’s tone as she spoke those words out loud was very careful. “What sort of ill repute?”

“Is this linked to the explosion?” Angelica knew that in every single city there was an underground and she was not so naïve as to think that her country might be the only one that did not have it. But they were very careful to stay out of the papers.

“We know who the main players are.” Chief Bandres crossed her arms over her chest. “I can give you names, faces, places. I can tell you how many squares of toilet paper they use to wipe their butts.”

I don’t necessarily need to know that. Angelica held her tongue though and her laugh.

“What I lack is any evidence to get them in jail. I’ve been able to get a bit of information on the organization, but there are still important missing pieces. Every single time I tackle one down, they just rebuild themselves right back up.”

It seemed odd to Angelica that an event like this could be something so trivial as an underground gang. Everything she dealt with seemed so large in comparison.

“Some twenty days ago, Spanish Centro Nacional de Inteligencia informed us Abelardo was spotted visiting an abandoned barn on their side of the border.” Chief Bandres nodded, crossing one leg over the other and swinging her foot back and forth in a nervous fashion. “We’ve been keeping a good eye on him. Supposedly, he’s in touch with Aguilar Castro, a hard criminal lord who has control of everything that goes over the Pyrenees. From cocaine to human trafficking and more.”

This certainly was an interesting development to say the least.

“Tell me that you’ll be more careful,” Anchela asked.

“I will,” Angelica sniffed. She had to think of what was best for her family, for her, and her people. She had to figure out how to calm their fears.

She didn’t want to figure out anything.

She just wanted to have a bit of peace, of normalcy in her life. She just wanted to be able to meet her lover, boyfriend, her whatever, once without having bodyguards all around her.

“I’ll have Abelardo brought in for questioning,” said Chief Bandres. “If you want to press charges…”

“Why did you even go with him?” Valantín asked, still not making sense of his sister’s acts.

“I…” She tried to come up with an explanation just to sniff again. Because she had gone exactly not to cause a scandal. But the fact that she was there willingly didn’t justify him pawing her and trying to force himself on her. She was not the one in the wrong. “I…”

And then she brushed her hand over her eyes, which just broke Ludwig’s heart. It was not fair, or even appropriate to be questioning her and demanding she come up with plausible answers when she was clearly distressed.

“Come here, Kätzchen,” whispered Ludwig, pulling her into his arms, nestling her head on the hollow of his neck. “Never mind your brother’s unanswerable questions. He clearly doesn’t know how a woman’s mind works.” That brought from her a sound that was a mix of a sob and a laugh. “Not that I can say I know much about women either. Especially a princess. Every time she kisses me I think I’m going to turn into a frog.”

And that made her laugh out loud just to break up crying.

“That’s enough, everyone.” Ludwig waved Angelica’s stupefied family—who had never seen her cry—and the others away.

Chief Bandres was the first to stand up. “She needs to rest. We can continue this tomorrow.”

“I can stay with her…” Anchela began to say just to have Valantín shake his head at her, motioning with his chin at Ludwig.

When the room was silent, Angelica whispered against his chest, “I’ll want Abelardo arrested. I want—”

The creak of hinges and a metallic scrape interrupted her. Then a bang and a cry sounded in the other room, sounds of scuffling and running feet.

Angelica glanced at Ludwig, scared, as he was already standing up and the two guards outside the Harem burst through the door into the living room.

Heavy footsteps brought Harrison and Roger into the living room with other guards following them, their hands full of plastic bags containing mics, cameras, and other devices that Angelica had no idea what they were for.

Roger and Harrison didn’t need to say anything—their stormy facial expressions spoke for themselves—but when they pushed a cuffed Celipa to the front of the group, Angelica gasped.

Not Celipa.

She had trusted her with her very life for years. It was like being betrayed by a family member.

“Seems Señorita Alfarro has something to tell us.”

Celipa bent her head but still a spark of defiance could be found.

While Roger wanted nothing more than to take her out behind the palace and rid themselves of the traitor, he could not very well take his vengeance out on her. Besides, if he played her well, she could be an asset in their investigation. “Tell the princess what you did.”

Looking nothing like the confident bodyguard that had been assigned to protect the princess, Celipa twisted her hands in front of her, the cuffs making clicking sounds that clearly unnerved Angelica.

“I planted recording devices in your rooms,” she said, defiant.

“Why? Why would you do that? And for whom?” Angelica asked in an even voice that made Roger proud of her. He could see she was shocked by the news but still maintained her composure.

“For a powerful group who wants what’s best for this country.”

Roger didn’t bother to hide his disdain for what he was hearing. “You are charged with protection of the princess. Do you know the punishment for treason?”

“I meant the princess no harm personally and she knows that.” Celipa looked at him and then at Angelica. “You know that, right?”

Roger stared at her, surprised that the one person he would have never thought to betray their trust, the royal family’s trust, had done so. What sort of brainwashing was going on with the people of Aragon? Who could they trust with the royal’s lives?

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but it would have been better if your father had stepped down when he was asked to.” Celipa shook her head at Angelica. “You should advise your brother to abdicate. Before it’s too late—”

“That’s enough,” Ludwig cut her in a icy voice. “Take her away, Roger.”

Ludwig handed a forlorn Angelica a glass of Porto wine. “Here, it will make you relax.”

“Salud. Long live the princess.” She raised it in a mocking toast and gulped the contents down as if it were medicine, just to cough. “Ugh.”

“Now, bed.”

Angelica pulled back the covers and climbed under them wearily.

“Come here, Kätzchen.” The bed dipped as Ludwig climbed in next to her and pulled her against his warm body. “Relax.”

“Do you think there will ever be anyone I can trust?”

“Of course,” he murmured against her hair. “There are people who would die for you, Angelica. Some are just…some get lost in what they were fighting for. I’m not saying that your bodyguard was right in her doings, but at one time, I imagine there was good in her.”

“Cristo. Everyone knew what Abelardo had done. How I felt about him.” She burrowed against him, feeling his warmth seep into her coldness. “How I felt about everything he made me go through.”

Her dress, her hair-do, every childish fantasy she had put into that wedding were mocked and translated into French, English, and German—and possibly every other language known to humankind. Ridiculous words printed in bubbles over her head in newspaper caricatures. Memes created and gone viral on the internet.

He shifted on the bed to better study her profile against the moonlight entering through the open window. “He made you feel awkward and worthless.”

“I guess I didn’t have a lot to say, and that made a good disguise for him.” She sipped the wine, set that part of her past aside for now. She was no longer that person, that woman who had stood idly by while a man dictated her very existence.

“But he hurt you,” Ludwig continued, balling his hand into a fist, wishing the bastard was in front of him now. Did he not realize the gem he had been in possession of? While he was glad the idiot hadn’t, for it had given him a shot at Angelica, he still hated the fact that she had been hurt by Abelardo.

Angelica sighed. “Of course, I was hurt. I was embarrassed, my family was made a mockery right along with me, all because I had not seen he was not…the right man for me to marry.”

“He didn’t deserve you.” Ludwig saw the rage simmering in her eyes, tinged with the hurt she had experienced in her past. “I promise you, neither he, nor anyone else will ever hurt you again.”

Angelica lifted her gaze to his, giving him a faint smile. “Have you turned into my protector as well?”

A smile played on his lips. “Depends on what the role requires, Princess.”

“I believe you’ll like it.” She returned his smile and crawled over his body. “I never dreamed I’d meet someone like you.”

He made a serious face as if thinking. “Strong?”

A chuckle escaped her. “Yes.”

“Sharp of wit and skilled?”

“Of course.” Another chuckle.

“Ah. And handsome?” At that he raised a brow, as if daring her to deny it.

“Absolutely.” Shyly, she whispered close to his lips, “But I mean a…male friend…because boyfriend seems too adolescent. Oh, I don’t know what to call you! Lover, perhaps?”

He savored her earnest and eager words deep in his heart. “Just call me yours. That is all I want to be.”

“Mine.” She blinked, running her palms over his chest, as if she hadn’t thought about that possibility and needed to assure herself he was real and was offering himself to her. “But you wouldn’t be irked by my…tendencies?”

“Your tendencies?” He frowned. All was well if she wanted to call him by a title. She just needed to realize why she was labeling him.

“I’m stubborn, argumentative, and…and I fear, considering…erm, my sexual introduction was a bit late, I might be…potentially licentious.” She didn’t stare at him as she said these things. She didn’t want to see how he would take it. She probably shouldn’t have told him that.

“Lovely.” There was a pause before he complemented in an amused voice, “My favorite kind of woman.”

“You’re very droll.”

“Me? Why?” He held up his hands. “I wasn’t joking.”

“No man wants a woman who argues with him,” she said. “Or a…licentious woman.”

He laughed. “You, Kätzchen, have a very odd idea of what men like in a woman. Most men I know prefer a woman who favors a good, long night of…” He trailed off.

She stared at him expectantly and when he didn’t finish, she asked, “Of what?”

He slapped her ass. “Of argument, you naughty girl.”

“Oh, they don’t. You wouldn’t.”

“Angelica, we can argue all night over the general preferences of the male sex, but we cannot argue about what I like. So let’s change topics, unless we lose a good night without arguing.”

The brilliant smile she gave him was cut by a huge yawn. “I’ll take a raincheck on arguing.”

He stretched out his hand and pressed the button to close the electric shutters and windows.

She found herself smiling and not even knowing why.

The grin on her face was wide and contagious. “What?”

“You make me happy.”

“Likewise,” he breathed on her lips, giving her a slow, leisurely kiss. Then pulled her to his side and spooned her in the cocoon of his arms.

He knew when she drifted to sleep. Her breathing changed and her fingers fell still on his skin.

He pulled her a little tighter against his body, careful not to crush her, but wanting to wrap himself more around her. “I’ll take a raincheck on anything you want, Princess.”