So far, work was my saving grace.

When I was working with a new artist, it helped drown out the noise of everything else that was going on, or could be going on, all the problems, all the ridiculousness. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop me from thinking about Lucas. I told myself time and again that I wouldn’t think about him. That I wouldn’t worry about him.

I told myself that I would focus on all the good things in my life. I loved my job as an Artist Development Representative for Blue Water Studios. It kept me traveling. Every time I packed to get on the plane, that helped me not focus on him. I loved being able to travel and find musicians that no one might get to hear without my help.

I loved the work I did. But somehow, every part of it was tainted by thoughts of him. I couldn’t wake up without thinking about him. I couldn’t go to bed without thinking about him. I couldn’t get in the shower without really thinking about him and the last time we’d been together. It was Lucas on my brain all the time.

And the little chat with Jinx wasn’t helping. I told her I’d think about it to get her off my case, but I couldn’t afford to entertain closure with him. Nope, this was far safer.

She still watched me like a hawk every night. She’d give me those sad eyes, basically saying, ‘Are you okay? Do you need alcohol? What about ice cream?’ And well, she was right to be worried, because as much as I said I didn’t need him, didn’t miss him, I absolutely did. It hurt. Every single day was painful. But I didn’t get to curl up in a ball and vanish. That just wasn’t allowed, so I went to work the way I was supposed to do. Went on with my life and tried not to think about him or the way he left and how he’d helped me before he’d gone.

Maybe closure was a good idea after all. No. You’re just like a drug addict in need of another Lucas hit. Do not fall off the wagon. I still couldn’t believe King Sebastian wanted me to go after him. As if that was even a possibility. As if I could wield any power over him. Lucas was always going to do what was best for Lucas and screw what anyone else wanted. That was lesson number one in this damned fairy tale.

I waved goodbye to the security guards that pushed open the massive glass doors of our building. I didn’t expect who I saw there; Queen Penny, on the large stone steps outside of the building. I looked around, searching for the Royal Guard, but I didn’t see any.

When she saw me approaching, she smiled and stood, dusting dirt and leaves off her butt. “Hi, Bryna.”

I stared at her. And then my senses caught up to me, and I curtsied.

She waved me off. “Oh, stop it with that.”

“But, Your Majesty, you’re the queen. I’m supposed to curtsy.”

She pursed her lips. “How about I say this? When it’s just the two of us girls, treat me like I’m a normal person. That curtsying shit… ugh, I can’t stand it.”

I nodded. “I imagine it’s been difficult for you. The adjustment?”

She blew a curl out of her face. “Yeah, that’s the understatement of the year.”

I glanced around again. “Forgive my saying so, Your Majesty, but your Royal Guards? Where are they?” It was just concerning as hell when I couldn’t see them.

She gave me a sheepish smile, shifted, and rocked back on her heels. “Let’s just say that, as far as my Royal Guard is concerned, I’m in the palace, meditating or something. I had Sebastian build me a meditation room for the express purpose of me being able to sneak out of the place.”

I stared at her and blinked. “Your Majesty, that can’t be—" What? I was going to lecture the queen on what was the best course of action?

“Yes, yes. I know. It’s not safe. And if this was Sebastian, I’d be screaming my head off at him. But this is different. This is vital and important.”

I bit back a smile. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Okay, also stop calling me Your Majesty. Just call me Penny.”

My lips twitched. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to smile. “Yes, Your Majesty. Sorry, I mean, Penny.”

“Now that we’ve established that, I wanted to talk to you without Sebastian and the imposing Royal Guard. I am sorry about that, by the way.”

I frowned. “About what?”

“All that pomp and circumstance and turning up at your door unannounced. It felt, to me, intrusive. But Sebastian wouldn’t listen because he had that wild idea in his head that you were the only one who could possibly get through to Lucas.”

“I appreciate you thinking that I can get through to him, but honestly, I can’t.”

Penny’s smile was soft, and she nodded. “If he loves you nearly as much as you love him, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who can get through to him.”

I blinked and looked around, making sure no one else could hear her. “I beg your pardon?”

“Lucas. You love him, right?”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.”

I hadn’t told anyone. Honestly, not even Jinx really understood how deep my feelings went for him. When he left me, I just curled in on myself. Mostly just hoping I could vanish. Disappear. That I wouldn’t have to think about him anymore. Yeah, how is that going?

“I—"

She put up her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that. That wasn’t my intention. But, I remember how I felt about Sebastian. How much I loved him. How hard it was to leave him. How infuriating he was. I remember all of that. I remember how angry he was at me when he thought that I’d been lying.”

I sighed. “How did he get over that anger?”

“Honestly, I think he wanted me more than he wanted to be angry with me. And I think he also realized that I wasn’t the one he was really angry with. He was angrier with his father than anyone else.”

King Cassius. I couldn’t help myself. “I mean, the stories are already a legend. He sent you to guard the prince. You fell in love. It’s kind of crazy. But that’s exactly the kind of fairy tale little girls in the islands will feast on for decades. You know you have a whole slew of girls now changing their heroes from arrow-wielding, post-apocalyptic badasses to wanting to be you.”

“I think that’s crazy, because I was just doing my job, following orders. You know, except for the part about falling in love with someone I couldn’t have. But I’m here for Lucas and Sebastian. They have this great bond. But it’s new, you know? Sebastian feels responsible for him, for bringing him into all of this. Part of him regrets it, I think. Wishes he could have just left Lucas to his own devices. After their father died, Sebastian… I think part of him just crawled in on himself. And Lucas made him feel more whole. But it’s difficult for him.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes, even I can’t get to him.”

I cleared my throat. “I know you’re here because you think I can reach Lucas, but I really can’t. The way he left—” My voice broke. “He literally climbed out a window to get away from me. So, I’m pretty sure I’ll have zero pull in getting him to come home.”

“Don’t be so sure. Lucas is a romantic at heart. I know it doesn’t seem that way. But when I needed someone, he was there for me. Look, I wouldn’t bother you, but you’re our last hope. We have an idea where he is. And we’re not sure how much longer he is going to be there. If you did love him…” She put up her hands. “If, okay? I just want to beg you to maybe go to him. Talk to him. Try. Because we are out of options, and I think something bad is going to happen to him. This isn’t about Lucas or you. I’m trying to save Sebastian’s life. If he loses his brother too, I honestly don’t think he would survive it.”

Way to drive that knife deep.

“I’m sorry. Honestly, I am. If I can help him, I would like to. But he doesn’t love me.”

“If you’ll forgive me for saying so, after I’d met you for five minutes, even I could already see that Lucas would be entirely smitten with you. The fact that he took you in, got you a job, that’s Lucas. He would do that for anyone. But the fact that he didn’t tell Sebastian and tried his best to keep his word to his brother, that says everything.”

The guilt wormed around my heart, latching on to that hope, eating it. Maybe she’s right. Maybe he does love you. Maybe you can have a fairy tale too.

Logically, I knew it wasn’t the right thing for me, but I couldn’t help it. Inside my chest, the warmth spread because I wanted to believe. “What do you need me to do?”

Penny smiled, and it transformed her face. And even if she was just a little bit older than me, that smile lit up her whole face, making her appear much younger.

For your sake, I hope he’s worthy of your love.

I wasn’t proud of myself. But sometimes the ends justified the means. I couldn’t risk being wrong. For the last three days, I’d been tailing the old man, looking for some kind of proof, some kind of clue… and nada. What did I expect? He was just a man going about his day. Mid-to-late fifties. Just normal.

What I wanted to do was rush him and ask him all the questions. Like, where the hell have you been all my life? Or maybe, how could you abandon me? Yeah that was a good one.

Back at the café we’d just left, I’d lifted his wallet. I’d been so close to him. I could have talked to him, but like the coward I was, I hadn’t. I reverted to my old tricks. But hey, a wallet could tell you a lot about a man.

I’d expected it to give me some answers, some clues. Something. But all I had was a name and an address in Sanremo. Over the last three days, the old man had been surprisingly slippery. He’d often hopscotched between Sanremo, Nice, and Monaco. He worked at a small textile plant in Sanremo, so maybe the travel was work related.

Some days he took a rusted yellow Volkswagen Beetle on his trips. Other days he took the train. Yesterday he’d gone to Nice in the morning, come back to Sanremo, then gone to Monaco.

He didn’t move like someone who was hiding, but still, despite my attempts, he’d given me the slip when it came to where he lay his head at night. And to be clear, I was good. A pro. So to give me the slip meant the man was careful. And resourceful.

Hence the wallet lift. I didn’t know how much time I had. I had to assume Sebastian knew at least my general location, thanks to Weller and Mueller.

At any moment he could send a whole battalion of men to come and cover my behind and drag me back to the Winston Isles, kicking and screaming. You could tell him the truth.

Just the idea made my stomach cramp. Because you’re still hoping she’s wrong. It wasn’t like my mother wasn’t a known liar. She was. But which of her half-truths did I believe?

You know the truth when you hear it. She’d been speaking the truth back in New York.

I ground my teeth together and kept my eye on my target. Supposition got me nowhere. Proof. I’d get proof. Then, one way or another, I’d know. But until I had it in my own hands, I wasn't giving up. Too much was riding on it. I’d walked away from the only person to really love me for me for her own protection.

I couldn’t offer her anything unless I knew the truth and what I was really dealing with.

When I knew where the fuck I’d come from, maybe, just maybe, it would all make sense again. I had to know how the hell I got here. From pauper to prince and back to pauper again.

You’ll never be a pauper if you know how to survive. It was something Tony used to say all the time. He used to say, “Kid, a good thief will never starve. An excellent thief will eat like a king.”

I didn’t understand what he meant then. But, ironically, I think I understood it now. When this was over, and I had the answers I needed, I was leaving it all behind. Could I be an excellent thief? Absolutely. Did I want to be an excellent thief? No. Not anymore.

I had no desire to be a king amongst theives. I wanted to be normal. When I was a kid, thinking about all the fairy tale kid things, yeah, there were the thoughts of, oh, getting to be in the band. Or the little boy version of Annie, with Daddy Warbucks coming to save the day. But mostly, I just wanted to be normal. I wanted a dad who went to my baseball games. I wanted parents I could talk to about stuff. I wanted normal, real-life kid shit. I didn’t want to be a prince.

Lucky you. You probably aren’t.

The old man was on the move. It dragged me out of my self-loathing reverie. He was making a left up ahead. I followed silently, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and lighting one of the damn things. I didn’t smoke. But it certainly helped me to blend in. In Italy, everybody fucking smoked. If you weren’t smoking, people noticed. And it gave me a good reason to walk out at night. The cigs made me look the part, and less creepy. The guy who was stalking the man who might be his father.

Up at the corner, I casually went to make a left, checked my sight lines, and nearly walked into a brick wall of muscles. What the fuck?

“Man, you’re so busy tailing the old guy, you didn’t notice your own tail.”

I glanced up and scowled. Mueller. “Oskar, what the fuck are you doing here?”

He rolled his big shoulders back. “Stopping you from making a mistake.”

I tried to glance around him, but he was surprisingly agile. “I’m not making a mistake. Do you know how long I’ve been following him? At night he’s a ghost. Get out of my way.”

“Yeah. The last three nights. I thought you were smart enough to wait for backup?”

I scooted around him, jogging, trying to see if I could catch up with the guy. But as big as he was, the German kept up easily. “I don’t know why Weller likes you.”

He grinned, turning that menacing Viking scowl into something striking. “It’s my good looks. The kid’s got a crush. He’s doing something for Noah, so you’re stuck with me tonight.”

“You don’t have to stick around.”

“Yes. I do. You’re going to get yourself killed. You think someone gets that good at hiding because he’s a good guy? He likely has the kind of friends that need hiding from. Besides, you think he’d appreciate you following him or stealing his wallet?”

I scowled. “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it. Just as soon as he lets me get near his place, I’m going to return it to him and then ask him all the questions I have about my mother.”

Oskar crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, yeah? That’s your big plan?”

“Well, for now it’s what I have. I would have Google Mapped that shit, but he’s off the grid. He gave me the slip in Nice last night. But he showed back up at work this morning, so this is pretty much my last shot. It’s almost as if he knows someone is on his tail, but I’ve been careful as hell.”

Oskar just snickered. “You’re okay. A bit amateurish at your recon, but not bad. That lift was pristine though. I didn’t see it. It wasn’t until I saw you going through his wallet that I realized what you’d done. If you want a job at Blake Security, give us a shout.”

“I’m pretty sure you guys are supposed to stop people like me from stealing shit, not hire me.”

He shrugged. “You know, good guy, bad guy, pretty relative. Hell, we have all sorts of former badasses in our squad. And let’s just say that someone like me understands someone like you very well.” He grinned at me and winked.

I narrowed my gaze while I watched the road for signs of the old man. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying you’re a criminal too?”

Oskar grinned and placed a hand on his chest. “Me? That’s former criminal to you.”

My brows lifted, even as I tried to catch sight of my quarry. “Oh, yeah?”

The big German nodded. “I got myself in trouble I couldn’t get out of. Noah saved me. So now I use my skills for good. I don’t know; he might give you a shot.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t work for Blake Security when you’re the prince. And when you are a former thief, it’s hardly likely that anyone is going to want to hire you.”

“Well, you never know until you try. But, as much fun as this has been, I can’t let you follow that guy alone. I’m here to back you up. We’ll go question him together tomorrow.”

Was he insane? “By tomorrow, he could be gone.”

“Look, I get it. You want answers about who you are and all that stuff. But this isn’t the way to do it. Your ass is in the wind right now. It’s not going to end well.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“You know, the Crown hires us so…”

I shook my head. “No, because I’m pretty sure Sebastian is still looking for me. I know Noah is obligated to tell him where I am if he knows, so I could surmise that this is either some odd game of cat-and-mouse play with my brother or Noah doesn’t know where I am. Which means that you and Weller haven’t told him anything except my general location.”

Oskar rolled back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You know, Noah doesn’t need to know everything. Besides, I had some leave. I’m here to see Italy. I spent a lot of my teens in Italy, fucking up all over the place.”

“You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you helping me?”

“Because the kid, Weller, he seems to like you.”

I frowned. “How can you tell? He never smiles. Actually, he does with you guys. But with me, he’s all serious.”

“That’s because he sees himself in you. But he says to trust you and help you. He’s my partner, so I’m staying.”

“You’re not going to stop me?”

He shook his head. “No. I won’t tell Noah either, but you got maybe a week tops before Noah catches on. Until then, the kid and I will watch your six. Angelo is coming for you. He’s pissed that the charity job went bad.”

“Yeah well, I’ve laid a trap for him.” I just hoped I’d have answers by then.