A week after the incident at the courthouse, I was summoned to Sebastian’s office formally. Normally, he’d just send me an eggplant emoji and wait not so patiently for me to send him dirty pictures back.

But things were different now. We’d been talking, working through his fear and my need to see this craziness through to the end. I’d seen the devastation on his face after losing his father. There was no way I could just sit on the sidelines and paint pretty pictures. The warrior inside me had been woken. I had to fight to protect my family.

I thought we were starting to bridge the only gap we had in our union. In the last week we’d felt more like ourselves. Completely honest and far less tense. We’d at least been talking about the elephant in the room in the last week. But a formal summons spelled trouble.

When I walked in and saw him sitting behind the massive oak desk in the masculine but minimal office, my heart skipped. I still got a kick out of watching him. To me, he would always be Sebastian, my sexy neighbor who I had to convince to become friends with me and the man I eventually fell in love with. He would just always be that guy who taught me how to make drinks, taught me how to bartend, and taught me to follow my dreams.

But now, he was also a king. And you hold the key to his heart.

Others were there when I arrived. Lucas, my dad, Roone, Marcus, Matthias, and Oskar. Oskar kept flashing me that wicked grin. The guy was such a jokester. You wouldn’t think it because he was as tall as a tree and at first looked stern and formidable. But he was hilarious, always making everyone laugh with whatever outrageous thing he could say.

Matthias smiled more genuinely, but I could tell he didn’t laugh often. And when it came to getting down to business, he was all business. Next to me, close to the door, sat Marcus. I turned to him, “You know what’s going on?”

He shook his head. “No. I figured since you’re the queen, you would know better than anyone.”

Queen. That word. It still made me nervous. Didn’t these people know that I had no business being queen? “No, I wish. Sebastian was tight lipped about this. I assumed he called us all in here to tell you guys that I was never to leave the palace again.”

He tsked. “Been sneaking out again have you?”

“I plead the fifth. “

He laughed. “You do realize that’s not allowed here, right?”

“Yeah, whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Sebastian cleared his throat, and everyone quieted immediately. “So, we’ve got the preliminary autopsy report on Robert. Weapons were knives. Matthias has been kind enough to list the possible options here. He was stabbed twice. Once in the carotid, the other in the sternum and then sliced down.”

I winced. God, what a horrible way to die. It had been a week since the stabbing and murder of Robert. Sometimes, I swore I could see it happening in the hallway. Or worse, I could see my hands over his wounds trying to stem the flow of blood.

Sebastian continued. “The autopsy won’t yield much that we don’t already know. Except oddly, there was patch of skin missing on his wrist, right there.” Sebastian indicated his right wrist.

I frowned. “That’s where Robert’s tattoo was.”

Sebastian lifted his gaze to me. “What?”

I nodded. “Check his prison file. He had a tattoo. A dagger of some sort. It had an M on it. I feel like that should mean something. I’ve seen it somewhere before. I know I have. I keep meaning to go through the history books and see if that symbol has any meaning. I just don’t know.”

Sebastian frowned as he stared down at the file. “Yeah, do we know for sure if it was removed during the attack or before he even left lockup?”

My dad spoke up then. “No. I spoke to the medical examiner. She says that the skin was removed quickly. It could have happened at the courthouse, but it could also have happened at the jail. We just don’t know. But whoever stabbed him took a hell of a risk. We were all sitting right there.”

I stared harder. “Guys, I swear, I’ve seen that dagger somewhere before.”

Sebastian frowned. “Okay, when you remember, just let me know.”

I rubbed my temple. God, why couldn’t I remember? Because you keep seeing all the blood on your hands. Breathe. I took several deep inhales. And then it occurred to me. I turned to Marcus. “Don’t you have a dagger tattoo?”

Marcus’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

“You know, your tattoo. The royal crest with a dagger. I’ve seen it.”

Marcus shook his head. “I’m so sorry your majesty. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I frowned. Why was he lying? “It’s right there on your chest. The Winston Isles crest with a dagger dead center.”

Marcus glanced around. “Your Majesty, I assure you—"

I didn’t even see him, he moved so quickly. Before I knew it, he had an arm around my neck and was dragging me to a standing position.

Sebastian was over the desk in a second. But Roone grabbed him, covered him, and tried to pull him back. They were too evenly matched, and Sebastian evaded his grasp.

Turned out Matthias was some kind of ninja because he had my husband covered. He grabbed hold of his arm and had Sebastian gently pressed against the bookshelf while simultaneously putting himself between Sebastian and danger. When I glanced down at his arm, I noticed the blade he’d palmed.

Jesus Christ, who moved that fast?

“You fucker. Let her go.” Lucas came for me too. But Oskar stepped in front of him and dragged him back, which left my father, who was already pulling his service weapon out and aiming at Marcus.

“Son, you don’t want to do this. What has Penny ever done to you?” He was as calm as I’d ever heard him. Flat emotionless.

Marcus, however, sounded stressed the fuck out, his breathing heavy in my ear. “God, you people. You’ve been so clueless and so fucking stupid for years. When you all get together it’s like the Scooby gang. If you’d just locked him up and left him alone, this wouldn’t have to happen.”

I struggled against his hold, remembering to tuck my chin so I could keep breathing. He attempted to tighten his hold around my neck as he pulled me back, but there was no way I was going to let that happen.

“You’re such a prick,” I muttered.

“Yeah, I’m sure you think so, my queen.”

For years, my father had worked with me on my close-combat training. I was pretty decent. I didn’t have any particular special skills. I wasn’t a hacker like Ariel. I didn’t excel in intelligence work like my brother did. But in close combat, I wasn’t bad. I didn’t have Annabelle because Sebastian had insisted that it wouldn’t do for the queen to carry her gun all over the palace. But thankfully, I was also a daddy’s girl. I listened and knew to always bring a backup weapon.

Marcus dragged me back, and I continued to struggle. “Why are you doing this?”

“To put the rightful heir on the throne.”

I sent an elbow backward, and he oofed. But it wasn’t enough. His hold was too strong. My father’s gun remained trained on Marcus. “Take the shot, Dad.”

But for the life of me, he hesitated. The hell? Matthias, looking deadly as hell, was poised and watching for his opening. Marcus was backing the hell up, and I needed out. Under my belt, I reached for the one thing I hadn’t ever thought I would need. The knife that I kept tucked in there. I carefully slid it out and tried to keep him calm. “Look Marcus, whatever it is—"

“Shut up,” he spat.

That only incited more struggling from Sebastian. “You fuckers let me go. She’s my wife.”

Hell no. He’d only get himself killed so I gave a counter command. “You guys keep holding him tight. Marcus, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do. I will see the rightful heir put on the throne. There’s no way we’ll allow a bastard on a throne of these islands.”

Lucas scowled. “You’re supposed to be my friend. What the hell? I swear to god I will hunt you down.”

“You’re a spoiled child. And you never take security seriously, so I don’t really think you’re any threat.”

I sighed and inhaled deeply. It was now or never. “No, maybe not, but I am.” I sent the knife back into his thigh. He howled and loosened his grip. I pulled the knife out in seconds and whipped around, palming it like I’d been taught. Then slicing in a wide arc, I jabbed him directly in the neck.

He went down and released me, shoving me backward. I landed flat on my ass, but I used the fall break and at least didn’t hurt myself. Matthias was on him in seconds. He didn’t even look at me as he said, “Nice slice.” My father was on me in seconds checking me over.

Marcus flailed and staggered back, his hands flying to where the knife was. Matthias eased him back. “I wouldn’t touch that blade, if I were you. If you move it, you’ll bleed out. But that would serve you right after what you just tried.”

Roone and Oskar finally let go of Lucas and Sebastian. Sebastian came straight to me, and Lucas went for Marcus. But Weller already had him, and Oskar went back to holding Lucas off of him. Oskar was making a phone call for more guards to take Marcus to the med bay. We might have lost Robert, but at least we had someone else to try and get answers from now.

Sebastian wrapped his arms around me. “Jesus woman. At this rate with the number of years you’ve taken off my life, we only have five good years left.”

“As if this one was my fault. I’m the one he was dragging out of here, remember?”

“But you couldn’t wait until you were say a safe ten feet from him to start prodding him?”

“This is my job. It’s part of who I am.”

He held me tight. “I’ll never get used to it. Please, stop trying to kill yourself in my presence.”

I knew this conversation was far from over. But I’d let him hold me, because I needed it too. Part of me was concerned that maybe he was right. I’d had one too many close shaves lately. I didn’t want to give this up, but maybe it was time to sit on the intelligence side of things. The field work was proving to be slightly more dangerous. “Maybe it’s time to talk about me doing intelligence work.”

Sebastian held me tight. “You better be serious, because I will kill you if you aren’t.”

“Don’t you think that would be a little counter intuitive?”

“Shut it. I’m going to hold my wife now, if you don’t mind. Some asshole tried to kill her, and then she terrified me.”

“Fair enough.” Finally, all the tension eased out of my body, and I let my husband hold me.