My eyes opened slowly and he was there, his big form looming over me, his hands warming my cheeks. I saw those blue eyes open wide as I woke up and the elation, the sheer joy and relief on his face as he saw I was alive sent a huge, warm throb through my chest.

Then two huge hands slid underneath me and I was being lifted off the bed and clutched to him like a child. My head was against his, my chin on his shoulder, and every part of me from neck to ankle was pressed against him. His life and warmth soaked into me, bringing me back from the edge.

It was the best thing I’d ever experienced. I’d never felt so safe.

I heard other people running into the room. Jakov cursed. Caroline gave a cry of fear. I couldn’t see either of them. I had my eyes firmly closed, focused on just breathing. It felt like my bruised throat was the width of a drinking straw and it was terrifying. The only thing that made it bearable was Garrett.

It wasn’t just that he was so solid, a wall of muscle between me and those who’d harm me. It wasn’t just the knowledge that he’d smash anyone who threatened me.

It was the way he held me.

He held me like he’d never let me go. His whole body was tense against mine, almost trembling with rage and emotion. Everyone else in the room was silent. I knew Emerik must be there, but even he didn’t say something about this being inappropriate and I knew why. He didn’t dare. No one in the world would have dared try to separate Garrett from me, right then.

At last, my breathing started to ease. Slowly, reluctantly, Garrett put me back down on the bed and I opened my eyes. The others gathered around me. Jakov looked furious. Emerik was pale, sick with fear or... guilt? Caroline was biting her lip, tears in her eyes. And Garrett was looking down at me with an expression of raw, vengeful fury that was growing by the second. His gaze was focused on my neck. They were all looking at my neck.

I turned to Caroline. God, even turning my neck hurt. I tried to speak, but that was a mistake: it sent me into a fit of coughing that closed my throat up completely and brought tears of pain. Caroline grabbed my hand and held it and Garrett held my other one and all of them watched helplessly until I recovered. “Is it bad?” I rasped to Caroline at last.

She looked at my throat and tried to force a smile onto her face. “No, Your Highness,” she lied. Then, more firmly, “Nothing make-up won’t cover.”

Emerik turned away, still looking guilty, and started to pick something up off the floor, something made of pottery that was in pieces.

“No!” Garrett told him. “Don’t touch that!”

I expected Emerik to make some scathing comment, but he just nodded meekly and moved away. What’s wrong with him?

I drew in my breath when I saw the body in the corner. Garrett searched the man’s pockets. “No ID,” he said. “Nothing.” He fetched a towel from the bathroom and used it to cover the body.

Jakov picked a latex glove up from the bed, then found its partner on the floor. “The bastard wore gloves, so he didn’t leave prints breaking in,” muttered Garrett. “So why would he take them off?”

I thought, and when I got the answer, I wanted to throw up. “Because he wanted to feel it, as he was strangling me.” I said, my voice a weak rasp. Everyone looked at me in horror. “I saw his eyes. He hated me. He wanted to feel me die.”

And that’s when it really hit me: it isn’t over. For a few glorious hours, I’d felt safe. I’d felt normal. I thought we’d escaped, but we hadn’t at all. The assassins were still after me. Sick fear crept up my body and I turned cold despite the night’s heat.

“How did they get in?” Caroline asked.

Everyone looked around. There was only one door and one window next to it and Emerik had been on guard right outside. Then Garrett pointed: one of the ceiling tiles was ajar. He was tall enough that he could reach up and lift it, and we saw a dark crawlspace above. “They must have picked the lock on your door, while we were eating dinner.”

That whole time I’d been lying in bed, unable to get to sleep, they’d been up there waiting. When I was asleep and defenseless, they’d crept out like spiders and—I shuddered.

“I need to speak to you alone,” said Garrett.

Again, Emerik didn’t argue. “We’ll go and patrol,” he said. Then he grabbed Jakov and pulled the younger man with him. That hadn’t changed, then, just how he interacted with Garrett. Caroline followed them out and closed the door.

Garrett sat down on the corner of my bed. For the first time, I remembered what I was wearing: a traditional, lacy nightgown that was very pretty, but not at all substantial, and the comforter had fallen down to my hips when I sat up. I felt his eyes track down my body before he managed to tear them away and they left a smoldering trail in their wake.

“We have a problem,” he said. “The FBI didn’t know we were coming here. No one knew we were coming here. I paid in cash and we all threw our phones away so they’re not tracking us that way.” He looked at the body on the floor. “But these guys still managed to find us.”

I swallowed. “How?”

Those hard lips pressed together. “One of us is working with the assassins. You trust Caroline?”

I gaped. “Caroline’s my best friend!”

“Then one of your guards is a traitor.”