The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 88

When I caught up with the little girl on the other side of a low hill, she was lowering her bucket down into a water well. A passing wind caught her twin braids and carried them forward over her shoulders. Wisps of rogue orange curls floated around her head, catching the yellow light in a kind of halo. "The lady you are looking for," she said as I approached. "Is she in trouble?" Her narrow eyes were fixed on the rope as she slacked it loose with tiny but skilled and careful hands.

Distantly, I heard the pail splash down and go underwater; she switched her grip, pressed one foot against the base of the stone wellhead for leverage, and started hauling the bucket surface-bound.

I shook my head, saw her eyes flick up to watch my reaction. "Not with me," I answered. "I'm a friend."

I considered my audience, deemed the little girl worthy of unguarded candor.

"I'm looking for her because I need her help with something. It's something very, very important to me. Something I think she would care about, too. And if she is in any trouble with anyone else, I would do anything I could to try to keep her safe."

The girl was just as nonreactive as her adult relatives. Once the bucket, splashing at the sides, rose into view, she crouched to fasten the rope to the wellhead, spooling it tidily and tying an expert slipknot. She retrieved her bucket and set it on the grass between us. Then she stood and looked me over critically. Searching my face, apparently evaluating my sincerity and trustworthiness.

She must have ruled I was not a threat, because when she bent to pick up the bucket again - the water had settled and was still - she said to the ground, "The lady stays down by the water."

"By the water?" I repeated.

"Mm-hmm. With her cousin."

I kept control of my face, which wanted to flash into an expression of surprise.

"Do you know her cousin's name?"

"Um." The girl straightened up, gripping the pail's handle with one hand and steadying it with the other. She squinted at the ground like she was trying to remember.

Just then the sound of the cottage door creaking open on rusty hinges sounded from over the hill. The girl whipped her head around to look in that direction.

"|

I got to go," she said. "I think the cousin is called Terry, maybe. The mean lady. With the fishes."

The girl scampered back to the walking path and I watched her grow smaller quickly as she hurried away. Her footsteps looked clumsy on the uneven terrain, but her bucket remained steady in her tough little hands.

I walked behind at a slower pace and watched the girl disappear into the cottage by way of the back door, just as Kayden came strolling out the front.

I ran a hand through my wind-tousled hair, combing out a few tangles.

I wished I could have asked the girl a couple more questions. But I certainly did not want to get her into trouble.

If the others here knew where Iris was, and wanted to keep her hidden from inquisitive interlopers, I was quite sure their intention was pure, borne of caution for her safety.

And maybe Kayden and I were not the first strangers to have shown up at their door asking about her.

Fiona

I sighed, eyes closed, and leaned back in the leather recliner. "This is the life, Nina. Thank you for bringing me here."

"Well," she said, "I bet it still doesn't quite compare to the pampering you've been getting from your fiancé."

I flashed Nina a "don't-you-dare" look. The spa employees at our feet, hard at work on our pedicures, certainly heard us but gratefully did not react.

Nina grinned mischievously, but then granted me the favor of changing the subject.

"I've been coming here once a week lately, usually with a few other girls from work. These ladies are the best of the best. I mean, come on. This is true artistry."

She held her freshly polished fingers out in front of her, admiring the glossy hot pink polish that exactly matched her current hair color. A piece of heart-shaped gold foil was pressed carefully into the center of each nail. The two manicurists, still not looking up from their work, both smiled shyly.

Once our treatments were, sadly, all finished, Nina insisted on paying for the both of us and drove me back to the palace in her Benz.

Finally we were going to have some privacy. I'd been dying to consult with my best friend, the only person in the world I could confide in, about what was happening between Alexander and my father.

"Can we take the long way?" I asked her as we got into the car. "The scenic route?"

"Sounds great." She smiled, but then looked over at me and immediately caught on to my now serious mood.

She waited till we were out of the spa parking lot before she asked, "So, what's up?"

"Ugh." I was deciding where to start. "I need to tell you a long story."

Nina let out a low whistle when I finished telling her everything about Alexander's mother's death, his intent to solve her murder, his threat against my father long ago, and my recent suspicion of my father's involvement in the assassination. "That," she said, "is a lot."

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I said to Alexander when he told me."

"And he just... told you outright that he wanted to kill your father?"

"It was more like a vague, hypothetical kind of comment. But yes, what he meant was pretty clear. Whether it's about the Queen's death or something else, the two of them for sure have some sort of unfinished business. At least, in Alexander's view. I don't know if my father is even aware that Alexander has it out for him."

"Dang." Nina shook her head thoughtfully. Then she bit her lip, like she was keeping back from voicing something that had just occurred to her.

"I feel like the safest thing for me to do," I said, "is just try to keep myself out of it so that I don't wind up in the middle. I am glad that I know. I'm grateful that Alexander told me about what he's up to. But at the same time, I also kind of regret that I know anything about it at all."

Nina sighed, then asked, "When are you guys gonna get married?"

It caught me off guard. "We haven't really talked about it."

She nodded, frowning. "Well, I know you need to marry him for the marking ceremony anyway. But now, I think, you've got another incentive to get it done asap."

I wasn't following.

"Spousal privilege," she continued.

Her eyes darted over at me, looked concerned. Then returned to the road.

"Listen, I'm inclined to believe that Alexander trusts you. I really, really think he cares about you sincerely, Fi. But it couldn't hurt to have him know that you not only wouldn't, but also couldn't, testify against him, if and when he does this thing that he went and blabbed about wanting to do."

My pulse increased as I started to understand what Nina was saying and why she was saying it.

She was thinking about the possibility of Alexander becoming hostile with me when he realized I could be a witness against him in a murder trial.

I shook my head in silence. The idea made me very sad and unreasonably angry with my friend for even saying it.

Nina didn't say another word on the subject, and never brought it up again.

Returning to our bedroom, I found it cold and dark, just as expected. Just like the night before.

I didn't like sleeping here without Alexander. For one thing, the silk sheets on our bed kept too cool without him underneath, pumping out his body heat. And I also found myself a little skittish, watching the door as I lay in bed with just enough paranoia to have me losing sleep over the worry that I wasn't safe.

They say sometimes you don't appreciate what you've got until it's gone. I hadn't realized until now how safe Alexander made me feel when I was with him.

I only had a couple pills left in the bottle I'd gotten way back from the palace doctor. I took one, saved the other for tomorrow.

I wasn't going to need a refill, because Alexander would be back the night after that.

I hoped.

I still hadn't gotten any communication about a return flight, which meant that he and Kayden weren't done yet. They were still searching.