Page 31

The radiance leaves her face, and she harrumphs, crossing her arms and glaring at the wall.

I press my lips together to keep from smiling and turn toward the hall. “Call us if you need us.”

“Or don’t,” Noah says, sounding slightly annoyed now that we know that Cassian isn’t dying of a rare disease.

We walk down the quiet white hall, greeting the occasional doctor or nurse that we pass. It smells like sanitizer, as all hospitals do.

“If Gerald has people watching us, we’re in for trouble,” Noah says.

“Why exactly?” I ask.

“They’ll claim he’s not healthy enough to take the throne. Or worse—that he’s not vampire enough.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I say. “It is weird, though.”

“It is.”

Noah looks pensive as we wait for our ride-share driver to show up outside the main hospital entrance.

By the time we make it back to the hotel, it’s almost two in the morning. It’s been a long, crazy day.

I sit on the bed, twirling my new ring on my finger. “How is Cassian going to fly to Bucharest if he’s still in the hospital?”

“I don’t know.” Noah pulls his wallet out of his pocket, along with some spare change and a pocketknife, and then sets his things on the nightstand. “We’ll have to see how he’s doing in the morning.”

I yawn, exhausted and worried.

“Get ready for bed,” Noah says gently. “Tomorrow will probably be another long day.”

“But it’s our wedding night.” I twirl my ring again. “Shouldn’t we…?”

Noah walks over to the bed and leans down, rubbing my shoulders. “You’re tired. I’m tired. Let’s try to get some sleep.”

I’m not going to argue. I’m practically dead on my feet. I’m not sure I’ll even stay awake long enough to make it back to the bed after I brush my teeth.

But I somehow manage it and crawl under the covers while Noah is in the bathroom. I’m out before he joins me.

We’re jolted awake by the phone. It’s the hotel one that sits on the nightstand, not one of our cells.

“What do they want?” I ask groggily, wishing it was an alarm I could turn off.

I look at the time, and I nearly groan. It’s not even six. We’ve only been asleep for a few hours.

Noah rolls toward the phone, revealing his bare torso, and reaches for the handset. “Hello?”

His voice sounds all gritty and yummy, and I’m no longer sleepy. At all.

My eyes slide over his toned back, and a giddy notion almost makes me giggle. He’s all mine.

“You sound like crap,” Noah says. “Why are you calling me on the hotel phone?”

Faintly, I hear Cassian respond, “Your phones are both on ‘do not disturb’ mode again .”

“That’s because we were sleeping. Again .”

I rub my hand over Noah’s shoulder, and he looks back at me, his eyes darkening in a way that makes me want to get him off the phone.

But first, I need to clean up. While Noah’s busy with Cassian, I hurry into the bathroom. After I brush my teeth, I run my hand over my legs.

Dang it, I feel like a cactus.

Quickly, I get in the shower, not even bothering to wait until the water warms up. I gasp when the cold water hits my back but try to ignore it, knowing it will warm up soon enough. I have more important things to focus on right now.

I’m in and out in record time, and I didn’t even nick myself with the razor. But now my hair is sopping wet, and I look like a drenched rat.

I squeeze out as much water as possible and turn on the hairdryer, willing it to work quickly. I’m just flipping my hair over my head when Noah knocks on the bathroom door.

Teeth brushed? Check.

Legs shaved? Check.

Hair dried? Check-ish.

I wrap my towel around myself and tuck in the corner before I open the door. My stomach knots into a nice little bow when Noah’s lips part with surprise.

“Hey.” I lean against the doorframe, pretending I know how to be sexy. “Good morning.”

Noah groans, closing his eyes. “I hate Cassian.”

That’s not exactly the response I was hoping for. Ditching the sultry act, I straighten. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“The doctors want to run a plethora of tests on him, so they’re keeping him for at least another day.”

“They can’t use him for a test subject. He has to be in Bucharest by tomorrow.”

“Him…or his heir.”

It takes me several seconds to process that. “But you’re Cassian’s heir.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“He’s sending you to Romania ?” I exclaim. “Are you serious?”

“Well, technically, he’d like to send us .”

I blink at Noah. “Why would he send me? I’m a walking liability.”

Noah frowns, studying me. “I’m afraid that’s the point.”

“You’re being cryptic.”

“How do you feel about playing spy?”

I eye him, not liking where this conversation is going. “What?”

“Cassian wants to set Jameson up. He’s hoping he’ll kidnap you before the announcements. We’ll plant a camera and microphone on you. All you need to do is try to get a confession out of him.”

I stare at him for several long seconds. “You aren’t serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t.”

“What if he, I don’t know, tries to kill me ?”

“He won’t—not until after the announcement is made. He’ll need you alive to manipulate me into turning down Cassian’s nomination.”

“Do you think I can do this?” I whisper incredulously.

“I think Jameson is going to steal the throne if you can’t, and that’s not good news for any of us.”

Crap.

“Okay, let’s say I agree to this—I don’t even have a passport.”

“Cassian is taking care of it.”

“What does that even mean?”

Noah stretches his neck, letting his eyes drift over my towel. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Would you stop saying that?!”

Noah chuckles. “Whether you decide to do this or not, I’m not leaving you alone in Miami. We need to be at the airport in thirty minutes, or we’ll have to run to our gate.”

I bite the corner of my lip and let my gaze drop to his washboard abs. “Maybe we can work with that. How long does it take to get there from here?”

“About thirty minutes.”

I growl like an angry cat. “Fine, I’ll hurry.”

Noah showers while I’m getting dressed. My mind runs wild, thinking over Cassian’s absurd idea. I’m not a spy. I’m a flower farmer.

They’re both out of their minds.

But…I do have my hair pins. And I did stab that hanging pig back at Cassian’s estate during our first training session.

Maybe…

As soon as Noah steps out of the bathroom, I ask, “Have you ever been to Romania?”

“No.”

“What about Europe?”

He begins throwing things into his suitcase. “Nope.”

I turn to him. “Have you ever been out of the country?”

“My family and I went to Mexico once, but that was on a cruise.”

“Great.” I zip up my suitcase and roll it to the door. “At least we both have no clue what we’re doing.”

Noah gives the room a quick once-over, making sure we didn’t leave anything, and then he ushers me into the hall.

“Is it cold over there right now?” I ask. “I packed for Florida, not Vampire Land.”

“I have no idea, but Cassian said he has a friend who can help us with clothing. You’ll need a ballgown for the gala, and I’ll need a tux.”

I stop in the middle of the hall. “A ballgown?”

“That’s what Cassian said.”

“This vampire nomination thing is a big deal, isn’t it?”

“It’s a pretty big deal,” he says wryly.

“We can’t tell them Cassian is sick. What excuse are we supposed to use to explain his absence?”

Noah scowls as he nudges me toward the elevators. “He told me to be creative.”

“Are you serious?”

“You know I am.”

“I swear if this flu doesn’t kill him, I will,” I mutter.

“You can’t do that.”

I step into the elevator, fighting with one of the wheels on my suitcase. “Why not?”

Noah lifts an eyebrow. “Because if you kill off Cassian, I might end up as the next archduke.”

Oh, heck no.

“Never mind,” I say, trying not to stress over the fact we’re going to be on a very long flight over the ocean soon. “On second thought, how about we send him a care package with elderberry, echinacea, and Vitamin C.”