Page 9

CHAPTER 9

TRISTAN

Wrapping my arms around Amelia, I squeeze tightly. After the stress of the past few months, these are my favorite moments. When she and I can be together without the glare of everyone staring at us. Inside this house there’s no one listening, and there aren’t cameras or phones stretched toward us, hoping to catch some sort of secret.

Here, we can be ourselves.

It’s the only place I’ve ever felt at home, and I’m lucky I get to be here with her. Kings Pass has my heart, and if I could, I would run Haldonia from here.

“Your feet are warm,” she sighs as she cuddles deeper into my arms.

“Yours are cold, as always, but don’t worry, I’ll heat them up for you.” I turn over, leaning in, and cuddling against her. It feels as if we haven’t had many moments alone lately. The push and pull of being in charge of an entire country is even more than I thought it was. Not to mention she has her own responsibilities now. When we first met, she had a lot to learn with being my wife, but now that she wears the ring on her finger, it’s increased tenfold.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” She runs her fingers down the side of my cheek. “I can hear you thinking over here.”

I shake my head, giving her a small smile. “Just wondering if you’d like to take a ride with me today. It’s been a while since we got on the back of my bike because it’s been so cold.”

“It has, and we both know there will probably be one more shot of winter before it’s officially spring. In fact, I think I saw it might snow tomorrow when I was looking at the weather.” She nibbles her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Then let’s get out of here and do something fun today. Let’s get out of this bed and breathe some fresh air.” Until we started talking about coming up here, I didn’t realize how badly I needed it. It isn’t as if we don’t come up here often. It’s that I miss it so much.

If we were normal people without a monarchy counting on us, this is where we would stay all the time.

“Come on, Tris. Let’s go. I’m dying to see you in that leather jacket and the helmet.”

She sure does love the helmet. Reaching out, I grab her chin, yanking it down so that our eyes meet. “Lia, I have a feeling that if I wanted to fuck you wearing the helmet, you’d let me.”

Her face heats, patches of pink appear on her cheeks. Those eyes of hers dilate, and she pokes her tongue out to lick her lips. “I would. We might be able to work that out if you’d like to.”

Growling deep in the back of my throat, I tilt her chin down, taking her mouth with mine. It doesn’t take much for us to lose ourselves in this kiss. Her mouth softens against mine as her arms wrap around my neck, thighs spread to make room for me between them. Smearing my nose down her neck, I take a nip at her collarbone before pulling back. “As much as I’d love to stay right here with you all day, I think we both decided we needed to get out and grab some fresh air.”

She licks her lips, a smile spreading across her face. “Okay, but I’m asking for a rain check.”

“You can bet your ass on that.” I open my palm and slap it against the cloth-covered cheek of the ass I just talked about. “Let me go tell Parker what our plans are for the day, and then I’ll get dressed.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Parker asks as I talk to him about what Amelia and I want to do for the day. “You know there’s been some chatter on the official channels about an event.”

“What event?”

No one ever wants to be honest with me. They want to dance around what the truth may be and expect me to make a decision on half-truths. Meanwhile I’m supposed to be protecting an entire country.

He raises his eyebrows and tilts his head toward me. “You know.”

“Do I? You haven’t told me what’s being whispered behind my back. I’ve been waiting on it, Parker, but you’re still beating around the bush.” With my hands on my hips, I tilt my head back toward him. He’s not the only one who can shame another person with a look. “If you really wanted me to know what’s going on, you would’ve told me. Now I need you to tell me why Lia and I shouldn’t take a day for ourselves.”

He sighs. It’s obvious in the way he doesn’t meet my eyes that he doesn’t want to tell me. “There have been a few issues.”

I hate when he beats around the bush. “Why don’t you tell me what those issues are, and then we can figure out how to deal with it.”

“All right. Two weeks ago, the Haldonia security agency heard some chatter and intercepted a few messages that were of concern.”

I don’t like how this is sounding. Just like everyone else in our little country, I’ve lived through the attempted invasions. When I was a small child, there was an attempt to overthrow the government. Luckily for the last couple of decades, things have been quiet, but at the same time have we become complacent? “You need to tell me what this is about. I’ve mentioned to you I haven’t felt comfortable. It’s as if eyes are on me, which I know is stupid. All eyes are on me, regardless of if they’re staring at me or not.”

“You’re right, and I should’ve been honest, but at the time, we weren’t sure what was coming through.”

Now this pisses me off. It’s not often I get irritated with Parker. He’s typically more honest with me than he probably should be, but my question is why this was kept from me. It’s also time that we have a serious discussion about what I need to know at all times. “As your friend, I appreciate you not bothering me with what could be trivial. But as your king? This is a reprimand, Parker. To keep my country safe, to know what the proper protocols to follow are, and to answer any questions that anyone might have for me, I need to know what’s going on. Even if you think it’s not a credible threat, I need to know.”

He looks as if he wants to argue but doesn’t. “Yes, Your Majesty. Would you like a rundown of what we’ve discovered so far?”

“Do I need to worry?”

“Not right now. We don’t believe it’s to a point that you need to be concerned with yet. I’m just asking that you keep your eyes peeled. I’m not trying to keep you and the queen from doing anything. I simply want you to know that you should be more careful than normal.”

I trust Parker with everything, from the moment he became the head of my security, and I’m not about to stop now. “Then we will, and if you feel as if you need to pull us, we’ll go without argument. I do ask that you keep this from Lia until I get a briefing.”

“Understood, sir.”

I’m not the type of man who likes hiding things from his wife, but this is supposed to be a good weekend for us. It’s supposed to be a weekend where we don’t have to think about all the annoyances of daily life. “All right, the queen and I will be ready to go in the next thirty minutes. Expect me to ride the bike.”

He nods. “Permission to be excused so that I can take care of securing the route.”

“Please don’t mention anything to Lia. I’ll take care of what she needs to know after I’ve been debriefed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Parker leaves, I glance out of the window, letting my gaze taken in the ocean below. It’s tumultuous, as it normally is in the winter and spring. The waves are spinning together, making a run at the shoreline, before crashing into the rocks. The way it sloshes back and forth reminds me of my emotions. From happy to worried and then back again.

Never did I believe that becoming king would cause such a jumble of my emotions. I wasn’t ready for it, and now I’m not sure if I ever will be.