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CHAPTER 25

DECK

THIS EXPLAINS THE GUNS…

Lizzy held out a thin box, the kind you’d keep jewelry in. She flipped it open to reveal a commendation bearing my country’s crest. The other item inside was an identification card that looked just like the ones worn by my father’s personal guard. With her photo on it.

“What is…” I shook my head.

I couldn’t figure out how I felt—so I defaulted to the most easily accessible emotion. Anger. “You knew? This whole time, you knew?”

I thought about all the time we had spent together, about the way I’d tried to help her—felt sorry for her, even—and all the while, she’d been lying to me. The entire time. And what an idiot she must think I was, knowing full well that I was actually the Prince of Murdan, playing hockey guy over here in the US.

It was humiliating. It was infuriating. I had no idea what else it was. I just knew I didn’t like it.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at the woman who was no longer just the PR consultant with the kickass body—the one I had just had sex with—but who was, in fact, a member of my father’s guard.

Sent here to…

That was a good question, actually. Why was she even here?

“Is your name even Lizzy?” I asked, feeling like everything was up for grabs at this point.

“I go by Lizzy now.”

“Now?” I stared at her, that odd sense of familiarity tightening around my ribs. That feeling I’d had since we met.

If she went by Lizzy now…

I asked the question. “What did you go by before Lizzy?”

“When I was young, I went by Eliza.” Her voice softened as she said it, and something flickered in her eyes. Seeking what? Understanding, maybe.

I was in no place to give her understanding. I was furious.

But at the same time, I suddenly knew exactly who she was. “Eliza? Eliza, as in the girl I played with when I was young? You grew up in the palace? Your mother is?—”

She cut me off. “But I can explain everything?—”

“You lied to me. Not just about who you were, but about why you were here.” I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Or are you actually a PR consultant in addition to being part of my father’s elite guard?”

Lizzy tilted her head, looking both ashamed and slightly amused—if that was even possible. “Did I strike you in any way like a professional PR consultant?”

I thought about that. She definitely had no idea what she was doing in the PR department. “Maybe I should’ve seen it.”

I stared at her, her face almost rearranging itself into the features of the girl I had once known. The girl I had once— Then another thought hit me.

“Why are you here, Lizzy?” My voice came out harder than I intended. “Why are you here pretending to be a PR consultant?”

“I’m on a mission.” Lizzy stood there in front of me, completely naked—which, under normal circumstances, would have been extremely distracting. But with everything else going on, her nudity was only slightly distracting.

“And that mission is…?”

“Don’t you know?”

“At this point, can’t you just tell me?”

Lizzy sighed, and the sound carried so much exhaustion, so much hurt, that I almost wanted to console her.

But I held on to the one feeling I was sure was real. Anger. “Was your mission to come here and seduce me?”

I wasn’t sure why that would make sense—how would it help my father to send one of his guards to seduce me? It didn’t matter. It was possible.

“No, that wasn’t it.” She met my eyes. “I was sent here to bring you home. Your father is ill. Gravely ill. And Lambert might be next in line, but he’s not seen as a stable candidate. And as long as that is true, the kingdom is in a precarious position. There’s a coup underway, but you’re the linchpin.”

“What do you mean?” None of this made sense… did it? The call I’d had with my brother came back to me suddenly.

“As long as a legitimate—and stable—heir exists, there’s a strong sentiment in the country for secession. But with you gone and your brother… a bit unreliable…”

“There’s a plot to overthrow my father?”

“Declan. I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said, her face falling. “Your father probably won’t be around much longer…”

I dropped my head into my hands. “I knew something was wrong.” Fear and sadness welled inside me as I thought about my father being ill, possibly dying. I’d left so easily, never looking back. But that had been because my father… well, he was the fucking king. He was invincible. He’d been young and healthy when I left. But now?

Lizzy moved closer to me, the sympathy and understanding on her face almost believable. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t understand why he didn’t just tell me.”

“Because you have to return of your own free will in order to take the throne, and you have to be in the country for your brother to abdicate. They needed you to choose it.”

“How could I choose it if I didn’t even know this was going on?” I shook my head and stood again. I couldn’t make this make sense. “I don’t understand.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Lizzy took another step closer. “But I’m relieved to be able to finally discuss it with you.”

I scanned her face as another thought occurred to me. “You volunteered to bring me back?”

“Not exactly.”

“You didn’t want this mission.”

“No. I mean, no offense, but chasing down a hockey-obsessed prince isn’t quite the same as taking out a dictator with a long-range rifle inside the perimeter of an enemy country.”

“You’ve done that?” I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or concerned for my safety.

She shrugged. “What’d you think the commendation was for?”

I stared at her for a long moment, my understanding of the woman in front of me—the girl I’d once loved—rearranging itself into something new. I didn’t even think the words before they were escaping my lips. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pissed. But Lizzy?”

“Yeah?” Something in her expression made my breath come faster, my voice deepen.

“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.”

One heartbeat later, she reached for me and slammed into my arms, our mouths meeting and tiny explosions erupting everywhere inside my body.