Chapter 16

Dimitri shook his head slightly as Calista stumbled in her nonstop patter. With a gesture, he urged her to keep it up as they both watched Lauren drift down the porch. His sister’s eyes rounded as she babbled on, but the moment Lauren stepped down the short staircase and onto the sand, she sucked in a deep breath—and punched him in the arm. The strike was remarkable strong for an eighty-year-old woman.

“Your grandmother?” she protested, glaring at him. “Has it come to that?”

Dimitri grinned. “Well, what else could I say? Lauren Grant is a guest of the royal family, a xénos. And she’s leaving on the first boat we can put her on. It’s not like I’m going to spill my entire life history to her.”

“She wasn’t looking at you like any outsider,” his sister sniffed. She turned her gaze out the window again, watching Lauren as she disappeared around the corner of the house. “She looked like she wanted to eat you for breakfast. Which makes me sad for her. The disappointment will be crushing.”

“I suspect she’ll survive.”

“Yes, but the nightmares.”

As they bantered, Dimitri studied Calista’s profile. Long, thick white hair curled around his sister’s lined face, and her skin was a little looser at her jaw than the last time he’d seen her, but her dark eyes remained sharp, her laughter bright and full. No matter how much else had changed between them, some things never would.

His sister had been like him in almost every way when they’d been children, a year younger but every bit as fiery-tempered, always up for an adventure. When they’d learned that Dimitri had enough of the throwback demigod gene to allow him the choice of Hemitheos, she’d at first been irritated that he’d gotten the nod from the gods and not her.

But that hadn’t lasted. Calista had encouraged him to embrace the gatekeeper’s gift at twenty, to make the choice to serve the crown and live as a demigod, not a man. And even though she hadn’t fully understood the sacrifices it would entail back then—neither of them had—she’d never stopped treating him like a slightly older brother. Even as he’d only aged one year for every ten of hers, even as they’d buried their parents, then their aunts, uncles and cousins—and eventually her first two husbands. Even as he’d seen her beautiful children grow, thrive, and have children of their own, she’d always been there for him.

“Now you’re the one looking at me like a xénos,” she grumbled good-naturedly, sending him a sidelong look. “You’ve never seen an old woman before? Show some respect.”

“I’ve never seen an old woman as cranky as you,” he said. “And you’re too thin. You need to eat, Callista.”

“And you need to tell me more about this American.” She pointed a long, knobby finger in the general direction of where they last saw Lauren. “I heard about Kristos’s engagement, even all the way out here. It’s about time he stepped up to his responsibilities. Ari’s been dead a year.”

“Not dead,” Dimitri said sharply.

She flapped her hands at him. “Gone then, gone. You can give me that. And Kristos is here, the royal family is here. The country must go on. But back to your girlfriend.”

“Not my girlfriend.”

“Okay, she’s smarter than I thought. She’s with the new princess? A friend?”

“She is.”

“Is she in trouble—or is she the trouble?” She eyed him. “I mean, why’s she with you?”

Dimitri flashed her a smile. “Besides the obvious?”

Calista snorted. “So maybe not so smart after all. Still...”

The sound of an engine starting had them both turning toward the door.

“Shit,” Dimitri snapped. He was out the door in ten seconds, but it didn’t matter. He’d left the keys in his four-wheeler. Of course he’d left the keys in his four-wheeler. Of course he’d left the keys, and of course Lauren had taken it. The same way she’d probably taken for granted that everything she saw was hers the moment she laid eyes on it.

He shook his head, his anger dissolving into a rueful chuckle as Calista strode out behind him, laughing her fool ass off. Together, they watched as Lauren roared down the beach in the beach rover, completely in the opposite direction of town. She’d figure it out soon enough.

“Seriously, she’s the trouble or she’s in trouble, which is it?” Calista asked.

Dimitri sighed. “Both.”

It took him an hour to track Lauren down. Not very difficult, given the size of the only town on Miranos, and the fact that she was the only blonde on the island. He saw the vehicle first, parked in front of the main pub. There would be a TV there, and a phone, he knew she assumed. She wasn’t wrong. Because she also wasn’t stupid.

He entered the bar and waved to the bartender, Anker, whose grin broadened as he looked up from Lauren, who sat hunched over Anker’s ancient phone. “She said you would pay for her coffee, my friend. I said to myself, a beautiful woman I have never seen before comes to my bar, of course she is friends with Dimitri Korba. Unfortunately, she has been having no luck with my phone. I told her the connection on the island, it is not so good. It is the price we must pay to live in paradise. But oh! Good, you can help her.”

Lauren turned to him then, her eyes narrowing as she saw what he held in his hand. “Your phone was charged all along!”

“You Americans are all too connected.” He handed the sat phone to her. “Call the number I last dialed. Nicki Clark will pick up. Stefan tells me she’s been hounding him by the hour for information, that she wouldn’t go to sleep until she knew that you were safe. And even then, she slept in the communications room.”

“She—worries.” He could tell she was thinking something else, and her words sounded false to him, anyway. From what little he’d seen of Nicole Clark, she didn’t worry. She acted, reacted, attacked, confronted. He didn’t envy Stefan having her underfoot, literally. She was probably coming out of her skin. If there was one thing O?ros’s most polished diplomat didn’t like, it was any lack of control. And Nicki Clark had that in spades.

Lauren’s voice recalled him. “But she’s the only one there?” she asked, clearly mapping out her communications strategy. “Not my parents?”

He shook his head. “They continue to search. Cyril took them into the mountains, stopping at every chateau along the way. He has assured them that you cannot leave the country without our knowledge. O?ros is not that big.”

She grimaced. “I have to contact them, Dimitri.”

She did, yes. But that idea seemed strangely wrong. At least for the moment, until he understood the full scope of the threat against her. “Remember the pictures we took. We don’t know what else he’s put in place.”

Her face shuttered, enough to let him know that his barb had hit its mark. “Fine. Then I definitely need to make some calls.”

As she dialed, Dimitri watched her. Though her makeup had been scrubbed off and her clothes remained far too fine for Miranos, she looked fully at ease in the tiny bar, fully in control. He rested his elbows on the counter as she spoke, and nodded to Anker as he slid him a steaming mug of coffee.

“Your wife?” Anker asked, timed to ensure that Dimitri choked. “Ah, your girlfriend, then. She is pretty. Stubborn too.”

“You noticed that.”

“I notice everything.” Anker winked. “I asked her why she is here, and she said you are worried for her unnecessarily.” He eyed Dimitri. “She thinks you are foolish for trying to protect her.”

“She’ll get used to it.” Dimitri took another sip of the dark brew as Lauren scowled. She spoke rapid English, which he could follow, though he found himself getting distracted from her words by the sheer attraction of her anger. She honestly was lovely when she was happy, but she was magnificent when she was mad. Which probably didn’t bode well for a relationship.

A what?He shook his head. Demigods didn’t have relationships, not if they were smart. Clearly, he needed more caffeine.

“I need you to keep an eye on Fran and Emmaline. Especially Emmaline,” Lauren was saying now. “If another one of those packages shows up, do not fool around with it.” She waved her hand with irritation. “Whatever you do, Nicki, don’t make a scene. That’ll make him happier than anything else.”

Dimitri scowled, considering her words. Lauren was channeling anger, but there was no missing the undercurrent of fear that laced her words. When he woke that morning on the couch, his first thought had been to contact Cyril, and his second had been to check on Lauren—a thought he’d resisted, knowing that fear had exhausted her.

What must this be like for her? She was the billionaire heiress of one of the world’s richest families. She’d doubtlessly had an army of maids and nannies and shopping buddies surrounding her like a pink cloud since she’d been born. This kind of woman wasn’t supposed to know fear of any sort.

And yet, Smithson sending her a few nasty presents wasn’t enough to account for that fear. Even presents that were creepy as fuck. He’d had to have hurt her personally worse than that, in a way she couldn’t prove. In a way, she was clearly unwilling to tell him yet.

Dimitri scowled, forcing himself to keep tabs on Lauren’s conversation with Nicki while his mind roved over the rest of the data he’d collected. Surprisingly, Cyril supported Dimitri’s decision to remove Lauren from the mainland, a reaction he thought had more to do with Cyril’s relief that they couldn’t be held accountable for another American if she wasn’t in the palace proper. But the reaction of the Grant parents and Smithson himself had been less relieved, Cyril had told him. They were outraged, all three of them.

The current story that Cyril was spinning was that Lauren had used her considerable money and influence to spirit herself out of the country, with the intention of shopping in Milan or Paris to clear her mind. She’d been stopped due to her unfamiliarity with the terrain and the people—and the fact that she’d decided to run away when she was miles away from any actual town. So discreet inquiries were underway, and of course she would be noticed and found. Sooner rather than later.

Which meant that eventually, exactly as she’d told him, she was going to have to face Smithson.

Dimitri took a long pull on his coffee. What would it be like to have everything and still feel threatened by one man, threatened to the point of a deeply personal fear? He couldn’t imagine it. He couldn’t understand how Lauren had put up with it.

Then again, his life was far simpler, for all that it was unusually long. For the past sixty some years, he’d served his country and his king. He would happily sacrifice his life for either, or for his family, should the need arise. In the meantime, he simply needed to stay focused on his work, and let go of attachments to people who invariably would drift out of his life as easily as they drifted into it.

“You are looking very dark, my friend,” Anker observed. “A woman so pretty, she should not make you so sad.”

“He should be sad for other reasons.” The familiar voice had Dimitri turning around, his heart undeniably lighter with it.

“Alexi!”

“Do not talk to me.” His grandniece held up her hand and scowled at him, then peered critically at Lauren. “You have a beautiful American woman, and who sees her first? Grandmother. This is unacceptable. And she’s dressed in yesterday’s clothes. What sort of monster are you?”

Lauren, as if sensing they were talking about her, swiveled around. She took in Alexi with an interested gaze. His grandniece gave a low whistle. “She’s more beautiful than Grandmother said.” In true family form, she punched his arm as Lauren slid off the stool and moved several steps away, heading out the door. “You are married, then?”

That stopped Dimitri from going after Lauren. He stared at Alexi. She of all people knew that was impossible. “What? No.”

“Good, then she cannot stay with you. She will stay with?—”

“Also no.” Dimitri shot out a hand, staying Alexi’s words as he clasped her arm. Lauren was bent over the phone, talking fast. She couldn’t know she was being recorded by tech built into Dimitri’s phone. He wouldn’t tell her either. “She’s in danger, Alexi. I can’t have her bring that danger to the family, only to me. She’s my responsibility.”

She lifted her brows. “So you are married, then,” she quipped. “Does she know you’re a demigod?”

“She doesn’t,” Dimitri said heavily. “And she can’t. Which makes you my sister.”

Her eyes gleamed with delight. “Noted. But she still needs something to wear. How long will you be staying?” At his dazed look, she laughed. “Well, she can’t stay holed up in your villa, Dimitri. We will celebrate this night, yes? And go shopping this day. She speaks only English?”

“O?rois as well.” Lauren stepped toward them, her face carefully composed as she handed her phone to Dimitri. “Thank you.”

“Ah, excellent,” Alexi said. “Then we will get you new clothes and supplies to make your stay with my monstrous brother acceptable. He will keep you in his little villa so that you may remain safe, but you’ll come to our house this evening, yes? You must.”

Lauren, who surely had more party experience than most women in the world, seemed nonplussed, whether by the invitation or the word “safe.” Her gaze swiveled from Dimitri to Alexi and back, until finally she nodded. “You don’t need to do anything for me, truly. I’m fine.”

“Nonsense. You are the guest of my brother, and you have brought him back to our shores for longer than a few hours for the first time in a year. This makes you a miracle.”

“A year?” Lauren shot him a startled glance. The timing clearly didn’t escape her, and he shrugged.

“It’s been a very busy year.”

“It has been a year of mourning, and not only for the crown prince. But go—shoo.” Alexi pushed Dimitri away. “Let me dress this beautiful woman. We’ll see you later. “

For the second time that morning, Dimitri watched Lauren walk away from him without a backward glance. He found he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it at all.

He swiped open his phone to connect with his tracking service. At least he could keep her safe.