Chapter 24

Stop baiting the woman.

But Dimitri couldn’t help himself. He leaned closer to Lauren as she gave another short laugh, reveling in the heat of her, exactly what he’d sworn he wouldn’t do when they’d arrived here this evening. Tonight was supposed to be about rebuilding the emotional distance between them and giving her the illusion of freer rein. He had a completely unreasonable desire to build a cage around her, protect her, but she wasn’t his property, she was his assignment.

And then there was the sex. Which had definitely not been a part of the assignment. But damn, it should have been. Nevertheless, he knew without being ordered that he had no right nor place to have any real interest in Lauren.

But he did. May the gods help his sorry ass, he did.

The idea of holding her in his arms once more, tasting her skin, reveling in the sheer glory of her body was enough to drive him mad. If he didn’t maintain his distance, or at least keep his demigod nature in check, he was going to cripple the woman before he got her safely back to O?ros. And that would serve none of their purposes.

So they’d all be better off if he kept his focus on the mission. Fortunately, she’d made that easy enough.

He’d found her phone, of course—Alexi’s phone, more accurately stated. And though his sister believed these phones were burners, they were all linked back to Dimitri. Once he’d had it in hand, he was able to cross-reference the right phone with the right account, and confirm that Lauren had reached out to Emmaline.

So she knew about him, almost certainly. Knew, but likely didn’t believe.

He could accept that.

The phones had been Cyril’s idea originally. Cyril, who also couldn’t quite believe that Ari could die without a trace, that his plane could disappear, with only the barest amount of wreckage to tell the tale of his final hours. There’d been nothing to tie the prince to the debris—not his clothes, not his gear, not the black box. Nothing. It was as if Ari had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Cyril had commissioned the phones to encourage chatter about the search for the plane’s wreckage, and chatter had definitely happened over the intervening months, but none of it worthwhile. The advisor had called off the distribution of phones months ago, but that hadn’t stopped Dimitri. He’d handed them out like candy, asking for a call if anything had been found—a scrap of metal, a twisted bit of electronics, anything.

Now he weighed his options. He needed to deepen Lauren’s trust in him. That was paramount if he wanted to ensure her safety. He couldn’t ask her outright about the phone calls she’d made—there’d been two, and he hadn’t had time to track the second one. He’d sent that information to Stefan to analyze, but he wouldn’t get those results tonight.

He also couldn’t take the device away from her. At least he knew about this cell phone, could track it. If she got resourceful and stole someone else’s phone he couldn’t control, or gods forbid secured a sat phone that she could use anywhere on the island, keeping tabs on her conversations would be that much more difficult.

No, he had to keep Lauren close and engaged and at least reasonably trusting of him. Enough that she didn’t decide to run off on her own. She wasn’t his prisoner; she was his charge. He had to remember that.

So whatever she wanted to do, he’d do. His body twitched despite himself. Anything. “We can go to the promontory tomorrow,” he said at length, watching her for her reaction. He had the advantage there. She’d shifted slightly ahead of him now, and was looking back, so he could see her full, lovely face in the lights from the party. “Though I haven’t been back to Miranos for a while. There hasn’t been much that’s turned up. It’s been a year, after all. But the boats come in tomorrow with the week’s haul as well, and that generally yields something. Not always something useful, but it’s a start.”

“Enough to keep your hope alive?” Her question was asked without artifice, as if she truly wanted to know. She was as good at playing her role as he was, he realized. But was this a role for her now?

There was no way for him to know, so he contented himself with a shrug. “Hope is not something that dies easily in O?ros. We’re a small nation, dwarfed by those around us. We do not have the billions in our coffers that others do to fund our military or our defenses. We are ruled by a royal family who are very much human, who may sicken, weaken, or die. We should have been overrun a dozen times through the centuries, and yet we were not. There is much to hope for.”

“I guess. I’m not much good at hope.”

His gaze shifted to her face again. This part, at least, was no act. She couldn’t know he saw so much. She had to believe she was hidden in shadows. Her expression was starkly forlorn as she looked out over the ocean, and her anxiety arrowed through him, harsh and full.

He decided to press the small advantage.

“Tell me, why don’t you report that ass to the authorities? Why don’t your parents?”

If she was startled by his change of subject, she didn’t betray it. Then again, he got the feeling that Henry Smithson was never far from Lauren’s mind. “Henry and my father...you have to understand. Their relationship was almost magical. My father finally had someone he could share all of his time and business acumen with in a way he simply could never see doing with me. And Henry respected him, revered him, and perhaps most importantly, learned from him. By the time he turned his attention to me, he’d been at my father’s side for years. I tried to tell my mother what was happening, but she knew how much it would crush my father, and I was a very dramatic child. It was easier to discount my concerns, especially when the very next gift would be something amazingly sweet. It was easy for me to forget too. At least at first.”

She shook her head. “Then they had some sort of fight, and after that is when things got more intense.”

Dimitri eyed her. Stefan had mentioned this, but didn’t have any details, and Lauren’s half nod betrayed that she didn’t have much either. Her next words confirmed that suspicion. “I never knew what about. It sort of seemed that Dad was angry with Henry, distrustful almost. Which was a shock after so many years when Henry could do no wrong. I almost...I thought about telling him then, everything. The few things I’d told Mom, plus all the stuff I hadn’t told anyone. It seemed maybe he would listen.”

She trailed off, and Dimitri prompted her. “Why didn’t you?”

“Well, I got to thinking that, since Dad was already mad, maybe it would all go away, that I didn’t have to say anything.” Her smile was rueful. “That somehow, Henry had done the hard work for me, all on his own.”

She sighed. “But a few months later, he was suddenly back at dinners, at public events, at golf...it was as if their falling out had never happened. And then he presented me with a stunning set of diamond earrings in front of my father and Dad looked so happy and relieved and it started all over again. The rest is as I’ve told you. He’s untouchable. Half of his business partners are afraid of him, and the other half should be. He has layers upon layers of legal protections, and that’s not counting the illegal ones. If I raised my concerns, I would earn his undying enmity, perhaps. But I wouldn’t stop him. Nothing will ever stop him, I’m convinced, except his own boredom.” Her expression flickered with something close to humor. “I’ve tried to be as boring as possible up to now.”

Dimitri lifted a brow. “I don’t see how that would be possible.”

Her smile showed that she accepted his compliment and disregarded it as quickly, the polite concession of a woman used to receiving empty admiration. “Unfortunately, I think this little stunt we’ve pulled may have piqued his interest too far. He’s not used to people fighting back.” She shook her head. “Maybe that’s where I’ve erred all this time. Instead of evading him without seeming to do so, maybe I should have capitulated, fawned all over him. Maybe if I had, this would all be over already.”

Or maybe you’d already be dead. He didn’t need to say the words out loud. He could see their truth reflected in Lauren’s eyes. Only, she didn’t seem upset by the concept. A certain measure of relief clouded her face instead, as if her sacrifice might be worth the greater good in the end.

Rage knotted up inside him in twisted fury. Rage and a surge of protectiveness he had no desire to deny. No. Lauren wouldn’t live her life in servitude to another man. She wouldn’t live in fear and confusion, wondering if or when Smithson was going to strike. It didn’t matter if he was a stooge of Typhon’s or just a run-of-the-mill asshole. He wasn’t going to be a problem of Lauren’s for long.

“We’ll go to the promontory,” Dimitri said again, more firmly this time. “It’s not a far journey—nothing is on this rock—but we’ll leave early tomorrow, get there in time to cover every scrap of the place. By sunset, the men will be returning with their nets full of fishes, and we can help them unload.” He glanced at her. “I can help them, anyway. There’s no need for you to be up to your elbows in dead or dying fish.”

She laughed. “And yet you make it sound so appealing.”

“It’s a gift.” He turned her back to the noise of the party, and she seemed relieved to have the bright lights and distraction to create that much separation between them. Yet she didn’t stray far from his side, despite the fact that his grandniece, his niece, and again his sister sought to spirit her off. After a few minutes, she always cycled back to him, which kept him from going after her to ensure her safety and protection.

Right. That was why he wanted her close.

Now he watched her across the open space. Her laughter so bright and full, so practiced-sounding to his ears, her face arrested in rapt attention to whatever the young woman was saying, whom Dimitri didn’t know. A girlfriend of some cousin, he was sure.

“It is good to see you smile.”

He looked down, startled to see his sister at his elbow, her fists on her hips as she peered up at him, but her eyes sharp with approval as her white hair stirred in the breeze.

“Grief makes a man old and bent, no matter how young they appear to the rest of the world. She’s good for you.”

She turned to gesture to Lauren, and Dimitri’s mood soured.

“She’s not my girlfriend, Calista. You know that. She can’t be. We’re here because she’s in danger.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” his sister said, reaching forward to pat his arm. “But you’re here because you’re meant to be here—and because the gods want you here too. Sooner or later, you’ll accept that.” Then she poked him, hard. “Hopefully before I grow old and die.”

Dimitri winced, closing his eyes. “Calista...”

“I’m just saying!” Her chortling laughter swirled around him and danced out to sea.