19. Cole

"Do we have anything on today?" Henri said as he snuggled against my back.

"Nothing. No events or portraits, no meetings with foreign dignitaries, no choosing of menus for the next state dinner. Nothing. Nada. No."

While neither of us mentioned it, we would be working on the charity concept we had for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. But for my mate and me, that wasn't what we called round robin work; busy work. Like meetings to discuss the previous meetings and plan the next one.

But we could laze around in bed a little longer and maybe wander around the garden and pick vegetables for a salad tonight. We could call in on Molly and enjoy coffee and cake mid-afternoon.

"But I could show you the thing I've been keeping from you." I sniggered as my mate fondled me and said my arousal was no secret.

By mid-morning we'd accomplished everything we wanted to do, and I'd arranged for the kitchen staff to prepare us a picnic. When I collected it, the chef was tugging at his hair, his cheeks a flaming red as he muttered, "The king likes his steaks raw, not burned to a crisp."

I thanked the staff and got out of there lickety split.

Henri met me outside the kitchen, and I took the steps that led to the staff quarters.

"Are we having a picnic with Molly?" my mate asked as we got close to her room.

"No." Molly was working, and as much as I'd love to have lunch with her, Father would not stand for the housekeeper playing hooky with his son.

"You'll see." We descended another set of stairs to the wine and storage cellars, and Henri shivered as the temperature dropped.

"You're not going to show me the dungeons, are you?"

The palace wasn't old enough for dungeons. There used to be a six-hundred-year-old castle here, but it fell into disrepair and my ancestors built the palace in its place. The castle had a dungeon, and there were diagrams and descriptions of the torture in the older books in the palace library.

"No dungeons here, my love."

I strode to the cellar at the end that held Father's vintage wine. Only he was allowed in here, but what he didn't know was that I had discovered the secret door behind the wine racks when I was a bored kid.

Beside one of Father's prized wines lay the old rusted key. He would never drink the wine in that bottle because it probably tasted worse than vinegar, but he liked telling people he owned it, one of only a handful in the world.

The door creaked and complained as I turned the key with both hands and thought of the craftspeople who forged the key in fire. Using my phone, I lit up the passageway, lined with cobwebs from generations of spiders. I'd not been here in a while, and the musty dank smell had my bear turning up his nose.

Henri made a face and reared away while plugging his nose with his fingers. "It's so gross. Why are you showing me this?"

I put a finger to my lips. "It's a secret, remember." Tugging my mate forward, I stepped gingerly through the dust and dead insects while my mate stumbled behind me. When we reached a door at the other end, I used a key hanging on the wall and unlocked it. A blast of fresh air hit me in the face, and I shaded my eyes as rays of sunlight spilled into the dark space.

"Oh my gods, where are we?" Henri rushed out and brushed dust off his shoulders. "Is this private land?"

We were still on the place grounds but over the hill and surrounded by feathery grass, blue bells, and tall trees. The huge fence that separated us from the rest of the city was beyond the wall of trees.

Henri twirled around, his arms outstretched. "This is amazing. Why didn't you show me this before?"

I explained that if we disappeared every day and one of the groundsmen discovered us, tongues would wag, and Father would hear about it, and the secret tunnel would no longer be a secret.

"Father would have the tunnel blocked if he knew I was sneaking out."

We spread a blanket under a tree and enjoyed two hours of eating and dozing and discussing the future. It was the perfect place because no one knew we were here, and I'd turned the phone off. There were no doors to knock on and no schedules to keep.

Back in the palace, we strolled the corridors to our suite.

"The king wishes to see you both." Raine startled me. He needed a bell the way he appeared all cat-like. We followed him, holding hands before he ushered us into Father's private study.

I bowed to the king and Henri did the same.

"I was young once." Father was standing at the window, hands clasped behind his back.

Henri and I shared a glance, and I anticipated him saying he was ill. While I'd been preparing to be king my entire life, I didn't expect it to happen so soon. And no matter how much my father and I chafed against one another, I loved him and didn't want anything to happen to him.

My mate gasped, perhaps anticipating bad news.

"And I know every inch of this place." Father's childhood had been lonely, having been brought up by nannies and governesses. He had little free time, and was always hounded to study.

"If you think I don't know about the secret tunnel," he glanced over his shoulder and grinned, "you have underestimated me."

"Father, you never told me." We could have had picnics, the three of us, Papa, Father, and me, before my parents' relationship soured.

"I knew if you were curious enough, you'd discover it yourself." My father reminisced with us for a bit longer before bidding us goodnight. Who knew he could be so sentimental. I liked this side of him and hoped this was a sign I'd see it more often.

"Your father is a sly old fox," Henri noted as we left the king's study.

"Oh really." I slung an arm around his shoulder. "I thought you were the only fox in the palace." I clamored up the stairs ahead of him. "Last one has to give the other a blow job."