But obviously His Majesty didn’t see her that way.
“Yes, I quite agree with you, Doodle,” he said to the Fashion Director. “The belt doesn’t go with her dress at all. It also makes her look even plumper than she is—and that’s saying something.” He shook his head. “I never knew my son was what they call a ‘chubby chaser’ until he brought her home from the Southern Continent. She is definitely one of his more questionable choices.”
Isla’s pale cheeks turned red with embarrassment and she seemed to shrink into herself, looking down at the floor as if she wished she was invisible.
I could feel myself breaking—could feel something huge stirring inside me that I’d never felt before. I probably imagined it, but that was how angry I was—I was damn near going into Rage for her but I knew that if I let the anger control me, everything was going straight to the Seven Hells.
So I held onto my temper and defended her with my mouth instead of my fists.
“The Lady Isla is what we Kindred call an ‘Elite’—a female the Goddess has blessed with extra generous curves,” I told the Prince. “And she’s fucking beautiful.”
“Really!” Doodle exclaimed, his bright pink eyebrows shooting up to his bright pink hairline. “You must watch your language around His Majesty!” he lectured me. “He is not used to the foul tongues of mercenaries. Now, you heard him—take the belt off her now!”
“Not unless I can stand right beside the Lady Isla so that my shield will cover her as well,” I said stubbornly.
“What?” Doodle looked me up and down as though I had lost my mind. “You stand right beside the Royal Family as though you were one of them? I think not!”
“Doodle is absolutely correct.” The Prince frowned at me. “You can stand to one side in the shadows if you must, but you cannot be closer than that, Mr. Sark. And if you complain or disagree again, you shall be shown the door of the palace and asked not to return,” he added, doing his best to look down his nose at me, though he was a good two and a half feet shorter.
I was about to lose my temper when Isla spoke up for the first time.
“It’s all right, Mr. Sark—really it is,” she said softly. “I’m of no great importance—no one would want to target me, I’m sure. So though I thank you for your concern for my safety, I must return this.”
As she spoke, she was unbuckling my belt and handing it back to me.
I took it from her and put it back around my own waist, but I didn’t like it one damn bit. There’s a part of me that seems to almost have a sixth sense for when danger is near. I get this kind of tingling along my spine—I know it doesn’t make any fucking sense but that’s how it is.
Right at that moment, I was tingling like crazy. I just knew Isla was going into danger, yet the idiots in charge didn’t give a damn and wouldn’t fucking listen to me!
With any other job, I would have quit on the spot. I’m the Security Specialist people hire when they’re in desperate danger and they know it. If they don’t want to listen to me and take my advice after paying my fee, fuck them—I’m leaving and it’s on them. I usually have a clause to that effect built into my contract.
But this time I’d had nothing to say about the contract and also Isla was involved. I didn’t know how or why the little Elite had gotten to be so important to me, but I could no more walk away from her than I could cut off my right arm and leave it.
I was stuck there and there was nothing I could do but watch her like a fucking hawk and pray to the Goddess I could keep her safe.
THIRTEEN
From the recorded logs of Sark, Hybrid Kindred Warrior and Security Specialist for Hire:
We went out onto the balcony, Doodle fussing as he arranged everyone to best advantage with the Prince up front and his two twin sons on either side of him. None of them seemed to hear all the angry shouting from the mob below—or if they did, they completely ignored it.
“You’ll be just here, Your Majesty, right in the center,” Doodle said, leading the Prince to the front of the balcony which had a thick marble balustrade that had been gilded with gold paint so that it flashed in the sunlight. “And we’ll have your sons on either side…”
He placed Baslik on the Prince’s left and the other twin son on his right.
“And now ladies, do come forward,” he said, beckoning to Isla and the other brother’s wife.
He placed the pregnant wife by her husband’s side and Isla right beside Baslik. Neither of them said a word to each other, I noticed—Le’rank didn’t even glance at her. Nor did his Force Bubble extend to include her. It was clearly a one-man affair that enclosed him in a shield of protection and left her completely vulnerable.