Ruby Fever (Hidden Legacy, #6)(59)

“I’m Matilda Harrison, of House Harrison.”

“It is a pleasure, Matilda.” He bowed his head. “I’m very sorry my actions led to your father being injured. It was not my intention to include him in this affair. I ask your forgiveness and hope you will allow me to make amends.”

Wow. He read Matilda in a split second. Most people wouldn’t talk to a ten-year-old that way, but somehow, he figured out that Matilda was an adult in a child’s body.

“Are you a real prince?”

“Yes. My uncle is the emperor, and he often tells me that I’m his favorite nephew.”

Matilda considered this. “Are you?”

“I suspect my uncle tells that to all of his nephews when he wants us to do something for him.”

She raised her chin. “I accept your apology. Sgt. Teddy thinks you smell like a bear.”

He nodded. “My House has a long affinity with bears. You might say we’re practically family.”

And what the hell did that mean?

Matilda squinted at him, then turned to me. “The scent has been acquired.”

“Thank you, Matilda.”

“Clearly, I’m in The Jungle Book,” Konstantin said. “I have met the wolves, the bear, and the panther.”

“Don’t worry, there’s no python.”

He gave me an odd look. “I already met her.”

“What?” I asked.

“Never mind. I was being frivolous.”

“Being frivolous is not a good idea,” Matilda said. “My father tells me that killing is an inevitable part of being a Prime. If you break the rules, I will kill you.”

“Consider me properly warned.” Konstantin nodded.

The golden retriever trotted forward and sat, staring at Konstantin with a happy canine grin.

“This is Rooster,” Matilda said. “She will be your watcher.”

“Of all the dogs available to you, you chose to assign me a golden retriever?” Konstantin’s eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch.

“Please change shape, Your Highness,” Matilda said.

Konstantin’s face blurred, and Alessandro sat in his place. It was a perfect impersonation, down to the narrow cut on Alessandro’s chin, which he got fighting Buller.

Rooster exploded into barks. She wasn’t just loud. She was deafening.

“Dear God,” Konstantin yelled over the noise, “it’s like being punched in the eardrums.”

“Change back, please,” Matilda ordered.

Konstantin reappeared. Rooster fell silent and panted at him.

“Rooster barks at 112 decibels,” Matilda informed him. “She can continue to bark for hours without straining herself. If you change shape, she will bark. If you attempt to escape, she will bark. If you try to separate from her in any way . . .”

“She will bark?” Konstantin asked.

“Yes. If she barks for longer than one minute, the electronic sensor in her collar will send an alert. Cutting the collar or removing it will also trigger an alert.” Matilda stared at him. “If anything happens to Rooster or her collar, I will know. I will come. I will bring friends. I hope we understand each other.”

“Crystal clear,” he told her.

“Please follow me now,” Matilda told him. “I’ve been asked to familiarize you with the layout of the Compound.”

“I’d be delighted,” he told her.

The two of them walked down the path, flanked by a bear and an arcane tentacled tiger. Rooster trotted after them, her gaze fixed on Konstantin.

Patricia came out of the office and stood beside me. “Is that wise?”

“We can’t contain him, and we can’t keep him locked up. Might as well let him wander, supervised.”

Patricia sighed. “We are being watched.”

“We knew that.”

“No, Arkan kept an eye on us. They’d buzz us with a drone once in a while or put some cameras on random trees just outside the property line, which we would find and take down. Now he has two active watch posts. One is on Orduna’s ranch, watching our front gate, and the other is on the Reading property, watching our driveway. They have us under 24-hour surveillance.”

“It can’t be helped. It can be an advantage in certain circumstances.”

Patricia nodded. “Also, I’ve been approached.”

“Stick or carrot?”

“The stick for now. They’re trying to blackmail me. Walk away or else.”

“Regina?”

Patricia nodded again. She was our knight in shining armor, who made sure our guard force acted as a unit. Without her, we would be dead in the water. Her wife was hiding a secret. Regina was Patricia’s weakness. Of course they would zero in on her.

“Have you told her?”

“Yes.”

“How do the two of you feel about that?”

Patricia smiled, her light British accent crisp. “We are not in the habit of rolling over.”

I let out an internal breath.

“We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances,” Patricia said.

“True.”

When Patricia had walked into our office two years ago, our defenses were in shambles and her reputation was in tatters. She was practically unhireable by most House standards, but we were desperate, and she came highly recommended by Sgt. Heart, one of Connor’s veteran operatives, a scary and competent man whom everyone held in a very high regard. Especially Mom. In the past year their romance had progressed from discreet meetings and Mom casually mentioning that “Benjiro called” to full on dinners in public and chilling together in the pool. They were on the cusp of making it official, and all of us were in favor of it. Patricia couldn’t have come with a better recommendation.