Sleeping Beauty (Not Quite the Fairy Tale Book 7)(17)

Rupert was now smiling fondly. “Sorry,” he said. “Mal is very, very vicious. A cat playing with her prey. She doesn’t make any apology for it, it’s in her nature. I take her for what she is and she takes me for what I am.”

He sounded just as fond of her as he was of his daughter. Aurora felt a nasty little heart pop out and whisper poisonous words. It was obvious that he liked Maleficent; perhaps he loved her too. He was so anxious to find her…

For the sake of his daughter, she told herself, wishing that feeling away. She wasn’t going to give in to jealousy, not for a man who wasn’t even hers. She just wasn’t. She’d seen how ugly she could be when she let that particular monster roar its head.

She hadn’t even liked, let alone loved, Aiden Archer, but she’d still hated seeing a man tied to her by honor stray that way. It had cut deep into her pride, creating insecurities that she’d taken years to master. Daniel De Luz had been just as indifferent to her but more discreet in his affairs. She hadn’t even cared, by then.

The very thought of Rupert preferring another woman to her set her teeth on edge though. So much for being over it.

“If you’re such good friends, I’m surprised you don’t know how to reach her.”

Rupert sighed. “I do.” He posed. “Her dwelling is less than half an hour’s ride from the palace.”

Aurora nodded; everyone knew that.

“Back in the day, all I had to do was pass nearby and she’d appear, when she felt so inclined. But it’s obviously been a long time. I figured that as she hadn’t come to welcome me back to life, she hadn’t heard of my return, but I still attempted to pass by her land. No news.” He sighed again. “Fays don’t always pay attention to our world. Sometimes, they even go to sleep for an extended amount of time.”

“So, what now?”

“Now,” said he, “We get the work we need to get done out of the way as quickly as possible. And once we have a government, and I finally can take a few days off, I’ll have to do things the hard way.”

“The hard way?” she repeated.

“Go to her home. Even if she isn’t there, should a human get to her fortress, she’ll feel it.”

Aurora couldn’t believe her ears. That was his plan? It sounded downright suicidal. “And what would she do to that stranger?”

Rupert just laughed it off.

“You honestly don’t want to know. But it won’t be a stranger. It’ll be me. It’ll work out.”

She sincerely hoped these words wouldn’t come back to bite him.





Chapter 14





Taken Away





It took another two days, but finally, Rupert had five pieces of paper in front of him. Everything about the state of the kingdom, summarized in five pages.

They were rich. Seven kingdoms owed them a debt. Education could use some work. Health care was too expensive for the working class. They sucked at sports, but they’d patented more inventions than all the other kingdoms combined. More importantly, their relationship with Alenia was sensitive - as Aurora’s father had probably killed the previous King. As Ferren and Alenia were the two principle kingdoms of Europa, it meant the continent was at the brink of war. Again.

Basically, nothing had changed as much as his bathroom.

“How did you leave things with Daniel De Luz?” he asked Rory, forcing himself to sound casual.

Truth was, he wanted to throw her onto his shoulder and thump his chest every time he thought or spoke of either of her previous fiancés.

Aurora winced. “Not well. He had reason to think that my father might be responsible for his father’s death and I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Any other frictions?”

He really didn’t want to know about their frictions.

“No, not really.”

“Good. We’ll invite them for dinner, privately, without anyone else. Unofficially. I need to get a read on him. See if we’re dealing with a man or a bloodthirsty boy.”

She came to his defense and Rupert himself felt a little more on the bloodthirsty side of the scale. “Dane isn’t a fool. He would have attacked years ago, if he’d wished to. But let’s have dinner, if we must.”

And alas, they must.

“Would it pain you to see him with his wife?”

She shook her pretty head. “Trust me when I say I have no feelings for Dane. And I’ll be pleased to have a chance at apologizing for the way we parted ways.”

“Good.” Then, remembering their eerie resemblance, he added, “How are you related to Ella De Luz, exactly? I don’t want to seem like an opportunist, but if you’ve been close, our meeting is more likely to be successful.”

Rory frowned. “We aren’t related at all.”

A second passed, and another one.

He felt some tension from the beautiful woman at his side. She found the subject sensitive, obviously, however much she professed to be indifferent.

In another life, he would insist. Ask her to explain what was happening in her conflicted heart. Really work out whether he ought to make her face her ex like this.

But he needed to meet Daniel De Luz, and he needed Aurora Stephenson by his side, so Rupert tried his best to smile.