“Wait,” I muttered, frowning. “So you’re not always watching?”
“We perform random visual checks, but otherwise we remain distant. We don’t watch the princess to see who she’s with, listen to her conversations, or anything of that nature.”
“So,” I surmised, “you put actual eyes on the princess maybe every few days to make sure that she’s well and all your equipment is functioning properly, but otherwise you’re blind to what she says and does. What about me?”
The guard gave me a confused look. “I’m not sure I understand, Highness.”
“Do you watch me and track me as well, or monitor me to make sure I’m safe?”
“No. We have no such mandates with respect to your person. Our only orders in that regard are to make sure you have not abandoned your charge.”
“In other words, when you check up on the princess, you also scout around to make sure I’m close by.”
“Or that you are not beyond a reasonable proximity for an extended period.”
I crossed my arms. “I take it that’s what initiated this conversation. I’ve been too far from Myshtal for too long.”
“Even with your talents, it will be difficult to protect the princess if you’re nowhere around.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “As I said before, Myshtal’s fine, but if anything happens to her, Queen Dornoccia is free to take it out of my hide.”
“Rest assured, she will,” the guard declared. “And she may not stop there.”
I gave the guard a concerned look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The princess is Queen Dornoccia’s great-great-granddaughter and her favorite. Should anything untoward happen to her, this world would find a battleship the size of a small moon parked on its doorstep in short order.”
I simply stared at her for a moment, almost certain that what she’d said was a joke – except the guard wasn’t laughing.
“Okay,” I finally droned after a few seconds, “this has been fun. Anything else I can do for you before you zip back up to your spaceship?”
“As a matter of fact, there is,” the guard replied.
“I was actually being facetious,” I declared. However, getting nothing but an expectant look in return, I groaned in exasperation and said, “Okay, fine. What is it?”
“As I mentioned,” the guard began, “we can normally track the princess’s location, but there is a facility you frequent regularly that our technology can’t seem to penetrate.”
I had a sudden intuition as to what she was referring to, but merely said, “Go on.”
“Bearing in mind that this is for the safety of the princess, we have a device which, if placed inside the facility in question, will allow us to–”
“Forget it,” I interjected, cutting her off. “No way am I bugging Alpha League Headquarters for you. Even if I was willing, you’d never get anything like that past Mouse.”
“Mouse?” she repeated.
“He’s the leader of the Alpha League, and the smartest man on the planet,” I explained, leaving off the fact that he was also my mentor. “He’ll find any kind of bug you plant before it even has time to send a signal.”
“I see,” the guard mumbled, appearing to reflect on what I’d said. “However, should you reconsider–”
“I won’t,” I interjected forcefully.
The guard simply stared at me for a moment, then inclined her head again. “Thank you for your time, Highness.”
She put her helmet back on, after which the shimmering began once more. When it died down, the guard had vanished.
Shaking my head in nigh disbelief, I teleported back down to the ground, then went back inside and rejoined my friends.
Chapter 5
In all honesty, it did turn out to be the best grilled cheese sandwich I’d ever had. (Apparently the restaurant owner had some secret process for making cheese that had been in her family for decades.) I realized then that Smokey was right: I had almost allowed Vestibule to hustle me for, perhaps, a second time. Obviously she was crafty, and I made a mental note to take no more bets with her.
In addition to the meal itself, the company was outstanding. As I already knew from earlier, both girls were fun to hang out with, and that assessment was reinforced as we ate. The conversation was witty and stimulating – almost enough to make me forget my recent tête-à-tête on the diner roof. By the time we finished our food and paid, I was actually looking forward to brunch the next day. (Or, bearing in mind the time, later the same day.)
After leaving the diner, the girls gave both Smokey and I quick hugs. A moment later, the two of them vanished, teleported by Vestibule. After confirming with Smokey that he was ready, I did the same for the two of us.
***
We popped up in a two-story penthouse – a spacious domicile situated atop a high-rise of luxury condos. It belonged to my cousin Avis and was generally the place where I’d been staying of late when I was on the West Coast.
The minute we appeared, Smokey stretched and yawned.
“I’m beat,” he declared without preamble. “See you in the morning.”
Without waiting for a reply, he began trudging up the stairs, heading for the bedroom he’d been given for his stay.
In similar fashion, I went to the guest suite that had essentially become my room over the course of the last few weeks, although I teleported there. It was an oversized room which, in addition to a king-sized bed and private bath, contained a sitting area, a walk-in closet, and a study/library.
I popped up in the sitting area and flopped down on a nearby couch. Pulling out my phone, I prepared to call Myshtal, my titular fiancée. However, I spent a moment debating whether to tell her about the Caelesian guard.
As a princess and favorite of Queen Dornoccia, ruler of the Caelesian Empire, Myshtal was probably used to having some sort of protective detail around. It would probably come as no surprise to her to know that she was being monitored in some way. In fact, it was possible that she already knew
