Alex was silent for what seemed like ages. “Are they faked?” he finally asked.
“Are what faked?” Yuri caught his first sight of Lake Foudre and knew they were almost home.
“The pictures, Yuri. Please tell me they’ve been Photoshopped or doctored in some way. Because otherwise…” Alex swallowed hard.
This was awful and exquisitely embarrassing, and he’d have to go through the same conversation with his parents. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not twice.”
“Oh, Yuri,” Alex said, a wealth of sadness in his tone.
“I asked for it,” Yuri snapped, unable to remain silent under his brother’s pity. “I wanted it. Well. At first. I was… it was… I can’t explain it. Not to you. But it started off as consensual. Even that last time, I asked for it. He just wouldn’t stop.” Yuri shivered despite himself and hugged his arms close to his chest.
“I… don’t know what to say.” Alex looked flabbergasted.
“That’s a first. Francis hurt me. He hurt me more than I wanted. Angelo was there and he saved me. That’s why he attacked Francis at Oxford. And I thought Francis had given up, because I hadn’t seen him for ages, then he popped up again, spouting a lot of mad nonsense. Angelo came. He knew I was upset. And then Francis attacked him. I think he was coming for me. That knife he had was for me. But Angelo stopped him, and was stabbed, and if he dies it’ll be all my fault.”
“More Blackheath’s fault, I should say, as he was wielding the actual knife. Is he in custody with the police?”
Yuri barked a laugh. “Hardly. His father came and bought him out, then took him out of the country to who the fuck knows where. He stabbed my… he stabbed Angelo and all he got was a vacation somewhere.”
Alex studied Yuri’s face for a long time. “That picture of you in the hospital bed with Angelo. That was why he—Blackheath, I mean—sent the pictures he had of you to the tabloids. It had to be for revenge. The only sort he could get, seeing as he’d lost all access to you or Angelo.”
“Yes. I think that’s pretty much the case.”
“We’ll make this right, brother. I promise.”
Yuri eyed Alex speculatively. “We?”
“The family. The kingdom. The country. All of us.”
“How?” Yuri demanded. “What can Mirea do to one spoiled English aristocrat in hiding?”
“Don’t worry,” Alex said, patting Yuri’s knee as if the age gap between them was far more than a handful of years. “We’ll find a way. Our honor as Mireans demands it.”
30
Angelo Is Held Captive
Angelo woke, unsurprisingly, when hospital staff moved him from his bed to a gurney. “What’s going on?” His eyes darted frantically around the room. “Where’s Yuri?” None of the people around him were the staff he was used to. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home, your highness,” the man pushing his gurney said.
“No. I don’t want to go home.”
“Consider this extradition,” another of his kidnappers said. “We’re here on the orders of your father.”
“Wait. Stop!” But they didn’t. “Where’s Prince Yuri?”
“Angelo?” another voice called out. “Where are they taking you?” He thought that it might be Jacki. “Roger!”
The gurney came to an abrupt halt. “Get out of our way,” the gurney pusher said.
“Prince Angelo goes nowhere without his security detail. At the moment, that’s me.”
“We’re the Tanzhirian Royal Guard and we’ve come to bring the prince home to his family.”
“I don’t give a toss who or what the hell you are. The prince is under my protection.”
Roger and the unseen man behind Angelo began to argue, although in hushed tones. Meanwhile, Jacki elbowed her way to Angelo’s side. “Angel. What’s going on?”
Still groggy from pain medicine, Angelo shook his head. “Not sure. They say they’re taking me home but I don’t want to go. Where’s Yuri? I need Yuri.”
Jacki took a deep breath then said in a rush, “Lord Dickface sent a bunch of pics of Yuri tied up and naked and bruised to the tabloids. He pretended he was you, that you’re the one who took all those pictures. King Claudius made Yuri go back to Mirea. That was maybe six hours ago. You were totally out of it. I promised Yuri that I’d stay and make sure you knew where he’d gone.”
“As did I,” Philippe, who loomed behind Jacki, added.
“Fuck.” If that was the case, staying in England was pointless. As uncomfortable as the journey would likely be, it would at least get him closer to Mirea than he was currently. “I’ll go,” he announced to his father’s guards. “Willingly. But not without Roger.”
“I will also accompany you,” Philippe said. “I wish to speak to your mother.”
“There was nothing said about—” one of the guards started to say, but Phillip cut him off.
“I will accompany his highness.” The words were said with cold finality.
Jacki leaned forward and kissed Angelo on the cheek. “I’m catching a flight to Mirea,” she said. “I’ll tell Yuri where you are. Okay?”
Angelo nodded. It wasn’t okay. None of this was okay. But he still had allies and friends. “Tell him that I expect him to keep his promises.”
Jacki nodded, then stepped away. The guard behind Angelo resumed pushing the gurney, but now he had Roger and Philippe with him. Somehow, Angelo would find a way to fix all of this. He just wished he wasn’t so tired and sore.
Fucking Lord Dickface.
Angelo would find a way to get even with him, too.
Angelo’s flight home was uncomfortable but it was nothing to his reunion with his family in Tanzhir.
It was spring and there were flowers and lush green foliage. In the distance, the massive Eruvian mountains glowered darkly, their tops still covered in a blanket of snow. Angelo saw very little of it, however, lying in the back of a helicopter taking him, Philippe, and Roger to the palace.
Once they arrived, Philippe slipped away to god knew where, but Roger stayed faithfully by Angelo’s side. They didn’t take him to his
