Secrets of a Reckless Princess (12 page)

This time she definitely blushed. “Nor am I.”

“I’m glad.”

She agreed. Wholeheartedly. If they were going to coexist with any semblance of harmony, there could be no jealousy. S-species males were territorial by nature, but they were also aware of the rules of sharing a female. Both Marc and Damon seemed to accept the situation with equanimity, and she understood she was lucky in their accord. “I know you do not always approve of him, but Damon is more reasonable than you perceive.”

“I most definitely don’t approve of him half of the time and yet I am aware he can be prudent when he wishes to be.”

Jayla wasn’t surprised to hear it put just that way. Her smile was rueful. “He just isn’t prudent often enough.”

“No, he isn’t. Especially when it comes to you.” Her mother took a small sip of wine and then cleared her throat. “I’m pleased. With you and for you.”

She was pleased too, but the current crisis precluded discussing her happiness. “There was a threat found here. Marc said his father was also targeted. Someone tried to kill you.”

“We won’t know who was supposed to enter their code until the team finishes defusing the explosives.”

Jayla knew when her mother was being politic and when she was just evasive. “But you already have an idea.”

“Me.”

She turned in her chair, watching Damon’s father enter the room, a slight ironic smile on his face. He had always seemed so tall when she was a child but she’d realized as she got older he was a slight bit shorter than his son, but he had the same striking features. He crossed over to take a goblet, filled it, and turned around. “The target was me. I hope I am not intruding.”

“
What
?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry, it is disarmed. Can I get you something, Highness?”

“No.” Her mother smiled but it was strained and she had visibly paled. “Of course not, Raphael. What…what makes you think the device was aimed at you?”

She loves him
. Jayla realized it in a single blink of a moment with astonishment. Her mother
loved
Raphael Le Clerc because she clearly would rather have had the explosive set to detonate when
she
scanned in that doorway rather than him. When her mother had thought she was the target, she was pragmatic over it. Having him the quarry was a different matter.

Jayla was starting to think she understood. What she felt for Damon had always seemed to be more a quarrelsome childhood rivalry than anything else, but she knew now that wasn’t true. He loved her—he’d said so, and Marc…well, her relationship with her new husband was just beginning but there had been an instant chemistry between them from the moment they’d met.

Life had certainly taken an interesting turn.

“It was set to my code.” Raphael sank down and crossed his long legs. “I suggest we not limit ourselves to the palace and have all the government offices swept. We must be thorough.”

Her mother nodded in one decisive inclination of her head. “I’ll order it at once.”

“It isn’t often I say this, but I think Damon’s revolutionary tendencies could be helpful to us.”

Jayla watched her mother’s brows rise. “How so?”

“He has, by virtue of his political views, some interesting contacts.”

There was a twinge of alarm deep in the pit of Jayla’s stomach. “Are you saying some of Damon’s friends could be involved in the bombings?”

“No.” Raphael looked at her and a glimmer of a smile touched his mouth. “While my son can be irritatingly nonconformist, he doesn’t associate with extremists. But, they do approach him frequently enough. He’s told me so. Tell me, Princess, has he mentioned anyone he specifically suspects could be behind the conspiracy?”

At least Jayla could honestly shake her head. “No.”

“You should encourage him to start thinking about maybe not who he knows, but who he knows who might know someone
else
that has the right connections to gather information.”

It made sense, but Raphael Le Clerc usually did make sense, hence his position as her mother’s advisor for so many years.

“I’m sure Damon has already considered it.”

His father looked at her gravely. “Maybe, but he has the disadvantage of idealistic perceptions about how civilized beings should act, but isn’t quite as canny over how they
actually
act. That is why he cannot see eye to eye with political agendas. My son finds them useless if he considers them not a straightforward route to a goal, but the truth is, a circle will still get you to the same destination as a straight line. It just takes a bit longer and you don’t have to plow over everything in your path.”

Jayla had to laugh, for Damon was definitely guilty as charged for a lack of subtlety. “I’ve reminded him of that a time or two myself.”

“And your opinion means everything to him.” Le Clerc hesitated and then said quietly, “I am very glad my son is included in your life.”

* * * *

Marc stared at the screen. His father’s face was grave, the image so clear that Marc almost imagined he could reach out and touch him. Colonel Ian Helm stood in the background, his face also grim and forbidding.

“What we have is intelligence that tells us the group doing this is headed by a radical that calls himself ‘The Prophet’.”

Damon, sitting next to him, muttered, “That’s original.”

“What we need,” Helm said, tall and broad, the insignia on his tunic prominent as he was one of the most influential commanders working for the Federation, “is information from the other side. So far, other than his self-imposed nickname, we aren’t gathering any data on who he might be. I think the group is small, but obviously, effective enough to concern us. They were able to set bombs on five different planets, all of them major powers with high security.”

A valid point. Marc had wondered all along how that was possible. “Do you have any insight as to how the systems were breached?”

“Here on Minoa,” his father responded, looking troubled, “we have a missing security expert with top clearance.”

“I’ll relay that information to the queen. What else do you know?”

“We have investigations begun, naturally. We are hoping Le Clerc can help us.”

To his credit, Damon didn’t bristle. He merely said, “If you mean through a few questionable contacts I know, be assured had I ever caught wind of a threat to the lives of any citizens of Anasta or any other colony, I would have reported it at once.”

“As you are now a member of the Ruling Council, they apparently
do
trust you,” Marc heard his father say dryly. “And since my son seems to agree, I will also. But I concur with your father. You have contacts we don’t. Is there anything you can do? I am confident we will find the responsible party, but I don’t want more casualties before it happens.”

“I have people I can ask.” Damon’s voice was carefully modulated. “But please understand that while my recent arrest was broadcast across the Federation pipeline, my appointment to the council will be just as publicized. My friends vary from moderates who simply wish to make their opinions heard on the deteriorating economic situations on some of the colonies to more rabid reformists, but I can’t think of a single one who would push others to commit murder.”

“Any help you can give us would be appreciated.”

“I would die at this moment for Jayla and let’s not forget my father was targeted also. You must know I will help.”

Marc was almost amused at the heated response, for he had expected Damon to lose his patience with the conversation long before it happened. He quickly interjected, “We’ll let you know if anything of significance comes up.”

“Be careful. Your mother is worried about you. We both are.”

“I will.” Marc knew his mother well enough to imagine his father was telling the truth and his recent alliance to Jayla, while negotiated in part by their respective governments and not a surprise, still was no doubt an adjustment as his mother became not the only female in his life.

The screen flashed dark and next to him in a chair, his long legs crossed at the ankle, Damon sat quietly, just looking at the blank screen. Marc waited, cognizant they didn’t process information the same way, which was one of reasons he’d always thought Damon Le Clerc would be a valuable partner.

“I think we are dealing with more than we see,” Damon said eventually, his brow furrowed.

Marc had actually come to the same conclusion. “Tell me why.”

“The purpose of this is unclear to me.” Damon shifted in his seat, his face drawn into a dark frown.

“I agree.” Marc turned away from the monitors, his gaze narrowed on the male across from him. “While they’ve set up the detonations, we’ve much too easily circumvented their purpose.”

“If it
was
their purpose.”

“Exactly.”

They looked at each other across the small space of the personal conference room, both moody and introspective. “There were casualties on Mega 3,” Marc pointed out.

“But only because they didn’t take the threat seriously and check their security systems.”

It was true. The governor of the colony hadn’t acted on the advice coming from the Federation. “What we need to ask ourselves,” Marc said slowly, thinking out loud, “is what purpose could there be in distracting us with these explosive devices and causing a general elevated level of security?”

“Maybe we need to find out how the alert was generated in the first place.”

“My father told me it came from an undisclosed source to one of the members of the Universal Council.”

“Do they normally allow unsubstantiated information to cause a galaxy-wide alarm?”

Le Clerc had a point, but then again, they
were
talking about a member of the Universal Council. “He wouldn’t say who informed him, but let’s keep in mind, it proved to be true.”

“I have to admit I find it interesting.”

“I have to admit I find it disturbing.”

They exchanged glances again. Marc said slowly, “Maybe you should test out your underground contacts.”

“Maybe I should,” Damon agreed grimly.

Chapter Eleven

“Let me help you.”

Ellesandra turned around and swept up her long hair, letting out a long sigh as gentle fingers brushed her nape when the male behind her unfastened her tunic. “Thank you.”

“I’ve mentioned you work too hard, haven’t I?” His voice was amused.

“Considering you work the exact same amount of hours as I do, I don’t believe you have room to talk, Raphael.” As queen, her days were long. As her advisor, his were just as grueling. Her tunic slipped off her shoulders and she turned around to face him, her breasts already heavy as languid desire seeped into her body, despite her fatigue. “Let’s admit we both work too hard and leave it there, shall we?”

“As always, we are in accord.” Raphael Le Clerc’s eyes were heavy-lidded, his tone soft. “But you cannot stop me from worrying about you, Elle.”

In his own way, he was as intense as his handsome son. They were different, yes. Where Damon was passionate and vocal, his father was charismatic and calm, but underneath there was a similar sense of purpose and intellect. They looked alike too, dark and almost brooding, with that singular flash when they were angry. Raphael also had it when he was aroused.

Ellesandra hoped to see that flash very soon. Clad only in her filmy undergarments, she stepped free of her tunic and walked across her bedroom, the inner sanctum one she only let the staff enter when she was absent. The rich carpet was soft against her bare feet.