Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Come on. This isn’t the White House. It can’t be that serious.”
“I also need a photograph to keep on file.”
All right, it was that serious. I fought the urge to turn tail and walk away. I believed Alistair when he said Ronin wouldn’t let me get far.
The guard, Frank, put me through the whole routine. I swallowed my tongue through the fingerprinting but ended up bitching through the rest of the process. None of this was necessary. After I chewed out my father, I was never setting foot in this place again.
The guy weathered my protests until the final snapshot. Yes, he made me turn side to side like I was being arrested. The Burkhardts didn’t play.
Finally, he opened the gates to let me through. “Your friend in the car is not allowed in. You’ll have to walk.”
“Walk? But it’s like half a mile to the mansion.”
He slid the booth door shut in my face. Frank was done with me.
Steaming, I stormed through the widening gates and stopped. Alistair waved from a tiny little silver Toyota Sports 800. You learned how to pick out cars when your stepfather supplied their tires.
“Explain yourself, Burkhardt.” I dropped into the passenger seat. “You spun a whole tale about being estranged from your family. Now you’re bunking down in your old room.”
Alistair started the car, taking off. “I am estranged from my family. If you think you’re about to walk into a happy family reunion, let me deflate that fantasy now. I’m here for one reason and one reason only. There is no place in the whole of Regalia that’s better protected than this piece of property.
“I told you the largest concentration of Rogues lives within these city limits. As soon as you hoisted the flag and my boat sailed into the marina, they knew I was here. More than a few of them will take their shot at the king while I’m in town.”
My eyes bugged. Who talks about assassination attempts this casually?
“At least this way I won’t have to sleep with one eye open.”
“Won’t you? Can you trust”—I looked to the grand palace in the distance—“them?”
“My family doesn’t want me dead. They just want me to keep pretending I am.” He beamed at me. “I promised not to go to the media with my harrowing tale of love getting me kicked out of the family, and into the arms of a gang, as long as everyone lets bygones be bygones.”
“To sum it up, you blackmailed your family.”
He mouth-shrugged. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”
“Advice, Pops... sleep with one eye open.”
Alistair cracked up. Joking around with him distracted me... for two minutes.
He parked before the grand entrance, pulling up beside two attendants waiting to bow, open our doors, help me out, and take his keys. My getaway drove off, leaving me and Alistair on the front steps.
The butler led us inside. Each step was a rope around my heart—binding tighter, dragging me deeper.
“Did you invite me to dinner with all of them? What am I supposed to say?”
“No, Luna. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
We passed into the foyer. The butler took our shoes and replaced them with warm, elegant house slippers. He bowed again, for no reason that I could see, then led us past the staircase and into the bowels of the mansion.
“Dinner is for the two of us. Just us,” Alistair continued. “Although my father would like to meet you.”
“We’ve met.” I thought of the split-second encounter when he patted my head on the way out the door. “Did he know who I was then?”
“He’s always known who you were, Luna.”
I quieted, looking down. I was that close to my grandfather and didn’t know. But he knew me. William and Dario knew where to find me my whole life, and they didn’t bother to sneeze in my direction. More than that, they knew about Winter, but they didn’t so much as send an anonymous bouquet after her death. What was I supposed to make of that?
“He didn’t rant, rave, or chase me out when he saw me,” I admitted. “I guess that’s something.”
“William means you no harm.” He placed a warm hand on my head. “By now, you know the power he has. If he wanted you gone, he would’ve sold Bowden Manor out from under your stepfather and burned him from the Royal line. Burkhardts don’t go after Burkhardts. It’s the one good thing about us.”
I nodded, taking that in. To say I had mixed emotions would be an understatement. They didn’t attack me or my mother, and they kept my inheritance intact. Was pretending like I didn’t exist what passed for familial kindness around here?
“In here.”
Alistair veered off, heading for a door on the right. I followed him into a space I would not have expected of the Burkhardts. Nothing like the over-the-top displays of wealth in every corner of the mansion that I’d laid eyes on. This room was, dare I say it, cozy. More than that, it was simple.