Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Whatever was happening, I obeyed his orders…because he had a fucking gun!
“I’m not trying to do anything.”
This so-called Officer Mallow approached, keeping the gun on me and grabbing something else out of his pocket. I felt something against my side before a jolt of electricity rushed through me.
Holy shit—I was being tased.
Reggie squealed beside me, and as I turned to the alley, my legs gave out.
Sexy Robin and Peter Pan raced toward us, but it wasn’t long before I hit the asphalt face-first, my body twitching and convulsing as I felt another rush of electricity racing through me.
“I need backup. We have a hostage situation. I repeat, a hostage situation,” Officer Mallow called out again as I felt myself steadily losing consciousness.
4
Owen
“Where the hell is he?” I stormed into the North Tower conference room, where Officer Cromley sat at the table with several other members of the royal guard.
As soon as I entered, they pushed to their feet, as expected for a royal entrance.
“Prince, please calm down. We have matters under control.”
“Under control? You tased my friend, who—”
“We had a hostage situation we had to take care of,” Cromley insisted.
As soon as I’d found Frederick, we’d headed back to the alley leading to Town Square. I’d expected to see Keeg and my niece waiting for us, not for Officer Mallow to be approaching them with a gun aimed at the poor sexy-as-sin American. Despite my attempts at shouting for Mallow to stand down, he’d tased Keeg until he was unconscious before the royal guard swarmed the scene. Hard as I’d tried to manage the situation, everyone was on high alert, pulling Cassie and me away to safety.
What a fucking day.
“No, you didn’t. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain this entire time, and if anyone would have listened, you would know that I had left the princess with him.”
“You left the princess?”
“Don’t judge me for leaving her for five seconds to walk down an alley to get Frederick, when you guys were the ones who lost her to begin with.”
Cromley’s face turned stoic, as if my remark made him realize he and the rest of the guard were just as in the wrong as I might have been under the circumstances. But Keegan wasn’t a bad guy. I knew that much from the short time we’d chatted. Between the two of us, I sure as hell was far more of a bastard who couldn’t be trusted with Cassie’s safety than he was.
“Okay, maybe we shouldn’t point fingers and start blaming each other,” Cromley added.
“Right now, I’m just relieved that I have the luxury of refusing personal security from an inept royal guard.”
Parlaisan royalty didn’t require much security in what was, for the most part, a relatively peaceful nation. For the most part, it was simply to grant us some semblance of privacy—not to assault innocent tourists.
“Just tell me where Keeg’s at,” I added.
“Keeg?” Cromley asked. “You mean Keegan Kruse.”
“How the fuck do you know his name?”
“We obviously took his passport and information for inspection, as is protocol. Before taking him to the dungeon. We’ll be managing this once the appropriate authorities arrive.”
“You’ve alerted the authorities over a misunderstanding? A stupid misunderstanding?”
“They’ll need to document it, at the very least.”
“This has all gotten way out of hand.”
“We have to file a report and—”
“But you’re leaving him in the dungeon. Have we even used the dungeon since the 1800s?”
“Obviously, we have used it occasionally, but we’re a peaceful country—”
“Who is suddenly in the business of abducting American tourists?”
The other members of the guard eyed one another uneasily, as if, like me, they could see the headlines now when the news broke of what had transpired in Town Square.
“I’m sorry,” I heard behind me, and turned to see Princess Cassie entering with Mallow and two other guards. She’d removed her Maleficent horns from her costume and held them in her arms. “Did I get Keeg in trouble?”
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong with him, aside from totally botching up my alias. But why did you wander off?”
“I told you, there were protesters for the Equal Marriage bill. I wanted to support them, since no one else in this family seems interested in doing what’s right.”
During the parade, Cassie had noticed the equal-marriage protestors in Town Square and insisted we support their cause. Of course I agreed with her, but considering the family discussion about the royal stance on the upcoming parliament bill, I knew it would all be on me if I took Cassie over to the protest.
“I understand. You have no idea how much I understand, but it was dangerous to go on your own. You should have asked me first.”
“And you would have said yes?” she asked skeptically.
“You’re too young to be making clever arguments,” I told her.
“I was trying to do the right thing,” she added, like she was pressing a hot poker into my chest to remind me of my own guilt for the silence I kept.