Meg slid between them just enough so that she could actually see what was going on. Theo had his easy smile in place, but she knew him well enough to recognize it for the mask it was. Galen just looked like he was ready to shoot Isaac in the head and toss him into the sea. “I could really use some coffee.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until all three men looked at her. She swallowed hard and refused to wilt. “This sounds like it’s going to be a conversation they need to pay attention to, and coffee helps.”
Galen’s eyes flashed, but Theo nodded. “Coffee.” He motioned Isaac toward the table situated by the kitchen island. “You’ll forgive me if I ask you to put your weapons on the coffee table.”
“Of course.” Isaac strode to the coffee table and set his gun carefully onto it. Followed by another gun that had been tucked into his boot. And three knives he pulled from…somewhere. Finally, he walked to the dining room table and took up a position with his back to the solid wall perpendicular to the glass one.
Meg hesitated, but Theo pressed his hand to the small of her back. “Show no fear, princess,” he murmured. “Chin up.”
She could do this. She could drink coffee while a man who’d pointed a gun at her told her two lovers… whatever he’d come there to tell them. It wasn’t any stranger than being shot at or getting patched up in a cute little cottage in Germany or any of the other things that had happened to her since meeting Theo and Galen.
While she got mugs down from the cabinet, Theo sat in the seat directly across from Isaac. Galen took up a position against the kitchen island, just far enough back that he was almostin Isaac’s blind spot.Pinning him between them. He couldn’t possibly avoid attacks if they both came at him from that position.
Or maybe she’d seen too many action movies.
She brought coffee to the men and then retreated back into the kitchen. If shit hit the fan, she could duck behind the heavy cabinets or bolt out the front door. Though she doubted Isaac showed up here alone. That would have been stupid, and he didn’t strike her a stupid man. One in an impossible situation, most definitely, caught between his current monarch and the one he obviously had supported pre-exile. There was history with Galen to consider, too.
Better to be quiet and still and let the men take point on this. It had the bonus of decreasing the chances of one of them ordering her away and then her having to eavesdrop yet again to keep up on the current situation. Meg leaned against the counter and sipped her coffee.
Theo leaned back, as regal as the king he almost was despite his surroundings. “You have my full attention.”
Theo studiedIsaac as he drank his coffee. “Let me see if I have this straight. My uncle wants you to retrieve all three of us and return us to Thalania… for our supposed safety.”
Isaac flicked a glance to Galen. “That about sums it up.” He leaned forward with a suddenness that had Galen reaching for his gun, but Isaac’s eyes were only for Theo. “He’s not my king. Edward could be if given a chance, but he won’t have that chance with Phillip playing puppet master.”
“What you’re saying is dangerously close to treason.” It was also exactly what Theo had feared. Edward was a good kid buthis mother had pampered and sheltered both her children as much as she could. A gift, but one that had long since grown teeth. His skin was too thin, his control was too incomplete, he craved other people’s approval. None of those things were terrible in a normal person. He was seventeen. He’d outgrow a good portion of them when he figured out who he was.
But in a king?
Phillip would have no difficulty manipulating Edward into doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.
Not that Theo would say as much to Isaac. He might have served as Galen’s second in command for the last ten years, but he was still sworn to serve Thalania, and at the moment, Theo and Galen stood in opposition to what the regent of Thalania wanted.
Isaac didn’t move. He barely seemed to breathe. “You’re trying to take the throne back. That’s why he’s determined to bring you back under his thumb.” The slightest pause. “He’s going to kill you.”
“To be fair, he’s already tried.” Theo leaned back, affecting a relaxed pose as he contemplated his coffee. “How long do we have before he gets suspicious?”
“Twenty-four hours. I’m the best, and he knows it.” He shot another look at Galen. “Well, second best. But I have an edge because I know Galen better than almost anyone. Phillip’s aware of that history. He’ll expect me to be able to dig you out of any hidey-hole you’ve crawled into.” He motioned at the house around them. “Case in point.”
Twenty-four hours wasn’t enough. They still didn’t know what the damn birth certificate signified, how it was the key to unlock the entire puzzle.Ifit was even the key. At this point, Phillip could very well have left it out because of some perverse desire to offer hope, only to snatch it away after Theo had gonethrough so much trouble to obtain it. “And after that you’ll follow orders.”
Isaac had the grace to look uncomfortable. “I might not agree with Phillip’s way of doing things, but your brother and sister are the royal family and the next in line for the throne.” Another of those micro hesitations. “If there’s a way for you to retake the throne…”
Theo held up a hand. “If there was a way, I wouldn’t tell you what it was because it’d put you in a shitty position. I respect you too much to do that.” He let his hand drop. “Just like you’ll respect our privacy for the next twenty-four hours before you do what you came here for.”
“I’ll respect your privacy.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “From a distance where I can see everything to ensure you don’t bolt again.”
He expected as much. Theo set his mug down. “One last thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Meg stays out of it.” He wasn’t ready to end things with her, but if the alternative was to haul her back to Thalania and into more danger than they’d been in up to this point combined… No. Theo was selfish—he was the first to admit that—but he wasn’tthatselfish. “We’re putting her on a flight back to New York. As far as you’re concerned, she was never here.”
Isaac’s eerie blue eyes flicked from him to Galen to Meg. “I have my orders.”
Galen shifted, breaking his line of sight with her. “Phillip’s more concerned with us than with her. He’ll be satisfied.”
“I have my orders,” Isaac repeated. He turned back to Theo. “You know he’ll just send someone to collect her if you try to dodge this.”
Yeah, he would. Theo made a show of looking at the clock over Isaac’s head. “Twenty-four hours. Isaac. I expect you to honor it.”
