“Evelyne,” Alex said, mentioning his sister. “You must use one of your escape routes and take her away.”
Gabriel choked a bit on the drink he’d taken. He coughed, cleared his throat. “Away?” he croaked.
“Without anyone knowing where. Including myself.”
“Alex…” This was a great task. One with immense meaning. And great risk to Gabriel.
“My father has promised her to General Sergi Vinyes.”
Gabriel looked across the ballroom to the woman in question. Evelyne had no aura of fragility like Ines. She was bright and vibrant, a shining beauty. He had often wondered how she maintained it in a place such as this, with a father such as hers.
Evelyne was another reason Gabriel did not care for spending time in Alis these days. As she’d grown into a beautiful young woman, she’d become a temptation. For some time, Gabriel had made certain to indulgeallhis temptations.
But Evelyne was one that reminded him of the adolescent he’d been—full of rage and obsession. Alex had saved him from that, so he could not go back to it. Certainly not because of his little sister.
Like every other sane person in this palace, he owed Alexandre too much to fool around with the prince’s sister.
But no one deserved General Vinyes. Gabriel didn’t even know the man, spent very little time in Alis, and still the military man’s reputation for blood lust, revenge, and fury was something well known across Europe. Something that kept many countries from invading this small, belligerent one.
So no, no one deserved the general. Certainly not a young, vibrant princess as beautiful as Evelyne.
Tonight she was dressed in a glittering green dress that didn’t match the wedding colors but complemented them. The garment skimmed along her curves, a sensuous delight Gabriel knew better than to allow himself to notice. Her hair—somewhere between a honeyed blond and a shiny chestnut—was pulled back in an elaborate twist. Her lips were painted a dark, purplish red that would have short-circuited his brain if he allowed his vision to linger there.
Instead, he noted the two serious-looking guards who flanked her, both armed.
“Get her away from the guards without causing suspicion,” Alex was saying fervently. “Get her out of here. Take her somewhere she won’t be found. If possible, on a plane that can’t be tracked to either of us. Tonight. Then set her up with a new life. While my father is distracted and thinks I’ve no time to plan. I will pay you back when I am able. It is too much to ask, I know this, but I must ask it anyway. She cannot be married to that monster.”
In any other situation, Gabriel might have led with a joke, with the aura of casual nonchalance, but not with Alex. Not with the one man in the world he allowed himself to owe.
“There is no ask too big, Alex,” he said, even knowing thiswasthe biggest ask for a wide variety of reasons. “You once saved my life,” Gabriel reminded him.
Alex sighed impatiently as he often did when Gabriel brought it up. If Alexandre had faults, his stark refusal to admit he was near saint levels ofgoodwas one of them.
Gabriel looked at Evelyne and the guards once more. He’d have no trouble getting her out of the palace—he and Alex had studied and planned escape routes for nearly two decades now. And thanks to that, Gabriel’s entire personal fortune was built on understanding and implementing security for the well-connected wealthy, the royal.
And since it was, he knew how to get around it, especially since he’d designed and implemented much of the palace and country’s security himself.
But the guards… They were under King Enzo’s command and King Enzo’s command alone. Getting around them would take some doing. Not that Gabriel had any doubts he could accomplish it, but it would require time with Evelyne. In that dress. “Have you told Evelyne of your plan?” he asked, his mind already imagining and rejecting ideas.
“No, I’m afraid she’ll…do something unwise if I give her warning. You must simply whisk her away. You can tell her my plan once she’s on a plane. Safe from the king.”
They both looked at the king across the room, holding court. Gabriel was well acquainted with evil—the different shapes and sizes of it that existed within men. So often it came cloaked in power, influence. So often it hurt the glittering innocents like Evelyne. He had found that even power and money could not always protect a woman in this cruel world.
King Enzo knew how to wield it all. As General Vinyes would.
No, he could not allow such to be wielded against Evelyne, both for Alex and for the princess herself.
“I trust you, Gabriel. With my sister’s safety.”
And because Alexandre had once saved him from the evil he had been close to succumbing to those years ago, Gabriel nodded, now determined.
He would help Evelyne, regardless of personal sacrifice, and honor the debt he owed her brother.
And he would certainly keep his hands to himself while he did it.
CHAPTER TWO
Evelyne was notmuch of a drinker, but tonight she set herself to the task. Hope was gone, whynotmake a scene? If her father punished her, so be it. Before today, she’d had some vague hope thateventuallythe king would die of bitterness and old age.
