“Yes.”
“No intimacy required?”
“None whatsoever! If we must travel, you’ll always have a separate room. Please understand that I’m interested in you as a key to the key, not in you personally.”
What a weird way of putting it!
Is he sincere? I have no clue, what with his gnarled, leathery hide making his facial expressions unintelligible.
Is his story about the key a ruse to get me to spend time with him and to ease me into sleeping with him? Who knows, but why go to such trouble? While no woman could possibly desire him, there are plenty who’d do it for the money. A guy who paid a fortune to pay off a stranger’s debt can surely afford the best escort service out there.
Does that mean he’s convinced that I subconsciously know something about that precious key of his? Or that I have the unique skills needed to retrieve information about it? Does he really just need my help?
He rises to his feet, walks past me, and stops by the door. “I’ll give you time to consider my offer, Madame Pontet. Expect a call from me tomorrow evening at six o’clock sharp.”
THEO
At a quarter to five, Jordan drops Darrel and me in front of our hotel.
Before we go in, I thank him for the smooth flight. “You’re off for the rest of the day.”
“Thank you, Your Highness!” He shoots a nervous glance at Darrel.
My personal attendant gives voice to Jordan’s concern. “You’re supposed to have two men with you at all times, Your Highness. If you’re giving Jordan the evening off, I’ll call Roberto in. He’s on standby.”
“We’re spending the evening at the hotel,” I say. “MESS has the threat level at low for tonight, according to the assessment I received during the flight.”
That seems to satisfy Jordan. But not Darrel.
“Farid Aifa may pull a number, despite taking the money,” he argues. “To him, you’re just a guy with a soft spot for Elise Pontet and enough money to buy her from him. He may think you’re an easy target.”
I give him a stare. “Carlo and his agents are well aware of that contingency. They keep an eye on Doc and his sidekicks. Right now, the lot of them are getting laid in an underground bordello.”
“What about our best friend, Kurt Ozzi?” Darrel asks. “Can Carlo vouch that his agents are doing a better job at surveilling and derailing him than they did during your younger brothers’ quests for the key?”
The man Darrel ironically calls our best friend is, in fact, the archenemy of the Principality of Mount Evor and its royal family. He’s set on using his limitless resources, connections, and influence to keep us from recovering the lost keys. We have until autumn of next year, and we fail, Kurt wins and my beautiful country will be no more. It will be split between France and Italy, and its riches will be seized by their grabby, incompetent and debt-ridden governments.
“Not even Carlo knows what exactly Kurt is up to, obviously,” I say. “The man is as slippery as a wet bar of soap. But at present Carlo has no reason to believe that Kurt has heard about Mother’s third revelation and my subsequent quest.”
Darrel shakes his head. “The truth is, Carlo’s agents have been wrong before, and the oracle’s previous revelations have been leaked.”
“There’s a mole in the Mount Evor Secret Service, I’m sure of it,” Jordan says.
Darrel inclines his head.
Uncle Richard, Mother, and my siblings think so, too. I don’t.
“MESS is more watertight than our extended family,” I say. “The kind of background checks Carlo does on every potential recruit makes the existence of a mole at MESS highly improbable.”
My attendant, blinded by his dedication to the Valois-Montevor dynasty as always, purses his lips. “Your Highness, you aren’t suggesting that a traitor within the royal family is more probable than a plant at MESS, are you?”
“I’m not suggesting anything.” I turn to Jordan. “Go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Until tomorrow, Your Highness!” With a nod to Darrel, he rushes off.
Darrel and I enter the hotel. He booked his room under one of his fake IDs. I’m using my “Delaroche” alias.
The hotel manager herself steps out to greet us. “Monsieur Delaroche, Monsieur Dumas, welcome back! I trust you had a pleasant drive to and from Geneva?”
