“Bloody hell,” she murmured, but she’d gone pale all over again. “You’re more stupid than I thought.”
That was probably true.
“This is why you’ve slipped security?” she demanded in a harsh whisper. “To try to find the people you believe committed regicide. Are you insane? Have you forgotten that you’re also royalty?”
His jaw set. “I can’t trust anyone else.”
“You can trust me.” She was still holding his sleeve and he slid his gaze down. The tent seemed to close in around the small intimacy, a touch without touching, and instead of letting go, she tugged again. “I’m already on this. Leave it alone.”
That pulled him up. “You’re already on it?”
“I’ve been looking into it since I got here. The police officially closed the investigation as an accident, but Philip and I can’t swallow it either. I’ve been researching the laborers who worked on the renovations. The suppliers. The staff who had access to the west wing. We know that the balcony pillars weren’t sealed properly—that the wood supports were water-damaged and buckled under the weight of their banquet. Yes, the damage could be due to poor sequencing of different trades during installation. King Vinci’s timeline for renovations was incredibly tight and his budget didn’t exactly inspire excellence. Good, fast and cheap—when it comes to a job, you get two out of three. His Majesty unwittingly chose fast and cheap, and suffered horrifically for the lack of quality. The official findings make sense.” She paused, features haunted. “But it doesn’t feel right. The circumstances were practically begging to be used as a cover for something more sinister.”
Kris’s heart was pounding. “What have you found?”
“Not much.” Her tone turned cutting. “It’s kind of difficult to wade through hundreds of possible suspects when I’ve had to learn a high-pressure job on the fly that involves keeping track of a certain prince who keeps disappearing.”
His hope for closure fixed on her. “I won’t disappear again if you promise to update me.”
“Fine,” she snapped. After a beat, she said, “What have you found?”
“Not much, either. I’ll show you my notes. I was on my way to visit the site manager when you found me the other night.”
She cursed under her breath, shaking her head.
As she picked up her phone again, he asked, “Can we trust Philip?”
“Philip had nothing to do with the death of your family.” Her hushed tone was final.
He frowned. “How can you really know?”
“I know. Now, don’t talk. I need to call him.”
She disappeared under her bedding, and even Kris couldn’t quite make out the muffled phone conversation. When she emerged, she said, “Dawn meeting in the tower. He wants to hear this theory from you—then we’ll loop in the authorities to look into a possible connection with the attack on Jones and Tommy.” She sighed and her shoulders slumped as she rubbed her face. “If it’s true, it changes everything.”
“In my defense, I did try to meet with the head of personal security about this when I first got here.”
She looked like he’d slapped her. “I assumed you wanted to convince me to remove your guards.”
“That too,” he said. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“It does. I’m not cut out for this. I shouldn’t even be here.”
He lay down onto his side, facing her, and offered a smile. “That makes two of us.”
She hesitated, attention darting to the seam of the two bedrolls, still pulled side by side. A line etched between her brows before she slowly lay down, mirroring his pose, though her muscles were locked with tension.
Her gaze was haunted. “I’m scared for you.”
“Nah, don’t be scared.”
But she was. Fear pulled around her mouth, glinted in her eyes. They hadn’t lain this close before and his chest clamped. Her night-shadowed eyes moved over him, a slow yet erratic path, as if caught in the current of his body. Longing eddied beneath his skin, and if she dove in, she’d find the space he reserved for her ran deeper than he’d ever let on.
“You asked why I haven’t said sorry.” The words hid under her breath, soft and shy, and he focused on her lips to catch them properly. “It’s because I’m not. I found you. Across the world, when I had nothing left inside me, I found you. And I know it’s the middle of the night talking and I’m going to be sick about telling you this in the morning, but I know I lied—and I hid from you, and I hurt you, but you mean everything