A Valiant Prince Read online

  A Valiant Prince

  The Poisoned Pawn Duet Part II

  S.E. Rose

  Contents

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  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Stay Connected

  About the Author

  Also by S.E. Rose

  Sneak Peek at A Wise Prince

  Copyright © 2019 S. E. Rose

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  www.seroseauthor.com

  Cover design © Arijana Karčić, Cover It! Designs

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Each book in this series primarily takes place in real locations where the author has previously visited. However, aside from names of countries and cities, the places are described in a fictional manner. The author has drawn from her personal experiences to describe these locations, but also uses fictitious embellishments for the purposes of the story.

  This book contains descriptions of adult relationships and violence as well as derogatory language. If such things offend you, this book is not for you. The book is intended for mature readers.

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  Dedication

  To my father, who made up the best bedtime fairy tales. You fostered my imagination and love of creativity. No matter how many years go by without you in this world, I will forever remember your innate ability to play make-believe with me.

  Prologue

  “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” ~William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

  “Mom?” I ask as I knock on my mother’s door.

  “Come in, Logan,” she answers from behind the door. I turn the knob and peek inside. My mother is sitting at her desk. She’s got notebooks scattered about and news clippings. She’s working. She’s always working.

  “Mom? Will you be taking me to camp tomorrow?” I ask her. She looks up from her desk. She looks sad, but she often looks sad, as though she’s thinking about someone who died.

  “I’m gonna try. I’m sorry, but I have to get work done on this story. Nana will take you if I can’t,” she says. I glance at her desk. There are photographs and a locket. The locket is creepy looking. It has an eye painted on it.

  “What’s that?” I say, disgust evident in my voice.

  She laughs a little and holds up the locket. “It’s a locket, silly,” she says, opening it to show me the empty insides.

  “Why don’t you have photos in there? I thought girls put photos in those,” I say.

  She sighs. “We do, but this one is special. Someone special gave it to me. Do you know why it has an eye painted on it?” she asks me.

  I shake my head.

  “A long time ago, people would send each other paintings of their eyes. Historians believe that it was a trend started by a king a long time ago. They are called ‘lover’s eyes.’ It’s a way to help someone remember you,” she explains.

  “Why don’t they just give you a photo?” I ask, scrunching up my face because the whole thing is creepy and weird.

  She laughs again. “I guess they could nowadays, but this is sort of romantic. Don’t you think?” she asks me. I roll my eyes. My mom always asks me funny grown-up questions.

  “Mom, it’s weird,” I say.

  “I think it’s beautiful,” she whispers as she carefully sets the locket back on her desk.

  “Sure, Mom. I gotta go pack,” I say as I turn to leave. She reaches out and grabs my arm, stopping me, and I turn back to her. I’m hopeful for a moment that she might take me to camp because of the look in her eyes.

  “Someday, Logan, you’ll meet the love of your life, and when you do, don’t let anything come between you. Fight for your love. OK?” she says to me.

  “Uh, yeah, sure, Mom,” I say.

  She pulls me in and kisses my hair. “You have your father’s eyes,” she whispers. I freeze because she so seldom mentions my father. I lean back in her arms and look at her.

  “I do?” I ask.

  “You do,” she states. I smile. She smiles back and then brushes the end of my nose with her finger.

  “You better go pack,” she says.

  “OK,” I reply as I skip out of her room, daydreaming about a handsome man with blue eyes.

  Chapter One

  I lose track of her quickly. The smoke is thick and blankets the air like morning fog. Water is spraying down from the sprinklers, and I take my shirt off and hold it under one before tying the wet cloth around my nose to keep the burning fumes of the fire from filling my lungs.

  I make it up the stairs. The temperature rises, as I climb each stair. When I reach the top, I look toward her room. I run there first, but it’s empty. I walk back into the hallway and look toward the fire in the other wing. She wouldn’t. Shit, she would.

  I begin to run toward the fire, fighting the natural urge to run back outside, fighting my instincts that say to run away from the fire, because if my fierce princess ran into it, then I most certainly am going in after her.

  I hear her before I see her.

  “Daddy!” she yells.

  As I run toward the sound of her voice, I begin to make out her figure in the distance. There’s fire everywhere. Debris rains down from the ceiling, and I narrowly miss it. I’m momentarily confused as I approach her, she’s not looking in her father’s room, but inside my father’s room.

  “Anna!” I call out as I close in on her.

  She turns slowly, and just as she sees me, there’s a roar of fire, a cracking in the ceiling above her, and then I don’t see her.

  “Anna!” I scream, sprinting as fast as I can, choking on the smoke that I inhale instead of oxygen.

  There are so many flames. I fall to the ground and begin crawling. I can see a beam has fallen, and I jump over it. That’s when I see her. Her arm is under the beam, and she’s on the ground, pieces of ceiling around her, on her. I don’t even think as I start removing burning debris from on top of her. They say that people have superhuman strength when adrenaline pumps through their bodies in times of emergency. This is the only explanation of how I am able to push
a giant wooden beam off Anna.

  I pick her up in my arms and turn. Then I see my father. King Michael supports him and the two are stumbling toward the door.

  “We have to go!” I yell to them. “This wing is going to collapse!”

  “Go!” King Michael yells as his eyes focus on Anna. “Get her out of here.”

  Anna stirs in my arms. “Lara,” she manages.

  “What?” I ask, shaking her a bit as her eyes close again.

  “Lara,” she says again and then promptly passes out in my arms.

  “Where’s Lara?” I yell at King Michael.

  “I don’t know!” he yells back. “Go!” he screams again. I take off running away from the fire with Anna in my arms. There are firemen, guards, and staff running everywhere. It is a scene of complete chaos.

  I make it down the stairs and find firefighters coming toward us. One of them stops.

  “Is she injured?” he says.

  “Yes, a beam fell,” I say. “The kings are still up there.”

  “Are you OK?” he asks. I nod.

  The firefighter radios something and nods. “Get her out front. There are ambulances waiting,” he says and takes off running up the stairs.

  I hurry past him. The air outside almost hurts to breathe as I make my way toward the ambulances in the drive. A medic meets me and helps me to get Anna on a stretcher.

  “What happened?” he asks as he begins taking her vitals.

  “A beam fell on her arm,” I say.

  He looks at her arm. It’s bloody and bruised.

  “I think she hit her head when she fell,” I say.

  “OK, we need to get her to the hospital,” he says.

  “I’m coming with you,” I reply.

  “Are you family?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I answer, not even giving it a thought.

  I climb in beside her as he shuts the doors. Out of the back window, I can see Auggie, Chris, and Pete running toward the ambulance, their faces white, their eyes wide.

  Anna only stirs briefly in the ambulance as a medic puts an oxygen mask on her face. It takes all my willpower not to hold her in my arms as the medic continues to work on her.

  Once we arrive at the emergency room, a nurse escorts me to a private waiting area.

  “I’ll come to get you as soon as I know something,” she says. “And, hold on, I’ll get you a shirt.” I look down and realize I must have dropped my shirt when I picked Anna up. I’m in jeans and shoes and that’s it. A moment later, she returns and hands me a scrubs top. I put it on and thank her. She nods and scurries off toward the emergency room. There’s some blood on my jeans, and I rub at it in a vain attempt to make it go away.

  Minutes tick by like hours. I sit, tapping my foot. I don’t even have my phone on me. I left it in my room when the explosion happened. Pete is going to kill me. When he realized Anna wasn’t in the room, he lost his shit. And quite frankly, I don’t blame the guy.

  The door to the room flies open and wild-eyed Pete is at the door.

  “Where is she?” he asks.

  “In the ER,” I answer.

  “Damn it, Logan. You and I are going to have words,” he says loudly and then lowers his voice, “But not here.”

  A moment later, Chris and Auggie come in with Mia, Cain, and Nico.

  “They brought our fathers here,” Chris says to me.

  I nod. “Your aunt?” I ask.

  Chris shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he says.

  The room is utterly silent as everyone sits, paces, and sits again. Mia offers to get everyone coffee, but Chris stops her from leaving.

  “No one is going anywhere,” he commands.

  “Chris…I mean, Your Highness…I…” She trails off and looks at him as her lip quivers. Chris pulls her into a hug.

  “I’m sorry. I…we need to be careful, Mia. I know you’re trying to help, but please let others take care of that stuff,” he says to her.

  “OK,” she says quietly, her voice muffled against Chris’s chest.

  They have just separated when the door to the waiting room opens and a young doctor walks in.

  “Your Highnesses, I’m Dr. Vanker. Your father, the king, is fine. We are treating him for smoke inhalation. We should probably check everyone here as well. King Edvard sustained some injuries but they are not severe. He has a broken arm and injured foot, and a nasty bump on his head. We’ll be keeping him overnight as a precaution. Your sister sustained a severe concussion but her arm wasn’t broken. There’s some tissue damage, so we’ll keep it immobilized for a few days while she recovers. We are also keeping her overnight. Princess Lara was just brought in a few minutes ago. She suffered considerable internal injuries and smoke inhalation. She’s up in surgery right now. She coded on her way here. We have some of the best doctors in the country working on her, but I wanted you to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Her husband should be joining you shortly. I gave him some scrubs to change into,” the doctor says.

  “Thank you for the updates, Dr. Vanker,” Chris says, extending his hand. The doctor accepts it.

  “Is there anything I can get for you?” he asks, looking around. “And can I please check each of you to make sure you don’t need oxygen?” Everyone nods and Dr. Vanker calls in a nurse who begins treating us, essentially turning the room into a triage clinic. She takes blood pressures and treats minor cuts, while Dr. Vanker listens to our lungs.

  “Logan, it would be good to get you some oxygen. Of everyone here, I think you suffered the worst smoke inhalation,” Dr. Vanker suggests. I nod and follow him out and down a hall.

  He opens a curtain and pats one of those emergency room beds. “Have a seat, and I’ll get a nurse to set you up with some oxygen,” he says. Before leaving, he turns. “I hope you don’t mind a suitemate.” He winks and pulls back a curtain to reveal Anna.

  I leap off the bed and run to her. She looks at me and gives me a weak smile.

  “Well, if it isn’t my knight in shining armor,” she whispers in a raspy voice and coughs.

  “Easy there, tiger. You inhaled a lot of smoke, Anna. How’s the arm?” I ask her as I look down to see she’s wearing a brace on her arm.

  “It’s alright. My head hurts more than my arm,” she admits.

  “Why are you back here?” she asks.

  “The doctor suggested I get some oxygen since I inhaled a bit of smoke,” I say. “Nothing to worry about,” I add quickly.

  “Everyone else?” she asks.

  I sit down on the edge of her bed. “Our dads are fine, just some minor injuries. Your aunt is in surgery. She had fairly severe injuries,” I say. I see her eyes immediately fill with tears.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to her as I wipe a stray tear from her cheek.

  “I couldn’t get to her,” she says.

  I pull her against me. “My brave princess,” I murmur as I kiss her forehead.

  “Excuse me, young man, but you shouldn’t be on her Royal Highness’s bed. And I need to set you up with oxygen,” she says. I turn to see a stout woman in her sixties if I had to guess. She looks grumpy. I turn back to Anna who’s trying to hide a smirk. I wink at her and jump down.

  Once the nurse has me set up, I lean back over to Anna. I hold out my hand, and she places her hand in mine.

  “It’ll be OK,” I say to her.

  “Sten?” she asks.

  I frown. “I saw him outside for a split second, but I don’t know,” I admit as I try to recall who I saw outside. She nods

  Just then Pete walks in and gives us both a look that could easily kill a lesser man. He points to us both.

  “You two have some serious explaining to do. You are both at the top of my shit list,” he says.

  Anna giggles and then coughs. Pete is by her side instantaneously. “Susanna, are you alright?” he asks.

  She nods. “Smoke,” she explains with another cough. She reaches up and touches Pete’s cheek. “I’m sorry, Pete. I really, really am. I had t
o check. The signal was from the palace. Whoever wants Logan dead, was in the palace,” she adds.

  “Damn it, Anna. We have people working on this. I thought you gave Victor your computer,” he says to her.

  She looks away. “I did…it’s just not my only computer,” she admits.

  Pete sighs and runs a hand over his face as he shakes his head.

  Anna grabs his hand. “Pete, listen to me. I don’t know who to trust, but I trust you, Lucas, Logan, Chris, and Auggie. Something doesn’t add up, Pete. I just have to figure out what that is,” she says.

  “Susanna, the only thing you need to do is heal. Enough of this bullshit. You’re not a spy. You’re not some secret agent. You are a god damn princess, and it’s time you start acting like one,” he growls.

  “Pete,” I start.

  “You and I are still going to have words. Otherwise, you two aren’t going to be spending any time alone together, do you understand me?” he says, his voice menacingly low.

  I sit up and glare at him. “Let’s get one thing clear. I don’t take orders from you, Pete. I may have just found out that I’m a crowned prince, but that doesn’t make me any less royal. If Anna wants to investigate the threat against our families, then Anna will investigate it. Do you understand me?” I snarl.

  “Please, the both of you need to put your testosterone back in your pants. This pissing match isn’t helping anything. Pete, I will continue my investigating, but I will keep you looped in. Logan, play nice,” she croaks out in an angry tone.