Chapter Three

Christian knocked on Max’s door three hours later. He had waited a half hour after he’d seen Max head toward his rooms on the security monitors, giving the man time to grab a quick shower and change. If he were really lucky, maybe Max hadn’t had time to get redressed yet and would answer the door in a towel. He sighed when the door opened to reveal a fully clothed Max in sweatpants and T-shirt, before squaring his shoulders and putting on his professional face.

“Hey, Max. You ready for me?”

“Yep. Come on in.”

Max stepped aside and waved him into the apartment suite. Christian surveyed it with interest, as this was the first time he had been there. The head chef generally lived on-site so they were available at all times. Ryan’s family had lived in a large three-bedroom apartment, but Christian had been surprised to learn that Max still lived in the smaller two-bedroom he had been assigned when he’d first come to work at the palace.

“Out of curiosity, why didn’t you move into the larger head chef’s apartment when you were promoted?”

Max seemed embarrassed for a moment and hung his head. “It’s just me, and I work a lot. I didn’t see the sense of it when my assistant James has a wife and three kids. I let him have the space.”

“That was nice of you.”

Max’s head came up quickly. “You’re not going to tell me I’m crazy?”

“Nope. You do what’s right for you.” He pointedly looked around the comfortable and colorful space. “I like what you’ve done here. It’s open and yet cozy—like your own little bear cave.”

“Thanks.” Max rubbed the back of his neck in one of his nervous tells. “One day, I plan to buy a place outside the palace so I can get away on my days off, but I just haven’t done it yet.”

“Yeah. I was lucky to inherit my grandmother’s place. Anyway, on to more serious matters. The incident with the cake.”

“Yeah. What was up with that?”

“We will probably want to sit for this. It’ll take a while for this conversation. We might as well settle in for it.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry. Where are my manners? Please, sit. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Nah. I’m good. You’ve been on your feet and on the run all day, I’m sure. Can I grab you something while you sit?”

“No. No. I’m good, too.” Max moved to the couch to sit down then leaned forward, clasping and unclasping his hands in a gesture that Christian recognized from the past. Christian had studied everything about him back then. He pulled a small tablet out of his inside jacket pocket. “Do you mind if I take some notes for my report?”

“Of course not. Do whatever you need to do.”

“Thanks.”

Max jumped in before Christian could ask his first question. “That was weird. Why did the dog lie down and bark at the first cake but not at the second? Who were those guys?”

“First, what I’m going to tell you can go no farther than this room. Okay?”

Max nodded multiple times. “Yeah. Okay.”

“The dog went to the lay position and barked because he smelled explosives. Someone basically tried to bring a bomb onsite during the ball.”

“A bomb? In the cake? Holy shit.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself. Holy shit indeed.”

“Why?”

“That, we don’t know. At least we don’t know what they hoped to achieve by sending a bomb to the ball. We think it was sent by an organization we have been hearing noises about that wants to overthrow the monarchy.” Christian held up a hand to stop Max’s questions. “Let me finish explaining, then I’ll answer any questions. No one has claimed responsibility since we discovered the bomb, and we don’t know exactly why they want to overthrow the monarchy. It’s all been pretty vague, other than needing fresh blood, etcetera, etcetera. For the most part, the monarchy is adored, and they have led the country well for centuries. The country is certainly thriving under their leadership. Chatter has gotten louder lately. We don’t know why, just that they seem to be getting more organized, which brings me to my questions for you.”

“Okay.”

“You said Katarina changed the cake plans last week. Who knew about her original cake plans and who knew she’d changed them? Obviously, whoever planned this didn’t know about the change.”

“Only myself, Katarina and Pierre and his staff at the bakery knew about the changes to the cake. Katarina wanted it to be a surprise. I know you won’t be shocked to hear that Princess Zia had definite opinions on what Katarina was doing and had strong-armed Katarina into a cake design she didn’t want,” he offered with more than a touch of sarcasm.

“Yeah, I am not surprised by that at all.”

Max spread his hands in a helpless gesture before dropping them to his knees and rubbing up and down his thighs. “It got bad. Zia showed everyone the two computer generated pictures the bakery did of Katarina’s original ideas. One of the ideas was actually Zia’s design. Zia campaigned hard for her choice and got all her friends to tell Katarina how silly and immature Katarina’s idea was, too.”

“So Zia told a lot of people what the cake was going to look like?”

“Yep. With pictures. She gloated hard for weeks when Katarina caved.”

“But Katarina wasn’t happy about it?”

“Nope. Which is why the queen sat her down and talked to her—told her it was her ball and her plan. She needed to do what made her happy and that having things the way she wanted was one of the perks of being in charge.”

Christian couldn’t help his chuckle. “That sounds like Queen Tania.”

“Right? She’s an amazing woman.”

“One of the best.”

“Agreed.”

Max finally sat back on the couch and seemed to relax a little bit. “I’m guessing you’re thinking someone in Zia’s friend group gave the picture to whoever wanted to send the bomb.”

“That’s my working theory at the moment.”

“That sucks.”

“Yep. And will be very hard to track from there if Zia involved all her friends.”

“Not to mention it means that it’s someone wealthy, since Zia doesn’t associate with anyone below a certain income level.”

“There’s that too.”

“Now what?”

“Now I ask you to keep an eye out for anything unusual. You did well today. Though, I have to ask… Why didn’t you go get my father?”

Christian was fascinated by a blush that rose up Max’s neck and onto his cheeks. “I had been wondering why someone of your caliber was sent to the castle as the liaison for the ball. Rumor has it you’re an amazing soldier, with a reputation for getting the job done. It didn’t make sense to take you out of the field to be at the castle, even with an injury. The Royal Military Liaison position is usually assigned to someone near retirement. When the cake arrived right after the bakery called to tell me their delivery van had been stolen and they were running late, I just figured that maybe there was another reason you were actually here.”

“Yeah. Well, we thought people would just assume it was a cushy job for me since I was friends with the prince.”

“Which is what most people are saying, to be honest. No offense.”

“No. It’s all good. I needed a reason to be in the castle as an extra set of eyes. My injury and connections were logical reasons for me to be here without too many questions. So why didn’t you go to my father, though? I mean, it’s been ten years since we’ve even talked.”

Max winced. “Your father and I don’t exactly get along. He would have probably blown me off as having an overactive imagination.”

“Has he done that before?”

“Yeah. We had an incident a few months back where a bottle of the expensive brandy that the king favors went missing from the wine cellar. The king had received a case of it as a Christmas gift from Doctor Guttschein. When I went to get a new bottle to place in the king’s study, a bottle was already missing from the case. I reported it to your father, but he wasn’t bothered by it. He said it would show up, that I’d probably misplaced it.”

Max clenched his hands in anger. “Which you would never do…you or your staff.”

“Exactly. A couple of days later the brandy did show back up, which was odd, but when I looked at the bottle, it appeared it had been tampered with. I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong, but I just felt like something was. I don’t know if the seal wasn’t quite right or the color, but I again went to your father. He told me I was being ridiculous. I called a friend of mine who works at the hospital and asked him to analyze the contents.” Max looked up at Christian with sudden intensity.

Christian sat forward in his seat. “Was there something else in the bottle?”

“Yeah. Ipecac powder had been added. If the king had drunk any of it, he would have at the minimum been violently ill, but it could have killed him.”

“What did my father say then?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t tell him. I went right to King Raul.”

“And you said this was a couple of months ago?”

“Yeah. As I said, the king received the case of brandy as a Christmas gift. He also received a bottle of cognac from Prince Sebastian. He drank that first, so he didn’t open the brandy until around Easter.”

“Do you know if the king spoke to my father?”

“Yeah. He did. Your father came and yelled at me for daring to go behind his back to speak to the king about a security matter. I replied that he’d blown me off before, so I’d had to take matters into my own hands. It probably would have escalated from there, but visitors arrived that he had to greet at the front gate, so he had to go. He’s all but ignored me ever since.”

“Okay. Well, that gives us something else to check into. Do you still have the report, and can I get the name of the person who did the analysis?”

Max pulled out his phone. “I can forward you the email I received with the report attached. It has all of my friend’s contact information in it.”

Christian typed up everything Max had just told him into a report and forwarded it, the copy of the email and the lab analysis to his superior. He’d hit send when his phone rang, and he pulled it from his inside jacket pocket. “Hey, Sean, what’s up?”

“Castle Commander Diaz found out about the cake incident, and he is here in your office wanting to speak with you.” Sean’s formal tone set Christian on red alert.

“Is he a bit irate perhaps?”

“Yes, sir. Definitely.”

“Hand him the phone, please.” Christian only counted to six before his father barked into the phone.

“What is the meaning of not letting me know when something happens in this castle? I am the Castle Commander. You have no right to keep information from me.”

Christian used every mental trick he had ever learned to keep himself calm, imagining ice water flowing through his veins for a moment, before he responded to his father. “Are you quite finished?”

“Who do you think you are?”

“I am Lieutenant Christian Diaz, former companion to the Crown Prince Sebastian and current liaison between the castle and military here at the request of King Raul Hart, ruler of the Kingdom of Corazón. I have been tasked with an investigation into happenings here at the castle and within the country, and I decide who is included in this investigation. If I decide you are to be read in on this mission, I will let you know. I have not yet made that decision. Now, I have things to do. Please schedule a time with my assistant for us to talk tomorrow.” Christian then hung up the phone, ignoring his father’s spluttering. Christian looked over at Max to find him smiling. “What?”

“That was amazingly satisfying…to hear you tell your father off.”

“Yeah. It was kind of satisfying to do, too. For the record, you are not to speak to him about this incident until I tell you it’s okay. The military has officially taken over the investigation. I just came from speaking with His Royal Highness and was given his authorization to take lead on this.”

The smile fell from Max’s face. “Your father is going to hate that, especially since it’s you leading the investigation. I’m not sure what happened right before you left, but he hasn’t been the same since. He wasn’t friendly before then, but he’s been downright mean since, especially about you.”

Christian shrugged. “He feels I besmirched the family name with what happened.”

“Besmirched?”

“His word, not mine.”

Max looked at him intensely for a moment. “What did happen? No one talks about it.”

Christian sighed long and loud before standing. “If I’m going to bare my soul, do you mind if I get a bit more comfortable?” He waved a hand at his dress uniform jacket with all it’s hardware.

“Not at all. Are you sure I can’t offer you a drink?”

“Do you have any soda?”

“Yep. I have Coke or Sprite.”

“A Coke would be great. I’m running on empty.”

“I could make you a cup of coffee.”

“I don’t drink coffee.”

“You don’t? How did I not know that about you?”

“Well, you know I don’t like fish. That’s more important to me than what I drink.”

“Why don’t you like fish, anyway?” Max asked as he made his way to the kitchen.

“Uh-uh. You get one soul-baring story tonight—either what happened ten years ago or why I hate fish. Pick one.”

“Of course, I’m going to pick what happened ten years ago.” Max’s voice was faint as his head was in the refrigerator when he replied. “Do you want a glass with ice?”

“Nope. Out of the can is fine. I’m not fancy.” Max looked at him with a weird expression on his face as he reached for the can. “What?”

“This from the guy who insisted his water be bottled?”

“Yeah. Well, I was an asshole when I was younger. The army doesn’t allow for much bottled water—unless you count a canteen.”

“Nope. I get it. It’s just a little weird for me. I have this idea of you from when you left. You are and aren’t that guy anymore, all at the same time. And for the record, you were never an asshole.” Max sat down on the couch across from Christian again and spread both arms out across the back of it.

Christian scoffed. “Thanks, but I was.”

“Well, whatever you were, it was working. I was getting ready to ask you out right before you left. You were definitely of age by then.”

Christian’s raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yep.”

“And now?”

“Now, I want to ask you out even more. You have become the total package and so not an asshole.” Max paused for a moment. “Except to your father and Princess Zia, which I’m totally okay with.”

Christian chuckled. “Yeah. I have no patience for either one of them anymore.”

“Because of what happened ten years ago?”

“Really before that, but what happened ten years ago was the final straw.”

“So, tell me. What did happen? One day you were here and the next you were gone.”

Christian took a drink of his soda while looking at Max, stalling for time as he organized his thoughts, trying to figure out where to begin. “I actually haven’t told anyone what happened except King Raul and Doctor Guttschein. Ryan was there, so I didn’t have to tell him. I haven’t even told Sebastian about it.”

“I’m honored you trust me with it then.”

Christian swallowed hard before continuing. “You remember Zia and Ryan had just graduated?”

“Yes. We were quite busy throwing a graduation party for them at the time.”

Christian nodded. “I was at the party as kind of another set of eyes, to make sure everyone was being safe. I was sitting on one of the chairs in the corner, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. Zia brought me a can of soda. I thought she was being nice, but while out of character for her, I thought maybe she was trying to turn over a new leaf. The drink was already open, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

Christian shuddered at Max’s expression. He saw from the dawning horror on his friend’s face that he had a pretty good idea what had happened. He couldn’t look him in the eye anymore, so he dropped his gaze to his clasped hands. “Yeah, she’d slipped something into my drink. I became fuzzy, but it took me too long to figure out what had happened. Next thing I knew, I was being helped from the chair and being moved to one of the parlor rooms. I know the princess was on one side of me. I don’t know for sure who was on my other side, just that he was male and slightly smaller than me. I couldn’t even hold up my head. I remember hearing the princess tell whoever it was ‘thank you’ that ‘it worked just as you said it would’ before I was dumped onto a couch, then nothing.”

“That bitch!” Max sudden standing and placement of his hands on his hips, made Christian look at him again. The indignation on his behalf was certainly welcome.

“Let me finish. I need to get this out.”

Max threw himself back on the couch with a huff.

“First off, you need to know I wasn’t raped. Ryan had been in the pool and saw shadows in the parlor. Since no one was supposed to be in that particular room, he went to investigate. He tried the French doors that led inside, but they were locked. By the time he’d made it around, he must have spooked whoever it was, because the French doors were standing open and only I was in there. He found me passed out on the couch, with my shirt off and my belt and pants undone but still on my body. He couldn’t rouse me, so he called one of the guards to help take me to the infirmary, and he summoned Doctor Guttschein.”

“Obviously that wasn’t the end of it. What happened next?”

“My understanding is that the king and queen came to put in an appearance at the party shortly afterward, only to discover Princess Zia had disappeared. They were hopeful that I was with her, at least, until Ryan told them he had to take me to the infirmary.

“My father came to yell at me in the infirmary. He was pissed at me and assumed I had been drinking to the point I’d passed out and was shirking my duties. I couldn’t correct him since I was still really out of it. Once my father stormed off, I was able to tell Doctor Guttschein what I remembered. He took some bloodwork and determined I had been slipped GHB.”

“She gave you a date-rape drug?” Max’s voice climbing three octaves during the course of the question made him smile.

“Yep. It ends up there was a beach party being thrown by one of her classmates that she wanted to go to, but the queen had found out there was no adult supervision and it would be a security nightmare, so Zia was told she couldn’t go. Zia figured no one would miss her if I wasn’t there to keep an eye on her, hence the drugging.” Christian shrugged. “The king and queen obviously wanted to keep it quiet, asked me not to tell anyone and that they would handle Zia.”

“They didn’t have your father and his team investigate the attempted rape?”

Christian winced. “There was nothing to go on. They couldn’t get Zia to admit who she had left me with. It would have meant scandal. I did my duty and let it go. I couldn’t stay, though, and see her smug expression, knowing she’d gotten one over on me, so I left and joined the military. Ryan was the only one I could talk to about it, and he was leaving for college.”

“Your father still doesn’t know what happened to you?”

“Nope. I didn’t tell him. He never asked me my side of the story. He’s never really treated me well since my mother died when I was five. He became this cold taskmaster overnight. All I am to him is Sebastian’s companion. He was determined that I would be the best bodyguard ever, and we rarely discussed anything other than my training.”

“What about that month-long vacation he took you on when you were sixteen? While the prince was on that trip with his mother.”

Christian scoffed. “He went on vacation. I was sent on a three-week training exercise with a mercenary group to hone my skills. I was supposed to get at least a week off, but I contracted something in the jungle where the training took place, so spent part of that week in the hospital.”

“What?”

“Yep. My father was most disgusted that I was so weak as to get sick, even though the group said I did great in the training and offered me a job once I turned eighteen.”

“Wow. You must have really impressed them.”

Christian shrugged. “I guess. I just learned as much as I could, since at the time I was still trying to get my father’s approval.”

“I’m guessing you’re not, anymore? Based on what I’ve seen tonight.”

“Hell no. He’s even on the official list of suspects.” Christian couldn’t help it if his chuckle was a touch evil after that statement.

“Oh man, that should really piss him off.”

“Yep.” Christian sobered. “I need you to be careful—not just with him, but with everyone and everything. I need you to stay observant and focused.”

“I will. I promise.”

Christian searched Max’s eyes to make sure he was taking him seriously and saw nothing but sincerity. With a nod, Christian slumped in his chair and ran his hands over his face. “Man, it has been a long day. I should probably go and get out of your hair. You’ve had a long day as well. It’s already”—Christian took a moment to look at his watch—“damn—two a.m., and I have to be on base for a meeting at eight-thirty.”

“Or…”

Christian looked at Max to see him biting his lip. “Or what?”

“Or you can crash in my guest room, if you don’t want to crash with me.”

Christian was shocked but pleased by the offer. “Yeah? I don’t have the energy to do anything but sleep…”

Max waved that away. “I don’t either, but after hearing everything that has happened to you and almost being blown up by a cake, I need to hold you tonight.”

“That sounds really good. I’m feeling a little raw from talking about it, if I’m being honest.”

“That’s what you have to be if you want anything to happen between us. I’m not saying tell me confidential stuff about your job, but I am saying you have to be honest with me about emotions and anything between us.”

“Same goes,” Christian said in a husky voice. “I need us to be real.”

“Agreed. Now come on.” Max stopped to yawn. “Whatever time you have to get up to be on base at eight-thirty is going to be way too early for me as it is. I don’t have to be in until ten at least. Let’s go.” Max stood and offered Christian a hand, which Christian was more than happy to take. He followed Max down the hall to his bedroom. “If you need a shower, it’s through there.”

“Actually, let me run down to my office and grab my go-bag. That way I can just leave right from here.”

“Sounds good. Here… Let me get you the spare key so you can let yourself in. I’m assuming you don’t mind if I go ahead and get into bed.” Max glanced over his shoulder at him as he went to a drawer in the kitchen to retrieve the key.

A bolt of electricity zinged down Christian’s spine at the thought. “It would be a dream come true actually to join you in a bed.”

Max laughed as he handed over the key. “You need to dream bigger.” Then Max leaned in and kissed him. What started off as a gentle kiss quickly morphed into something more, with Christian crowding Max into the counter. He pulled away with reluctance.

“I really do need to go get my stuff so I can get some rest.”

“Yeah. I know.” Max gave him another peck on the lips before stepping away and heading down the hall. “Hurry back.”

“I will.” Christian hustled out of the apartment and to his on-site office, where he had stashed a few changes of clothes.

Even hustling, it took him a half hour round trip. The castle wasn’t exactly small. Letting himself into the apartment, he checked all the locks and turned off lights as he made his way to Max’s bedroom. He stopped in the doorway for a moment to take in his fill of the man who was gently snoring in the bed. Tearing himself away, he set up his phone to charge and act as his alarm before he took a quick shower, and after toweling off and putting on a pair of clean boxer briefs, went to join him. He snuggled up to Max and wrapped his arm around him from behind before inhaling Max’s scent deep into his lungs. A sense of peace like he had never felt came over him, and he was asleep between one breath and the next.