Chapter 129

After thanking Tiffany, I excused myself from lunch and ushered Elva back to the safety of our room. I kept my eyes peeled for any sight of my twin in the hallways, but I saw no sight of her myself. Yet I had no reason to doubt Tiffany.

When we were back in the room, I called Mark to the side. “I need to meet with Prince Nicholas and Prince Julian at once. We have to make sure the tunnel is secure.”

Mark’s face immediately grew grim. He had his phone in his hands an instant later, texting. To me, he asked, “Has something happened?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted.

With the princes’ busy schedules, we couldn’t meet until the evening. I was a nervous wreck all afternoon.

When it finally came time, I met Julian and Nicholas down in the cellar. Mark and the nanny watched Elva back in our room.

I stared at where once had been the tunnel opening. Now, there was only a brick wall. It was recently laid, but hadn’t been clearly tampered with. Julian lightly ran his fingers around the outer edges. He pressed on the bricks, checking their sturdiness.

“It’s solid,” he said.

“So there’s another way in.” I wrapped my arms around myself for comfort, but I could not seem to fight the chill. Nicholas stepped closer to me. He didn’t touch me, instead merely stood a few inches off, but the relative closeness warmed more than I could have alone.

“I can check the blueprints again, but this seemed to be the only passage that led off the property. The rest connected rooms or hallways.” Julian rubbed his hand over his mouth. “We can try checking the passages to find where she’s hiding, but she could just as easily move when we get close.”

I remembered how I had chased Jane before, and how she had seemed to vanish when I’d thought I’d cornered her.

Julian shrugged. “Unfortunately, all it would take is for Terry to sneak her in once, and she could simply hide out here for as long as she wants. If she does get spotted, she can just pretend to be you.”

Terry, as the Luna’s brother, could more easily pass through security than other guests. Theoretically, all Jane would have to do was lie down on the floor of the backseat as the security gate waved Terry’s car through.

But for that to happen, that meant…

“Terry is here?” My chills returned tenfold, and I shivered.

A muscle ticked in Nicholas’s jaw. “He’s one of the benefactors for the fundraising gala event.”

Of course he was. He had money and close ties to the royal family. Why wouldn’t he be a benefactor?

My body trembled. I wasn’t ready to face him again so soon, but if he was a benefactor, I would have no choice. I was obligated to speak to each of them, to give them my pitch and to convince them to donate to the orphanage. The entire thing would be monitored so no girl or benefactor would be missed.

Nicholas’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. “There’s nothing else we can do for right now. Let me walk you back to your room.”

I couldn’t find my voice, so I nodded.

We came out from the cellars, left the kitchen, and walked through the main hallway when I noticed we were being followed. By the deep set of Nicholas’s frown, he had likely noticed even sooner than me.

As we turned a corner, Nicholas urged me to stop. Sure enough, a few seconds later, a pair of guards rounded that same corner. When they spotted us, the quickly halted.

These were not part of Nicholas’s personal guard. No. From the design of their uniform, these were clearly under command of Joseph.

“You’re following us,” Nicholas said.

The guards glanced at each other. One opened his mouth but immediately closed it. The other lowered his head.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes as the wait for a reply grew longer and longer. Finally, he added some authoritative tone to his voice, as he said, “Under whose orders were you told to keep secrets from your prince?”

The guard who had opened his mouth immediately did so again. “Many apologies, Your Royal Highness. We meant no offense. It was not meant to be a secret from you, though…” His gaze shifted to me.

Beside me, Nicholas straightened, body tense as a bow string. “So you are following us?”

“Following Miss Piper, Sir.” The guard started to sweat. “There have been reports of suspicious behavior. For the safety of all, the captain thought we should keep an eye on her.”

I remembered Lilliana speaking with Joseph in the hallway, as they both glared at me. Shortly after, Lilliana had made accusations at me that I hadn’t understood at the time.

“And you suspect she will perform this suspicious behavior even when she is in my company?” Nicholas’s voice was going eerily emotionless. His anger must have been skyrocketing.

I touched his arm, hoping to soothe him. “They only mean to protect you, Prince Nicholas.” I lowered my voice. “Perhaps it is best if they continue to do so.”

He glanced at me sharply. “What?”

To the guards, I said, “I understand your precautions, gentlemen, and take no offense.”

The one who had spoken nodded at me, but then looked to Nicholas. The other had yet to lift his chin from his chest.

Nicholas searched my face. I didn’t know what he saw there, but he eventually dismissed the guards. “Carry on, then.”

He tugged me forward. When a buffer of space had opened between us and our tail, he said to me, “What are you thinking, Piper? They don’t need to be following you around. That’s ridiculous.”

“We both know I wouldn’t do something,” I said. “But isn’t it safer if they keep a lookout for who they think is me? They can follow her, too. This way, if she tries to hurt someone, they might be there. They can step in and stop her.”

In my heart, I doubted Jane would be so careless as to let herself be trapped by the guard. If even I had noticed them following us, Jane, with her years of on-the-run experience, would never have been caught unawares.

Still, even if the guards’ presence only made her more cautious, that was time she spent hiding rather than carrying out whatever plan she and Terry had up their sleeves. I only hoped it would give us enough of a chance to catch up.

“If Jane does do something, and the guards see, you will take the blame, Piper,” Nicholas said. “A guard’s word holds weight. You could even be tried.”

I understood the risk. “I’d never put the weight of my future over the potential life of anyone else.”

“We don’t know she would kill anyone,” Nicholas said.

I thought of Jane with her knife to my throat. “We don’t know she wouldn’t either.”

He shook his head. “Maybe it’s time to simply reveal the secret of your sister’s existence. She’s been in the shadows too long. If we force her out into the light –”

“No,” I said, cutting him off. I understood his heart was in the right place, and was so grateful for it, but that was one secret that needed to stay buried as long as possible. “How would I ever explain to Elva?”

“She wouldn’t make the connection.”

“Not right away, maybe. But she’s bright, Nick. She sees everything. Eventually she will start asking questions. And I don’t know that I have the answers to give her.”

“Maybe she should find out the truth,” Nicholas said. “Would that be so bad?”

“She’s practically still a baby. I can’t shatter her whole world like that.”

I tried to imagine a universe where Elva stopped calling me Mommy and it took everything in me not to cry again.

“Please, Nicholas. Keep this secret. For me.”

His jawline tensed. But, after a moment, he said, “Fine.” A beat later, he added, “For now.”