My whole body stiffens with my need to scream “no,” so I’m stunned when Liam says, “Not the dungeon. I want to sit with Lucy on the beach so I can talk to her. So I can get her ready for the boat—if I decide to send her off.”
The man chuckles. “You don’t make the rules here, I do. And you know why that is. I could have been a good father to you. A good father to the little rosebud. I asked your mother to choose, and she chose him. Did I ever tell you that? I don’t think Dru knows, not the full story. We were lovers since we were children, but she chose the throne instead of me.”
Liam’s body doesn’t move as the man’s face reddens, his mouth tautens. “I would have loved her. Given her the world. Look at me now,” he says, holding his arms out. “I’m ambitious. Successful! Your father—your faux father—he’s a laughingstock! The people of Gael can’t wait to see him out of power. Me—I’m popular.”
“That’s debatable,” Liam says drolly.
The man laughs. “Go on and debate it. I—”
One second I’m in Liam’s arms and the next I’ve hit the hard ground. I hear grunts, the smack of flesh on flesh. I hear a curse that doesn’t come from Liam—and then I hear Liam’s voice, my name. “Go, Lucy!”
It takes me a long moment to realize that my feet are still tied, but my hands aren’t. I have to focus hard to free my ankles from the rope wound around them. I have to block out Liam and Ronald, even as I see the older man on top of Liam. I see a gleam of metal, and I jump up without thinking. My legs are still slightly tied, but I can move enough to throw myself on Ronald’s shoulders.
I wrap my legs around his waist and wrap my weak fingers around his neck. He throws his hands up and back, trying to grab at me, to shake me off—and it’s a good thing; he’d had a gun to Liam’s head!
The distraction enables Liam to get a punch in. Ronald barks and brings the gun down on Liam’s temple.
Blood spurts from the wound, and I grab Ronald by his ear. I pull so hard, I hope I pull it off.
“You’re not my father,” I hear Liam growl. He backhands Ronald, who tries to get Liam in the face with his gun. Liam grabs at the man’s right wrist. I try to shift my body weight to Ronald’s right shoulder, even as he tries to shake me off.
“You’re nothing,” Ronald growls.
Liam’s got his fingers wrapped around the gun’s barrel. His eyes fly to mine for just a moment, telling me to go. Instead I lean down, biting Ronald’s neck as hard as I can. As the man tries to shake me off, Liam gets the gun.
“MOVE!”
I know the word is meant for me, and so I scramble off Ronald. The gun goes off so fast, and it’s so loud, I’m stunned and on my ass for a long moment.
Then I realize Ronald’s on the grass; he’s bleeding from his chest. Liam’s face is bloody, too. He’s staring at the gun. He blinks at me.
“Lucy?”
His voice sounds low and unsteady.
“This is my gun,” he says, starting to pant. “I know the safety.” His eyes blink as he looks down on Ronald. “I don’t have service here. I don’t have phone service.”
“My phone’s wet.”
I read the panic on Liam’s pale face. I can see the terror in his trembling shoulders. As he closes the distance between us, Ronald starts to gurgle.
“Lucy.” I’m pulled against his chest, and then we’re moving. Liam is steering me away from Ronald. “Fuck. Lucy. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry.”
He wraps his arms around me, kissing me as blood pours from his temple. I can feel him shaking hard. Or maybe that’s me.
“Are you hurt? Are you bleeding, Lucy?”
“I don’t think so.” I start sobbing. I cling to his neck. “I thought I was going to drown. I’m still pregnant, I don’t know for sure…I think.”
“Acushla. I’m so fucking sorry…”
“He’s not your real father.” It’s all I can think of. I feel Liam’s body go still at the words. “He and his daughter were talking. You were how he felt betrayed by your mother. I guess…her being with your father…made him angry.”
Moaning floats on the cool breeze from where Ronald is lying. Liam’s hands cover my ears, pressing my head against his chest.
“I’m sorry, Lucy. I’m so sorry.” He repeats the words as we both shake and hold each other. “We need to get off the island, but the boat is broken.”
“His daughter could be around.”
“I’ll swim back to shore.”
“I thought you said it was a strong current.”
“I can do it.”
“No way. Liam—that seems like a bad idea.”
“Fuck. I’ve got to get you off the island.”
“Maybe we should try to take the boat,” I suggest.
Liam wraps me tightly in his arms and holds me against him. “Lucy, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“No… It’s not your fault.” I stroke his arms and touch his bleeding lip. “It’s not your fault, Liam. None of this is your fault.”
“You don’t know.”
“I do know. I had to listen to those idiots for hours.”
Liam is shaking. “I was so scared…”
“Me too.”
“That I’d lost you,” he rasps. “So scared. Lucy…let’s sit down. I’ll leave in just a minute. I can find a place to hide you here.”
I think he’s still talking, but I can’t hear his words. Not over the roar of a helicopter. White and navy blue—just like Liam’s private jet.
Liam jumps up so fast my eyes can’t track him, picking up the broken boat and rushing toward the shore. He pushes it into the water, and the helicopter flies over it.
Trying to get their attention, I realize.
I hurry down the beach behind him. When the helicopter drops a rope, Liam shakes his head and waves his arms.
“I can hold on,” I shout.
“Can’t risk it! Hang on, okay?” He kisses my cheek. “Just hold on, Lucy.”
The ladder is drawn up. A minute later, a stretcher is lowered.
“I’m not lying down and dangling from a helicopter!”
“What if I lie down with you?”
“Can we do that?” I’m crying now, from sheer exhaustion.
“Yeah, Lucy.” He holds me close to his chest. “We can. Here, I’ll show you how.”
I see the bottom of the helicopter, with its Gael insignia, in my dreams, and hear its loud blades. I feel Liam’s arms wrapped around me, and I never know if that’s the dream or real life.
EPILOGUE Lucy
“When you’re about to give birth to a little prince, you need a lot of clothes!”
“We’re living in a cabin, Am, beside a remote lake. We almost never leave unless it’s going sailing. I don’t think he needs four versions of the same gown. Even though it’s very beautiful and thoughtful,” I add gently.
Amelia hmphs over the phone line. “Well, I’m getting two, because the BOGO sale. So there. One blue, one white.”
I can’t help laughing at my BFF. She’s gone shopping crazy, ever since we found out at twenty weeks that Ollie is a boy.
“Are you still going with Oliver Willahelm?”
“Sadly for poor Ollie, yes.” I smile. “I want to name him after Liam.”
“Last name Clary?”
“You know it is.”
“I just feel like it should be Gael.”
I laugh. “I’ll let Liam know that. Maybe when he takes over what duties he’s going to take over, he can put in a petition to change the royal surname.” Then I snort, because of course not.