Princess in Peril (13 page)

They shot straight into the sky,
and whoever had hold of her legs pulled her back inside the cabin.

Levi dangled below. Isabelle figured they’d have to find a safe place soon to land so he could climb aboard. It would only be a matter of time before those ancient chains gave way. They’d already had their strength tested.

She panted for breath. The man who’d pulled her in began to slide the door shut.

“No.” She stopped him
with a hand on his arm and peeked out. Levi’s strained expression swept into view as he swung below them like a pendulum. “Can’t you pull him in?”

“We can’t risk you falling out.” She recognized the man who addressed her as Joe, Levi’s brother, who’d she’d been briefly introduced to before they’d left New York. The brothers shared many features, including their zeal for ensuring her safety.

“If you don’t want me to fall out, then hurry up and pull him in.” She mustered up as much royal authority as she could infuse into her breathless voice. “Before I have to pull him in myself.”

Joe gave her one look and must have decided she meant business. He leaned toward the pilot. “Put down on that next island. Get her just above the ground. Levi’s tangled on the skids. We’ll have to untangle
him before he can board.”

A moment later they hovered over smooth sand. Isabelle recognized the island as part of the archipelago that extended from the city of Sardis out into the Mediterranean. The islands were uninhabited, save by the many visitors who sailed out to enjoy the beaches during the warm summer days. But at this hour of night their stretch of white sand was deserted.

Joe hopped
out and, after a few tense moments, Levi’s face appeared. When Joe climbed back aboard a second later, he scowled at his brother.

“You threatened the safety of the princess.” The younger brother accused, his words falling just short of
I’m telling Dad.

“I threatened my own safety,” Isabelle cut in while Levi caught his breath. “I wasn’t about to leave him behind to get killed.”

But Levi didn’t
seem interested in sorting out who was at
fault. “Get us to Rome. We need to be on the next flight to New York.”

“You got it.” Joe disappeared to join the pilot. There was some radio back and forth, but Isabelle’s attention was on Levi, her hands sweeping over his arms and his face, assessing his injuries.

“How are your arms? Your wrists look terrible.”

“Nothing’s broken,” he began to explain,
just before Joe poked his head back their way.

“Are you sure you want to head to New York?”

Levi stared up at his little brother. “Why not?”

“They’ve just announced Stephanos Valli is being crowned King of Lydia at ten o’clock in the morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?” Isabelle asked, aghast.

“Technically, it’s this morning. The coronation is in less than ten hours.”

L
evi saw the realization of defeat pass over Isabelle’s features.

“If Valli is crowned king, my father will be never be able to reclaim the crown.” Her dark brown curls had come loose from her sleek ponytail, and they bounced prettily against her cheekbones.

“His reign might be deemed invalid,” Levi assured her. “If we could prove he murdered your family.”

“If Valli is the ruling king,
he won’t let his reign be deemed invalid.” She looked at him with aching sorrow in her eyes. “And there’s no way we can stop the coronation now. Parliament has already made clear that Valli is next in line for the throne.”

“But the evidence you gathered,” Levi hurried to reassure her. “It will prove he conspired to assassinate the king.”

“Will it?” Tears welled in Isabelle’s eyes. “I hardly
had time to translate any of it. I don’t know what those messages contain. Besides, it’s all a moot point. Even if we could prove what Valli did, once he claims the throne, we’ll never be able to take him to court.”

“Perhaps not in Lydia,” Levi acceded. “But the UN Security Council may be convinced to intervene.” He scooted a little closer to her and laid one hand on hers.

“Not before ten o’clock
this morning. We can’t even get
to New York that quickly, let alone get an audience with them. 10:00 a.m. in Lydia is 4:00 a.m. in New York. Everyone will be asleep.”

“They’re awake in New York now,” Joe stuck his head back toward them, obviously having listened to their conversation. “We’ll have Dad give them a call. If the Security Council issues a warning to the Lydian Parliament, they can
delay the coronation. By the time we reach New York, you could have a case ready to bring before the Council.”

Levi looked at his brother. “The Security Council rarely acts that quickly.”

“They’ve been watching the situation closely,” Joe assured him. “They know something’s afoot in Lydia. They’d probably appreciate someone letting them in on what it is.”

Levi sighed, the wheels of his tired
mind spinning. He’d have to dictate a formal appeal to the Security Council, explain exactly why they were requesting the coronation be halted. The Council would only agree to intervene if specific criteria were met. Levi was fairly certain he could make a solid case, but it would take time to spell out the specific points.

Then he’d have to get Isabelle working on decoding the emails. His ninety-one-year-old
grandmother couldn’t be expected to do it all herself, especially because she probably didn’t remember much of the old language.

“Fine.” He looked at his brother pointedly. “I need to talk to Dad. I need a laptop for Isabelle, and I’d like a pair of bolt cutters waiting for me at the Rome airport.” He held up his wrists. “I’m not going to make it through security looking like this.”

Isabelle
watched him with wide eyes. “Do you really think it’s possible?”

“It just might be—as long as there’s a chance, we’ll do
whatever we have to. We’ve been through too much to give up now.”

“But—” Isabelle shook her head “—it’s the UN Security Council. We can’t just walk in spouting something about coded emails. At the very least we’ll need an expert in international law.”

Joe laughed and punched
his brother in the arm.

“What’s so funny?” Isabelle looked warily between them.

Realizing he probably should have told her sooner, Levi explained. “That’s the kind of lawyer I am. I specialize in international law.”

Isabelle looked up from the computer screen and blinked her weary eyes. It had been a long night already, and they were only a few hours into their flight to New York. She’d hoped
to grab a little sleep on the flight, but the messages she’d been working on wouldn’t let her rest. For one thing, she still had many more messages to slog through.

And for another, she found their contents chilling.

Tyrone had been planning to do away with her family as far back as four years ago, before he’d even talked Valli into contacting her. His plan then had been to marry her, get rid
of the rest of her family and then become king when she was crowned queen.

He’d realized, of course, that he wouldn’t have any power. Because he wasn’t a descendent of their founding mother Lydia, he’d never hold more than a token title. But he’d already figured a way past that.

The plan had been for the two of them to have a child together. Their offspring would be a direct descendent and therefore
able to reign. But as long as that child remained a minor, they’d need a regent ruling in their stead.

That
was where Tyrone had planned to get his power. Once she’d provided him with a child or two, he’d have her
locked in a tower somewhere, or killed off, and then rule in the place of his children.

With a sick feeling in her stomach, Isabelle realized
that
was why Tyrone had been so eager
to get her into his bed—especially when he’d suspected she wasn’t planning to go through with the wedding. He’d hoped to make an heir, even if he had to take it by force.

Isabelle shuddered. How Tyrone thought he could sneak an illegitimate child past Parliament she could only imagine, but the man seemed to think himself capable of outsmarting everyone, so she didn’t doubt he’d been confident
of getting his way.

With a sigh, she closed the document containing messages between Tyrone and Valli. There was still more to be translated, but she had more than enough to prove Valli had been conspiring with Tyrone Spiteri to assassinate the royal family.

Now she needed to catch up on how the generals were involved. There was still much more to their complicated plans, and she didn’t have
long to sort it out.

In the seat beside her, Levi had kept up a steady stream of typing, preparing documents for his father to advance to the Security Council. As she understood it, the Council had called an emergency special session to determine whether to intervene in the Lydian coronation.

Her heart warmed at the sight of his focused features. The bruises on his face were mellowing, and though
they’d managed to remove the thick shackles from his wrists, his lower arms were scuffed and bruised. Typing had to be painful, but he didn’t falter.

He must have felt her looking at him because he glanced up, his fingers still typing. He looked back at the screen of his laptop, then did a double take and stopped typing. The hint of a smile on his weary face sent her heart skipping.

“I’m resting
my eyes,” she explained.

“Have you been able to learn anything?”

“More than I ever wanted to know.” Figuring it would be helpful for his case, Isabelle explained what she’d learned about Tyrone’s plans to rule through royal offspring.

“He was planning to kill you then and reign in the child’s stead?” Levi shook his head. “He would murder the mother of his own child just to increase his power?
That’s so cruel I can hardly fathom it.”

“I don’t believe Tyrone ever let me see the full extent of his thirst for power, but the glimpses I got were enough to scare me away. He was a ruthless businessman and he hated anything that kept him from getting his way—usually laws meant to protect the innocent. I’m sure he thought if he was king he could change the laws to suit his desires.”

“And kill
anyone who stood in his way.”

Isabelle rubbed her temples, the whole ugly mess making her head throb. “I need to sort out how the generals were involved. My father trusted them. How could all three of them betray his trust?”

Levi’s hand covered hers. “I’m afraid your research will show you more than you ever wanted to see of the potential for evil in the human heart.”

The simple touch of his
hand did wonders for her wounded soul. For a moment, she allowed herself to consider the less urgent questions that had plagued her since the ambush of the royal motorcade. “How can anyone be so convinced of their own right to power that they would kill innocent people to get it? What makes them so evil?”

She thought Levi might brush away her question and tell her to get back to work, but instead
he leaned slightly closer, pain simmering in his eyes. “Greed is a powerful force. All of us have the potential to be sucked in. I have seen good
leaders brought low when the taste of power became more than they could resist, and they hungered for more and more.”

“My father is powerful. And he never—”

Levi’s finger brushed her lips, the slight touch stilling her words. “Your father appointed
those three generals. They reported to him.”

Her eyes narrowed, but the tip of his index finger still rested at her lip, so she remained silent.

“I don’t know what you will find when you read those messages, but I want you to be aware that it might be something you don’t want to hear. If your father knew his generals could be bought—”

She shook off Levi’s touch, unable to sit silent any longer.
“My father is a good man,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t plot anything against his own family.”

“I don’t believe he would do anything to hurt you or your siblings. But he may have gotten in over his head.” Levi’s eyes were full of sorrow. “No one is completely good except God alone. The rest of us must wrestle daily between choices of good and evil. I know your father strives to always choose good.
But that’s not always possible.”

Isabelle sucked in a shaky breath. She understood what Levi was getting at. She didn’t like it, but she understood. Her father had been the one to agree to her marriage to Spiteri. She’d only gone along with it because she trusted her father and had naively believed in the promise of love. “He may have had to compromise in the past.”

“And that compromise may
have come back to haunt him.” Levi’s eyes fell on her computer screen, and Isabelle looked there, too. The puzzling combinations of letters streamed on, their hidden messages promising disillusionment. But she needed to know the truth, even if the truth was ugly. It was the only way she could help her family now.

She offered Levi a slight smile. “Thank you.”

His head tipped in question.

“For
warning me,” she explained. “And for helping me find the truth in the first place.”

The stiff navy blue suit jacket covered the injuries on his arms, but there was nothing Levi could do to cover up the damage to his face. He didn’t like facing the UN Security Council looking so rough, but he had little choice. He was exhausted and not nearly as prepared as he would have otherwise insisted on
being. But he had an audience, and that was more than he might have wished.

The Security Council had advised Parliament to postpone the coronation. Parliament had agreed. Now all he had to do was convince the world that this interruption had been worthwhile.

Stepping out of his private quarters into his office, Levi felt his breath sucked from his lungs at the sight of Isabelle sitting in a
chair, waiting for him.

She wore a simple but well-fitted charcoal-gray skirt suit, with an ivory blouse peeking out from underneath, its fluttery collar adding a slight feminine touch to her otherwise strictly professional ensemble. Shimmery gray hose and black loafers completed the look.

Her thick hair was parted at the side and combed back into a loose knot, from which several thick curls
escaped—he suspected strategically. Her dark eyes captured his, and there was nothing he could do to keep from smiling.

“Shouldn’t you be resting? You haven’t slept in two days.”

“I could ask you the same question.” She rose and joined him on his way toward the door. “And how could I sleep when the future of my country hangs in the balance? Besides, there may be questions only I can answer.”

Levi struggled to breathe as they made their way down the elevator and recognized the swelling in his heart as an
unfamiliar heady sensation that had only ever afflicted him around the princess. She was the woman of his dreams. It was too bad they each belonged halfway around the world from the other.

And after today, if things went well, he wouldn’t have reason to see her again. Perhaps then
he would regain full use of his intellectual faculties.

Until then, he would have to testify before an under-slept UN Security Council, with a distractingly gorgeous woman at his side. And if he did well, his father just might be convinced to let him be president of Sanctuary International after all.

They ducked into the limo Nicolas Grenaldo had insisted on hiring for the princess, even though
Levi suspected she might have been more comfortable in a cab. He pulled her hand into his. Her fingers felt cold despite of the warm day.

“Nervous?”

“I’m beyond nervous.” She turned her lovely eyes toward him. “But right now, the nerves are the only thing keeping me awake.”

He grinned. “Me, too, I’m afraid. If I start sounding like an idiot, just elbow me and I’ll be quiet.”

She honored him
with a laugh. “You have to promise to do the same for me. I’m so tired now I might say anything.”

“Just speak from your heart and you’ll be fine.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “From what I’ve heard, several Council members have expressed interest in hearing your side of the story. And I don’t doubt the media will be eager to report your every word.”

Isabelle made a face. “This is their
chance to redeem themselves then. If the media can sway the public against Valli, I promise to be nice to them in the future.”

“No more sound bites about the dying children of Third World nations? I’d be disappointed if you gave those up.”

“I didn’t say I’d give them up—” her smile told him she was teasing “—only that I won’t be so snarky about it.”

Levi laughed, the affection he felt for this
tough, humble woman more than his weary heart could bear. Once her safety had been secured, he would have to stay away from her. It was that or risk acting on the feelings he felt for her, and there was no way he could do that to her after all she’d been through.

Isabelle entered the Security Council chamber in the United Nations building with wide eyes. She’d seen pictures of the place before,
but they hadn’t captured how vast and regal the room seemed or how tiny she felt staring up at the mural of a phoenix rising from the ashes. She knew the bird was meant to represent the world reborn after World War II, but she couldn’t help but hope it might symbolize her own country’s rise out of ruin.