“My father plans to announce my engagement to Aron soon.” Her breath hitched. “Officially!”

He grimaced. “Now I see why you’re so upset. An engagement to a handsome lord. How horrible that must be for you.”

She slapped his shoulder and tried not to laugh in the midst of her tears. “Stop it. You know I don’t want to marry him.”

“I know. But an engagement does not equal a marriage.”

“Not yet.”

He shrugged. “I suppose I might have a simple solution for you if you’re really so upset about this.”

She looked at him eagerly. “What?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Tell your father that you’re madly in love with me and that you refuse to marry anyone else. And if he causes a problem, threaten to run away with me and elope.”

This finally coaxed a true smile from her and she hugged him again. “Oh, Nic. I should have known you’d be able to cheer me up.”

“Is that a yes?”

Cleo gazed up into his familiar face with a grin. “Stop being silly. As if you’d even have me. We’re too good friends to consider each other anything else.”

He shrugged a bony shoulder. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

She let out a shaky sigh. “Besides, my father would have a fit at the very suggestion of it. You’re not exactly royal.”

“As unroyal as they come, actually.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “And damn proud of it. You royals are such a stuffy bunch. Mira, however, wishes she was born royal every waking hour.”

“Your sister is a handful.”

“We’d better make sure she marries a man with large enough hands to deal with her.”

“Does he exist?”

“I sincerely doubt it.”

She heard footsteps coming toward them, heavy on the marble floors.

“There you are, your highness.” It was Theon, dressed in his stiff blue uniform, his expression dour. “The king sent me to find you.”

She let out a long shaky sigh. And so it begins.

Nic looked between them. “Is there a problem?”

“This is Theon Ranus,” she said. There was a tight look on his face right now that wasn’t quite the same as the arrogant one she’d seen the other day in Paelsia. “Theon, you don’t look very happy. Did my father ask you to do something that doesn’t agree with you?”

The young guard kept his dark eyes straight forward. “I obey any command the king gives me.”

“I see. And what did he want of you this time?” she asked knowingly.

Theon’s jaw tensed. “He assigned me as your personal bodyguard.”

“Hmm. How do you feel about that?”

“I feel...honored.” He gritted this out.

“Bodyguard?” Nic’s eyebrows went up. “Why would you need a bodyguard?”

“My father feels that I will stay out of trouble if I have a full-time guard assigned to protect me. He means to stop me from having any fun.”

“A death threat was uttered by the peasant’s brother,” Theon pointed out.

Cleo’s stomach clenched at the memory, but she waved a hand. “I’m not afraid of him now that I’m back here. He’d never get past the palace walls.”

“Well, this is amusing,” Nic said. “A bodyguard. Even here at the palace.”

“It’s ridiculous and totally unnecessary,” Cleo exclaimed. “Besides, Theon told me his career goal was to become my father’s bodyguard, yet now he’s been assigned to look after me instead. That must be incredibly disappointing for someone with such ambition, don’t you think?”

“Utterly disappointing,” Nic confirmed sympathetically, looking at Theon.

Theon’s expression tensed, but he said nothing.

Cleo continued. “He’ll have to watch over me when I’m out lounging in the sun. When I’m having a dress fitted. When I’m taking an art class. When a maid is braiding my hair. I’m sure he’ll find this all incredibly fascinating.”

“If he watches close enough, maybe he can help braid,” Nic said lightly.

It looked as if every word twisted into Theon like a knife in his back. She’d predicted he wouldn’t be happy about this assignment and she was right about that.

“Does that sound fun to you, Theon?” she teased. “To accompany me on my many excursions and local adventures...for the rest of my life?”

He met her gaze and it stopped her dead in her tracks. She expected distaste, but there was something else there. Something darker, yet slightly intrigued.

“As the king wishes, I obey,” he said evenly.

“Will you obey me?”

“Within reason.”

“What does that mean?” Nic asked.

His dark eyes shot to the redheaded boy. “It means that if the princess puts herself into harm’s way, I’ll intervene without a second thought. I won’t have another incident like last week. That murder could have been avoided if I’d been given the chance to stop it.”

Guilt had taken up a permanent place inside Cleo, burrowing deep into her heart. She dropped all teasing. “Aron never should have killed that boy.”

He glared at her. “Good to know that we agree on something.”

She held his intense gaze, wishing very hard that she didn’t find this inconvenient guard so fascinating. But the look in his eyes—that challenging glare...