Page 10 of A Fierce Princess

“Nothing,” I mutter.

He pokes me in the arm. “Seriously? You’ve been acting weird; I mean weirder than normal,” he adds.

I internally groan.

“I’m just anxious about school ending,” I say to him. It’s not a lie, but it’s also not the reason I’m anxious right now.

“Well, it’ll be fine,” he says. He laughs. “Remember when you were dead set on being a spy?”

I grimace. When I was about eight, I became obsessed with James Bond. This was partly because I was determined that I could find our mother’s missing crown and take down all the bad guys in the world. My brothers made fun of me, saying I could never be a spy and a princess. If only Auggie knew what I was up to.

I close my eyes and pretend to sleep. My mind whirls around everything. I want so badly to share my secret with Auggie. I trust my brothers more than anyone in the world. They would never let anything bad happen to me, only that’s the problem. They would never let anything bad happen to me. I have no rational explanation of why I’m doing this on my own. I’d lain awake all last night pondering this. What possesses a princess to become a hacker? What possesses her to find an assassination plot on the dark web and try to stop it? What possesses her not to tell anyone? Stupidity? Bravery? A need to prove herself?

I know I’m no match for M. I can’t take down an assassin, no matter how many guns or arrows I’ve fired. I can hold my own against much larger people thanks to all that martial arts training I had as a kid, but an assassin is a whole other ball of wax.

I must be exhausted, because the next thing I know, Auggie is shaking me awake.

“We’re here,” he says.

I groan and grab my bag as we make our way to customs. One good thing about being a royal is that you don’t wait in those long lines at the airport. You are essentially ushered through as fast as possible. So, it’s only a mere hour later that we are at our uncle’s villa.

I toss my bag on the bed and fall against it as I gaze out at the turquoise water that beckons me. I decide one quick swim in the water won’t derail my plans too badly.

“No,” I tell myself. I need to figure out where he is.

I look around the room, eyeing the closet. It’s a walk-in. I go inside and breathe a sigh of relief when I find an outlet. Only my uncle would have an outlet in the closet. I shake my head and plug in my computer. I log in to my secured Wi-Fi and my server. Once I feel that I’m secured, I log on and start searching for Logan. We are on Nassau and his last known address is Cable Beach. I’m hoping that’s still correct. We aren’t far from there, well, it’s an island so nothing is far.

I look at his social media accounts. I pull up his business webpage which details the charter trips he offers on his sailboat. His last picture is…well, he’s handsome and ripped. He’s shirtless on board what I presume is his sailboat. He’s tan, his shaggy, light brown hair has highlights in it, and he’s wearing sunglasses. He looks like he just walked out of a magazine advertisement for a popular men’s cologne. I can see similarities to his dad in his face, the jawline, the nose.

I check on M’s status, but he’s gone dark. I know the clock is ticking. I just don’t know how I’m going to talk a stranger into leaving the island.

I decide surveillance is next. We have two bodyguards each, and the house has another four or five milling around it. I find Pete and Lucas in the kitchen going over security stuff with Shannon.

They all stop and look up at me. “I’d like to go out,” I say to them.

They look at each other. I think they are a bit surprised.

“Uh, where?” Shannon asks.

“I just want to see some of the island. I hear Cable Beach is pretty cool,” I say nonchalantly as I grab a piece of fruit out of a bowl on the counter.

They continue watching me. “What? You want to check it for poison?” I ask Pete, holding out the apple.

He glares at me. “Your Highness, we haven’t finished shoring up your security plan. I’d advise you to stay put until tomorrow,” he says. He only uses “Your Highness” when he means business. It’s Pete’s version of using my full name.

“And, I’m telling you that I am going out,” I huff.

Lucas and Pete exchange glances.

Shannon clears her throat. “Well, you do have a free day,” she says. “I was assuming you would be going with Auggie tomorrow,” she says as she starts to run through Auggie’s schedule.

I hold up a hand. “No. I am not here in an official capacity. I will attend one thing with him, but otherwise, this is a vacation,” I tell her.

She looks at me. “That’s not what your father thinks,” she says.

I roll my eyes. “The king can think whatever the king wants. Anyhow, I’m leaving,” I say as I walk toward the front door.

“Oh no, you’re not,” Pete says, getting in front of me. “Not unless we are with you.”

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