Page 66 of King of Lies
I shut the door behind him and grab my book from the sitting room. It’s late and I feel like reading in bed before I fall asleep with my book on my face. I’ll just brush my teeth real fast and then climb in.
But when I walk through the bedroom and flip on the lights, it looks like the bedding is moving. That can’t be, right? I must be seeing things. Although I would swear it looks like someone’s in my bed. Maybe someone is playing a trick on me?
I grab the blankets and yank them back, and scream.
And scream.
And scream.
And scream.
The main door bursts open and Leo rushes into the room. “I was just down the hall when I heard you scream,” he says. “What is it?”
But I’m just standing there, staring at the contents of my bed, frozen in fear.
“Bloody hell,” he says. “Don’t touch them, they’re deadly.”
“Okay,” I whimper.
“In fact, go into the sitting room while I take care of this,” he says gently.
“Okay.”
Slowly, I back up, step by step, and then turn and run. I jump onto the sofa and pull my feet up as if that will keep the beasts from getting to me. I put my face in my hands and close my eyes, but when I do, I see them, the green snakes that were slithering all over my bed, the one that I sleep in, and the note that was not a happy greeting is laying on the very pillow where I lay my head.
You’ve wandered into a viper’s nest.
Get out while you still can.
Leo calls someone on his phone, I don’t know who. But, before long, another one of the protection officers comes in quietly with a bag of … gear. I swallow the bile rising in my mouth. He’s followed by one of the maids.
She has new bedding stacked in her arms, including pillows. What she does not do is follow the men into the bedroom. She stands by the door with wide eyes and terror stricken on her face. Probably much the same way I’m looking, too.
“It’s all clear,” Leo says as the other agent carries all the bedding in a laundry sack out of the room.
“You’re sure?” I ask as the maid waits for confirmation before she goes to remake the bed.
“Aye.”
“I-I don’t think I can go back in there,” I whisper to him like it’s my deepest, darkest secret, and it kind of is. Someone really doesn’t want me here.
“Listen,” he says as he squats down in front of me so that we’re eye to eye. “You’re safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You can’t promise that,” I tell him sadly. “You saw what was in the note.”
“Aye, I did,” he confirms. “But once we tell the king what has happened, we’ll increase your security.”
“No!” I whisper shout. “We can’t tell him.”
“Miss—”
“No! He’ll be so upset, and it will ruin his transition. Please, for now, we have to keep it quiet.”
“Miss, that’s not a good idea.”
“I promise that if things take a turn for the worse, we’ll come up with a new game plan,” I plead. “Please.”
“I think things have already taken a turn,” he says.
