too?"
"You are a most perceptive man, Aiden. The English
woman knew of the dangers in Kedar's court. She swore the
girl was the child of her husband. But Kedar can count and
he can see. He has always known that she is his. Just as he
has always known that he did not dare to declare her his
firstborn child, his daughter, until his enemies were vanquished."
"Which they will be as soon as you find and kill Hanuman,"
Barrett offered.
"Yes. When it is safe, Kedar will acknowledge her as a
royal princess."
Aiden clenched his teeth. He was going to lose her. She'd
have no choice but to go back to India. Princesses never had
choices. They existed only to serve the needs of the kingdom.
Alex deserved a better life than that.
"Does Alex know that she's Kedar's daughter?" he heard
Barrett ask.
It was a pointless question. At least to his mind. He knew
Alex. If she'd even suspected that she was royal, she
wouldn't have dithered for a single second over the decision
to go back or to stay in England. Not one single second.
She'd take up her duty without hesitation. Alex knew more
about obligation than the Queen.
"No. She looks fully English and so the truth was kept
from her so that she could not endanger herself or the throne
with a careless slip of the tongue."
Aiden swallowed down the painful swelling in his chest
to ask a question that did matter. "But Hanuman knows,
doesn't he? If he didn't, Alex wouldn't be in danger."
"He suspects," Vadeen answered simply. "For Hanuman,
it is enough."
"Pardon my skepticism, Aiden," Barrett said, apparently
not even trying to hide his sarcasm, "but has it occurred to
you to wonder how the bodyguard of Kedar's brother knows
all of his master's brother's secrets?"
No, that Vadeen did was sufficient. He didn't fathom the
ways of India and he never would. But all the facts seemed to
add up. Either Vadeen was telling the truth or he was the
most accomplished liar the world had ever seen.
"When I was chosen as the one to seek Hanuman,"
Vadeen explained, "it was decided that I must know the truth
so that I would understand the importance of my success. It
was Kedar himself who told it to me."
"Oh?" Barrett rejoined. "And how do you think he'd feel
about your telling it to us?"
For the first time since they'd come into the stable, Vadeen
turned his full attention to Barrett. "Aiden is the protector of
Princess Alexandra's choice. I have watched him and know
her judgment to be sound. If I fail and Hanuman kills me, it is
important that Aiden knows the danger that stalks her and
why he must succeed. You are his friend. As you came with
him tonight, you will help him protect the prince and
princess. So it is right that you too know the story."
Aiden silently congratulated the Indian on having-at least
for the moment-put a halt to Barrett's sardonic interrogation.
"When were you planning to tell me all of this, Vadeen?"
"You saw me today as we were out in the city. And I saw
you in the yard searching for my hiding place as the sun was
going down. I had thought in the morning to present myself
and the explanation." He smiled, broadly. "But when the
peacocks raised their cry in the small hours, I knew that you
had a different sense of time. I waited here for you."
"I hope we didn't keep you waiting unduly long," Barrett
offered dryly.
"You did not," the other replied, laughing softly. "You are
very efficient in your work, Barrett. Should you ever wish to
enter the service of my master, I would be willing to speak:
in your behalf."
Barrett growled and muttered about sledding with Satan.
Aiden let him. "When is Alex supposed to know the story,
Vadeen? Were you going to tell her in the morning, too?"
"Kedar placed the decision in my hands. I had intended to
speak: with you alone." He paused for a second or two, then
crisply nodded. "I am going to reach into the folds of my
coat," he said, leaving his guns in his lap and lifting both
hands, palms out so that they could clearly see them. "I will
do it carefully and slowly so you know that I am not searching
for a weapon."
"Careful men do tend to live longer than reckless ones,
Barrett sniped.
"Yes, they do." A man of his word and apparent good
sense Vadeen very deliberately slipped his right hand into
the front opening of his jacket. And then just as cautiously
withdrew it, a sealed parchment packet held between his
forefinger and thumb. "As Kedar told me the story, It was
written down," he supplied. ''The seal is his. He instructed
me to give this to the princess when I thought she should
know who she is."
Aiden had to swallow and take a deep breath before he
could ask "When will that be?" .
"I give the choice to you, Aiden:' he replied, extending
his arm and the packet. "I have seen that you know her well
and that she trusts you." .
Aiden considered the packet, the ticking away of precious
seconds louder than the painful thunder of his heartbeat.
Reaching out, he took it and then slid it to the outside
pocket of his coat. "Alex once told me that they'd be. summoned
back to India when Mohan's father thought It was
safe for them to return."
Vadeen nodded. "Prince Sarad will be here in one week.
Perhaps a few days sooner if the winds are good. He is to
take Kedar's children home without delay."
Days. Only days. He wanted to cry. And not sure that he
could keep himself from it, he rose to his feet, asking, "Are
you going to stay out here or do you want to come into the
house?"
Vadeen shook his head as he and Barrett also gained their
feet. "One can often see more clearly from a short distance
away. I will remain here."
"If you need anything-"
"I will ask," he promised. "You must do the same."
Aiden nodded and turned away, moving resolutely toward
the door and desperately hoping that Barrett had
enough sense to leave him alone for a while. He wasn't
quite sure whether hitting someone would make him better
or not, but if Barrett offered the chance to find out, he'd
take it.
He had managed to get halfway back to the Blue Elephant,
through anger, through dismay and disappointment,
and all the way to a burning mixture of self-loathing and
burgeoning panic before Barrett trotted up beside him.
''Talk to me," his friend said without preamble. "What are
you thinking?"
Aiden didn't slow his stride or look over at him. "Not
much beyond your basic 'Good God Almighty! I've bedded
a princess!' "
"You didn't know at the time that she was a princess."
"And that makes it all right? That takes away all the ugly
consequences for her?" he demanded, thinking that perhaps
he wasn't quite done with the anger after all. "When it
comes to doing the worst possible, most outrageously wrong
thing, p.o man picks them better than I do. No man! Hell, I
can do it without even trying. All I have to do is breathe and
think to myself, 'What could be the harm?' Jesus!"
Barrett didn't say anything more until they reached the
front door of Alex's shop. Aiden was fishing the key out of
his pocket when Barrett caught his arm and asked, ''What
are you going to do?"
"I don't know," he admitted hotly. "Do you have any
pearls of wisdom you'd like to cast my way?"
Barrett let go of him and with a sigh looked back the way
they'd come. "It's too late for the only one I could have offered
you."
Way too late. And suddenly he was plunging ' back into
despair, his chest tightening and the tears clawing their way
up his throat. Ramming his fingers through his hair, he
closed his eyes and snarled, "What a goddamn disaster."
"It could be worse," Barrett offered weakly. .
"You're right," he agreed, his anguish and despair evaporating
in the heated surge of returning anger. "Deflowered
Indian princesses might be expected to kill themselves."
Barrett expelled a hard breath and squared his stance.
"Don't give her the letter right away; John Aiden. Hold on to
it for a few days. Give yourself time to think. Give both of
you time to come back to ground."
"In a few days Sarah could be walking in the door of the
Blue Elephant;' he countered through bared teeth. "What am I
supposed to say then? 'Excuse me a moment, your highness.
If we could possibly delay the reunion, there's a little something
I've been neglecting to tell my lover, your niece'?"
"Aiden, don't do anything gallant tonight," his friend
replied, trying, Aiden knew, to be the voice of calm and reason.
"You'll regret it in the morning."
And that mistake would be bigger, more significant than
the one he'd already made? What was one more regret?
''Thank you for coming along, Barrett," he said tersely, stepping
up to the door and inserting the key in the lock. "We
wanted answers to the questions and we got them. God-awful
as they are."
He had crossed to the other side of the threshold when
Barrett quietly asked, "Are you going to be all right?"
Aiden slipped the key into the lock on his side. "It's Alex
you need to be worrying about."
"Alexandra Radford isn't my friend."
He looked up to meet the other's gaze. 'That, Barrett;' he
said, "is your great loss. Good night. Thank you again."
Then, before Barrett could say one more word, before he
could shove his foot in the door and persist in angering him,
Aiden closed the door and locked it.
Alone in the dark on the other side, he gazed up the stairs,
knowing she was waiting for him. His beautiful, breathtaking,
passionate Indian princess. His mistake had been committed
unwittingly, but committed it he had. He'd do right
by Alex. Whatever he had to do to shield her, he'd see it
done.
Chapter 18
Alex opened her eyes, listening for the sound that had awakened
her. It came again, from over by the windows, part
groan, part sigh. She moved her head on the pillow just
enough to see. Aiden sat on the trunk, dressed as he'd been
when he'd left her, his elbows on his knees, his face buried in
his hands.
''Aiden?'' she called softly, sitting up, holding the sheet
over her breasts.
He looked up, clearly startled. He took a quick breath and
offered her a fragile, stiff smile. "I didn't mean to wake you,
darling. Go back to sleep."
When he was in obvious agony? ''Aiden, what's wrong?"
Dropping the sheet and gaining her feet, she crossed the
short distance and then knelt at his feet, her hand on his knee
as she gazed up at him. "What's happened?"
He closed his eyes and fell back against the wall. Softly,
quietly, he asked, "Who is Sarad?"
Her heart skipped a beat. "Mohan's uncle," she supplied,
her mind frantically racing. "Kedar's younger brother. He's
the one who sends me the things for the Blue Elephant.
How-"
"Do you trust him?"
"Kedar trusts him," she answered, her stomach growing
colder with every beat of her heart. "How do you know
about Sarad? I never told you his name."
"Have you ever heard of a man called Vadeen?" ,
"It's a fairly common name, Aiden."
''This one is Sarad's bodyguard. Do you know him?"
''The last time I actually saw Sarad," she replied, desperation
welling up inside her, "I was a child not much older
than Mohan. I certainly wouldn't know his bodyguards."
"Have you ever met Hanuman? Would you know him if
he walked up to you?"
Hanuman? Dh, God. Certainty slammed down over her.
"Yes and yes. Is he here in-"
"If a man walked into the store and told you he was
Sarad, how would you know if he was lying or not?"
She was at the end of patience, at the end of endurance.
"I'm not answering another one of your questions until you
answer mine, Aiden. What happened tonight?"
He opened his eyes with a sigh and sat away from the
wall. From his pocket he took a parchment packet. Handing
it to her, he whispered sadly, ''The bottom fell out of the
world."
She took it from him and flipped it over. And then
dropped back onto her heels, her heart skittering madly and
her stomach frozen with dread. Kedar's seal. Her name, in
Hindi, scrawled over the face. Possibilities flooded over her.
Kedar was summoning them back to India. The messenger,
the man named Vadeen that Aiden had asked about, was
downstairs, waiting. Kedar was writing to say that he'd been
taken prisoner and it would never be safe for them to return'
she should take Mohan far away and keep him safe. That he
was dying. That Mohan's mother was dying.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willed her
mind to still and her panic to ease. With trembling fingers,
she broke the wax and opened the folds. Then opened her
eyes. And began to read.
The first words were an instant comfort. Kedar was well.
All in his house were well. His enemies had been defeated.
Alex sagged in relief and read on, hearing the richness of his
voice in each and every word. And the whispers that had followed
her all of her life in the palace. She reached the end
and stared at the closing salutation, at the call for divine
blessings upon his daughter. Daughter. She had a father. A
living, breathing, loving father. Kedar. The man her mother
had loved with all her heart.
"Is it Kedar's seal?"
She blinked and looked up from the letter, up into Aiden's
sad eyes. "Yes," she answered, wondering why he considered
this to be bad news. The bottom hadn't fallen out of the world
at all. If anything, it had come wondrously right. "And the
pen of his scribe. I recognize both."
“You didn't know, did you?"
She shook her head, marveling at the web of deceit that
had always been her life. "When I was a child, I secretly
hoped and pretended. And then I put it away and accepted
what my mother said was the truth."
"What happens now?"
Alex looked back at the letter. Yes, she'd read it correctly.
"Vadeen dispatches Hanuman and Sarad comes for Mohan
and me within the week and we return to India."
"And what happens in India when your father learns that
an English cad has bedded his princess?"
The gentle sense of happiness shattered as two realizations
crashed over her. She was a princess. And for Aiden
that changed everything between them. Her mind reeling
and her heart hammering, she refolded the letter with great
care, desperately searching for her way, for the right
words. Putting the letter aside and turning to place het
hands on his knees, she smiled up at him. "In the first
place," she began, "I can't see any reason for him to ever
learn of it. And in the second, I would think that I'm proof