From London, With Love by Bec McMaster

Author:Bec McMaster [McMaster, Bec]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lochaber Press

Chapter Ten

Malloryn found the prince playing some form of backgammon in a parlor with several of his compatriots, though the rules seemed a trifle different.

“Your Highness,” he greeted, with a faint tilt of the head. “May I have a word.”

“You may have several, as I know you like to talk, Malloryn,” Ivan announced, which earned a laugh from his friends. Though they’d talked but rarely, he swiftly realized Ivan saw him as some sort of threat.

“Alone.”

The prince’s smile vanished, and he flicked his fingers. The trio of his comrades disappeared, and the prince gestured to the chair opposite him.

“Care for a game?” Ivan asked.

“It seems familiar.”

“Nardy,” the prince replied with a shrug. He swiftly explained the rules, then dumped the dice in Malloryn’s hand. “What do you wish to speak about?”

“Where were you an hour ago?” Malloryn rolled the die.

The prince lifted a cup of some foul-smelling spirits to his mouth. “I do not have to answer that.”

“You don’t.” Malloryn considered his first move. “But you should. Someone tried to kill the queen earlier. I’m interested in your whereabouts.”

“I was attending the Grand Duchess Xenia Nikolaevna in her personal suite.” Prince Ivan’s eyes glittered dangerously. “And be very careful what you’re accusing me of. I may be your ruling prince one day.”

Doubtful.

Especially if such attendance upon the duchess meant what Malloryn thought it meant.

“I’m accusing you of nothing.” He tossed the dice and made a move. “I’m merely curious. Especially considering the brooch that you gave the queen was a tracking beacon for the devices used to target her.”

Ivan choked on his mouthful. “What?”

Interesting.

He didn’t seem to be overly concerned with an assassination attempt upon the queen, but the idea of having his name cast in the mud did bother him.

“Someone tried to kill her, and the only clue I have is the gift you gave her.” Though he’d never expected Ivan to be behind this—only a fool would link himself so blatantly to a crime—it never hurt to make a suspect think they could be found guilty.

“I had nothing to do with that brooch! An Englishwoman suggested it to me! She said there was a jeweler in the city who created such devices and the queen would like it, for her friend has one. She said if I wished to give queen a gift beyond repair, then I should buy from him!”

A gift beyond compare?

Malloryn stilled. “Someone suggested you give the queen the brooch? Who?”

Ivan shot him a bewildered look. “She was one of the court ladies. A blonde with big—” He made a cupping gesture with his hands in front of his chest. “I do not remember her name. They all sound strange to me. And they all look the same. You breed pale, insipid women in this country.”

“Who was the jeweler?”

“I don’t know. In the city. My friend, Danil, he takes me there. He may remember the address. I gave it little thought. It was small and dirty. Not the sort of place I expected to find something for a queen, but the brooch, the brooch was magnificent, yes?”

It certainly was.

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