When I get to the coat check I get my purse and wrap and pull out my phone to text my father and tell him I’m leaving. I bite my lip, unsure of what to do. Only one thing comes to mind, and I send off another text as I try to fight the tears.

Chapter 6

Karim

“King Karim wishes to inform everyone he has chosen a bride. In two days’ time at sunset, their marriage will be blessed.”

There is a murmur among the crowd, and I can see everyone is surprised. I should probably introduce my soon-to-be queen, but I don’t want to parade her on stage like cattle. She’s more important to me than that, and I’m already breaking with tradition.

Normally all royalty waits five days before consummating the marriage. Meanwhile, I barely waited five seconds. The weight of my cock reminds me that I’ve had her, yet I need her again already. My primal instincts have begun to push forward, and I feel my royal duties must be met. Giselle must be bred, and the sooner the better. My kingdom will see her round with my baby and rejoice in the blessing.

I wait for my head of staff to finish giving the announcement and thanking the people on the stage. When I take a step out of the spotlight, I don’t see Giselle sitting in the chair where I left her.

“Congratulations, Karim,” Nikki says, popping up in front of me.

I walk past her and over to the table where I left Giselle. “Where is she?” I ask the older ladies who were sitting with her.

“She left, Your Highness,” one of them says as she bows her head.

I turn around, and Nikki is in my way again. “She ran out on you. Oh, that must be awful. Would you like help finding her?”

“Out of my way,” I order, feeling heat rise up my neck as I step around her.

Nikki is the daughter of a close friend of my father’s. I think she had hopes of marrying into the family one day, but I saw through that a long time ago. Nikki is a social climber, and to her I’m Mount Everest. She would be more than suitable for a duke or baron. But she’s not one for second place, and I’m sure once she realized what I intended to announce, it was a blow to her ego. I hired her as my assistant as a favor, but I’m really seeing the error of my ways now. No good deed and all.

I almost run towards the front and stop at the coat check. I look around and then ask the attendant for help. He tells me that he saw her about ten minutes ago, but she took her bag and wrap and left. Feeling panicked, I reach in my pocket for my phone so that I can make some calls. I know I’ll find her, but I’m starting to worry about why she left. Something must have happened.

When I turn back around, Nikki is there leaning on a wall that’s draped in dark velvet. Her white dress is a stark contrast against it, and no one could miss her.

“Don’t worry, Karim. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She walks over to me and puts a hand on my chest. She’s never behaved this way before, and I can only attribute it to the news of my impending wedding. She leans in a little and lowers her voice. “You know, not all wives are able to bear the royal seed.”

Suddenly my skin is crawling and I take a step back from her. “Zion!” I shout, and my head of security steps around the corner. He’s never more than a few paces from me. “Show Nikki out of the palace.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Nikki’s mouth drops open in shock, and she squeaks in protest as he makes a move and three guards appear to walk her out. One takes her by the upper arm, and she jerks free of his grip. Then she begins to berate him as I walk away from the scene, feeling Zion on my heels.

I have no time and no patience for this right now. The only thing on my mind is finding my princess and bringing her back here. Back home.

“Need to know the location of the woman I was with. The future queen.”

I don’t elaborate because Zion is the best of the best. He’s paid handsomely for the work he provides me, so he knows exactly who I was with tonight, probably before even I did. And he’s had eyes on her since I stepped out of that room with her on my arm.

“We have a car waiting out front for whatever you need, sir.”

I step out into the cool night air and walk directly to the black SUV that’s waiting with its back door open. As I suspected, he’s anticipated my next move and planned ahead.

“We’ve been able to get camera footage of the cab she left in. We’re tracking it through closed circuit television and have pinpointed a location just south of here.”

“Excellent,” I say, getting in the back of the SUV and turning on the monitor in front of me. A beacon appears on the screen as Zion climbs in the front passenger seat and tells the driver where to go.

There is another SUV in front of us and one behind us. The king goes nowhere without his guard. And protecting the queen is part of that deal. She may have been scared and ran, but I’ll find her. There is no place on this earth where she is out of my reach, no dark corner where she can hide.

I stare at the beacon, watching it try to get farther from me. Making sure Zion is facing forward I pull her panties out of my pocket, putting them to my nose and smelling the mixture of our love-making in an attempt to get myself under control. We are closing the distance, but she’s had too much of a lead, and I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to keep the signal.

“Your Highness, we’ve lost it,” Zion says, and I see the beacon disappear. “We’ll track it to the last location we received. We’ll find her.”