Page 7 of Claimed
“Nicole Clark is untrained to go on any sort of mission, diplomatic or otherwise,” Stefan said tersely, refocusing on Cyril. “She also has no sense of decorum, of her limits, or of?—”
Cyril’s lifted hand cut him off.
“I’m not the one you have to convince,” he said. A cheerful horn beeped behind them, and they both turned. Stefan’s eyes narrowed as Cyril merely sighed.
“As I said,” Cyril murmured.
Rolling up to them in a golf cart was none other than Queen Catherine of Oûros, wife to King Jasen and mother to the crown prince, Kristos…and the missing former crown prince, Ari. She appeared thoroughly delighted to be out on the beach. It was early enough that there weren’t enough tourists who understood the significance of a lead cart surrounded by three attendant carts, each with men holding guns below the sight line of the vehicles’ dashboards.
For her part, Queen Catherine appeared to be unarmed, but Kristos rode with her. Dimitri Korba, demigod captain of the Oûros National Security Force and unofficial bodyguard to the royal family, rode in the closest cart to the queen’s. Stefan grimaced. “What’s happened?”
“The final interviews with the man found with Ari’s watch were reported this morning,” Cyril said quietly. “I’d hoped to work out a strategy with you before the queen was made aware of the information.”
“It appears we’re too late on that.”
“It seems so.” Cyril nodded. “And given her state of excitement, the news supports her desire to find Ari alive.”
“And do you believe he is?” Stefan asked. “Still alive?” He knew Hermes’ stance on the subject, but what a god knew and what a mortal could justify were often two different things. Even a mortal in Oûros.
Cyril managed a pleasant expression, but spoke through his teeth. “I don’t know what to think any more. At this point, however, we have to find something other than a few bits of debris scavenged by fishermen in order to put the queen’s mind to rest. Otherwise, I fear she’ll never get past this.”
Stefan schooled his expression into polite interest. He understood Cyril’s concern. When Prince Ari had crashed his plane over a year ago, flying into a dangerous storm that he had no business trying to weather on his own, the entire royal family had been devastated. King Jasen had seemed to age a decade overnight, while the queen had held on to a fleeting hope that Ari was—somehow—still alive. A hope that was fanned with each new discovery of some missing piece of wreckage offered up by the Aegean Sea.
Now that hope had flared into a brilliant beacon of light.
“Stefan!” Queen Catherine said, jumping lightly out of the cart as Kristos slowed the vehicle. “Tell me I’ve not come too late and that Cyril hasn’t spoiled my update.”
Cyril bowed. “Not at all, your majesty?—”
“Oh, please.” She waved off the honorific. “There’s no one around. Dispense with the formality, I beg you.” She turned to Stefan. “Our plans are moving forward. We have additional information about Ari’s watch and where it was located.”
“Near Alaçati.” Stefan nodded. Dimitri and the American Lauren Grant had spotted Ari’s custom flight and dive watch on the wrist of a random fisherman while traveling to a nearby island. The fisherman had insisted he’d gotten the watch from some scavenger—who claimed he’d plucked it out of the ocean. Dimitri had taken the discovery hard. Ari had been his best friend—and his responsibility.
“Yes, Alaçati, which is fully invested in its summer windsurfing season,” the queen beamed. “So there are tourists there, people, outsiders. It will be easier for you to blend.”
Stefan didn’t dispute her words. “What is the new information?” he asked.
Behind the queen, Kristos grimaced, his face unusually grim compared to his mother’s excitement. The prince’s eyes were fixed on the open water, however, not the queen, and Stefan angled himself carefully to allow a wider view as the queen spoke again.
“There’s a whole network of scavengers along the Turkish coast. Small wonder, given the state of the economy and lack of military protections there outside the main cities,” she sniffed.
“Your Highness,” Cyril said mildly. “They are our neighbors and allies.”
“And we are here, in Oûros, among friends,” the queen shot back with an uncharacteristic snap to her tone. “Anyway, the fisherman who bought the watch told us there was other debrisas well—a gold chain, journals, shoes—but that the watch hadn’t come directly from the ocean, according to the man who sold it to him. It’d come from its owner.”
“Its owner!” Stefan’s exclamation had the queen straightening. “When was this?”
“He wasn’t clear—months ago.” Her mouth tightened but she pushed on. “But the man was alive, the scavenger had said. Disoriented, confused. The scavenger thought he’d sustained some sort of head injury.”
“Possibly concussed,” Kristos put in.
“Dressed in rags but he had the watch. He’d been exposed to the elements. Hadn’t showered.” The queen’s lower lip began to tremble, and Kristos stepped forward.
“Mother—”
She ignored him. “Bottom line, we need to act. The fisherman had that watch since January—January! And here it is June, and Ari could have been wandering this whole time.”
“You don’t know that the man who sold the scavenger the watch in the first place was Ari.”