A Royal Rebellion Read Online Free PDF Page A

whispered in return, “I love you too, little one.”

Chapter Three
    Reynard
     
     
    He stood in the hall, gun in hand, and he smiled at his reaction. He’d awakened to hear Percy screaming, and rushed for the room where his prince and the royal consort slept, heart pounding. He got to the door, and instead of hearing them fighting off royal guards, he caught the tail end of a passionate encounter that left him adjusting a partial erection in his sweatpants. The lovers were rarely quiet, Percy being incredibly vocal and demanding when he was in the throes of passion. Reynard had been subject to their sessions many a time, his duties as royal guard keeping him within sight or sound of his charges at all times, even when they didn’t know it, so this was not the first time, nor would it be the last, that he would be able to hear them having sex.
    Reynard walked away from the door, and since he was awake, got dressed, intending to do a perimeter sweep around the small cottage. He pulled on his clothes, tucked a firearm at the base of his spine inside his waistband, and a jacket on his way out. He closed the front door quietly, not wanting to alarm his charges. Percy was easily frightened, though his courage was growing with every day that passed, and Edward was hanging on to his composure by a thread. His prince, while used to the pressures of his rank and duties, was at a loss when it came to living away from the comforts of wealth and royalty. Edward was far from spoiled—but his prince was just that—a prince, and accustomed to a certain lifestyle.
    Reynard prowled through the cold shadows, the cottage they were occupying on the outskirts of a small micro-city just off the royal highway. The area was partially abandoned, its remaining citizens poor, older, or incapable of moving to one of the larger cities closer to the capital. It was out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to recommend it to tourists, and so the settlement that developed when the great highways system was first built almost a hundred years ago was steadily losing people to death and time and lack of interest. Over half the houses and businesses were empty, and the streets were pitted and cracked.
    The SUV he traded for Mason’s sleek beast of a car was hunkered down in the deep shadows next to the small cottage, pointed toward the road for a fast getaway if they were tracked here. They were almost 800 miles from Cassia City, and they had another 1500 miles to go to get to the border with Elysian. As a country, Cassia was one of the largest in the world, occupying a huge portion of the northern half of the largest continent. It was also the longest ruled, single-dynasty monarchy in history, the line of Airric unbroken for two thousand years. Two of his descendants were within shouting distance of him now, and Reynard took the job of protecting Edward, Percy and their unborn babe seriously. It was an honor to serve the Cassian Dynasty, even if some of its members were spoiled brats and fractured souls.
    Edward was worth his weight in gold. The youngest blood prince was humble, honest, braver than he had any reason to be, intelligent and even-tempered. He didn’t know Edward as well as he did Mason, but then he was only recently assigned to Edward’s detail as a captain. Mason, that prince, that man…he knew very well.
    Reynard finished his sweep, the nearest sounds of life blocks away and muted. It was quiet, and cold, and the skies above were crystal clear and sparkling, a wide swath of stars filling the horizon end to end.
    He leaned against the SUV’s hood, crossing his legs at his ankles, hands in his pockets. He watched the sky, and remembered.
    A sarcastic, wry smile. Dark eyes, full of passion and fire. And pain. Hair just beginning to be touched by time, a spattering of white at each temple. Golden skin, firm muscles, and a rich, masculine scent that Reynard would never be able to forget.
    Forgetting Mason, Blood Prince of Cassia, would