A seemingly lone black car sped across the East Harbor Suspension Bridge that connected the island fortress, Hermes, to the main land. The engine roared in the early morning light against the background of gentle waves in the calm sea sleeping beneath the bridge. There was no speed limit that it respected, nor any sane officer that would dare call the attention of its driver. Four more cars of the same build and make trailed not a hundred meters behind. All of which maintaining a speed above the city limit, but none seemed to care, because a passenger in one of those identical vehicles happened to be the crown prince.

One thing that Luke loved about being early was having the road to himself. If they had left the palace an hour later then his security team, those daredevil racers, would have to contend with significantly more civilian cars and wouldn’t have had the pleasure of driving as fast as they did that morning. 

“Your highness, if I may offer an advise.” Gruff, thickly accented voice of his assigned chauffeur and personal bodyguard interrupted. The man’s brown eyes were hidden behind a pair dark of wayfarers that regarded Luke from the rearview mirror, which found his royal highness hitting call button for the eleventh time. It was on loud speaker and the sound of ringing had filled the air inside the car for what felt like eternity to the bodyguard. “If you ring her phone enough, you will end up in her ‘blocked list’.”

Luke shrugged without lifting his attention from the device on his hand. “Then you will lend me a communication device that I can use to call again, Nolan. Problem solved.”

“And then what? Drag me with you to dating purgatory? No, thank you, your royal highness, I don’t enjoy being reported to the network providers.”

“I can fix that for you, I always do – Hello?”

“Alessandro,” was all Nolan heard from the loud speaker. To his dismay, Luke had quickly turned the broadcast into a private conversation. Without a doubt, the person on the other end of the line was not the princess elect that his future king was parading around town the day before. Him and Luke may not be the closest of friends, but they had a history together. Nolan had been a part of the security team since the crown prince was fifteen. It would be fair to say that the older man was loyal to the often moody prince, but it was not to say that his silence was not without price.

“If you give us a chance to talk, I am sure that I can make you understand that this is--”

“No, no. Luke, this is not me giving you a chance to explain yourself,” she cut him off. “I answered the damn phone just to tell you to stop calling.”

“Sophie. Listen.” He took a deep steadying breath as the line was cut and the tone went flat. It was not how he envisioned his day would be. Sophia was the first person that came into mind when the doctor suggested to cut the link for a day. After what happened in his engagement ball, that day was one of the rare chances to spend time together, and he was going to maximize their time no matter how busy his schedule was. But it looked like none of his plans would see the light of day.

The car finally slowed to a stop before the main gate. Nolan took care of the protocol while the prince composed himself and prepared to face his duties. As usual, he had to distance himself from his emotions as to not let it cloud his better judgment. The fight was not yet over as the day was just beginning to unfold. If he could track her, and he would, then he could still do something to save them both from the evils of a misunderstanding.

Then the gadget that he was still holding pinged. A message alert popped on the screen from a person named Tobias. Without meaning to read it, his eyes skimmed across the words ‘her personal bodyguard’ which just made the message interesting. A man for his fiancée’s personal bodyguard? Whose idea was it? But as he reached the end of the message and re-read the name of the bodyguard-in-charge, he recognized the family name, then the first name. Tobias Lavanchy. The two of them had the chance to train in hand-to-hand combat together when they were kids, but really they were just playing around. Tobias’ father was the late king’s close friend and cousin. The former used to frequently visit the castle together with Tobias, who was the same age as Luke. There might had been a time when the two boys got close, but then again circumstances and their social differences had pulled them apart to the point that the two barely talked. Interesting how fate had brought them back together.

[i]Tobias,

Allow me to thank you in advance for looking after my fiancée. I assure you that there will be no dull moments, but you must arm yourself with patience as she can be a handful. Kindly make sure that she is back in my rooms by five thirty in the afternoon. No extensions.

Luke[/i]

[i] To Rhiane: kissy face[/i]

By the time he was done with the response, the car and its escorts had already found their respective parking spaces. Surprisingly, a number personnel still traveled using cars, maybe because they spent a lot of time learning to navigate the sky during work. 

“Your highness, welcome back to Hermes,” greeted a man with gray crew cut and neatly trimmed beard after Luke stepped out of the car. He wore the same uniform as Luke’s, but with considerably more pins.

The prince, despite his position of power, saluted the older man. His position had no meaning inside the air base, although most everyone still had a problem with calling him by his given name. 

“At ease.”

“You arrived early, Commander,” Luke commented as soon as he was released from the salute. 

The older man nodded and motioned for them to enter the building beside the control tower. “Ah, I have heard that you will be reporting here today.”