The fragrant aroma of freshly brewed coffee was reminiscent of mornings back at the capital as well as sleepless nights staring at several monitors hoping to find the least evil of all the options. Coffee had been his faithful ally ever since he was old enough to dip his toes into the world of politics. Its fragrance filled the luxurious cabin of the private plane where Luke had locked himself in right after boarding. Ceramic quietly clinked against the surface of the built-in desk as an attendant brought in a third cup of coffee. 

“I have no time to hear out excuses.” He did not even notice the woman in her neatly pressed uniform taking away the cup he recently emptied. If the night allowed him and Rhiane to pretend to be someone else, the morning woke the couple up from the fantasy. For Luke, it was back to making sure that his little projects were running as it should. What annoyed him was the reality that it some of it were not. Weeks away from the capital on his engagement tour and there still was no clear or helpful development about the identities of the resistance members employed in the palace. A few of the employees were interrogated, some were even apprehended, but none was clearly linked to the resistance. It strengthened his desire to speak with the only person he personally knew who claimed to have access to the rebels. 

Unconsciously, his eyes slid to the person who shared the cabin with him. She had told him that she was not in good terms with her family, even claimed that none of the remaining members would come to the palace even if he invited them in to visit her when she was sick. It may anger her to know where they were headed to next, which meant he had to make sure that the meals were loaded with tasty sweets. 

Luke’s phone conversation ended with a firm decision that he was going to bring in the Royal Agency of Special Intelligence into the investigation. Much as the palace would like to contain the information that it had been infiltrated, he needed people who had previous dealings with the resistance to read into the data that the Cyber Intelligence group collected. He took a sip from the cup and then switched the screen of his computer. Interactive charts floated into view – more data to interpret before he could submit a recommendation to his mother. It was what he did most of the night while Rhiane slept beside him on the bed. 

After their romantic rendezvous at the pool and a brief encore after he helped her shower and get into fresh robes, the farmer had fallen into deep sleep. Tobias’ observation that Rhiane was fighting against fatigue in order to stay on her feet was correct, yet she stayed with him when he asked her to. Perhaps the only good her exhaustion brought was that she slept more soundly than the previous night. Nightmares could not haunt her when her brain was too tired to bring up the memories. And when Luke curled beside her to catch even an hour of sleep, she did not wake him up.

“May I come in, your highness?” A feminine-sounding voice drifted from behind the door. When Luke chose to ignore her in favor of the correspondence he was writing for the queen, the woman added, “My name is Anelle Toscano, I will be taking over Luce Viscomi’s responsibilities. May I come in?”

His fingers hovered over the keys, wondering why the name sounded familiar then what Luce’s immediate replacement could mean. The door slid open after he expressed permission for her to enter. A tall slim woman entered into the cabin. Her hair was dyed red, her skin was luminous, and her face beautiful. If it was enhanced, it must have been done by a prestigious clinic, because it was difficult to tell. Luke’s eyes went wide in recognition. He almost choked on his coffee.
“Good morning, your highness and Ms. Black. My name is Anelle and I will be your Image Manager starting today. I am here to brief you about our next destination.”

“Where’s Luce?” The prince, who coughed the liquid into getting to the correct route down his stomach, asked. Anelle’s thin lips stretched into a smile. She had the confidence of a highborn lady, somebody who was too high up in the food chain to belong to the palace workforce. There was familiarity in her green eyes when she turned to look at the prince. 

 “She has been relieved, your highness.” The smile turned cocky. “Are you not going to ask how I’ve been since we last spoke to each other?” Her eyes glossed over the other occupant of the room before turning back to Luke to meaningfully add, “Perhaps another time? I am here to discuss our plans for the next leg of the tour. In about thirty minutes we will be arriving at Ms. Black’s hometown.”