the royal bodyguard

by electrikitty

the royal tutor may have kept his position despite of his chequered past, but trouble is stirring and glanzreich's princes have gone from celebrities to targets overnight. forced into embracing a long-forgotten side of himself, heine becomes the princes' bodyguard — yet the game is only just beginning, and someone is playing the royal family like a deck of cards… / complete

37. Purple Bullet VI

~ Kai ~

I've held hands with Beatrix before. She'd pull me along and I'd follow. But now we can't run, either to or away. We have to perform. And holding her hand feels different now.

We sit in the carriage, her hand in mine. It's meant to be a date… but having three armed guards sitting opposite us is distracting, just a little bit.

Heine folds the plans — the message sent from my father — and sharply creases the folds with his fingernails. And it's worse to know, than to not know.

Beatrix swallows. The jewels draped over her shoulders shift, and glint. 'So, in summary… We just have to play our parts and pretend as though we know nothing about the hundreds of soldiers scattered all through Wienner.'

Heine adjusts his glasses. 'Yes. I hope you're a good actress.'

When you're touching someone, you can feel everything about them. Their skin, their softness, the tightening of their fingers — everything telling you this is another person, that they're real. Beatrix's fingers slip between the joints of mine, tightening around my knuckles.

'I don't know. It's not something I pride myself on,' Beatrix says.

Heine gestures, at himself and Ludwig, and Maximilian. 'It's not like we pride ourselves on this, either.' This being the holsters strapped beneath their suits. 'This is just our job.' His knife-edge sharp eyes soften, just a fraction. 'And tonight, you have a job too. So let's do our best.'

I nod. Beatrix steels herself, and nods, fists tightly clenched. Like when she sparred with Leonhard for the first time. Like the time she hosted a royal event on behalf of her family. Like the time she had to take a leap with an out-of-control horse.

I look out the window. My eyes keep picking out soldiers, whether in plain clothes, or in uniform. Blending in at cafes, taking up positions on rooftops, weaving through the crowds on the streets.

Heine glances at the note, yet not long enough to read it. 'So. First up is the opera. I hope someone packed opera glasses.'

Beatrix now knows my plans, and at least… They seemed to make her happy. I'm glad.

And besides. I feel it, that shortness of breath, the tightening of my shoulders.

I don't think there's going to be any lack of surprises tonight.

To be continued…