Princess in Peril. Rachelle McCalla

as she handed the garment back to him. It would be warm outside. “Safer than in here. The front door of the embassy is less than one hundred meters from where we stand. We’ll have to get down the cathedral stairs and up the steps of the Embassy, but we should be able to do it in well under a minute, maybe even thirty seconds if we hurry. That’s not long for us to be out in the open.”

      Isabelle swallowed. “Front door to front door then?”

      “That seems like the most expedient route.” The mirrored lenses of his sunglasses stayed trained on her face as he slipped on his jacket. “You don’t like the plan?”

      He could read her that easily? “I don’t like the idea of entering Stephanos Valli’s turf, even if he’s not there.” Although three years had passed since Valli had engineered her engagement to Tyrone Spiteri, and two years had gone by since the horrid ending of that engagement, the mere thought of seeing the two-faced ambassador brought her fears and anger back to the surface.

      Levi extended one singed hand toward her arm. “I won’t let Valli get near you,” he promised.

      Could it possibly be that simple? Isabelle looked down at the hand whose mere contact with her arm imparted a surprising level of comfort. “We never found any burn ointment for your hands,” she realized with regret.

      “It’s okay. I’ve made it this far.” His hand stayed still on her arm, and Isabelle wished she could see his eyes behind his sunglasses or his face behind the dark outline of his beard. He leaned a little closer. “We should get going. Are you ready?”

      Isabelle nodded, clinging to Levi’s promise not to let Valli near her. As long as she knew she wouldn’t have to face that awful man, they could get to the Embassy and be safe. Finally.

      Maybe then she could learn what had become of her parents and siblings. At least she wouldn’t have to fear for her life anymore. And she could get away from Levi, whose presence had started making her uncomfortable for all sorts of new reasons, mostly because he’d gotten so close to her.

      She straightened and mentally prepared herself for the dash across the street. “Let’s go.”

      “On three,” Levi announced, his grip tightening on the door latch. “One, two—” The door swung wide and the two of them burst out, darting in a dead sprint down the steps.

      Levi kept one hand on her arm and one hand on the assault rifle he’d lifted from the soldiers. Her heeled pumps offered little in the way of traction, so Isabelle felt grateful to know Levi was ready to catch her if she slipped.

      They crossed the street in six strides and Isabelle hoisted the floor-length skirt of her gown as they vaulted the Embassy stairs by twos and threes. Levi swung open the front door and they stepped inside onto the glossy marble floor.

      Isabelle looked up, expecting to see the usual uniformed guards that protected the embassy. Instead, Lydian soldiers guarded the entrance. The one nearest her smiled broadly.

      “Princess Isabelle, what a pleasant surprise.” He and the soldier next to him stepped forward, reaching for their guns. “If you’ll hand us your weapons, we’ll personally escort you in.”

      “We’ll keep them,” Levi said, his presence close behind her reassuring.

      Something was wrong. She could feel it. There shouldn’t have been Lydian soldiers guarding the door. There shouldn’t have been Lydian soldiers in the building at all. Everything felt wrong. Scurrying soldiers stopped as they passed in the hall. What were Lydian soldiers doing in the American Embassy?

      Another man in uniform approached them. “You’ve captured the princess?” he called to his comrades. “Valli will be delighted.”

      No! Terror squeezed Isabelle’s heart as the two guards lunged toward them, their hands stretched out to take their guns.

      Levi spun around her, stiff-arming the men in the face with the butt of his rifle before sweeping his other arm around her waist and scooping her up as he shoved his way back through the door. Out of the corner of her eye, Isabelle saw the other officers rushing toward them, pulling out their guns. The heavy doors slammed shut behind them.

      Instead of heading back down the stairs and across the open street, Levi surprised her by scooting to the side of the marble landing and leaping over the balustrade into the bushes, taking her with him.

      Prickly branches grabbed at her dress as she fell, but the moment her feet hit the firm earth, the branches settled above their heads. Levi shuffled sideways under the cover of the lush Mediterranean foliage.

      Above them on the landing she could hear the doors bang open and soldiers shouting, wondering aloud where they’d gone. “Down!” Levi whispered, ushering her toward a window well deep behind the shadows of the landscaping.

      Isabelle gulped a breath and jumped. Levi landed silently beside her and immediately grabbed the window by its frame.

      “What are you doing?” she whispered, more than aware that the Embassy building was crawling with Lydian soldiers, who were apparently reporting to Valli. “We’re breaking back in?”

      “Shh.” Levi pulled the aging window frame from the time-warped wood. “You said you’d trust me.”

      A blur of responses passed through her mind, most of them involving their near capture moments before, but she bit her tongue and ducked, mindful of the darkness and the cobwebs. The stone room was similar to those in the basement of the cathedral, but instead of bones, it housed cluttered piles of old furniture, discarded desks and slumping stacks of boxes. Levi slid through the window and landed beside her, reaching back up and pulling the wood-framed glass into place behind them.

      “Where are we?” She pulled his ear as close to her lips as she could so she wouldn’t have to speak above the sound of a breath.

      “The basement of the Embassy.”

      “You brought me straight into the hornets’ nest?”

      “I’m keeping you alive.” He raised the assault rifle in front of his face, covering them as he moved toward the door. “Everyone is outside looking for us.”

      “So where are we going?”

      “The last place they’re going to look.”

      His words were ominous, and Isabelle swallowed, following him down the dark hallway. Unlike the underground mausoleum below the cathedral, the Embassy basement sat at garden level, and the dying sunlight filtered through windows, giving them just enough illumination to find their way through the cluttered space.

      They reached a staircase that bent even farther downward, another level below the earth. Isabelle swallowed, her heart thudding in fear. “Do you seriously know where you’re going?”

      “Of course I do.”

      “Where?”

      “The dungeon.” He pulled her close beside him as he took the first step downward.

      Isabelle followed, not so much because she trusted him but because she knew for certain, thanks to the comment of the soldier above them, that Valli wanted her captured. If Levi could prevent that from happening, she’d follow him anywhere, even into a dungeon.

      “I just want you to know,” she whispered, pulling instinctively closer to him as the filtered light faded to utter darkness, “that I have no intention of hiding in another crypt. That was the most terrifying thing that’s happened to me since—” She broke off, thinking.

      “Since the soldiers tried to take you to Valli?”

      “That was afterward.”

      “You’ve had quite a day.” He pulled out the small flashlight he’d taken from the soldiers. Its beam cut through the darkness, landing on ancient chains that dripped from the walls. Isabelle tried not to think about the prisoners who’d been shackled inside the dungeon over the years.

      “So