A Royal Pain

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Plus, he was thoroughly convinced that both his guards and Cecily knew that he and Phil were... involved with each other. Cecily had stopped bursting into his room at all times of the day, and had even taken to knocking before entering his bedroom. Not to mention that Bentley and Alfonzo always exchanged a look when he and Phil retired to his rooms at night. But they could've just been having constant sleepovers! It wasn't like that actually meant that they were together—not that they weren't together. He was just a little peeved that everyone had taken to assuming. Plus, didn't Bentley and Alfonzo know that he could see it when they were exchanging those... those suggestive looks. He wasn't blind! He knew what they were thinking! And no one should ever, ever be thinking about Dan having sex with somebody else! Ever!

Partially because it was totally and completely improper, but mostly because it made Dan red and hot all over to think about, and Phil didn't seem to have any qualms about bringing it up. "Think they know we're doing it?" he'd asked just the night before, their position at the time incredibly... compromising. Dan had abruptly shoved him off after that, horrified, and it had taken Phil more than half an hour's worth of coaxing and soothing to get him back in the mood, not that it was Dan's fault.

Suffice to say, Dan would've really, really appreciated it if he wasn't on the verge of getting murdered anytime soon.

"Who is it Cody?" he demanded now, the boy in front of him panting, his eyes wide with fear. Dan guessed it was good to know that the kid was so fearful of him losing his life—no wonder he'd done such a shoddy job of killing Dan himself. "Who's coming?"

"I—It's..." he looked pale and terror-stricken, and his bottom lip found its new home on the inside of his mouth, gnawed on furiously by uneven teeth.

"Who am I defending myself from?" Dan asked again.

"I... I can't say..."

"Cody," Dan said sternly. "You can tell me. You have to tell me, and then I can send my guards to protect your mum. But first, I have to know who's coming."

Cody looked around anxiously, and he finally released his lip as he looked at Dan desperately. "It's the King."

—

Dan's brain couldn't process this. His first assumption was that he had heard wrong, but that didn't explain Phil's sudden gasp, nor the way his hand had come up to clutch Dan's wrist. His next thought was, surely, not the king? As in, his father, the king. Perhaps Cody meant a different king. But then... why wouldn't he have specified?

Or maybe he was lying. Dan latched onto this thought with sudden surety—of course he was lying! There was no logic behind it. Cody was protecting the identity of whoever was trying to kill Dan, and Dan was going to pummel him for it.

"You have to run!" Cody insisted. "He said 'the time is now' and 'there'll be no going back'. He's coming!"

"You're lying," Dan said obstinately, and he yanked his arm out of Phil's grip. "You're trying to cover their identity—I won't fall for your tricks." Dan widened his stance and crossed his arms, glaring down at the boy, who was looking at Dan, dumbfounded.

"Prince Daniel..."

"My father wouldn't kill me," Dan hissed, and he shook his head for good measure, as if to shake the very thought out of his mind. Sure, his father hadn't seemed too happy about Dan being gay, but he wouldn't try to kill Dan over something like that. Plus, the assassination attempts had been going on since before Dan's father knew.

"Dan," Phil said softly. "Maybe we should listen to him."

Dan whirled around, hurt and outraged. "Are you kidding?" he demanded. "You're not... not believing this. Are you?" He felt like the world was spinning wildly beneath his feet, or perhaps the sky was swirling over his head. For some reason, Phil's answer felt important to him, even though it shouldn't have been. Dan already knew the answer well enough for himself—knew that his father wasn't crazy enough to try to kill his own son. Cody was crazy enough to try to trick the crown prince, however.