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Atticus frowned. "I think someone is trying to kill your sister to get to me."
A silence fell over the room, and everyone shifted awkwardly as Morgan gaped at me.
She took the seat next to me, and I deliberately didn't turn as much of my back to Atticus as I could. Sebastian glanced around and said, "Okay, Roone, Ariel, you’re responsible for security, soI assume you’ve spoken withPierce."
Roone deferred to Ariel, and she nodded. "Obviously, last night did not go as planned. To catch everyone up, Atticus and Gwen were meant to have dinner with Sebastian and Penny last night. On their way there, someone shot at Gwen's side of the car multiple times. We analyzed the markings on the car and are pretty certain they had sharpshooters on the roofs. We're checking the cameras now. Gwen, obviously, we've done our search to see if there were any obvious motives for someone to hurt you, but nothing popped." She turned to Atticus. "You though, Atticus. Red flags popped everywhere."
He ground his teeth at that, and I pressed my leg against his. I might be annoyed with him, but I didn’t appreciate him being called a walking red flag.
Ariel clicked a button, and the blinds in the room shuttered. Then a screen that looked like it was used for family movie nights came rolling down.
There were pictures of us, notes about our travel on the island. "All of these details are safely guarded. Only my team and the Royal Guards knew about them. The car was tampered with."
Sebastian frowned. "It was one of my cars."
"I know. Jax here went over it with a fine-tooth comb, so it's not like our security was lax. But somehow, someone put a tracker on the goddamn bumper after he cleared it."
Ariel clicked the button on the remote. "The car was serviced before it went out by royal mechanics, but there was one new apprentice on the staff named Rolo Anteep. He has a shallow history, and the deeper we dug, the more it disappeared into the Ether. Someone knew you were coming and planted him."
Atticus scrubbed his hands over his face. I knew he was tense. This wasn't a problem he could solve on his own, and having to depend on anyone else was making him twitchy.
"No one knew. Hell, this wasn't a timeline I had planned on either. But my mother is here. We didn't think my father knew."
Ariel rolled her shoulders. "Well, this changes everything. I've got a team on your mother. We'll need to have her moved."
"Don't move her just yet. Let me see her and try to convince her to come with us."
"Okay, that's fair."
"The only person who hates me enough to go to these lengths is my father,” Atticus said. “This isn't about business. If this was, people would be after him. He was at the helm of Pendragon for two decades. I've only taken over the last five years, and I've been trying to slowly dismantle the way he did things. This feels more personal than a disgruntled business contact."
I shifted next to him. "What if it doesn't have anything to do with Atticus at all? I mean, I don't know anyone who hates me, and honestly, I didn't believe Atticus when he said someone was after me until last night. It just all seems a bit excessive. There are surely easier ways to kill me."
"There have been three attempts on your life already. You have to take it seriously now."
I frowned as I faced him. "Three? There was the Tube platform and last night, yes. Fair enough, and those might be actual threats. But that's only two."
"What about the mushroom allergy thing?" he reminded me.
I frowned at that. "But that was just carelessness. I know the kitchen insisted that there were no mushrooms in the food, but someone must have cross contaminated." And then it occurred to me, the garnish on my meal had tasted off. And the waitress who brought it wasn't the same one who had been serving us all night. I sat back. "Shit."
"Yeah, shit,” Atticus repeated.
Sebastian sat forward, his elbows on his knees. "What do you need, Atticus? Tell us. Obviously, we'll move your mother to the palace. No one is going to harm her here."
Penny nodded. "I'll watch her myself."
Atticus cleared his throat. "Thank you. If you can keep her here for a while, that would help."
"Of course. And we have a palace on Queen’s Island as well. It's secluded, private. But my understanding is that your mother likes to get out and about, so that might feel too isolated for her."
"I appreciate that."
"Of course the children will terrorize her. I'm sorry in advance about that."
"No, it's perfect,” Atticus said. “It'll only terrorize me because then she will be asking me for grandchildren."
Penny laughed. "Honestly, play with mine for two hours. If you're not ready, they'll be excellent birth control."
