Free The Missing Monarch by Rachelle McCalla Page A

his glowering expression stretched to a sneer, Thad realized
just how poor a judge he’d been all those years. Sure, he’d respected thegeneral. But how long had the man been working for Octavian?
    Plenty long enough for Thad to stop trusting him.
    Petrela cleared his throat. “I’ve been in contact with
Octavian. We’ve ironed out some of the details of our plans. This plane will be
flying straight to Sardis. Once we arrive there, we will accompany you to find
the scepter.”
    Thad didn’t bother topoint out how presumptuous the man’s
request was. He had no intention of leading these men straight to the scepter,
but there was no need to tell them that. “Can you please untie us now? We’ve
reached cruising altitude. There isn’t too much trouble we can cause from
here.”
    “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Octavian’s orders were very
clear.”
    Thad contemplateda few bitter responses, but kept his mouth
shut.
    The general continued to glare at them, but didn’t speak
again.
    Thad wondered what he was contemplating. Surely the man knew
how reluctant Thad was to hand over the scepter, or to lead them to it. Whatever
Octavian’s promises about letting Peter return to Monica in exchange for the
scepter, Thad didn’t believeit. More than likely the general and his men were
under orders to snatch it away the moment Thad uncovered it. Then they’d have
the kingdom and the heir, as well.
    Silently, the general turned and went back to his seat.
    Thad looked at Monica, who’d closed her eyes, though she didn’t
appear to be asleep. Thad watched her for a moment, then rubbed his face with
his handsand tried to sort out where his dreams of happiness with the beautiful
woman had gone so irrevocably wrong.
    He hadn’t ever meant to woo her. She was just the quiet girl
who happened to sit at the desk next to his, crammed into an undergraduate
lecture hall. One day, as he’d been doodling inventions in his notebook, she’d
reached over and started naming them.
    In Latin.
    Impressed, he’d jotted notes back, and quickly learned more
about her. She was a student of ancient languages, in love with the written
word. She wanted to be a professor someday, but Greek was giving her fits.
    Thad had been more than happy to tutor her. As heir to the
Lydian throne, he’d grown up learning several foreign languages, including Greek
and its close cousin,Old Lydian, the language of his people that had only been
replaced by English as a national language a mere century before.
    Monica had been thrilled when he’d offered to teach her Old
Lydian, and had soaked up all the history of Lydia he could share with her,
including its roots in the Bible. Never once had she questioned why he knew so
many details about his homeland,or why the last name he used was the same as
the name of his country.
    She hadn’t asked, so he’d never told her who he really was. For
a few years they were simply friends—not even best friends. Thad had been
careful not to get too close to her then, sensing that she was the kind of woman
he could easily fall in love with, and knowing he wasn’t in any position to
starta serious relationship. He hadn’t ever intended to fall in love with her.
After all, he had a kingdom to get back to, and she had a career as an
ancient-languages professor to look forward to.
    But as the time had drawn closer for him to say goodbye and
return to Lydia, both of them had begun to realize how much they meant to the
other. After one kiss Thad had become convincedhe couldn’t leave her behind.
They could elope, and he’d surprise her with the news of his royal pedigree at
the same time as he introduced her to his family as his wife.
    But he’d been introduced to Octavian instead.
    That was where his life had gone veering off track. His father
had been dealing with Octavian before that. And ultimately, only King Philip
could explainhow he’d gotten pulled into the mess. But his father was now in a
coma, having taken a