Princess in Peril Read Free Page B

sniffling. “If we can reach other Sanctuary team members, perhaps they will have good news about your family.”
    “Maybe I should try calling them.”
    Levi sucked in a breath.
    “Why not?” Isabelle pulled back from him.
    “We don’t know who would answer your call, and we can’t risk the wrong people finding out where you are. Forthe same reason, I have no intention of using my phone until we reach a safe location. If Alfred was working for the insurgents, anyone could be.” He urged her on. “The best thing we can do right now is get you out of here.”
    The princess took several deep breaths but made no move to head forward.
    “You still don’t trust me?” he asked.
    “I trusted Alfred.”
    Levi nodded. “Perhaps you are wise notto trust me.” Her long hair, which had been piled high in an artful arrangement for the state dinner, had come loose, and a thick strand brushed his hand. “Can you open the light?”
    She clicked her phone open, and her wide brown eyes stared fearfully up at him in its thin glow. Gently he pushed the loose hair back from her eyes.
    “Your hands were burned,” she accused him as his fingers passedthrough her line of vision.
    “I hadn’t meant for you to notice,” he apologized. “There is nothing we can do for them here.”
    The princess straightened, as though drawing from a well of courage only a royal could tap. “Then we must get to a first aid kit. Let’s hurry.”
    Levi took her cue and turned them down the next tunnel, which would lead under the centuries-old Cathedral where many Lydian saintswere buried. The church had been built upon the rumored burial place of the original Lydia, an early leader in the Christian church whose conversion by the Apostle Paul was detailed in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Acts in the Bible. The nation of Lydia had been named for her house church, and the royal family, including Isabelle herself, could trace their roots back to Lydia’s family.
    It was a reminder to Levi of the amazing lineage of the woman who held their only light as they walked through the darkness of the catacombs. Though he had long respected Isabelle from afar as he’d read about her humanitarian efforts as a princess, he was even more impressed with her in person. And she was even more beautiful than the newspaper photos he’d seen.
    “Which way?” Isabelle asked whenthey arrived at the next fork in the tunnel.
    It was a good question. Levi had studied hand-drawn maps of the tunnels, which were known only to a select few. Because King Philip had supplied the maps, Levi had assumed the whole royal family would be familiar with the layout of the catacombs. It surprised him that Isabelle was unaware of their very existence. Now he tried to recall the detailedtwists and turns of the elaborate underground labyrinth.
    The light from Isabelle’s phone dimmed. “Do you know which way it is?”
    Finally able to picture he map in his head, Levi pulled her a little closer to him as they headed down the left-hand passageway. “This way, but let’s leave the light off if we can. We might need it more later.”
    To his relief, Isabelle didn’t argue with him but shuffledalong beside him as they made their way down the tunnel in dizzying darkness. He could only hope she would cooperatewith him for as long as it might take to get her to safety. Their situation was difficult enough, and Levi desperately needed the mission to be successful.
    Not only did he care about his mother’s home country and feel allegiance toward the Royal House of Lydia, but he also hada very personal reason why the mission could
not
fail. His father didn’t just work for Sanctuary International, he was its president. And he’d be retiring in another year. Everyone expected Nicolas Grenaldo to appoint one of his two sons to be president after him.
    And that was just the trouble. Although Levi had spent four years in the Lydian army before going on to law school, he didn’t haveany