by A. J. Rosen
“But you’re a black coffee kind of guy.”
“Sometimes I like sweet,” he teased.
“I guess I’m dealing with Mr. Sunny Sunshine now.”
I pulled out another mug from the cupboard, fixed him a cup of hot chocolate, and handed him the mug. He did not wait before taking his first sip. How were we simply getting along?
Vlad put his mug down. “Mr. Sunny who?”
“Nothing. I’m glad one of us is in a good mood.”
His company was already making me feel better. It seemed like I wasn’t going to be able to escape Vladimir Ambrosia during the rest of the Gathering. And it hit me like Zeus’s lightning bolt: I wasn’t sure I even wanted to.
Vlad ended up staying for the rest of the night. When I swung my bedroom door open in the morning, he sat reading the newspaper on the couch—already bathed and looking fresh despite wearing last night’s clothes. Without even saying good morning, he jumped right in with, “I called Kristen—she won’t be having breakfast with us. She wants to experience all the activities of her first Gathering, so she’ll be following the official schedule. Should we call Adrian?”
We hadn’t heard from Adrian since last night and it worried me a little. “Sure. Give me five minutes.” I headed back into the bedroom to make myself look somewhat presentable.
Hey, you’ve reached the one and only Adrian Ambrosia. Unfortunately, today is not your lucky day. I’m currently busy being awesome, so just leave your message at the beep!
“He’s probably still sleeping,” I commented after we’d tried for the third time.
“Yeah. Maybe we should just pick him up along the way.”
Fifteen minutes later, we knocked on the expansive, intimidating double doors of Adrian’s family suite in the Royal Quarters, and their maid, Althea, let us in. Though Vlad had clearly been here many times before, the maid led the way up a beautiful spiral staircase to a far-reaching hallway lined with portraits of Ambrosia ancestors. She stopped in front of the third room on the left and, without knocking, opened the door.
Adrian was in bed with a girl. She had her back to us, but I could tell from her red hair that she wasn’t the same girl who had kissed Adrian last night during our game of Basilinda. He certainly did get around. My eyes took in his hard pecs before I quickly turned around, not wanting to intrude any more than we had by barging into his room unannounced.
“You have guests, Lord Ambrosia,” the maid announced before making her way back down the hallway to the stairs, not a care in the world. Who knew a maid could get away with that in a Royal household?
We followed suit, leaving Adrian sitting up in bed, looking dumbfounded as we headed back downstairs. Vlad led the way to a living room furnished with luxurious couches surrounding an antique table with intricate carvings. Next to the fireplace sat a white baby grand piano. A delicate green rug, interwoven with the kind of white that made you think of baby’s breath flowers, was soft underfoot and warmer than the marbled tiles underneath it.
As if she had a sixth sense that could detect that we were now in the living room, the maid came in from the hallway carrying a tray of cookies, a pot of tea, two teacups, sugar, and milk. She placed the tray on the table and was about to pour the tea when Vlad stopped her. “Let me take care of it, Althea.”
Althea smiled, placing the porcelain pot back on the tray, and took a step back. “You never let me do anything for you.”
Vlad looked a little sheepish as he poured the English breakfast tea. He was about to hand the cup to me when he paused, then put in an extra spoonful of sugar. He knew how I took my tea. I couldn’t believe he had even taken notice of these kinds of details about me. He passed the cup to me and I took it with both hands.
“Thanks,” I said and sighed heavenly. Satisfied that we were content, Althea left the room.
Feeling the need to do something while we waited for Adrian, I took one of the delicious-looking chocolate chip cookies and stuffed it into my mouth. Once I had finished my third cookie and was reaching for the fourth, I heard Vlad say, “Don’t think badly of him. He probably had a rough night. It’s been tough for him, after Marsela that is.”
“It’s just typical Adrian,” I said.
Vlad placed his cup on the saucer. “I don’t think you understand Adrian as well as you think you do.”
“Vlad, we both know his reputation. Let’s not pretend that he’s changed just because he’s back here and—”
Rhythmic footsteps came from the spiral staircase as in walked Adrian, wearing a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt that fit him perfectly. He was rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while the other waved at Vlad and me. Vlad nodded in response; I grimaced.
“To what do I owe this honor?” Adrian stifled a yawn.
“Sorry about barging in.” Vlad shot him an apologetic look. Perhaps guys had their own codes.
“Nah, man, it’s okay. Althea can’t seem to leave me alone lately. It’s like she just can’t accept that I’m no longer a teenage boy.” Adrian smiled lazily. There was something in his eyes that bothered me. A lot. Like he looked guilty when he had no reason to.
“Do you want to go for breakfast with us?”
“Sure, give me a minute to clean up.”
Before Adrian could turn to leave, Vlad cleared his throat. “Invite her, too, if you want.”
Confusion crossed Adrian’s face. “Who?”
“The girl.”
Adrian looked like he wanted to say something, but swallowed whatever it was and gave Vlad a nod. One minute turned to five, and five to fifteen before we finally heard voices from the stairs.
“I don’t have breakfast with guys I hook up with.” The girl lowered her voice as if she was talking to herself. “Damn. I shouldn’t have overslept. Look, just show me the way out and say that you’ll call even though you won’t. Because you don’t have my number and I’m not about to give it to you.”
Adrian chuckled and her protest was muffled. Maybe inviting her to have breakfast with us was not the best idea. Vlad looked unperturbed, as if he hadn’t overheard her. He sipped his tea like it was any other day in the Ambrosia household.
I took a bite of the last cookie and nearly choked when Adrian came into the room with a girl I knew so well.
Renata Vidales. Nikki’s twin sister, although she looked nothing like Nikki. Her lips curled into a mocking smile the second she caught sight of me. “Avery Montgomery, nice to see you again.” She turned to Adrian. “I think I’ll have that breakfast after all.”
To my surprise, Renata acted nothing like her sister. No side-eye or snarky comments during breakfast. I knew she didn’t get along that well with her sister, but I thought they would share some similarities, being twins and all. But she played the well-behaved Lady Vidales, daughter of a Royal family, the descendant of Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. She even managed to make polite conversation with Adrian and Vlad while I focused on my food.
“I didn’t see you at the Awakening Ceremony,” I mentioned to Renata once I had washed down the scrambled eggs with ice water.
“I arrived last night. I delayed my first Gathering for a year,” she said, staring down at her plate and moving the food around with her fork. “Sharing special events with my twin sister gets old. This way, we each get our own time to celebrate becoming Awakened.”
Renata was a wild card. No one really knew what she was going to do next. She had a reputation for being a rebel—not following our norm. We had two things in common: a tendency to rebel and a dislike of Nikki. But since she was Nikki’s twin, I knew she was aware of my relationship with her sister and would side with her sister. Her coming to breakfast was obviously her way of torturing me. I could tell by the way she had accepted Adrian’s invitation. But with everything else that had happened recently, I didn’t have any spare energy for drama.
&nbs
p; Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and toast. Everything on this plate was all I cared about right now. Vlad seemed to pick up on my quiet mood and understood that I didn’t want to be drawn into the conversation. I needed some space, and that was exactly what he gave me. Adrian kept our table far from quiet. Once in a while, I felt Vlad’s eyes on me, but I only paid attention to my bacon.
After what felt like an eternity, our breakfast plates were taken away and our awkward meal came to an end. Now would be a good time to talk to Adrian and grill him about avoiding a click. If only I could get him away from Renata and shake Vlad’s doting attention. Each day I got closer to being eighteen, the window I had for breaking the bond narrowed.
As we lingered outside the restaurant, I said, “Adrian, I have something to talk to you about. If you don’t mind, perhaps we could—”
Before I could even finish my sentence, Renata turned to Adrian and locked her lips with his. Great. Another visual to haunt me. A weird lump stuck in my throat and I swallowed uncomfortably. I turned to Vlad, his eyes were already on me.
“Are you going to go check up on Kris?”
“Yeah, I’ll pop over to the Awakeneds’ event. And bring some aspirin.”
“And lots of candy,” I added. “She almost has a sweeter tooth than me when she’s hungover.”
“It’s a good thing Mom and Dad are busy with the Council,” he murmured.
“Lucky you,” I replied.
I didn’t bother asking about the Council business—he couldn’t tell me anything. The Council consisted of two representatives from each Royal family and three from the Pure Royals. The queen called the shots, but her council took care of the lesser governmental concerns delegated to them, from mundane administrative things to crucial things, like maintaining the Hellenicus’s secrecy from the Nescient and organizing the offerings to the gods and goddesses. Vlad and Kris’s parents were both on the Council. It was unusual for a pair of soul mates to serve simultaneously, but the queen had bestowed them with the special honor. It was part of the reason why people tried to suck up so much to Kris and Vlad—both of their parents had the ear of the most powerful of the Hellenicus.
I hated all that nonsense, and a big part of me and Kris becoming fast friends was how much she appreciated me treating her like a regular kid, not one who was surrounded by prestige and power.
I turned to my left. Adrian and Renata were still kissing. I had no more patience or time to waste. Any decent person would have stopped, knowing it made others feel uncomfortable.
“Seriously, get a room!”
Adrian pulled away, earning me a glare from Renata—but her expression changed as she caught sight of something behind me. I turned to look, and there was Nikki, storming toward us.
One Vidales at a time, please! I was only a mortal being.
Nikki didn’t even notice me. She stomped straight up to her sister and slapped her across the face. Adrian’s jaw dropped in shock and there was a look of disgust on Vlad’s face. No one had seen that coming—least of all Renata.
Renata’s response was stormy, her auburn hair blazing like fire. I watched her hands curl into tight fists and her knuckles turn white.
Before hell could break loose, I stepped between them and looked at Renata. “Whatever you do, don’t punch her. You’ll wind up in jail and trust me, you’d rather not.”
Renata brushed me aside and spat out what I assumed to be some Spanish curse words.
“What the hell was that for?” Renata hissed at her sister. She somehow managed to keep her fists on both sides of her body as she held eyes with her dark-haired sister.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know! You slept with Damian. He’s with me, you bitch!” Nikki flung her hand up to slap Renata again. This time Adrian stepped in front of Renata and grabbed Nikki’s wrist. It did the trick; it was as if Nikki noticed for the first time that she and her sister were not alone. She dropped her hand and staggered backward.
Renata, who was not the type to hide behind a man, moved to position herself in front of Adrian. “Who’s Damian?”
“Don’t you dare pretend that you don’t know! You left Royal Bar with him last night.”
Renata was glowering at her sister so severely that it made me think she was going to explode. Instead, she raised her hands in defeat and said, “I have no idea who Damian is, and yes, I was at Royal Bar last night, but I left with him,” she said, putting her hand on Adrian’s shoulder.
Nikki opened her mouth and closed it, like a fish out of water. “Then who is this?” She pulled out her phone: someone had posted a video of what had gone down in Royal Bar last night, and she fast-forwarded to Damian and a redhead leaving the bar . . . and stopping to make out every other step. We all leaned in to have a better look.
Adrian looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Of course, it’s Douchebag Tavoularis.”
I shrugged. “It’s not like Renata’s the only redhead around here.”
Nikki looked at Renata’s reddened cheek and a glint of regret passed over her face before turning back to indignant anger as she shifted her glare to me. “It could be you!”
“Hold on right there, missy. I did not sleep with Damian. No way that would ever happen. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him. He was with me last night.” I pointed at Vlad.
Nikki seemed at a loss, but if she thought Renata was going to let it slide, she was mistaken. Renata put both of her hands on her hips and gave her sister a pointed look. “I’m waiting for an apology.”
“I have nothing to apologize for,” Nikki snapped.
“Oh really?” Renata grabbed her wrist and started dragging her sister away. “Let’s not embarrass ourselves further, shall we?”
Just before they were out of earshot, Nikki turned back and called my name. “I heard Kris had a click the other day. Please pass her my congratulations. I’m really happy for her.”
Her face betrayed a touch of envy, and I was caught off guard by her kind words. This was not the same Nikki who had slept with Kris’s first boyfriend.
“What the heck was that?” I asked after the twins were safely out of earshot.
“That,” Adrian said, “was an example of what happens during the Gathering after the Awakening Ceremony. Heightened emotions, extra intensity. All hell breaks loose.”
Vlad laughed. “I’m going to go see how Kris is doing. Catch you guys later.” He patted Adrian’s shoulder and then walked away toward the Royal High Court.
“So . . .” Adrian inched closer to me once Vlad was out of sight. I held my breath.
He had always reminded me of a lion: fierce and predatory, filled with limitless energy. His hair, too, was tawny and hovered in that curious state between light brown and dark blond, and it was always styled in a messy way that made people assume he had just gotten laid. Being born with the Ambrosia family’s famous green eyes—meaning that he had been an Ambrosia in all of his previous lives—did not help to curb his ego or the way he carried himself. He had made me nervous when I was fourteen and crushing hard on him. Now, it was a different kind of feeling—the way he had paid attention to me since we’d arrived at Court, and how my body reacted to him, was more intense than four years ago.
“It’s just you and me.” Adrian leaned in so his face nearly brushed mine and he whispered in my ear, his voice as soft as silk against my skin. “I’m all yours, Montgomery. Tell me what you need.”
Shivers raced down my spine. But I stepped back from Adrian and tried to control myself. It was true that I wanted to have a one-on-one talk with Adrian, but I knew what he was implying, and that wasn’t what was on my mind.
“I only need to talk to you.”
“If you say so, Montgomery.” We walked toward the center of the Court, where the Whispering Oak of Dodona resided. “So, what is it you want to talk to me about?”
“Remember
how I asked you if you would change your fate if you could?” My voice was pitched low as two Court Guards were patrolling the area.
“Wait, so I wasn’t dreaming?” Adrian said.
“Of course not.” I narrowed my eyes, wondering how much of our conversation last night he actually remembered. “Are you backing out now?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I can hardly remember what’s real and what’s not when I’m drunk, that’s all. Remind me, why do you want to change your fate?”
“Because I want to be free, Adrian. Don’t you want that too—to be able to make your own destiny and not just wait around here for your other half? Don’t you want to have a shot at happiness? To love who you want to love?”
Adrian stared at me deeply, so many emotions reeling in his emerald eyes. “I do.”
“Me too.” I reached for his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Anyway, Vlad implied that there is a way to do it—that it has happened in the past. Do you know anything at all about it? You went to the Royal High Court Academy, too, right? Vlad said he learned about it there.”
“Montgomery, what happened? Why did you suddenly decide to do this? Was it because of that Carlo guy?” he asked tenderly.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The idea of being trapped in this predetermined destiny makes me sick. I’d been saving money with my friend Bryan to run away and avoid it altogether. Things changed when he died.”
Adrian stopped and looked at me with concern.
“I loved him as a friend, Adrian, and maybe . . . maybe it could have been more. But we didn’t have the time to find out. I was still determined to follow through with our plan, but—” I sighed, remembering the way Carlo had confidently walked over to me that first day we met. He had somehow managed to insert flecks of doubt in all my previous assumptions. “But then I met Carlo. I developed this huge crush on him, and even though I only knew him for a year, I learned so much about him during all our phone calls. Whenever we spoke, it felt like I was talking to an old friend. I can’t explain it, but he got me, and it was so easy.
