“I don’t believe that for a minute,” I told her. “You just never give them the chance to ask.”
She averted her gaze. “It doesn’t usually go well when I do.”
It made me think about Christopher. “I get it. I’ve been there.”
She turned back to me. “You have?”
I nodded. “I had to kiss a lot of frogs to get to my prince.” We laughed. “You just can’t give up hope, Ree. You can get your own happily ever after. You just have to keep turning the page.”
Again, she turned her gaze, but this time there was a flush in her cheeks as she attempted, quite unsuccessfully, to hide a smile.
“What?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“What? Tell me!”
She giggled. “I met someone. Well, I mean, I didn’t meet someone, but Siobhan did.”
My brow furrowed. “Siobhan?”
She nodded. “I told you about my writing group. That’s my alias. I thought it sounded… exciting. Glamorous. She sounded exciting and glamorous.”
I couldn’t argue that. “I see. What’s Siobhan like?”
“Me but edited,” she said. “The truth, but not quite. What’s a writer but someone who tells the truth behind a mask?”
Another thing I supposed I couldn’t argue.
She continued. “My heart’s laid bare, but not my stature. This way I know if they like me, it’s for me, and not all the power and money and status.”
“So, who is he?” I persisted.
“His name is Charles. He’s studying abroad in England. Younger than me, but not by a lot. His father is… cruel,” she added softly. “A lot of expectations. It was how we bonded,” she added, softer still. “He has all this poetry he’s never showed a living soul because it isn’t ‘manly’ to show or share emotions. He showed me,” she said at last. “As a Christmas present.” Her face was as alive as I had ever seen it.
In fact, she was walking on air all evening. When we finally took the podium that night to thank everyone for coming out to the ball, I was expected to speak for all of us, as the royal spokeswoman of the committee. I used that time to thank Ree for all her hard work and dedication. I wanted her to know how gifted and important she was, and that she deserved the spotlight.
And for the first time I think she believed it.
Caz congratulated me as we took a spin around the dancefloor. “I’ve got to hand it to you. You definitely have a way about you, Highness. Ree is walking on air tonight. That’s all because of you.”
I shrugged it off. “It’s not me. It’s validation from someone who sees her for more than her persona.”
“And that’s not you?” he asked. “You think this has anything to do with some anonymous guy on the Internet? That could be a twelve-year-old in a basement, we don’t know. What she’s responding to is you. You validate her in ways her asshole father never could.”
My eyes scanned his face. He wore a cocky smile, but those amber eyes held many secrets. “You see behind the curtain, I suppose.”
He grinned. “Always.”
I shook my head. He was irrepressible. “Then you tell me. Is this new guy a figment of her imagination?”
He shrugged. “We’ll see come New Year’s Eve.” Off my look, he continued. “She’s meeting up with him in London to ring in the new year.”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
He laughed. “Rest your pretty little mind, Highness. Her father will be there.”
I breathed a sigh of relief for two reasons. One, he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her or take advantage of her. (That was his job.) And two, he wouldn’t be in Aldayne.
That was at least one less Byrne I would have to play nice with over the holidays. And since I couldn’t seem to get away from Cillian, I would take anything I could get.
Speaking of the devil, he tracked me down in one of the drawing rooms, where I had stepped away for a bit of privacy.
It was not to be.
“Grown weary of the jet set life so early, Princess?” he asked as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. “This doesn’t bode well for your future as queen.”
“I suppose it would do no good to ask you to leave me alone,” I muttered.
“None at all,” he agreed as he walked over to where I sat, next to a roaring fire. “Besides, I think I can finally be of use to you. You might want to listen to what I have to say.”
I didn’t bother protesting as he took a seat on the edge of a chair. I just glanced up at him, giving him room to say his peace so I could be done with him.
“I can get Lady Covington to stop talking to the press about you.”
My eyebrow arched. “You can?”
He nodded. “Wheels are already in motion. Trust me, she will be a lot more discreet in the future.”
I studied him. “And just why would you do something like that?”
“I’m so glad you asked,” he said, sliding into the seat of the chair. “I’d like a favor.”
I chuckled. “This I can’t wait to hear.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, Sweet Pea,” he smirked. “It’s not about making any of those fantasies you’ve been having about me a reality. Yet,” he added, after I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I noticed that you’ve developed some sort of friendship with my sister.”
“And you want me to stop, is that it?”
“Quite to the contrary. I want you to get even closer to her.” I side-eyed him warily. “I want you to talk her out of meeting this yutz on New Year’s Eve.”
I laughed as I stood. “Why? Because if she marries, you’re third in line?”
He stood to face me. “Regardless of what you think about me, I do love my sister.”
“Loved her so much you let your father browbeat her whole life so that she’d always be second fiddle to you,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.
He considered it. “Touche,” he allowed. “But not for the reason you think. She’s not,” he paused, letting his gaze travel over me, “worldly like you. I doubt she’s properly been kissed by a man, much less anything else. Girls like that need to be protected. Guarded.”
Again, I scoffed. “What a sexist thing to say. She’s older than you, for fuck’s sake. She’s not a girl. She’s a woman.”
“She’s not a woman like you,” he corrected, which gave me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach as it circled just a little too close to a compliment. And I knew damned well he couldn’t be trusted with those. “You’ve clearly already learned that broken boys are easy to persuade,” he said, and I knew he referred to Auggie. He continued before I could cut him off. “Just imagine what it is like for broken girls, especially those surrounded by powerful, ambitious men. She’s like the rabbits we hunt. Tentative. Naïve. She won’t know she’s entered a trap till the door slams down.”
“You should go with her, then,” I suggested. “Meet this ‘yutz’ for yourself. Scare him away, you’re good at that.”
He stepped closer. “Am I?”
I didn’t step back, much as I wanted to. It was startling to realize how much easier it was to stand my ground with him in this little dance we often did. “Your sister is happy. I’m not going to stand in the way of that. And you shouldn’t either if you love her like you say.” He didn’t say anything, much to my surprise. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m sure my husband is looking for me.”
He grabbed my arm as I attempted to pass, the air crackling between us as he stared into my eyes. I pulled away. He let me go without comment, snide or otherwise.
Again, I wasn’t sure what scared me more.
I found Auggie in one of the studies, chatting with some of the queen’s courtiers. His face lit up when he saw me. He quickly disentangled himself from the group. “Everything okay?”
I nodded. “I’m just tired.”
He took me into his arms. “You should be. You worked hard on t
his ball. You should be enormously proud of its success.”
I nodded again. I was glad that it all went off without a hitch and appeared to be a smashing success despite the ugly rumors hanging over my head. The tittering had been kept mostly behind my back all evening.
Only Astrid Truelove, invited by the queen as an olive branch to make inroads with the movement to eradicate sovereignty, had commented on it, and even then, it had been empathetic rather than judgmental.
“It must be a heavy burden to bear,” she had said, ever so casually. “The weight of the crown. The weight of the expectations. You’re both just people when all is said and done.”
I thanked her for her concern, and for coming at all, before I moved along to chat with other guests.
We left a little before midnight, after I helped Ree with the final duties of the night. I approached New Year’s Eve cautiously. “I suppose we’ll be doing this when the clock strikes midnight on the new year,” I commented.
She barely glanced my way. “I’ll be in London on New Year’s Eve. With Father,” she added, possibly to dissuade any further interrogation about it. I took the hint.
“Shame,” I said. “I’ll miss you.”
She turned to face me then. “I’ll miss you too, Pea,” she said softly. Sincerely. “I’ve never really had girlfriends before. I’m glad you’re my first.”
On impulse, I reached for a hug. God, how I wanted to help her blossom and grow. She’d be such a powerful, beautiful woman if she just gave herself half a chance. I wanted to tell her that, but I knew she wasn’t quite ready to hear it.
But I felt good about how our friendship was progressing as Auggie and I boarded the chopper for Castlegate. So good I even said a rare prayer for her.
I hoped this Charles really was her prince charming. And that her new year would start with a bang, making all her dreams come true just like my year had done.
I reached for my husband’s hand with a smile. He bent for a kiss as we cut through the dark sky and headed for home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Christmas that year was unlike any Christmas I had ever imagined. We ate dinner with the entire family at Shimmering Falls before heading to Crystal Sky Cathedral for Midnight Mass. We had exchanged gifts with the Queen, which was surreal. What do you get the woman who literally has anything she ever wanted? We relied instead on our creative gifts. Mother had painted her a portrait of King’s Keep in the middle of Unity Lake. Gav, Fern and Dash performed for her. Auggie wrote her a song, which he played. It was a lovely instrumental that made Jack light up as he processed the music. I was the one who thought to put it in a music box, which we had specially made.
Inside was a candid picture of Jack.
Her gifts to us were a tad more practical. Each of us got brought into the Quinn family fortune with shares of stock that would ensure our livelihoods for generations, thanks to monthly stipends from the aldrite mines. We each got a brooch to wear for formal occasions, which included an aldrite gem with a medal with her coat of arms pinned on the tartan.
We were officially family, including Archer who had flown over from Pennsylvania.
The queen had even thought to include my Papa and Memaw, who had joined us for dinner before Archer and Audra took them back home when he grew too tired to attend church. My grandfather was either touched or speechless, but he didn’t say much.
It made me worry even more for his health.
Dallas, the quietest member of the McPhee clan, made out with the most impressive gift from the queen, who announced that a new Olympic training rink would be built in her honor, so that she might train to represent Aldayne in her first Olympic games. Maeve provided a purple, black and silver skating costume to seal the deal.
My normally reserved sister jumped up to throw her arms around Maeve, which she allowed with an embarrassed, but happy, chuckle.
The gifts from the Princesses were a bit more whimsical. Giz made sure Dash had his own aldrite-studded scepter, which became his favorite gift of the season. He went around knighting everything, starting with his grandfather, and ending with every single one of the queen’s four pugs.
There were also puzzles and candies and books, traditional Aldaynean Christmas gifts.
The mass was dutifully reverent. Auggie had wanted to sing, but Maeve nixed it. “Unbecoming of a king,” she had said. “You need to keep yourself apart.”
I could tell how much he hated that part of it by how much mulled Yaars he drank as a result.
The best part of Mass was after it was over and we headed back to Castlegate, where we could have a private Christmas celebration McPhee-style the following day.
Mom and Dad shooed away the staff for the day so that we oversaw the massive meal with American staples like ham and sweet potatoes. We made enough cookies and pies to choke a horse.
Since all our material needs were met, our Christmas presents were either fun or emotional. I got opal jewelry from Auggie to celebrate Jack’s birthstone. He also surprised me with a snow globe to add to our selection. I gasped as I studied the intricate details. “It’s Castlegate!” I exclaimed.
It was there, all of Mercy Island, from the lighthouse to the gatehouse, even with all the family scattered around the grounds, with us and Jack standing on our private terrace. Auggie grinned as he flipped the large, heavy globe so that it would snow, beautiful white snowflakes mixed with silver and purple glitter so that it shimmered under the light.
Of course, the real gift of the season was when Dash got a pug puppy all his own, one he knighted Sir Winston Quinn Pooter, thanks to a raucous round of gas the poor dog got when Dash slipped him a bit of Aldaynean sausage.
“You have to take proper care of him,” Mom told him, holding the wiggly puppy.
“I’ll take the best care of him ever,” Dash swore.
Archer and Audrey joined us for the day, as did Mariel and Giz and their official cohorts. I could tell by the way Justin kept cornering Giz under the mistletoe that an engagement couldn’t be far away. Giz brushed that off with a giggle when I suggested it to her. “I won’t marry until Auggie becomes king. Justin knows that.”
But it seemed as if she was a little more open to the idea than when we first met, if the flush in her cheeks was any indication. As it turned out, Auggie becoming king facilitated a lot of happy endings.
Sean’s son Liam and his boyfriend Noble also joined the party Christmas night, along with all the Tremwells. The minute Liam and Jack met; it was love at first sight. He barely put him down the rest of the night, much to Noble’s chagrin. He could sense his boyfriend’s metaphorical “biological clock” was ticking for a happily ever after of their very own.
Somehow Dash convinced shy Oliver to perform a Christmas skit together with Dallas to entertain the adults, but the poor kid mostly ended up pug wrangling a feisty puppy.
Still, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. The grand ol’ castle came alive with joy and laughter with people who really cared about one another.
It was the only gift worth receiving. I was glad this was how Jack spent his first Christmas, even if he would never remember it.
I had wanted to invite Ree as well, but Auggie talked me out of it. “She’s still a Byrne,” he told me. “And that’s where her allegiances will always lie.”
I didn’t know if I agreed. I sent her a gift basket full of baked goodies anyway.
Of course, the best part of my day was sitting on the floor with Jack as we opened his presents. He was only eight weeks old, but he already dominated conversation by cooing and gawking with high-pitched happy squeals, particularly when daddy blew raspberries on his tummy. Everybody did it, but Jack loved Auggie and Dad best because they could tickle him with their beards.
That was the only thing that helped him forgive us for his first round of immunization shots.
He was by and large unimpressed with the gifts we had given him. He preferred instead to watch Dash play with Winston and his host of toys as he
patiently tried to teach how they worked.
My favorite thing in life were the conversations that Dash and Jack had between them. Dash would speak to him like he understood every single word he said, and Jack would do best to communicate in his baby language that Dash took very seriously, as if he understood.
“He’s going to be an amazing older brother,” Auggie grinned that night after we had gone to bed.
Ever serious about adding to our brood, he was quick to take me into his arms with kisses I couldn’t deny even if I had wanted to. “We’re on birth control, remember?” I giggled as he tickled my neck with that very same beard that brought Jack so much joy.
“Practice makes perfect,” he grinned.
I indulged happily, just like my first glass of Yaars wine. It was every bit as delicious as I dreamed it would be, but I found my husband’s lovemaking was way more intoxicating.
The rest of the days of that year followed the same pattern. Fun with our family during the day. Sexy fun with my husband at night. Like our honeymoon, life operated differently on Mercy Island. We didn’t care what happened outside of those gates. Our world was contained within it, like an enchanted snow globe. Whether Hannah still raged to PING was a mystery, at least until New Year’s Eve, when most of the adults headed back to Shimmering Falls for the New Year’s Eve bash.
I checked my phone for the first time in a week. The Queen of Mean was no longer trending. I actually had to look up Hannah’s name to find the latest gossip.
My mouth dropped open when I spotted the most recent news article out of London, where she appeared on the red carpet to a New Year’s Eve event hundreds of miles away.
That she was there wasn’t quite what surprised me.
It was the arm of the man she stood next to, her date for the affair, none other than Cillian Byrne himself.
I nudged Auggie to show him the image on my phone. His mouth thinned into a humorless line.
“What do you think he’s doing?” I asked.
“Likely probing for more information,” he clipped. “Among other things.”
Dread gnawed at the pit of my stomach. With a climber like Hannah, he would likely get an earful of everything going on behind closed doors. She was determined to get a king, even if she had to switch sides on the chess board.
The Duke Takes a Bride (The Rocking Royal Trilogy Book 2) Page 26
