by Malone, Nana
It only occurred to me then that the whole thing was being recorded. I noticed the camera in the corner with the little green light on.
“Yes, I accept,” Ethan replied.
My brother nodded. “The chain of custody is complete. Blake Security has been on retainer by the Crown for the last six years. Gentlemen, please submit your chain of custody documents.”
Matthias stood, walked to Sebastian, and handed over a folder.
“Thank you. I am now in possession of the chain of custody. Ethan, you have reviewed and checked the documentation?”
Ethan nodded. “Yes, I have. All is in order. From the time that Blake Security obtained the original vial of King Cassius’s blood from Stanton Labs, the vials were kept under royal seal in a protected container until such time that they were delivered to Rekkerton Labs. Upon Your Royal Highness, Sebastian Winston’s, request, two sets of blood samples were tested against the master sample that was logged in as belonging to King Cassius of the Winston Isles. In addition, those vials were tested against each other. The results of the testing are enclosed in the files you just received.”
Sebastian nodded. My palms started to sweat, and I wiped them on my jeans. I could feel Bryna looking over at me, and I made the mistake of meeting her gaze. My heart attempted to leap out of my chest. I could see it there, the confusion, the worry, the concern, and something else. Love?
No idiot. She’s moving on or whatever. She doesn’t want anything to do with you. Unless it involved my dick, because that she couldn’t seem to stay away from. Was she thinking about what we’d done that night in her apartment? Where my fingers had been, the way she’d rubbed up against me?
Fuck, you idiot. Friends, remember? Right. Friends.
Sebastian’s voice dragged me out of my reverie, and I forced my attention back to my brother. Sebastian opened the envelope, and then he started to read. There was a bit about medical processes and percentages… blah blah blah. Come on, get to it. Just get to it. Just say it so I can be done.
“The conclusion is as follows: Both samples tested against the primary are a match. The definitive conclusion is that both samples are direct descendants of the primary source.”
What?
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. That couldn’t be right.
Somewhere to my left, I could hear my mother sob. “No, they told me—"
I stared at Sebastian. “There’s something wrong with that sample.”
Sebastian shook his head and put up a hand. “Let me finish. In addition, the two secondary samples, tested against each other, show a twenty-three percent match. Those samples are a first-line genetic match. Our findings confirm that they are half-siblings, or close familial match.” His gaze lifted to mine. “I told you.”
My stomach dropped, and the blood rushed through my ears, making my head throb and pound. My throat felt like it had been abraded by sand paper. When the gears in my brain finally clicked into place, I glared at my mother.
The words tore out of my throat to my mother. “You lied?” I pushed to my feet then, advancing on her. I don’t know why I was surprised. I don’t know why I’d chosen to believe her over the person who’d traveled half a world to find me, but I had. And as a result, I’d nearly ruined everything.
Ethan deftly stepped between us. “Stand down, son.”
I scowled at him. “Back off, Ethan.”
My mother stood and backed up several steps. “Lucas, I didn’t know. I assumed they’d lied. Everything they told me, how they came after me, I just—I assumed they’d lied.”
Even when she was caught, she stuck with the lie… like the consummate professional. “Who? Who did you assume lied?” I ran a hand through my hair and then pointed my finger at her. “You started this whole ball rolling. Twenty-three years ago, who approached you? You have to give us their names now.”
Fury rolled off me in steady waves. Save Ethan stopping me from physically advancing on her, no one stopped me. And then I could feel it, the hum behind my back. Bryna stood and placed a hand on my shoulder. But she didn’t admonish me. Her words were directed at my mother. “He deserves to know. Anything you know, even if you think it doesn’t matter anymore, you have to tell us. He deserves the truth.”
My mother darted a gaze to Bryna and then back to me. She nodded. “It wasn’t that I deliberately wasn’t telling you the truth. But the only name I had was Bryson Herd. I assumed it was an alias, and that’s all I had. But I don’t understand. I gave them my hair sample when you were originally tested.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “That might be my doing.” He motioned for everyone to sit down. With Bryna’s hand on my shoulder, I took my seat. Her heat seeped into me, chasing away the chill that threatened to freeze my heart.
“Back then there were still active factions that believed that King Cassius should not have been king. King Andreas, Cassius’s father, had two brothers. As his first born didn’t want the throne and Cassius was not yet of age, there were people who insisted that one of his brothers should have taken the throne. But Andreas used his voting rights with the council to seat your father, Sebastian. He was the rightful heir, but there was some verbiage that would have allowed a gray area and room for his brother to take the throne.”
Sebastian shook his head. “What does this have to do with Lucas’s mother?”
“It’s all part of the royal intrigue.” Ethan sighed. “There were some, when your father was first king, who thought they could disrupt the monarchy. Seed dissent, and overthrow. They were looking for scandal. Of course your father never took it seriously, though he should have. These factions had been in play during his father’s time. So Adele, when the time came to test Lucas and you talked to me about the other people who had been to see you and how you didn't want your son involved in any of it, I knew something was amiss.”
My mother frowned, and her eyes cleared. “I remember you. You reassured me. You told me there was no conspiracy, that no one was coming to take my child.”
“And as far as I knew, there wasn’t. But since someone had already been to see you and was particularly interested in both Cassius and your child, I knew I needed to be extra careful with the sample. I took it from your son myself.”
What the hell was happening? I turned my attention to my mother.
Her mouth fell open. “I gave you a sample.”
Ethan nodded. “I know. But I wasn’t going to take any chances.”
“All this time I thought they’d tested the sample I provided and were lying about his paternity. I couldn’t figure out why. I was so scared, so I took Lucas and ran.”
Sebastian ran his hands through his hair. “How far back is this going to go? Obviously, this is part of a greater conspiracy than we ever imagined. But we’re going to get some answers, no matter how long it takes. Ethan, we need to deep-dive into the past, into my grand uncles.” He slid his gaze back to Penny. “Maybe it’s time to have a sanctioned conversation with Robert Sandstorm.”
She sat up straighter. “I can do that immediately. He has his hearing on Monday. He won’t be allowed to change his statement after that point.”
Holy hell. This shit went so much deeper than any of us knew. Automatically, I turned to Bryna, and her gaze was soft. “At least now you know the truth.”
“Yeah, I do.” I lifted my gaze to my brother’s. My brother’s. Some questions had been answered, but so many more were left open.
My brother met my gaze. “With everything that’s going on, we’re moving up the date of your coronation.”
Wait, what? “Are you sure, Seb? I know the truth now. It can probably wait.”
He shook his head. “No. It can’t. We’re doing it on Sunday. We’ll hold off on the official announcements as long as we can, but we’re doing this.”
I guess I was a prince after all.
23
lucas
This was happening. The train was leaving the station. There would be no sto
pping it now. There would be no jumping off. This was it. It was happening. I was being signed in as the prince.
In the center of the coronation room, my brother stood behind a massive table. We were in front of the two hundred members of court, and I could feel Bryna’s gaze on me.
I didn’t know where things stood with us, but I knew there would be an uphill battle to make her mine. I could still feel the touch of her hand on my shoulder as my brother had read the news. The heat of her had chased away the chill, making me feel more whole.
Unfortunately, I could also feel the gaze of her father on me as well. Sebastian had promised me we’d figure out a solution to that little problem. But what about Bryna? She’d always tried to avoid life at court, and she hated everything royal. Well, maybe not so much anymore.
She and Penny had grown quite close. Could she look past everything we’d been through?
My brother was speaking then. “We are here to sign and ratify the law we voted on to name Lucas Newsome, now Lucas Winston, Crown Prince of the Winston Isles. Does anyone here know of any reason why we cannot proceed?”
All around, the members of the Regents Council said their nays. Even Tressel. I could only surmise that if he said nay, he had some other way planned to make me pay. Some other way that he was going to torture me.
When they were all done, Sebastian nodded. “Do any of you have any reason to doubt the evidence presented before you that Lucas Newsome, is in fact, Cassius Winston’s second son?”
Again, a round of nays, though when they arrived at Tressel, he hesitated. A yay from him wouldn’t have been the end of the world unless someone else behind him said it as well, and then it would forever cast a shadow of doubt onto my crown. But eventually, he said nay. So that was good.
“So it be done.” The archbishop handed Sebastian a long stretch of parchment. “I require that you all sign your names to ratify my brother, Lucas Newsome Winston, the new Crown Prince of the Winston Isles.”
Sebastian looked so regal. It was the only word I could think of that really described him in that moment. Even though he was young, he was commanding. Clearly, he was in charge. I could only imagine what it would have been like if our father was the one doing this. Sebastian on one side of him, me on the other. But now, it was Sebastian in the center, me on one side of him, and the missing space where our sister should have been on the other. Because eventually, we would have to do this all over again with her.
One by one, the members of the Regents Council came up and signed their names to the document. I watched with unease as Tressel stepped forward. I could tell he was clenching his jaw, but he’d been outmaneuvered.
Once everyone had signed, that tightness in the center of my chest receded. But that wild urge to flee, the adrenaline pouring into my veins, that didn’t stop. I could still feel it, calling to me. Escape. Escape. You know you want to.
But I wasn’t going to run this time. I’d meant it when I said to Bryna that no matter what, I was sticking it out. I had a chance at family. Real family. I wasn’t giving that up, even though it would have been far more comfortable to not be near her. And God, the scent of her perfume was calling to me like a siren, like she was deliberately trying to kill me.
Once everyone was back in their position, Sebastian motioned me forward. I knelt on the cushion in front of the altar. The archbishop came over and opened a bejeweled wooden box. Inside it sat a crown that was slightly smaller than Sebastian’s.
My brother reached in, pulled out the crown, and stood in front of me. “By the power vested in me as the monarch of the Winston Isles, arise, Prince Lucas Winston of the Winston Isles.” Then he placed the crown on top of my head.
I couldn’t hear anything else then. It was all drowned out. There was clapping and some cheering. I was pretty sure that was Marcus, but certainly not Roone, as he was still pissed off. And that was most definitely Penny and Ariel, both of whom I adored.
There were more words to be said. A prayer by the archbishop and a few other things I don’t remember. I still couldn’t focus. I was a prince. It was only after most of the members of the Regents Council came and bowed before me that it felt real. What have I done?
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. You’ll be okay.”
My eyes must have been wild because Sebastian just chuckled low. “Relax, change clothes, all that good stuff. Tonight is the ball. That’s when you’ll be ‘on,’ officially. But until then, relax.”
My gaze swung to where I’d last seen Bryna. Automatically seeking solace. Seeking out the one person guaranteed to make me feel like I was okay, that I was still myself. But I couldn’t find her in the crowd.
Penny came over. Her suit looked like some kind of wide-legged pants or something. But upon closer inspection, it was actually a skirt. She was cool, confident, and poised. Beautiful, but all business. Back in the day, she would have been wearing some ridiculous ball gown. But things were less formal now. And also, I was the second son, not the actual monarch, so my coronation required less pomp and circumstance.
“How are you feeling?”
“Awful. Terrified. Scared.”
She grinned. “You’ll be fine. I know you will.”
Roone and Ethan joined us. Roone turned to me and gave me a nod. “Your Highness.”
There was no malice in his tone nor attitude. Just pure greeting. I missed my buddy, honestly. Sebastian grinned then. “Great, now we can get our matching tattoos.”
He was kidding right?
“Oh, hell no.”
Sebastian frowned. “Why not? We’ll all have one of the family crest.”
“What? You expect me to tattoo myself? My body is pristine. I’m not going to get a tattoo.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Oh yeah, you are. I could put Marcus in charge of it. Marcus, how many do you have anyway?”
Marcus shrugged. “I’ve lost count.”
I stared at him. Marcus always seemed like the clean-cut one. But I realized, even working out, I’d never really seen him with his shirt off. So they certainly weren’t on his arms. Maybe his chest and back?
“You have tattoos?”
Marcus laughed. “Yeah man. Just because you never paid attention, it doesn’t mean I didn’t have them. Besides, you’ve got to buy me dinner at least to see all of this in all of its glory.” He gestured toward his chest and I just rolled my eyes.
Penny laughed with me. “Marcus, wait, so how many? Where is your crest?”
He patted over his heart. “I added a dagger a while ago to the crest.”
She nodded. “Oh yeah, I remember from that pool party thing that we had in—I don’t know. Where was it, Brazil?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I was actually off duty for once while we were traveling.”
She laughed. “Yes, and I seem to remember some Brazilian girl, right?”
Marcus flushed. “Ah, yes, Your Majesty.”
I chuckled hard. “Marcus, you sly dog, you.”
His flush only deepened. “Yeah, that didn’t really work out.”
Penny just kept on laughing. “I could have told you that, but hey, you needed to learn that lesson. What was the edit to your tattoo again? A dagger with an M on it or something?”
His smiled slipped a little. What the hell was that about? But he nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
She gave him her usual sunny smile and nodded. “You should probably take Lucas to get his.”
Back to me and a tattoo again? Hell no. “What? No. Didn’t you hear me? No tattoos. My body is my temple.” Also… needles scared me. No lie.
My sister-in-law lifted her brow and placed a hand on her hip. “So, I’m supposed to read that as a translation that you’re afraid of needles?”
Busted. “You better believe it. They hurt.”
Sebastian clapped me on the shoulder and pulled me aside. “Honestly though, how are you feeling?”
“Like I said, terrified as fuck. What if I can’t do this?”
“
It’s not about you doing anything. You just have to be you. We’ll talk about your role and what you’re going to be doing and what your champion causes are later. Right now, just let it all sit with you for a while. Things are going to get a little crazy, and you’ll need the calm before the storm.”
Yeah, before the storm. I had a feeling that the storm my brother talked about would be the likes of none we’d ever seen.
All it took was her voice behind me and instant calm washed over me. “Congratulations.”
With my heart hammering so hard I thought it might burst, I turned slowly. Because I was a glutton for punishment, because I missed her, because I wanted to imprint her memory on my soul. “Bryna, hi.”
Her eyes lit up, and my stupid heart did a wild leap when it looked like she was going to hug me. But instead she just curtsied. “Your highness.”
The reserve in her voice irritated me. We were Lucas and Bryna. At the same time, the way she said it made me want to forget the promise I’d made to her. “You of all people should call me Lucas.”
She shook her head. “You’re the prince now.”
This was going to piss me off. “And you are one of the few people who actually knows me. The real me. So it’s Lucas or nothing.”
Her lips parted as if she was going to argue, then she pursed them, making them appear even fuller. Hell, all I wanted to do was kiss her. No, dumbass. You can’t.
“Okay then, Lucas.”
There it was. That undercurrent of desire. Ignore it. Don't be a dick. I only barely managed it. “Thank you.” I resisted the urge to drag her into my arms and instead said, “Is it okay I have no idea what to do now?”
Her laugh was soft. “Of course. Now there will be a ball and maybe you’ll be lucky this time and there will be no girl climbing out the window to ruin your night.”
“For starters, that girl was the highlight of the entire night for me. Secondly, I’d be right behind her.” I shrugged. “I kind of wanted to see exactly where that gardenia ended up.”
