And because he had no chance of inheriting, no one else would dare risk displeasing anyone else in his family. That, folks, is why I've always been such an unreasonable ass.
Since the day he was born, he'd never held any delusions about the people around him. They were his friends only so long as they could use him to get close to his brother, sister, or parents. He was a means to an end. It was why he'd loved Ember so much. She, alone, hadn't sought to use him for rank or privelage. In fact, she'd avoided his family and everything to do with royal obligation and ceremony, preferring instead to just spend time alone with him.
And he'd cherished every last moment of it.
But those days were gone. Alura adored her new position in his family. She was lapping up her role as visira like a starving cat in a creamery.
Dear gods, what have I unleashed?
Sighing, Bastien wished Fain Hauk was here. His Andarion drinking buddy wouldn't give two flips about what the royal family thought. Or anyone else.
Unfortunately, the Andarion War Hauks had a bad history with the eton Anatoles. And the ruling eton Anatoles were Bastien's cousins through his maternal uncle's spawning twin sons with the Andarion heiress. So while Bastien was a loyal friend to Fain Hauk, Bastien's cousin Jullien eton Anatole had taken preference for the wedding invite.
Besides, he liked Jullien.
"Wow. Someone who's a bigger leper than I am. Never thought I'd live to see the day. I am impressed, Bas. Truly an incredible feat for Bastien Aros Cabarro, handsome baby boy genius."
Speak of the devil....
Igorning Jullien's use of the irksome nickname Bastien's mother had given him in childhood, he turned to find his half-Andarion cousin standing behind him. Damn, for such a humongous bastard Jullien could move even more silently than the best-trained League assassin. It was a most unnerving trait.
But at least one person wasn't shunning him. Mostly because Jullien, being half human and half Andarion, was used to everyone fleeing at his approach. As if he'd had a choice in his birthright. He couldn't help his mixed heritage, any more than Jullien was responsible for the fact that humans and Andarions had been at war for most of their history. Yet both races held it against the prince as if he was personally responsible for all their sins.
Bastien had always felt bad for his cousin over the way he was treated. Had always gone out of his way to be nice to him. 'Cause if the truth were known, he preferred Jullien over his own siblings most days. While Jullien could be a bit standoffish and blunt, he was highly intelligent and had an honest, offbeat sense of humor that Bastien appreciated. It was a breath of fresh air amidst the courtiers who practiced duplicity and lies in all things.
At least with his cousin, he always knew where he stood and what Jullien thought.
"Good to see you, Julie."
Jullien snorted before he made a grand gesture of fluffing the lace at his left cuff. "Appreciate that bald lie when we both know I'm as welcome here as a lethal STD in a whorehouse."
Which was exactly how Bastien felt at present. He laughed at the perfect description for the two of them.
Jullien stumbled a bit and Bastien sighed at his poor cousin. Even with those dark red glasses covering half his face, it was obvious Jullien was flying high on something that was most likely illegal in every known system. He probably wouldn't even remember being here, and that broke Bastien's heart for him. As Jullien had said, he was ever a leper, and most of their family cursed his name the moment they saw him approaching.
It was so bad and frequent that Jullien often introduced himself as "Dammit Jullien" to people as a joke.
But Bastien didn't see a hybrid human-Andarion bastard in front of him. All he saw was family.
So what if Julie had a set of fangs and human eyes with Andarion features. That had never mattered to him. He didn't judge folks on their looks.
Only on their actions.
He arched a brow as Jullien grabbed a glass of Tondarion Grade-A Hellfire from the tray of a passing server. "Should you be drinking that in your current condition?" Depending on what the boy had taken, it could prove lethal.
Jullien knocked it back in a single gulp. "Why not? It's a celebration, right? If the family's lucky, they could get a twofer out of this. Your wedding. My funeral."
Okay, then ...
Jullien's human bodyguards retreated into the crowd as his father approached them. Similar in looks to Bastien's mother, Aros Triosan was the same height as his son, but lacked Jullien's massive Andarion size.
And that regal pissed-off aura of rebellion that was only undercut by an overt ennui that said Jullien was resigned to his unwanted place in the universe.
Aros grabbed Jullien's arm in a grip so tight that Bastien winced from the bruise he was sure Jullien would have over it. "Shouldn't you be heading home now?"
With a fierce grimace that exposed his fangs, Jullien jerked out of his father's grasp. "Don't worry, Paka. I shall take my inebriated ass out of here before I intentionally expose it and further embarrass you. Besides, my jailors won't like it if I fail to report back by curfew."
When Jullien started to leave, Aros splayed his hand across Jullien's chest to stop his retreat. "For the love of God, could you sober up? Just once?"
Jullien snorted derisively. "And deal with all of you without the benefits of being chemically numb? Are you out of your minsid mind?"
With a smug sneer directly in his father's face, Jullien flipped his hair back with an affected bored nonchalance that was no doubt designed to piss his father off.
And judging by Aros's features, it succeeded.
"But no fears, Paka. I shan't urinate in Bastien's pool tonight. My fury isn't for him." Jullien tucked his cane under his arm before he turned back to Bastien. "Word to the wise, kyzi. Take your bride and get as far away from the family as you can." He jerked his chin at Aros. "They're treacherous bastards. The whole lot of them. Never trust them at your back. Triosan or Cabarro. They're all selfish to the bitter end. Trust me. Sooner or later, one of them will find the nerve to come for your ass and take you down. Birth order doesn't matter. We eat our own. One child at a time. It's just a matter of time, drey."
And with that, Jullien left.
Aros let out an audible sigh of relief. "Sorry about that, Bastien. I don't even know why he came."
"I invited him."
Aros scowled. "Why would you?"
Wow ... no wonder Jullien was so cynical. But then he'd once had a twin brother who'd died when they were children--some claimed in a fire set in his school at their own grandmother's orders--as Jullien had stated, his mother's entire family had murdered themselves down to only her and her sister, with his grandmother serving as the Andarion queen only after slaughtering her own husband. The Andarions were a brutal, bloody race.
Thank the gods, his own family wasn't like that. And it was why Bastien refused to be a shit to Jullien. The boy needed compassion from someone. He certainly wasn't getting any from his parents.
"He's my cousin."
Aros let out a scoffing laugh. "You heard his parting words about family. He is his grandmother's child. Treacherous to the core of his brutal Andarion soul. Cares for nothing and no one, except himself. I tried so hard to save him from that when he was a boy, and every time I did, he insulted me and refused to do anything I asked of him."
Bastien arched a brow at that recitation of facts. Strange, that wasn't how he remembered their childhood. "All I recall, Uncle Aros, was Jullien trying to keep his head down and getting his ass kicked every time he dared to look up."
"You weren't there for his tantrums and lies. Believe me, you can't trust anything Jullien says. He's the real snake in the grass." He paused to shake his head. "You know, I once had an innocent boy arrested because of a lie Jullien told when he was in school. Poor kid would have gone to prison for something he didn't do had Dancer Hauk--Jullien's best friend--not had the temerity to come forward and tell me the truth about the matter."
&n
"Jullien was jealous because the other student had scored higher on a test. So he said the boy had stolen his signet ring, which Jullien had hidden to get the kid in trouble. I could have killed him when I found it in the exact place Dancer had said it would be. To my eternal shame, I almost did. Then to get back at Dancer, Jullien schemed with his Andarion cousins to have Dancer's older brother disinherited from their family and Dancer permanently disfigured. When that wasn't good enough, he had Dancer thrown out of the military. I'm telling you, he's evil to his core. Has no concept of loyalty whatsoever. You'd do well to stay as far away from him as you can."
Bastien took a slow drink as he ran that information through his mind. "I never saw that side of him, Uncle. So you'll have to forgive me if I choose not to believe it until I know all the facts of the situation. Jullien was never anything but nice to me. I only judge people by what I see firsthand. Not what others tell me about them. I refuse to render a verdict against anyone based on partial facts that are hand-fed to me for maximum prejudice."
"I hope you never live to regret that naive loyalty." And with that, Aros wandered off.
Maybe he was naive. Yet the one thing he'd learned was that people tended to have their own agendas. And that context colored everything. Things seen in daylight looked very different than they did when seen through a shaded windowscreen. It was too easy to misjudge someone's motivations. Or the facts when you only had a piece of them. To put your own spin on what they were thinking and their reasons for certain actions. He preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Case in point, he could easily call Aros an ass for the way he treated Jullien. And he'd certainly witnessed some stellar acts of parental neglect and abuse when it came to Aros's interactions with his son. But since Bastien wasn't around during their private conversations, he wouldn't hold Aros's hostility against him. After all, Aros had always been nice to him. A perfect, loving uncle.
In fact, he had a hard time reconciling those two sides of the man. Because the funny and loving uncle he knew was a far cry from the suspicious and cold man Jullien called Father. Just as Jullien wasn't the cruel, vicious bastard they all labeled him. While he'd gotten into a few noteworthy brawls with Quin over his older brother's mouthy insults, Jullien had never once taken a swing at either Lil or Bastien--not that Bastien had ever given him a reason to. But Lil had certainly let fly some personal barbs that even Bastien would have been hard-pressed as a boy to let slide without some physical contact between them.
Yet Jullien had never once struck out at her. Because he was so much larger physically than either Lil or Bastien, Jullien always kept his temper leashed around them. The rest of the family ...
Well, Bastien understood why some of them might not have a favorable opinion of his cousin.
And Bastien definitely wasn't the heartless bastard everyone at this reception thought he was for betraying Ember. Last thing he'd ever wanted was to cause her a single tear.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions....
And he'd certainly paved his route with a certain misery named Alura.
God have mercy on my soul.
'Cause nobody in this room was ever going to spare him a single drop.
*
Ember turned her shoulder so that she wouldn't accidentally glimpse Bastien while she talked to her sisters. Every time he came into her line of sight, it was like a vicious kick to her gut.
She still couldn't believe he'd slept with Alura. Not after she'd confided in him how angry she'd been after her last boyfriend had cheated on her with her sister.
What had he been thinking?
That he wanted to hurt you.
Yeah, that'd be about right. And she'd give him credit for knowing exactly where and how to strike the lowest blow. Why else had he called before he'd done it?
Even now, she could hear his voice in her ear on that fateful day.
"Hey ... your sister just asked me out. Since you've been dodging my calls--"
"I haven't dodged your anything!" To this day, she didn't know why she'd snapped at him in anger. Something about his accusation had fired her temper. But she'd known at the time that it was the worst reaction she could have had with Bastien. He never reacted well to direct confrontation. It invariably caused him to dig his heels in.
And do something rash and stupid.
There was one absolute truth about the captain--he never backed down. He'd set himself on fire first. For that, she had his mother to thank. That infamous Triosan stubborn streak that was apparently genetic.
"Oh, okay, Major. If you say so." Bastien's droll sarcasm had only fueled her fury more.
Wanting to lash out and hurt him as much as he'd stung her, she'd growled low in her throat. "Look, I don't care what or who you do. I'm not your keeper anymore."
"Where did that come from?"
"I'm disconnecting now." She'd dropped the signal and forced herself not to throw her link.
Or stomp it.
Instead, she'd called Alura immediately. "You asked out Bastien?" she'd snapped at her sister without preamble. "How could you be such a bitch?"
Alura hadn't shown the least bit of remorse over her actions. And why should she? As the youngest of their family, Alura had always thought herself special and immune from the rules of common courtesy. Of common decency. "You threw him away. Remember? I felt bad for the guy. He's been moping for weeks. Someone needs to have some pity on him. Besides, it's just dinner. Relax."
"Relax? Really?"
"What's your problem, Em?" Alura had dared to use that snotty tone that made Ember want to slap her. "Anyone else would have been on their knees in gratitude to marry a visir, especially one who was so in love with them. Only you would turn him down flat, for no good reason."
"Yeah, but you don't have to deal with his odara looking down her regal nose at you because you're not good enough for her precious little baby. Or worse, his zusa. I swear, every time I get near them, I feel the need to check my shoes."
"Check your shoes?"
"Yeah. Their lips curl like they're both smelling dog shit."
Alura had snorted. "You're ridiculous. No one can make you feel bad unless you allow it."
"Easy for you to say. I don't have your galactic-sized ego."
"And that's why I asked him out. I don't mind dealing with his family. Besides, he looks terrible. You've just about killed him with your callousness."
Like it'd been any easier on her? Truth was, she did want to marry him. Bastien was everything she'd ever wanted in a man.
And more.
But damn his family. They were so irritating and intrusive. Every time she turned around, one of them had been in her face. And since they were royalty, with life-and death-sentencing capabilities over everyone in their empire, she hadn't been able to tell them off.
Worse? His married brother had made several inappropriate advances toward her. Then threatened her, her parents, and sisters if she breathed a word about it to Bastien.
The thought of being tied to that for eternity ...
As much as she loved Bastien, it'd been too terrifying to contemplate.
Now her own sister was being a dirtbag.
Again.
Furious and hurt, Ember growled at Alura. "I'm your zusa! You should be thinking about me."
"I am thinking about you. I'm tying him up until you come to your senses. Then I'll hand him back. Simple. When you're ready, I'll hand-deliver him to your door, myself."
Something had told Ember even then that Alura was lying. But like a fool, she hadn't listened. She'd wanted to believe that her own blood wouldn't screw her over again. Not with another man. And not with one she loved as much as she loved Bastien.
She should have known better.
"You okay?"
Blinking at the question that snapped her out of her memories and brought her back to Alura's wedding reception, she nodded at her sister Cinder.
Next to the oldest, Cinder was the tallest of her siblings and almost a full head taller than Ember whenever they were barefoot. She'd always envied her sister for that statuesque beauty. As well as her gorgeous reddish-brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders in lush waves and amber eyes Ember would have killed for.
But the best part about Cin was her kind heart and the compassion she'd always held for everyone around her. No matter what, they could count on her for sympathy and hugs.
"I'm good."
Brand laughed in Ember's ear as she joined them. "No, she's not. She's been sick all day. And right now, she's thinking of marching over there and snatching out every last bit of Alura's hair. Want me to help?"
And that was why Ember loved her younger sister. Brandiwyn, or Brand as they often called her, always spoke her mind without a filter. Better yet, she usually spoke the minds of whoever was around her without a filter. And if you needed help hiding a body, she would always be there to lend an eager hand, and would die before she ratted you out.
Nothing could break Brand. Not even their mother's glower. Or their father's threats.
Steadfast and loyal, Brand was ever above reproach. It was her temper, daring, and mouth that got her into trouble. She gave as good as she got and refused to back down from anything, or anyone. In that regard, she was an awful lot like Bastien.
"It's okay, Brand, but thank you for the offer."
"Fine, but if you change your mind, you know where I live."
Kindel laughed at her. "And now you know why I had to pat her down before I let her leave the house this morning. I was terrified what she might do to Bastien--or Alura--on your behalf."
Brand reached for another glass of champagne. "Yeah, well, it's time Alura learned to keep her hands off our men."
Ember didn't comment on Brand's bitter words. Like her, she'd lost her last boyfriend to Alura's machinations. "How am I supposed to have another happy family holiday after this?"
Kindel hugged her. "Don't think about it. We're always here for you."
"And if it helps, remember that Bastien asked you to marry him. His honor forced him to marry Alura."
Brand was right. But Ember couldn't quite give her the whole victory. "Yeah, but it was his wandering prick that got him into this."
Cinder draped herself against Ember's back so that she could laugh and whisper in her ear. "That we can fix, blyta zusa. Give me a knife and five seconds."
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