“You’re just their type, now aren’t you?”
My blood chilled. “Excuse me?”
Those red lips pulled into a tight smile as she narrowed her eyes at me.
“Don’t play games with me, honey,” she hissed. “Caspian and Cade.”
My heart jumped a little in my chest. How the hell did she know?
“Oh, please,” she barked out a laugh, as if reading my thoughts. “For one, I saw them chatting you up earlier, for two, I’m sure a goody-two-shoes angel like you wouldn’t ever see a pair like that coming, and for three, it’s written all over your pretty little face.”
I swallowed, straightening my shoulders back and eyeing her sharply.
“Do you know who I am?”
Hon? ‘Goody-two-shoes’? Did she even know who she was talking to? I’d never been one to lord my station over anyone, ever. But I wasn’t afraid to use it when I had to, especially with someone like whoever this girl was.
She just smiled wickedly though. “Of course I know who you are, Princess,” she spat before looking away and running a hand through her black hair.
“You know they’re just in it for the sex, right?”
I froze, my heart turning to ice in my chest as she turned back and grinned at me.
“Like I said, I can read it all over your face. All the pretty things I’m sure they said to you to get you off alone? You know,” she winked at me, making me shiver horribly. “Off wherever it is you just were with them? Well, they’re all lies.”
“Excuse me,” I said tightly, moving to push past her. But I gasped as she suddenly grabbed my wrist, pulling me back before I shook myself free.
“Take your hands off—”
“You’re just a notch on the bedpost, honey,” the girl hissed, her eyes narrowing at me as she smiled that horrible icy smile. “Take it from me.”
“I don’t know you,” I spat back. “But I’m going to have to ask you to leave the ball at once—”
“Emilia Astor, first Duchess of Ames,” she said, her voice dripping in venom as she stuck a hand out. I didn’t take it.
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
Her smiled curdled, something sharp flaring in her eyes.
“Maybe not to you, honey, but it does to those two princes of yours.”
I could feel my blood boiling, my hands clenching at my sides.
“I’m going to have to ask you to lea—”
“Ask them about me if you don’t believe me. They know who I am.”
I rolled my eyes at the crazy bitch trying to get under my skin for whatever weird reason.
“I doubt that,” I spat back.
Her smile only sharpened.
“Well, they should.” She winked. “You should too, actually.”
“Because?”
She laughed quietly, looking away and shaking her head before she turned back, her eyes full of fire.
“Because I almost married them, sweetheart.”
Something sharp lanced through my heart. Something cold, and icy, and horrible just cut right into me as she stood there laughing quietly at me.
“Trust me, honey, those two only wanted a piece of that uptight little royal ass of yours. And—” She smiled thinly. “—since I’m assuming they got it, you can be sure you won’t be seeing them again.”
I blinked, my mouth opening and closing but no words coming out.
“I’ll see myself out. Nice meeting you, Your Highness,” she spat, whirling on her heel and marching away, leaving me an empty shell of the girl I’d been three minutes before.
I didn’t want to believe her. Of course I didn’t. But her words had hit something delicate inside of me. Her words had hit me right where I was the most fragile, and suddenly, I felt everything shattering.
Chapter 9
Caspian
We looked everywhere for her, but it wasn’t long before we realized she just wasn’t at the ball. She’d vanished. We’d seen her sister Princess Imogen earlier, but she hadn’t seen her either. I wasn’t quite sure I believed her, but then, I wasn’t sure why she’d lie either.
Something was wrong, we could both feel it.
“Something’s up.”
Cade’s jaw tightened, his head shaking as he tried to rationalize out loud again, as if that would help.
“I’m sure she’s busy with royal duties.”
“By herself?” I nodded across the ballroom. “King Lucian and Queen Jessica are over there doing all sorts of royal handshaking and smiling. Do you see Ilana anywhere?”
The shadow across his face deepened as he looked away, scowling as he scanned the room again.
“Shit,” he growled. Maybe we should go look in—”
His words just froze, and I glanced up, frowning as I saw the look on his face.”
“Dude, what’s—”
That’s when I turned, and I felt the blood turn to ice in my veins.
“Hello, boys,” Emilia purred, her lips twisting wickedly at the corners.
My heart twisted, wrenching around itself.
Neither of us felt anything for her anymore, I knew that without a shadow of doubt. We didn’t have feelings for her anymore, like we had once, but that didn’t mean it didn’t still burn to see her.
It still felt like a knife, twisting inside, and tearing into us. Not because we still loved her, but because we still hated her for the hurt she’d caused us. We hated her for the shit she’d almost put our family through right after our father’s death.
“Well well, small world, isn’t it?”
“What are you doing here, Emilia,” Cade hissed, his nostrils flaring as he stared daggers at her.
“Who, me?” She laughed, the sound like a fork grating over a plate.
“Oh, I’m just here like any other young single and royally connected girl,” she smiled. “Just looking for my Prince Charming.”
I growled, the anger roaring up inside of me.
“Well, poor choice of words I supposed, given the present company,” she said with a smile that made me want to punch something.
“You know the rules of the settlement, Emilia” Cade hissed. “You can’t be within five-hundred feet of—”
“The door is that way if you need to leave.”
I gritted my teeth, seeing red. How had we ever fallen for this bitch? How had we ever found her attractive, in any way, when this was horrible ugliness that lay beneath the surface?
But I knew why of course. Because she’d been the closest thing to what we wanted, even if we’d known she wasn’t it. We’d settled, and it was now, having found Ilana, that I knew how true that was.
But backstabbing bitch that she was, she’d done us a favor, of sorts. She’d cut herself out of our lives, and while that’d hurt then, I knew now it’d been the best thing that could’ve happened.
Because now, we had Ilana.
“We’re out of here,” I growled, grabbing my brother and jerking my head. “Let’s go.”
“Oh, were you looking for your friend?”
I ignored Emilia, pulling Cade after me. “Just keep walking, bro,” I hissed, my eyes fixed on the door.
“I mean your little princess friend?”
We both froze, the breath catching in my throat. Slowly, we turned.
Emilia smiled evil.
“What did you do?”
My voice felt like lead, like the sound was coming from somewhere outside my body.
“Oh, nothing much,” Emilia said casually, glancing at her nails.
Cade bristled, stepping towards her. “Goddamnit, Emilia—”
“I just saved her from you two.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, the pain slicing through me.
“What did you do?”
“I warned her off,” she spat. “You know, since I’ve been there? With you two?”
It felt like something was shattering inside.
No.
Not like this. We’d just found her, and I was not going to
lose her like this, especially not to goddamn Emilia Astor.
My hands closed into fists as I stormed right into her, the rage about to break its way out like a dam shattering.
“Fuck you, Emilia,” I hissed, my eyes narrowing to slits at her.
“You bitch,” Cade snarled right next to me. “The fuck did we ever do to you to turn you into this fucking monster?”
She bristled. “Keep talking to me like that and I’ll go tell King Lucian all the filthy things I’m sure you’ve done with his daughter tonight. Under his roof, no less.”
I wanted to kill her. I wanted to scream at her, and tell her to go fuck herself, and to go roaring through the castle looking for Ilana.
But then, we were in the middle of a ballroom, and a king’s palace.
This was not the place, and we both knew it.
Cade grabbed my arm, yanking me with him as he turned and strode away. The both of us said nothing, the fury just boiling up inside of us until we stormed through a side door and out into a deserted hallway.
And that’s when we broke.
I roared, grinding my teeth so hard I wondered if they’d shatter as I grabbed my head in my hands. Cade screamed out profanities before taking a swing at a wall, almost hitting the stone too, before I jumped forward and stopped him.
We panted, both of our shoulders heaving as we fought for breath.
“We’re going to find her,” Cade hissed. “We have to.”
I nodded. “One thing first.”
I strode down the hallway towards a guard, who’d somehow maintained complete composure despite clearly having witnessed our outburst.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant?”
He nodded stiffly. “Your Highness?”
“There’s a distraught woman in there saying all sorts of bizarre things,” I sighed and shook my head. “I think she may be drunk, or on drugs.”
He frowned. “Sir, that’s not really—”
“In particular, some very concerning stuff about the King?”
His eyes darkened, and I fought back the grin.
Now I had his attention.
“Yeah,” I shook my head. “Something about “taking him out?”
The man’s eyes went wide, his hand flying to the radio at his side.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Absolutely,” he hissed. “King Lucian appreciates your keen ears, Your Highness.”
He spoke rapidly into his radio, his hand on the gun at his hip as he turned and ran down the hallway.
I turned to see Cade grinning at me.
“You’re a bastard.”
“Fuck her,” I spat. “I’ll do what I have to, and right now—”
“Right now we have to find Ilana,” he finished for me, his face grim.
A flash of green caught my eye, a flurry of green gown and red hair disappearing around a corner down the hallway the guard had just been standing watch over.
Cade caught the same thing, and we both ran after her.
“Princess Imogen!”
She froze, gasping slightly as she whirled towards us in surprise. “Prince Caspian, Prince Cade?” She blinked in surprise. “We meet again.”
“I need to find your sister.”
“We need to find your sister,” Cade said quietly.
She frowned before, suddenly, her eyes went wide.
“Oh my God.”
“It’s not what you think,” I growled.
“Well, it might be a little of what you think,” Cade muttered.
Princess Imogen’s face was bright red, her hand by her lips as her eyes darted between us.
“I— I have to go…”
“We only want...” I shook my head. “She’s everything, Princess. I know it might be hard for you to understand, and I don’t even know how to convey this to you without sounding sordid, but…” I took a deep breath.
“She completes us in a way I can’t even begin to—”
“Okay, okay.” She smiled softly, nodding “I think I do get it, actually.”
“It’s nothing scandalous,” Cade said quickly.
“She said otherwise.”
I frowned but Imogen grinned. “I think Ilana needs a little scandal in her life,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes as they darted between us. “Wow. Both of you, huh?”
“We love her,” Cade said softly. “More than anything in this world, we love her.”
Imogen bit her lip, nodding. “She’s—” She stopped, shaking her head and looking away, as if conflicted.
“Princess, please.”
She turned back, smiling kindly at us and nodding. “She’s in the gardens, I’m almost sure of it. She goes there to think a lot.”
“Thank you,” I growled as we whirled.
“Wait, you haven’t— I mean…”
I turned back to see her brow knitted as she looked down at her hands.
“You haven’t seen your friend Magnus, have you?”
“No, I—”
My eyes went wide.
Interesting.
“Should I point him in a direction if I do?” I grinned at her, watching her face turn pink.
“Oh, not, I— that’s quite alright,” she stammered.
“I never told you where to find Ilana, by the way.”
“Lips are sealed. And I never told you that deep down, Magnus is one of the best guys I know, and if you can get through all his bullshit, he’s the most loyal man I’ve ever met.”
She grinned, and I winked at her as we started to turn.
“Caspian? Cade?”
Both of us glanced back at her.
“Be good to her, I mean it.”
“We’ll never hurt her, I swear it,” Cade said quietly.
She nodded. “Don’t or I’ll kill you.”
She whirled and disappeared through the doorway.
I raised a brow at Cade.
“Shit,” he chuckled. “I hope Magnus knows what he’s into with that one.”
“I doubt it,” I snorted.
“Ready to go get the girl?”
“I’ve never been more ready.”
Chapter 10
Ilana
I burst out of the side of the castle, the night air hitting me like a balm.
Don’t cry.
I refused to cry. I refused to give into the emotions raging through me. I’d lost, again. I’d given in, and believed the bullshit, and of course, I’d been wrong.
I’d followed what I hoped was my heart, only to be betrayed again.
Of course, two men like that weren’t after anything more than what I’d given so readily in that library. And I’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker like a total freaking idiot.
I brushed through the gardens, still trying to keep the brimming tears from falling. I loved it out here — the high stone walls and the cover of the Japanese Maple and Cherry Blossom trees giving me cover, and secluding me away from all that bullshit.
I sighed as I slumped onto one of the stone benches, my hand clenching in my lap.
Maybe I needed to get away for a while — travel, do something to take my mind off of all this. I mean, what had happened had been amazing, and I knew then with a twinge of even more bitterness that no man would ever live up to even one of the Charmings, let alone both of them together, like I’d had.
Not a chance.
I’d never come like that before, and I knew no sex would ever compare to that. Which sucked, because I was never going to see them again.
“Ilana.”
My heart jumped into my throat at the sound of them. My eyes darted around the dark garden as I stood, heart thumping as I considered running, or hiding in the bushes or—
“Wait, please.”
I whirled. There they stood, the moonlight bathing them in light.
“Please,” Cade said quietly, his jaw tight. “Don’t run. Just stay and listen.”
I shook my head. “Why should I?”
; A single tear burned the corner of my eye, just looking at them like this. God I hated that I’d been had like this.
“Stop,” Caspian shook his head. “Stop what you’re thinking, cause I can see it all over your face.”
“Look, sex is sex, okay?” I hissed. “I get it, alright? I get that—”
“What happened back there? With you and us?” Cade’s jaw tightened. “That was not just sex, not by a fucking mile.”
They moved towards me, and I took a step back.
“Ilana,” Cade whispered, his eye holding mine. “Listen to what we’re saying. You know we’re not lying.”
“Do I?”
“Yeah you do,” Caspian growled. “You know you do, because you know how we all click.”
I looked away, trying to will that single tear not to fall down my cheek.
It did anyways
“You talked to Emilia.”
I whirled back, the anger bubbling up. “Yeah, I did.”
“And you don’t think that maybe she had ulterior motives to fuck with us? With you?”
I shook my head. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s all bullshit,” Caspian gritted out. “I’m guessing she saw us with you earlier, saw us all disappear, and put two and two together.”
“She’s a bitter, broken woman, Ilana,” Cade said softly.
“Choice words,” I spat. “Coming from the guys who almost married her.”
Caspian’s face darkened.
“She tell you that?” Cade hissed.
When I didn’t answer, he swore loudly into the darkness.
“I could laugh, except it’s not funny right now.” He shook his head. “No, Ilana, we never came close to marrying her. Us with her before?” He shook his head again. “It was never real. It was never even close to what we’ve found with you after one night.”
“It was a pale imitation of the girl we hadn’t found yet,” Caspian growled. “You.”
My heart tensed.
“Listen to what we're saying, please.” Cade’s eyes burned into mine as they moved towards me. This time, I didn’t move away.
“She said that shit to you to get to us. To fuck with us.”
“Why?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s a bad person I guess.”