“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.