I frowned. Magnus wasn’t even looking at us at all, and I followed his stare to a gorgeous redhead in green and gold standing across the ballroom.
“Mags.” I frowned. “Magnus.”
It was like he’d tuned us out as he knocked back the rest of his second champagne, pushed the glass into my hands, and strode purposefully towards the girl.
“Oh tonight’s going to be fun, isn’t it,” Caspian muttered dryly.
I laughed, clapping my brother on the back. “Did you even see where Logan went off to?”
“Nope.”
“Fantastic.”
“I vote for a refill.”
I chuckled as I followed Caspian over to another bar, grinning as I watched him toss another insane amount of money on the bar for our free drinks before turning and handing me mine.
“To finding our true love,” he muttered sarcastically.
After all, that was the reason for coming to a suitors’ ball. Just the same, it felt like bitter irony at that point.
“To finding our soulmate—”
The words froze in my mouth as I raised my glass to his. Actually, the whole fucking world froze. Because just then, standing in the doorway to the ballroom, the sounds of the string quartet and the crowds washing over us, my eyes locked onto her.
And everything else just sort of faded away.
She wasn’t real. She couldn’t be. Blonde, willowy, her blue sequined gown trailing behind her as she swirled and smiling at a few other girls in regal looking gowns. She was talking to the redhead, actually, and Magnus, before she turned along with another fair-skinned girl with black hair and a silvery white dress and moved away, leaving the poor redhead to Magnus’s clutches. I followed the blonde though, gritting my teeth as the light caught her big blue eyes, sparkling under the chandeliers, and her smile sent butterflies crashing through me.
Holy. Shit.
“Cade.”
I heard my brother but couldn’t respond, my eyes just locked onto her.
“Dude.”
I blinked as he shook me, shaking my head and turning to him.
He frowned. “The fuck was that?”
“Cas.”
He heard the tone in my voice and shut his mouth.
I didn’t say a thing, I just turned back to her, and this time, his eyes followed mine.
“Oh, fuck,” he whispered.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“Who the hell is—”
We both froze as we watched King Lucian himself step forward, beaming at this gorgeous creature and then placing an arm around her and hugging her close.
Oh, shit.
“That, dear brother,” I said slowly, putting the pieces together. “That is King Lucian’s daughter, Princess Ilana Morningstar of Avlion.”
Caspian whistled lowly.
“Well, this is going to be a problem.”
This was going to be a big problem.
Because I knew right there that the same lightning I’d just felt had hit Caspian too. She’d caught us up like a damn spell, and with one look, I knew were both thinking the same thing.
She was it. She was everything. There was no denying it. We’d given up on finding the one thing we were looking for, but there in that ballroom, just when we’d least expected it, she’d found us.
Something told me, King Lucian’s virgin, oldest daughter, was completely off the table when it came to being shared by the two of us.
Well, except I had no idea how wrong I was.
Chapter 3
Ilana
“We shouldn’t have just left her alone with him, you know,” Adele muttered under her breath as my father left us to go mingle with some other dignitaries.
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I turned back to her. She was talking about leaving Imogen with Prince Magnus back there, after he’d come striding over and zeroed right in on her. Yes, the man had a reputation as long as his — well, as long as that other bit of reputation, if the tabloids were to be believed. And if we’d been anywhere but our father’s palace, surrounded by people, and guards, and all that, then no, of course I wouldn't have left my younger sister alone with him.
“Imogen’s a big girl, she can handle herself.”
“It’s him handling her we should be worried about,” Adele muttered.
I laughed, my jaw dropping. “Wow, Adele Snow! Where’s this sassy version of you coming from?”
Adele, our cousin by way of our father’s brother, the king of Berne, was usually much more reserved than she’d been since she’d arrived earlier in the afternoon to attend the ball that night. She was usually softer and quieter, but tonight, she’d been edgy, and sharp-tongued about all sorts of stuff.
“Sorry.” She looked down, sighing.
“No, it’s fine,” I smiled, putting an arm around her “You okay, though?”
“Yeah,” she made a face. “Just stuff with Mallory.”
I made a stink face at her, which made her laugh.
Neither of us liked her stepmother, the new queen of Berne. After all, Kathryn, Adele’s mother, had been loved by everyone who met her. Kind, gracious, regal and just so freaking classy all the time. A car accident had claimed her almost ten years ago, though, and a few years after that, Lorne, her father, had met and quickly married Mallory.