Heading for the pantry, I pull out some flour, sugar, yeast, and a few other bits and pieces. My favorite mixing bowl lives in the corner cupboard by the sink, and as soon as I feel the weight of it, my shoulders start to relax.
I love baking. I always have. Mama and I used to spend hours in the kitchen together, putting together lavish desserts from scraps of food that she scrounged from who-knows-where. She taught me everything I know about baking, and every time I make something, I think of her.
As Mama’s illness progressed and her tremors became more severe, she stopped being able to bake. She’d sit in the kitchen as I did the work. Mama would coach me through the complex recipes, and then we’d eat the treats together.
It was special. It still is. Baking is the one thing that I’m really, really good at.
Right now, I need to think about something other than my beautiful sister, her impending royal relationship, and my own inadequacy.
Cinnamon buns might do the trick.
Slipping on my bright blue apron, I get to work. The sounds of the hairstylists and agents and managers fades into the background, and I inhale the scent of fresh dough. It’s the scent of memories, home, and comfort. As soon as my fingers sink into the soft dough, a smile drifts over my lips.
This is where I’m happiest. If I could give up the seven-bedroom mansion and all the money and comfort that Margot provides for me, I would. I’d open a small bakery in Farcliff and I’d sell everything that my mother and I used to bake together.
The clack-clack-clack of stilettos on our Italian marble floors informs me my sister is coming to find me. I cover the dough to prove it, and then wipe my floury hands on my apron.
Margot comes around the corner in all her glory. In six-inch heels, she looks even more breathtaking than she usually does. Her makeup is flawless, of course, and her hair is swept to the side in elegant curls. The blue dress was a good choice—it makes her perfect figure look like she’s walking around with real-life Photoshop on her body. She smiles at me, but pauses at the kitchen’s entrance.
“I don’t want to get flour on my dress, but I wanted to say thank you for all your help today. I couldn’t have done it without you. I know it’s been a tough couple of months, but once this relationship goes public, it should provide a lot more opportunities for us. We’ll be real stars, Ivy.”
We.
My heart squeezes.
Why am I such an ass?
Here I am, cursing my sister’s name, and she’s including me in all her plans. Everything she’s done to be in the public eye, to make all this money—it’s been for my father and me.
We stand on the opposite side of the kitchen. The distance between us is vast.
I force a smile. “I’ll have cinnamon buns ready and waiting for you when you come back.”
“Can’t wait,” she says, as if she’ll actually eat one. I don’t think she’s eaten a simple carb in ten or twelve years.
She turns to leave, and then pauses. “Oh, would you mind grabbing my dry cleaning? Marcella didn’t have time to do it today with everything going on.” Without waiting for an answer, my sister blows me a kiss and disappears down the hallway with her entourage in tow.
I grimace, wincing when the door slams. “Sure, no problem!” I call out into the silence. I listen to the big, empty house, not quite sure what I’m expecting to hear.
Then, with a sigh, I take my apron off and do my sister’s bidding.
2
Luca
Queen Cara of Argyle looks radiant as she walks up the wide steps leading up to the Farcliff Castle doors. Her rich, purple gown cinches her at the waist, and my eyes stay glued to the spot on her lower back where my hand used to rest.
Key words: used to.
Past tense. As in, not anymore. Never again.
I sit in the back seat of my limousine with a sick feeling in my stomach. My brother, King Theo, smiles at the flashing cameras and lifts his arm up towards them. His wife’s tiara sparkles with every photo as she stands beside him. Hot coals glow in my chest, burning me from the inside out.
My lips pinch and my gut churns. My brother, Beckett, watches me from across the limousine.
“You okay?”
I sigh. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
He gives me a tight-lipped smile. “It’s good to see you again, Luca.” He slides over beside me and pats my knee. “Argyle wasn’t the same without you.”
“It’s been a long five years, that’s for sure. It’s good to see you too.”
I smile at Beckett, and the tension between my eyes seems to ease. Besides Cara, Beckett was my best friend growing up. He’s actually my half-brother—our mother had him with my father’s brother, which caused about as much controversy as you can imagine—but he’s as much my brother as Theo is.
“Try not to let them get to you.”
“Who?”
Beckett rolls his eyes. I know who he’s talking about—our brother, Theo, and his beautiful, graceful wife, Cara.
Also known as the love of my life, the shatterer of my heart, the bane of my existence, and, unfortunately, my new sister-in-law.
Beckett lets out a sigh and exits the limousine. His lopsided smile greets the flashing cameras, and I take a deep breath. I’m next.
Reaching into my pocket, I pop two painkillers into my mouth. Whenever I get stressed, my body screams with burning pain. Nerve pain. Right now, as I stare up at Theo and Cara, it’s bad.
When I walk out, I don’t look at the cameras. I ignore the clamoring of reporters and the death glares my eldest brother gives me. I just walk straight toward the castle without acknowledging the crowds.
What do I care about the people of Farcliff? Why should I give a fuck about the journalists and news reporters who have done nothing but tear me to shreds? They’ll look for any glance, any facial expression, any word to show how heartbroken I am over Cara’s wedding to my brother.
Not that it’d be hard to find something.
Theo’s eyes burn holes into my back. I pause on the top step, and I can sense his approach without even turning to see him.
“Behave yourself,” he hisses in my ear. “This visit in Farcliff is important.”
“For you, you mean.”
“For all of us. For all of Argyle. This is your first public appearance since Singapore, in case you’ve forgotten. It’s your chance to show yourself to the world.” His trimmed beard has a few white hairs growing in it. He looks old—a fact that brings me more pleasure than it should. He lowers his head toward me as cameras continue to flash. “Just don’t make a scene. Your date will be here any minute.”
“Wonderful.” I roll my eyes. “I’m so glad you were able to arrange a suitable match for me, Your Majesty. Or are you going to take her into your bed as soon as I turn my back, too?”
Beckett distracts the photographers by stepping forward with a dazzling smile. He glances at me for just a moment, giving me a pointed stare.
His eyes say, Don’t do it. Calm down. Get through the night.
Theo is staring at me, too—and his eyes are blazing. His anger only serves to feed mine. It pours into me like liquid heat, sending sharp daggers through my chest.
Who the fuck is he to be mad at me? I didn’t swoop into his life and steal his bride away. He did that to me. And now, I’m supposed to forget it ever happened?
Fuck. That.
I’ll make a scene if I want to.
Cara appears beside him, hooking her arm into Theo’s. She smiles at me with soft eyes. The aggression inside me evaporates, replaced with a dull thud in my empty chest.
“Everything okay with you two?”
I incline my head. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Luca, I wish you wouldn’t call me that.” Her plump, red lower lip juts out, and I remember sucking that lip between my own not too long ago.
I arch an eyebrow. “Why not? You earned the title.”
She earned it by sleeping with my brother while I wa
s getting my spinal cord stitched back together and learning to walk again. She earned it after assuring me that she’d wait for me.
Theo clears his throat. “Here comes your date. Behave.”
I turn to the bottom of the wide steps to see a blonde woman with an entourage bigger than ours. Her dress looks painted onto her perfect body, and I can’t deny how beautiful she is. Her tits are plump and perky, and every step she takes as she climbs the stairs makes her look more seductive than the last. She walks in like she belongs here, flashing a dazzling smile at me, angling her face toward the cameras.
I feel nothing.
I’m empty, except for the low, simmering rage that always bubbles when Theo’s near.
“Your Majesties,” the woman says as she curtsies for my brother and his wife. The blonde beauty turns to me, and a slight pink tinge colors her cheeks. She bows her head. “Nice to finally meet you, Prince Luca.”
I bring her hand to my lips, staring into her bright, blue eyes. Cameras flash as reporters shout for us to face them. I ignore them, but the woman smiles for the photographers.
I could fuck her for the month I’m here, I guess, if she’s not too boring to listen to.
Glancing at Cara, I see her staring at the two of us. Her eyebrows draw together slightly, and she lets her eyes drift down the woman’s body.
For the briefest of moments, all my anger melts away and is replaced with bright, zinging interest. I tilt my head, studying her.
Is the Queen jealous?
I quirk an eyebrow as an idea starts floating through my head. Maybe this blonde would be more useful than I anticipated. Taking my date’s hand, I hook it into the crook of my arm and motion toward the castle. “Shall we?”
“Please.” She smiles at me again, a little more coquettishly. In her heels, she’s almost as tall as I am. She smells floral and a little too sweet. My date angles her head one more for the benefit of the cameras, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
Cara clears her throat, stealing another glance at us before turning away.
I grin.
Cameras flash.
Shocking as it is to say it, this might actually be fun, in a cruel, twisted kind of way.
We turn toward the big double doors that lead into the castle, and my date stumbles over the last step. Before she goes flying face-first into the ground, I catch her.
Snap-snap-snap. Cameras are trained on us.
My date smiles at me, a blush tinting her cheeks. “Thanks.”
“Of course.” I put my hand on her back, resisting the urge to steal a glance at Cara.
As soon as we enter the castle, someone hands me a glass of champagne. I down it in one gulp and belch in my fist. The woman—what was her name?—stares at me and then immediately rearranges her features into a smile.
“I was told you were a character.” She bats her eyelashes and pushes her chest out toward me.
I guess ‘not too boring to listen to’ was too much to ask. I could still fuck her, I guess. Cara would hate that.
“I was told you were a good fuck,” I answer. I grab another glass of champagne on our way toward the Great Hall, ignoring whatever it is that comes out of her mouth next.
Farcliff Castle is different from the one at home. This castle just as grand, but it feels colder. There’s more stone and steel in it. In the Great Hall, long tables are set up with thick, white tablecloths on them. I let the usher lead me to my assigned seat, at a table with Beckett and my date. Prince Damon and Princess Dahlia of Farcliff are seated next to us, and a few other Lords and Ladies take their seats further down the table.
The King of Farcliff, Charlie, and his Queen, Elle, take their seats at the head table. My brother, Theo, thankfully, is sitting at the opposite end of that table with Queen Cara. I won’t have to stare at them all dinner, which I’m sure was done on purpose.
The more distance between us, the better.
Beckett stares at me from across the table, glancing at my date. He cocks his eyebrow as if to say, You okay?
I avert my eyes.
I don’t know how I feel. On the one hand, I’m seeing my family for the first time in years. I’m happy to see them, but another part of me resents the fact that they never came to visit me. I want to go back to Argyle, but I’m nervous about what to expect.
Beckett stares at me and then his face twists, and he sneezes.
“Allergies?” I ask, spreading my serviette over my thighs.
Beckett grunts in acknowledgement. My brother is allergic to dust, cats, dogs, horses, pollen, peanut butter—pretty much everything except water. He sneezes again, and I hide a grin.
I used to tickle his nose with dandelions when we were kids and run away when he’d get mad. He’d chase me, sneezing the whole time. We were kids. Our childhood was happy.
Now, that happiness seems to have slipped through my fingers.
“Can’t take you anywhere,” I say with a grin. Beckett sighs, frustrated. Is it wrong that I kind of like seeing people like this? Uncomfortable, in pain, and hurting?
I wasn’t always like this. Before the accident, I was a happy person. I liked to laugh.
Snapping your spine and become a paraplegic has a way of changing your outlook on life, though. My family shipped me off to Singapore to get fixed up, and now that I’ve made a miraculous recovery, they’re welcoming me back with open arms.
I’m not broken anymore, so I’m worthy of their attention.
My date shifts in her seat. She reaches into her tiny clutch purse and pulls out a pill packet, handing it to Beckett. “Here,” she says with a smile. “I have allergies all the time. These antihistamines are prescription.”
Beckett’s eyebrows arch, and he accepts the pill with a grateful nod. “Thanks. You’re an actress, right? You were in the last James Bond movie.”
Her face breaks into a smile. “Yeah, I’m Margot LeBlanc. I loved playing a Bond girl. Something about being a villain was really fun and freeing.” Her laugh is musical, and she flicks her hair over her shoulder.
Margot. Right. I silently thank my brother for asking.
“Beckett,” my brother says, extending a hand. When Margot reaches over to take it, she knocks over my glass of champagne with her arm. I catch it as it sloshes over my plate, and a waiter whisks it away within seconds.
Margot looks embarrassed and apologizes. She glances at Beckett, and they stare at each other for a little bit too long. Beckett’s eyes shine, and he smiles at my date like an idiot.
I’m not going to pretend like I’m into this chick, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to let Beckett swoop in on her. Apart from Cara, Margot is the hottest chick in the room. I reach my arm over the back of her chair, leaning into Margot as I glance at my brother. His smile fades, and Margot clears her throat, smiling at me.
I sip my champagne as an awkward silence settles between us.
Princess Dahlia makes a soft noise, smiling politely at us. “So, Prince Luca, please tell us about your recovery over the past few years. You must have worked very hard.”
“Never thought I’d have to learn to walk twice,” I say, taking another slug of champagne.
Prince Damon nods, and starts telling us about his own brush with death. His was self-inflicted, though. I remember the news reports from a few years ago. It was right before he met Princess Dahlia.
By the time we’re onto the second course, I’m half-cut and dying for a piss. I excuse myself from the table, stumbling through the castle hallways, leaning against expensive paintings on the walls for support. I stumble down the hallway, poking my head into lavish rooms.
Are there no bathrooms in this fucking castle?
I pinch my lip together and finally just choose another door at random. Whatever it is, I’m taking a piss in it.
Turns out, it’s a formal living room with a balcony. I head over to the balcony, unzip my pants and water one of the plants. Groaning in relief, I zip myself back up and reach into my pocket for a j
oint.
I can’t go back in there without taking the edge off. It’s too soon to take another painkiller, and the booze isn’t doing anything to distract me from the pain that’s starting to pulse down my spine. Weed will help.
Beckett and Margot are making eyes at each other across the dinner table, I’m zoned out most of the time, and I can still hear Cara’s laugh from across the Great Hall. I light up my joint and take a puff, leaning against the exterior wall as I stare off the balcony.
Farcliff isn’t bad, I guess. It’s colder than Argyle, but that’s because it’s much farther north. There are more trees here than in our Caribbean climate, and the air does taste cool and fresh. It’s late May, and the whole country is exploding with blooms and the excitement of late spring.
It makes me feel even more bitter than I already do.
Farcliff is like Margot—she’s nice, and pretty, and sweet—but all I want to do is fuck her and leave her broken in my wake. This trip to Farcliff is supposed to be the start of a homecoming for me, but all I want to do is ruin my brother’s life.
Hopefully, if all goes well, Cara will hate every minute of it. Maybe then she’ll get a tiny taste of the torture she’s put me through.
As I watch the smoke swirl around my head, a smile curls my lips. My PR team wants me to date Margot? That’s exactly what I’ll do—but I’m not promising it’ll end with a happily-ever-after.
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Also by Lilian Monroe
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Royally Unexpected: An Accidental Pregnancy Collection Page 60