by Fawn Bailey
I shoved past him, my elbow meeting stone-hard abs through his blazer as I fled the library.
Bruno didn’t come after me.
I ran down the hallway, sobs starting to wrack my body when I stumbled into a small figure. We both cried out and nearly fell to the floor, holding onto each other to stop the fall. Our eyes connected, and I paled when I realized I’d just collided with the Queen.
“Where are you going in such a rush?” she huffed, and I smoothed down the front of my dress, curtsying like I’d been taught to do. “You shouldn’t run around like that, insolent girl. You could break something of importance! This castle is filled with priceless art.”
From the look she gave me, it was safe to assume I was closer to garbage than a treasure.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” I managed weakly.
Now, she turned her head to the side and regarded me with newfound interest.
“Are you quite alright, dear? It looks like you’ve had a fright.”
It was the nicest, most personable she’d ever been with me.
“B-Bruno,” I spat out despite my better judgement. “He… He touched me.”
She stared at me for a second before letting out a small laugh and waving her hand dismissively. “It’s just a part of your test, silly girl.”
“Test?” I asked. “It was part of the challenge?”
“Of course,” she replied, nonplussed. “All the girls will go through it.”
I thought back to that library. To the way he’d cornered me, hurt me.
“You can’t be serious,” I told the Queen. “Some of those girls aren’t even eighteen years old, and you’re sending them in with that… that monster?”
“Bruno is not a monster!” she spat out, and for a moment I was certain she would slap me. Then, she collected herself and sighed before touching her hair to make sure everything was still in place. “Look, girl. It’s just a challenge.”
“How is being felt up by him a challenge?” I asked, not even attempting to disguise the anger in my voice. “How is being forced to endure his… attention… a test?”
“It seems like you still don’t have a clue,” the Queen smirked at me, taking a step closer and snarling in my face. “It’s your royal duty to do as you’re told, stupid girl. And after all… you’re nothing but entertainment for the court. And you just failed your second challenge.”
12
Olivier
My chérie was pulling away. I could feel her drifting from me, sliding out of my grasp while I desperately tried to reel her back in. But she wasn’t coming, wasn’t budging. She was slipping away.
It was now three days after the women’s last challenge with Bruno. It was organized by my mother, and I didn’t even want to think about it for too long. But the Queen insisted the girls needed to show how they’d interact with a member of their court, to prove their loyalty to Luxuria. I hadn’t asked her for details, and none of the girls had elaborated.
I’d spent the past three days spending time with my women, getting to know them better. And even though I was eager to dedicate most of my time to Amber, she didn’t seem to share the need to be close to me.
She dodged me on several occasions, throwing icy glares in my direction when I spoke to the other women. And while her jealousy was adorable, I didn’t appreciate the cold shoulder. She’d need to be on her best behavior once she became Queen, and this childish attitude wasn’t helping matters.
During breakfast on that Tuesday, my mother explained how the next elimination process would work.
“Your brother Bruno will pick two girls to send home,” she said, buttering an English muffin and refusing to meet my eye. She knew I wouldn’t like this one bit, and I set down my fork, glaring at her from my seat across the table.
“I didn’t agree to that,” I said.
“It’s part of the royal traditions, darling!” she quipped, batting her lashes at me.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. I knew I’d been impatient with her lately, demanding too much of my mother when she already had her hands full with the whole contest. But I was upset she didn’t like Amber and worried about what would happen when the two would inevitably be forced to live in proximity.
I didn’t want a catfight on my hands. I just wanted them to get the fuck along.
Is that too much to ask for?
“Mother, what if he sends home someone I really like?” I asked. “What if he sends home…”
“Amber?” My mother rolled her eyes, having already guessed my answer. “Well, then so be it, Olivier. It’s Bruno’s decision this time, not yours. This is part of the tradition your father wanted you to honor. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I hissed. “But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight his decision if I don’t like it.”
“For goodness’ sake, Olivier,” the Queen muttered, dabbing at her lips with a thick embroidered napkin. “You can be so stubborn sometimes. I just don’t understand how you have managed to convince yourself that girl is princess material.”
“There’s no such thing as princess material, Mother,” I got out through gritted teeth. “She’s the one I want, so she will be a princess. Whether or not she’s appropriate for the title is my decision. Mine alone. Do you understand?”
She looked at me, her eyes wide and hurt. She raised a hand to her chest and stared at me.
“You really think she’s appropriate for this kind of position?” she asked. “She’s a commoner, Olivier. All the other women… they have titles, money, an education! And what of this girl? She’s a nobody. A no one!”
“That doesn’t make her any less of a woman,” I replied, seething. “Or human, as a matter of fact. Now I’d appreciate it if you stopped questioning my judgement, Mother.”
I stood up from the table, throwing my napkin down before walking away. The maid, Fleur, stepped aside with a polite smile, her eyes cast downward.
I liked Fleur. She didn’t take any nonsense, and she did her duties without complaining, adding even more to her plate than she had to do just to please my mother. I rewarded her with a grateful smile as I passed.
Once out in the hallway, I let my simmering anger get the better of me. I was already upset because of Amber, and the news about Bruno overseeing my fate didn’t help matters much. My mother’s rudeness only served to put me in an even fouler mood.
The elimination ceremony was scheduled for that night, and I had a whole day to kill before that happened. I wanted to see Amber, but with the way she’d been acting, I wasn’t so sure she wanted to see me.
But I wasn’t going to let her go that easily, and there was someone I had to talk to before the evening’s elimination.
My feet carried me down the hallway and up the stairs until I reached the help’s wing. This was where my half-brother lived, the poor, unlucky Bruno.
We’d never been close, despite our father’s best efforts. Even my mother, who had despised Bruno as a child, softened up to him when he lost his mother. It surprised me but didn’t change my opinion about the guy.
There was something creepy about him. Something strange that put me off him. I’d never taken a liking, and I’d never tried to get to know Bruno better. I knew he resented me for it. But it was too late to make a change, and I’d grown accustomed to the idea of the strange boy who always tried so hard with me himself.
Now, as I stood before Bruno’s door, I knew full well what awaited me on the other side. A whole lot of resentment and anger that I was responsible for. But my need to keep Amber in the competition made me stand up taller, knocking on the door.
A moment later it opened, and my brother stood before me, just an inch taller and making me feel every bit of it.
“What do you want?” he snarled when he saw it was me, and I returned his hard glare.
“We need to talk,” I barked in response, pushing past him into his small apartment.
No, there’s no love between us.
“What a
bout?” he asked, closing the door behind us and standing in front of it in a classic defensive pose, with his arms crossed in front of his body. “I don’t appreciate you just barging in here like this.”
“You’d better remember who you’re speaking to,” I glared at him. “I am still the crown prince.”
“And don’t you act like one,” he replied with a saccharine smile. “Like a spoiled little boy. Just what you’ve always been, right, Olivier? A brat.”
I took a step forward, but he didn’t even flinch as I got into his face. He just smirked at me, like a wolf does to a puppy, knowing I could never hurt him.
We were born only a few minutes apart to different mothers. I felt those few minutes like a lifetime separating us. And not just that, but an unsurmountable precipice that we could never cross.
So we were destined to be this – rivals. Brothers. He was my nemesis, just as I was his.
“Watch your tongue,” I reminded him again. “Mother told me you’re doing the elimination tonight, is that correct?”
“It is. What of it?”
“I don’t care who you send home,” I told him. “But there’s one woman that needs to stay.”
“Let me guess,” Bruno drawled out. “The pretty redhead with the golden eyes. Little Miss Amber Jonathan.”
I glared at him, but he just shrugged, adding, “I heard you got a thing for that one.”
“Whatever,” I got out through gritted teeth. “Just do me a solid and leave her in the running. She’ll be the one standing at the end of this fucking… charade.”
“Charade?” he repeated with disgust. “Is that what you call our father’s dying wish?”
The idea that my dad was his, too, still repulsed me. I didn’t want to be related to someone I’d hated since we were both boys.
But if I was being honest with myself, a lot of that hatred came from being jealous of Bruno. He had my father’s attention, after all, splitting Dad’s time for me in two. I’d never forgive him for the moments Dad wasted with him.
“You can send the twins home,” I told him, ignoring his question. “They’re too young to be here. I didn’t know they were only seventeen until a couple of days ago.”
“We’ll see.”
His response filled me with anger, and I wanted to smash his face in.
“Just do as I said,” I told him. “Keep Amber in the running.”
“No worries about that,” he scoffed. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t be worried about me keeping Amber around.”
“Why?” I hissed.
“Well, let’s just say you’re not the only one whose eye she’s caught,” he winked at me. “I like the look of her myself. How could I not? That pale porcelain skin, that hair, the shyness mixed with her almost vulgar body, Christ, you don’t expect me to resist her for long, do you, brother?”
Our eyes connected as I came closer to him, pushing him back without saying a word.
He stumbled backward and started laughing out loud, and I bit back the insult I wanted to hit him with. What did it help to remind him of the fact he was only a bastard? His life was already in shambles, while I always got what I wanted. Always.
I walked out of there, the sound of his laughter ringing in my ears as I strode down the hallway.
I entered the grand ballroom feeling the bottle of wine I’d polished off in the afternoon.
Drunk off my ass, angry at the world and forced to spend an evening in my mother and brother’s company… a fucking recipe for disaster.
“Your Highness?”
A gaggle of girls was standing before me, and I had no idea which one was which. I laughed at the thought to a group of very confused faces.
“What’s so funny?” one of them asked.
I ran my fingers through my hair, grinning to myself, and when I looked back at the women, they were all wearing matching expressions of awe.
“You ladies keep me alive,” I told them with a smirk. “I could jack my dick off in front of you and you’d all line up to swallow, wouldn’t you?”
They stared at me, eyes wide and mouths gaping. I wanted to laugh out loud when an icy blonde pushed to the front, smiling wide and saying, “Absolutely, Your Highness.”
Freya.
I remembered her name. I remembered the swell of her breasts that was visible now through her mint-green dress.
“Delightful,” I told her with a grin.
“Olivier!”
I turned around with the grin still plastered on my face when I locked eyes on my mother. “Mother dearest! How nice of you to come here and scold me.”
“Now, Olivier,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Why don’t you join me in the front for the elimination?”
“I suppose I don’t have a choice,” I replied, grinning at the women behind me. “Will you excuse me, little dolls?”
They whispered among themselves and I felt their gazes following me as I made my way to the front of the room with the Queen. The moment we stepped away, she grabbed my arm and her nails dug into my skin.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed at me, and I grinned at her angry face. “I’m serious, Olivier! You can’t come to these functions after you’ve been drinking!”
“You mean my first sip of alcohol since my father passed away?” I ground out at her. “It’s been four years, Mother.”
“Four years of you being sober, yes,” she replied. “Nothing compared to the decade you spent partying and drinking before that!”
I didn’t even look at her. I’d been living with the same knowledge for four years, and now I’d fallen into the same fucking bottle-shaped hole I’d been in for a decade.
It was easy to live life like that. Boozing, partying, fucking. Being a goddamn playboy. All those years ago, it had felt natural, but now, I knew it was a mistake. From the first sip of the all-too-familiar wine, I knew I’d slip into my old ways.
We made our way to the front where my brother was already standing. My mother gave him a warm smile, and my stomach knotted once again. She even preferred Dad’s other fucking son to me. Figures.
“We shall carry on,” Mother said with a cool smile. “Now that we’re all here, Bruno will pick the girls who will be proceeding to the next part of the elimination. Keep in mind two ladies will be sent home tonight.”
I crossed my arms in front of my body, glaring at my brother out of the corner of my eyes. He didn’t meet my eyes, but that eternal smirk was playing on his lips, pissing me off even more.
“Bruno, why don’t you begin,” my mother said, nodding to make him step forward.
“I’ve been entrusted with the task of helping to choose my dear brother’s betrothed,” Bruno grinned at the gathered crowd while I swayed from foot to foot.
Fuck.
I shouldn’t have drunk any of that wine.
“So why don’t we begin? The first woman I’m picking is… Freya.”
I looked over in the direction of the ice princess. She beamed proudly, stepping forward to Bruno. My brother grinned at her and presented her with two stones for the collar she was wearing. He pressed one druzy and one onyx stone in her collar while I seethed in anger. I hated him touching her.
Just then, my thoughts switched to Amber. I looked back at the gathered girls, but my vision was fucked, and all I saw was a flash of red, unsure whether it belonged to my girl or her lookalike, Eva.
I realized then what a jackass I’d been by not checking in on Eva or Amber after the incident I’d witnessed. I hadn’t managed to find the piece of shit who’d tried to hurt Eva, and I felt guilty for letting things get out of hand.
“Kendy.”
The African beauty stepped forward next, and I watched as Bruno presented her with two stones. Safiya was next, then Asya. I looked back at the girls, and this time I caught the glance of a pair of golden eyes, judging me from afar.
My chérie.
He picked Camellia.
Zara.
Monica.
/>
Violetta.
The group of girls was dwindling, those golden eyes still staring in my direction. Now, there was panic in her gaze. She was worried Bruno wouldn’t pick her, and so was I. He was playing games again, just like fucking always.
Four girls left – two of which would be sent home.
“Eva,” Bruno said, and Amber’s doppelganger stepped forward.
I waited with gritted teeth, then, before he could call the next name, tugged on his arm, making him look at me in front of all those people.
“Remember what I told you,” I growled at him. “Remember who to pick.”
“Oh, brother,” he grinned. “I remember all too well. Now watch your step before you embarrass yourself.”
I stepped back, my fists tightening. It took every ounce of self-control not to smash my fist into his face and break his goddamn nose.
“Amber,” Bruno called out, and my knees nearly gave out.
Thank fuck.
The two remaining girls, twins, looked at each other with grateful eyes. I was glad they were going home, not because they weren’t stunning, intelligent or interesting, but because they were too fucking young to be exposed to the court’s wicked games.
Then, my attention shifted back to Amber who stood in front of Bruno now, in a pretty midnight blue dress that flared out over her hips and accentuated the curve of her tits. I saw the way my brother’s eyes lingered on her. I also saw her flinch when he touched her.
I said my goodbyes to Chloe and Marceline, the young French girls. They seemed thankful, so I was relieved as well.
“Don’t rush into things,” I told them both as they stood before me. “You’re teenagers. You should have your youth. Have some fun with it.”
“Such great advice to give,” Bruno said, appearing next to me and clapping me on the back. “And something my brother knows a whole lot about, don’t you, Olivier?”
I gritted my teeth while he went on.
“Your titles will get you far in life, girls,” he said. “But don’t let them turn you into sad, drunken wrecks like someone we know.”