The Reluctant King

by Rachel Higginson

Page 4

 

  “It’s so good to be with you again, Avalon,” Eden gushed, filling the awkward silence. I smiled down at her; she was so adorable with her mass of hair flowing around her and her black eyes sparkling like onyx.

  “Honestly, I’m glad you guys are back,” I admitted, trying to cover for my emotional reaction to having my only remaining family near me again. “There are probably one hundred decisions left to be made for this damned homecoming dinner you have me throwing for you and if I am asked to pick out a tablecloth color one more time I’m going to assassinate myself. ”

  “Oh no!” Eden gasped. “Are there really a lot of decisions left to be made?” She looked to Talbott and Lilly for the truth. Smart girl.

  “You have no idea,” Lilly laughed, shaking her head at me. Lilly was probably the only girl in the world I was as comfortable around other than Eden. She was like a sister, especially since Eden had been gone for a while and Lilly had stuck around the castle in order to be close to Talbott. She had taken on the job of kind of running the castle, since I didn’t have a wife and Angelica seemed overwhelmed with just advising me. If she wasn’t so in love with Talbott I would have proposed to her myself just to get the Kingdom off my back…. and because I knew I could tolerate her for long periods of time. “Getting Avalon to make a decision about anything other than Kingdom policy is like pulling teeth. ”

  Everyone laughed at my expense.

  Psht.

  “Hey,” I put my hands up and backed away. “You guys are home now, why don’t you take a crack at it. I’m sure you have a better opinion on which China pattern you want to use,” I narrowed my eyes at Eden and Kiran, not even caring about the exasperated look Kiran gave me. He married the girl, China patterns were his responsibility now.

  “You’re right,” Eden sighed. “Besides I haven’t made a decision yet as Queen, what better way to initiate myself. ”

  “This way, your Highness,” Lilly laughed, and led Eden down the hallway with Kiran, Sebastian and Talbott following closely behind.

  Eden turned to give me a small wave and a look that promised she would find me later to catch up. I gave her an encouraging smile and watched the group walk away. Eden had grown up a lot since I saw her last. She had always amazed me with her ability to make quick decisions and take everything in stride; Lord knows she was thrown into this world without much warning. But she had struggled to adjust; nobody knew that more than me. She had fought tooth and nail against this life, but now that she had it…. it suited her. Kiran, royalty, married life…. it all suited her. She was at peace for the first time maybe ever and so disgustingly happy that I couldn’t ignore the pang in my gut that envied her.

  Was it love that did that to a person? Probably not. It probably felt good just to not have someone constantly trying to kill you. I mean, I felt that sense of relief too, so I was probably just as happy as her….

  The big brass doors of the castle entrance opened and the late fall light streamed into the corridor turning my eyes. Long, tanned, perfect legs caught my attention first. The hazy sunlight lit up around those two extraordinary limbs and my eyes followed the flawless line from tiny, delicate ankle to where the hem of her shorts stopped mid-thigh. I snapped my mouth shut.

  In my defense, cascading light from the doorway partially blocked her from view until the door had firmly closed behind her. But if I was really honest with myself those legs demanded attention, and her tiny little fashionable shorts put them on display just for me. My eyes finally traveled up an effortlessly sexy figure and to the most startling golden brown eyes I had ever seen.

  In our culture, our people had every shade and color of eyes. Angelica’s were actually purple. Golden brown should not have been so startling, but the richness and depth to that particular shade of brown displayed underneath thick lashes and on a face so perfectly pretty and delicate was a little disconcerting.

  Their owner cleared her throat, waiting for me to acknowledge her. Had she said something? Was I supposed to answer a question? Shoot, I had spaced out again but this time for an entirely different reason.

  “I’m sorry, did you say something?” I asked, still in a daze over those mile long legs.

  “Have you seen my brother?” she asked, her voice a touch amused and a touch…. irritated? “Seraphina and I changed our minds; we want to borrow his car. ”

  “Your brother?” I clarified, my eyes falling from those startling golden brown eyes to her full lips that were pouted into a frown. “Uh… who’s your brother?”

  “Sebastian Cartier?” she clarified like I was the biggest idiot on the planet. “He just walked in here, I swear. ” She had the sweetest English accent that clipped all her consonants precisely.

  “Uh, he went that way,” I muttered like I was nervous…. like I was not the king I was.

  She straightened her shoulders and flicked her eyes over me with an obvious tone of disgust. What had I done to her?

  “At least when Lucan was King I didn’t have to worry about him ogling me like a caveman,” she mumbled walking past me.

  Ah, that’s what I had done. I consciously hinged my mouth shut and tried not to snap at the way she defended Lucan. She was right…. I was ogling her.

  “I apolo-“ I started.

  “Don’t bother,” she looked over her shoulder, dismissing me. Dismissing me!

  “Mimi,” I snapped my fingers, proud of myself for remembering her name.

  “Amelia. ” She corrected me, turning around and walking backwards. Immortal or not, I was always impressed when a girl could balance in high heels and hers looked especially dangerous as she walked away from me. I forced my mind back to her face as my eyes wanted to linger on those legs and the word “dangerous…. ” “Only people I like get to call me Mimi,” her tone was ice, but those golden brown eyes were definitely not cold.

  “Then I’ll have to convince you that you like me,” I returned, feeling proud of myself for very unpracticed witty banter.

  “Fat chance of that,” she laughed mockingly in her cute British accent and then turned around and walked away.

  I shook my head, still not really sure what just happened. That was Mimi? She was definitely not a child. I stared after those legs wondering if maybe I was remembering the wrong person from three years ago….

  Chapter Three

  “Are you alright, Avalon?” Kiran asked for the third time, well, the third time that I could remember.

  “Uh, fine,” I mumbled in response. I shook my head a little, making the crown I was wearing jostle obnoxiously against my scalp. I shouldn’t have been worried about my hair…. I should have been above all that. But I reached up to smooth out the long strands that got pulled from my low ponytail. I could be such a girl at times, it was annoying. It wasn’t even technically a ponytail, it was this messy bun thing a girl at Canesbury taught me years ago. She said it made me look more grown up and less biker-ish and hell if I couldn’t remember her name but I’ve kept that piece advice with me after all these years. Plus, I have to walk out in front of several hundred people in about two minutes and I want to at least appear as though I’m right where I belong.

  Not to mention there’s a certain pair of legs I can’t get out of my head attending the dinner tonight….

  “Do you want to skip the whole introductory speech? I can just go right into what I’ve written,” my brother in law offered kindly. We were standing in the foyer of the castle waiting on Eden while the rest of our invited guests gathered in the main square to mingle and wait for our arrival. I was not the only one anxious for Eden and Kiran to come back to the castle and thus their elected roles as co-King and Queen. And even though it’s not the entire Kingdom waiting on us, there is still a very healthy showing of Immortals filling the Citadel this weekend.

  “Yeah, that would be great actually,” I replied. “Uh, just remember to thank everyone for coming…. I like to remind them they have a choice. ” I smiled,
trying to ignore how awkward it was “sharing” this job. Kiran probably knew what he was doing way better than me, but I couldn’t stop myself from reminding him of the smaller points I felt were important. “Oh and I was planning on announcing Talbott and Lilly’s engagement, but it will probably sound more sincere coming from you. ”

  Kiran let out an amused laugh, “Are you telling me it wouldn’t be sincere coming from you?” I watched him bristle in just the smallest of ways, tension stiffening his shoulder blades. I had seen it lots of times before and I had to suppress my own urge to laugh. Kiran was one of my closest friends and not just because of his relationship with my sister. We had formed our own bromance over the time I was imprisoned here before we killed his dad. Even though we didn’t always see eye to eye, he was in the very small circle of people I absolutely trusted.

  “Talbott seems to think I care more about what their marriage means to the Kingdom by way of example than about them as a couple,” I admitted, shrugging sheepishly.

  Because it was partly true.

  “Do you know what? I’ll go ahead and congratulate them, it will definitely sound more sincere coming from me,” Kiran agreed, giving me his famous cocky half-smile.

  “Good,” I grunted. “I think my speech was going to make him mad anyway. ”

  “Why is that?” Kiran asked, but his eyes had turned to Eden who was walking across the hall to us.

  I smiled at my sister, so happy to have her home. Her hair was pinned up tonight and while Kiran mumbled stuff to her about the way she looked…. stuff I chose to ignore, I admired the bright glow of her navy blue tattoo under her ear lobe. Her magical color used to match mine exactly, the brightest, most brilliant color of blue. But since her marriage, or rather the consummation of her marriage to Kiran, her magic had mixed with his and now both of their magics had turned a rich navy blue. I couldn’t care less about the color that meant Kiran and Eden were forever bonded, but damn it if I wasn’t still jealous over that glow in the dark tattoo.

  “Because he was going to confess his undying love to Lilly and beg her to leave Talbott and marry him instead,” Eden laughed at me, her black eyes sparkling from the humor of it.

  “It’s a joke,” I shrugged my shoulders at Kiran whose mouth had dropped open from shock. Eden opened her mouth to call me on my crap, so I tried to explain quickly. “Well…. kind of a joke. What? I like Lilly, she doesn’t talk too much, she doesn’t care about the whole King thing and I don’t have to make an effort to get to know her. So even if I’m not serious about asking her to run away and elope with me, I am kind of bummed that Talbott’s taking her completely off the market. ” I grinned widely so they really did see the humor in the confession I was not at all serious about.

  “But you need a girl to care about the whole King thing,” Talbott interrupted, walking up behind me. Shoot… hope he was not too mad. “It’s the only way you’re going to get a girl. ”