by Madison Faye
Anya
I’d opted to get out of the town car at one of the gates to the palace grounds, opting to walk the rest of the way back to main castle. The sun was shining, my heart was so damn full I felt it might burst, and birds were singing — well, at least they were in my head.
I was in love. Yes, there were three of them. Yes, it would probably mean scandal, and whispered words, and scornful looks.
And no, I didn’t actually care.
Somehow, out of nowhere, I’d found love that I’d never been looking for, in the arms of not one, but three gorgeous, amazing, incredible princes. I’d found the missing pieces to myself that I never knew weren’t there.
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I also knew I couldn’t not try. And the first step was going to be telling my best friend that I’d gone to a sex club and fallen in love with three princes.
I was nearing the palace, walking through the grounds garden, when suddenly, I hear a voice behind me that shook me to my core. I froze, breath caught in my throat.
“I said good morning.”
Slowly, I turned, and I felt my hands close into fists as I came face to face with Carl, Thomas, and Shawn.
The three of them grinned wickedly at me.
“You know, when a girl says she’s going to the bathroom and then never comes back, that’s just mean,” Carl sneered.
“Definitely bad manners,” Thomas leered at me, shaking his head.
“And when she doesn’t come back because she’s found herself some new dates?” Shawn growled, shaking his head. “Well, that’s just not done.”
I glared at them, swallowing thickly.
“We weren’t on a date, whatever the hell your names really are. You lied to me about where we were going, you brought me to that place, I assume now, with the intention of trying to sleep with me?
Shawn chuckled darkly, grinning.
“And then you gave me that damn bracelet without even attempting to explain to me what it meant if I took it.”
“And your point is?”
I narrowed my eyes at them. “My point is fuck you,” I hissed.
I whirled, stomping away, when a hand yanked me back by the arm, hard.
“Get your hands off of me!”
Thomas just chuckled, shaking his head.
“Please, you were ready for fun that night.”
“With you?” I spat. “Not fucking likely.”
“Watch your mouth, sweetheart,” Shawn growled.
“You have fun last night with your little princes?”
My eyes flew to Carl, who laughed wickedly. “Oh, we know about that, you little slut.”
“Go to hell,” I hissed, trying to yank my arm out of Thomas’s grip.
“What if you go with us instead and show us what those fucking Tam assholes taught you to do?”
I froze.
Shawn laughed, seeing the look on my face. “Oh, we know who they are.” He chuckled. “The club, with all it’s precious anonymity? Well, fuck that. We know who they are. And we know that they stole from us that night when they kept you.”
I shook my head. “You’re insane.”
“No, what we are is pissed the fuck off,” Carl hissed. “And we’re about to make those boys’ lives hell for this shit.”
My heart dropped, my face falling.
“No,” I growled. “Leave them the hell out of this!”
“And if we do?” Thomas leered at me, leaning close. “What exactly are you going to do for us if we leave your little boyfriends alone?”
A cold chill crept through me, and I slowly shook my head as they moved closer to me, chuckling darkly.
Carl’s hand slid to my waist, and I was about to yank away and scream with everything I had, when the car came crashing through the hedges next to us.
And all hell broke loose.
Chapter 15
Dean
We watched Mr. X drive off, the vintage black and chrome town car slowly moving out of sight until we were alone out in front of the hotel.
We were silent for a second, all three of us thinking about what had just transpired in the car.
Excommunication.
It was serious shit, and not the kind of threat the club made idly. It also mean that somehow, whoever the scumbags that’d brought Anya there that first night were, they’d figured out who we were.
And that was serious. Yes, there’d been times when members recognized other members outside the club. Hell, I’d been a vacation in the south of Italy one time and had the Duke of Imania stop right in front of my pool chair, nod at the three-crown tattoo on my arm, and then grin as he’d pointed towards his own. There weren’t any words though, of course, since we both understood the importance of the secrecy. Yes, we “knew” who each other were, but that was something in passing that we both knew we’d never bring up again. Hell, I hadn’t even told Jace and Killian about that day.
But this was different. For these guys to have told Mr. X about us, they had to have known who we are. How, I had no idea, but it was a chilling thought, especially with all this shit with our council not reaching a decision on the three of us ascending the thrones. A whiff of this type of scandal might cement us never becoming the trio of Kings of Tam.
But that all could come later. What mattered immediately was her.
“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?”
I turned to Jace.
“I think I probably am.”
Killian nodded, his eyes focused on the spot where Mr. X’s car had been a few minutes before.
“We sure about this?” he growled.
“Without question.”
Jace nodded. “For her? Fuck yes.”
It wasn’t even a choice, even if Mr. X had just given us one.
Between Anya and the club?
Easy move, easier choice.
It seemed our club days were over. And personally, I was psyched. This felt like a step in the right direction. This felt like growing up. And for her?
Hell, giving up the whole world was worth one kiss from the girl we loved.
“Guess it’s settled then,” Killian growled.
I felt my blood roar, my heart pumping a million miles an hour.
I glanced at them, nodding. “I think it’s time we go get our girl and put cards on the damn table.”
Killian nodded. ‘It’s her, isn’t it? I mean for all of us, she’s it, right?”
“Goddamn right,” I growled.
“Without a question,” Jace muttered.
Killian grinned. “Shit, did we ever think this day would come?”
“What, the day we all agree?”
He chuckled at me. “No the day us sharing turns into a lifelong commitment.”
“Think we’re ready for that?”
I smiled as I turned to Jace. “Is it even a question?”
He grinned. “Nope. Not one at all.”
It was time.
Time to act.
Time to tell her exactly how we felt and what we wanted.
…It was time to ask Anya Green to marry us.
We took one of the courtesy cars from the hotel, as Brian still wasn’t back from dropping Anya off, and headed towards the palace, Jace at the wheel.
I was excited.
Hell, I’d never been this excited, about damn near anything. I knew this meant we were out of the club. At another point in my life, that may have meant something, or stung, or made me furious. But now?
Now I couldn’t care less. The club could do it’s own thing. We had no need for it it anymore anyways. Not with her in our lives.
The guards at the royal palace gates waved us through when they recognized us, though I’m sure they were a little confused about three princes driving ourselves. We roared up the main drive, all three of us grinning.
Excited.
Ready to make the jump into being the men we knew we could be, with her.
“Oh fuck!”
Killian spotted her
first, but a second later, we did too, and my heart dropped through the floor.
She was in one of the rose gardens off the main drive of the palace, yelling and trying to shake her arm free of the man holding it. There were three of them actually — all of them menacing her as they crowded her. She backed away, still trying to break free of the hand on her arm as her back came up against the tree behind her. The men closed in.
“Jace!” I bellowed, but the car was already veering off the road and smashing through a wooden railing.
“Hold onto your asses!” he roared, slamming his foot down on the gas. The car lurched forward, half-skidding on the grass with the hedge rushing up to meet us like a thick green wall.
The car went airborne as we smashed through the hedge, scattering branches and roses and bits of wire fencing everywhere. There was a hideous wrenching sound — probably the axle cracking — as the car hit the ground and skidded out. And the the damn thing was barely stopped before all three of us were out of it and charging towards the men putting their hands on our woman.
They turned and suddenly, we froze.
“Your Highnesses,” Carl hissed at us.
I shook my head, eyes narrowing at Carl, Thomas, and Shawn — three of the six members of our royal council and the very ones who’d been sticking to the laws of the land about us not being able to take the thrones.
…And there they were, in Berne, on the palace grounds, pushing Anya back against a tree.
I saw the look on Anya’s face as she glared at them, and suddenly, it all fell into place. These were the men who’d brought her there that night — the men who’d tried to trick her into that place, and trick her into being claimed by them.
The men who’d gone and told on us when we’d claimed her as our own.
I heard Killian growl fiercely beside me, and I knew my friends suddenly saw it too for what it was.
“You’re fucking members aren’t you,” I hissed, storming towards them.
“Uh-uh,” Carl spat back, raising his shirt to reveal the butt of a pistol tucked into his pants. “It’s an anonymous club, remember?”
He grinned wickedly at me.
“Now, this one belongs to us, so if you don’t mind, we’ll—”
The man was so busy trying to throw some lame little line at me that he never even noticed Killian bolting past me until he was flat on his back on the ground. I lunged forward as well, tearing Thomas away from Anya and bringing my knee into his gut. Jace smashed a forearm into Shawn’s nose, shattering it and bringing the man to his knees.
We advanced on them, the rage exploding out of us, when suddenly, the whole damn garden was swarming with guards.
…Yeah, I guess crashing a car though the hedges on palace grounds will do that.
And just like that, chaos ensued.
There were guns trained on all of us, and men shoving us to our knees on the ground. Carl, Shawn, and Thomas were bellowing on about being innocent, Jace, Killian, and I roared back about them being traitors to their country, and Anya screamed at the Berne Royal Guards to let us go.
Eventually, the screaming died down, and when one of the guys holding me down pulled out my wallet and saw who the fuck we really were, suddenly all three of us were very much on our feet.
Anya ran into us, throwing her arms around us as we pulled her in tight.
“The royal council will never approve of you three taking the thrones,” Carl hissed from the ground. “Even without us, there’s not a chance they approve of whatever insane idea you have of all claiming her as your damn queen!”
Killian growled, taking a menacing step towards Carl.
“With you three in jail for treason, they might,” he spat through clenched teeth.
Carl laughed. “Not with this slut.”
Those were the last words he got out before I stepped forward, pulled my fist back, and sank it into his mouth. He screamed, spitting blood as I stepped back.
“Punch me all you want! But they will never accept her!”
“Yeah? And why’s that?” Jace spat.
Carl grinned.
“She’s not a princess.”
“But I am.”
We whirled, the guards around us saluting sharply, and turned to see Princess Adele, of Berne, marching towards us.
…Holding hands with her Captain of the Guard, no less, but I decided an explanation on that fairly interesting detail could wait for another day.
“I'm a princess,” she said thinly, glaring at the men on the ground. “So, what’s this all about?”
Chapter 16
Anya
Adele flew into my arms the second she saw me, hugging me close and holding me tight.
“Is this your secret?” she said quietly, glancing at my men standing behind me.
I nodded, the heat flushing through my face.
Adele’s cheeks went red, but she smiled at me. “You happy?”
I nodded even harder, the grin splitting my lips as she beamed back at me.
“Good,” she whispered, pulling me close. “Me too.”
She nodded at the man in uniform who she’d walked over, and I suddenly recognized him as Captain Hunt, of her father’s Royal Guard.
My eyes went wide. “Wait, that’s your secret??”
She nodded gleefully.
“Uh, tell me everything?”
“Later,” she giggled, hugging me again and looking around at the scene around us. She glared again at the three assholes on the ground before turning to Jace, Killian, and Dean.
“So,” she said sharply, eyeing them.
“Your Highness,” the three of them bowed formally.
“So you’re the ones making my best friend so happy?”
“I hope so, Your Highness,” Dean said with a grin.
“Oh, and they're polite too?” She turned, winking at me before turning to the guards standing watch over the three pricks on the ground.
“And who are you?”
“Your Highness,” Killian growled in his deep baritone. “I apologize for my fellow countrymen. This is Carl Manning, Thomas Harmon, and Shawn Post. They’re Dukes of Tam, and members of the intermediary high royal council in charge of the transition.”
Adele frowned. “I was sorry to hear of the loss of your fathers,” she said quietly.
“Thank you,” Killian nodded.
Adele turned back to the three dukes glaring at her from the ground.
“And what are you doing here, on palace grounds, harassing my best friend? What exactly is going on here?”
“I’ll tell you,” Carl hissed — Carl, who’s name I guess really was Carl. So much for fake names,
“These three,” he spat, nodding his chin at my men. “They want to be kings, but they need queens to do so in Tam. And even if the council does sign off on the three of them being with one chick—”
This time it was Jace who strode over and kicked him sharply in the ribs.
Carl whined.
“Even if they do,” he spat. “She is not a princess. And in Tam, that still matters!”
Adele rolled her eyes, making me grin.
“I see. Well, I am.”
She turned to me, biting her lip before glancing up at my men.
“Is this true? You all want to be with her?”
“We’ll never hurt her, Your Highness,” Dean said quietly, his face tight. “We’ll never stop protecting her, and we’ll never stop loving her. All of us, together.”
Adele’s eyes darted to mine, and I could definitely see the “oh I have so many questions for you, girl,” look in her eyes before she turned back to the princes.
“And does Tam allow…” She blushed trailing off.
“Marriages of multiples?” Jace said with a small chuckle to my red-faced friend. “It’s rare, but yes.”
Adele nodded. “So the only problems are that half your council are traitors.” She turned and smiled thinly at the dukes. “But it seems you’re taking care of that.”
Adele continued. “So just that, and the fact that Anya isn’t royalty.”
The men were silent.
“Is that really a problem in Tam?”
They looked at each other, a fierce look flashing between them before their shoulders slumped.
“Yes,” Dean muttered. “It’s an old, ridiculous law, but it stands. And changing it could take years.”
Adele nodded, chewing on her lip before she turned to me, a small smile creeping over her face.
“Well, I guess I should have done this a long time ago,” she said quietly.
I frowned. “Done what?”
“Decree you a princess.”
My jaw dropped.
“What?”
She grinned. “Well, okay, I can’t personally, but my father and his council can.” She looked into my eyes, her face beaming. “Consider it done,” she said pulling me close and wrapping her arms around me.
“Although I am going to miss you. You’re such a good servant.”
I laughed, punching her in the arm as she giggled.
“Why?” I said breathlessly.
“Because you’re my best friend and I love you, and I want you to be happy.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, my heart feeling like it was filling my whole body as I grabbed my friend and hugged her close.
“You hear that?” she said fiercely to them. “I love her, so if you—”
“That’s never going to happen,” Jace said evenly, smiling.
Adele nodded. “Well, you can tell this to your council then. Or, what’s left of them after you throw these three in a dungeon. Tell them that your lovely girl here is no longer Anya Green. She’s now Princess Anya of Berne, effective within the week.”
I laughed out of pure silly happiness, the warmth and the love of everything around me just pouring through me.
“You know, your stepmom will never go for this.”
“Oh, about that...” She grinned at me. “Yeah, a lot has changed while you were gone last night.”
“What? Like what?”
She turned to her Captain of the Guard, reaching out and taking his hand before looking back at me with a blush on her face.