by Mara McQueen
On the bed, Kimbra froze. Bethany gulped—but didn't uncoil her fingers from Kimbra's hair.
They should have known better.
He set his sword on his holster by the altar, not taking his eyes off them. "Really?"
They finally disentangled themselves from their embrace, shifting their rumpled dresses and running their hands through their tangled hair.
Raiden approached them slowly, as they righted themselves. "Don’t use my bed. You have a perfectly decent one in the next room. It looks much comfier than mine, too."
Kimbra laughed, jumping up. "Relax. It was just a kiss."
In this room, in this moment, yes. But if word got out…"We've talked about this. If anyone finds out—"
"My terrible parents would ruin me and screw everything up. I know."
"They wouldn't ruin you." Bethany stood up, swaying a bit. Raiden spied two empty wine glasses on the nightstand. The two of them had been having a romantic evening, had they? "They'd kill me first, then Ava. For once, you won't be the center of their attention."
Raiden sagged down on his bed, head caving between his shoulders.
Kimbra's awful parents were to blame for this awful situation and his awful mood.
Banu and Dima had schemed, bought, and lied their way through so many hearts, minds, and nightmares, they'd become a threat he couldn't simply cut away.
All of Kimbra's life, they'd raised and groomed her for one purpose—becoming their ticket into the royal family. The future Queen. She could only become one if she married him.
Raiden cared for Kimbra, he did. But she was and had always been just his friend. No crushes, no stolen first kisses, no picturing what she looked like naked.
As for Kimbra, she'd grown up more into Ambers than Raiden. She liked her girlfriends bossy and blonde; no wonder she'd fallen for Bethany, who embodied stoic. She'd also had to keep her relationships a secret.
Nobody outside this room knew. Banu and Dima would have destroyed her if they'd even sniffed she wouldn't give them the precious grandbaby who'd be heir to the throne.
A year ago, Raiden and Kimbra had made a pact. Get married and play pretend while they took down her parents.
They'd made puppy eyes at each other for a couple of months, he sent her some gifts, she made sure to laugh a little louder at his jokes.
It had been so easy. Everyone already expected them to end up together; it wasn't like Raiden had bothered with any other women for more than a couple of weeks, about as much time as it took them to start picturing themselves with the crown on their heads.
Back then, Raiden had thought Ava gone for good—no, not the Ava he'd met. His Ava. The Syndicate's First Son's only Daughter. The one he was bound to marry. A faceless girl woman he'd been promised to.
Then all his plans turned upside down.
Ava had reappeared and the code demanded he go after her, thinking she'd throw some holy water on him and he'd call it a day. She'd shockingly agreed to come with him.
He should've known he was in trouble then and there.
But no. He'd suspected and watched and waited for her to show her Syndicate colors. They'd never appeared. She'd shown nothing but an unflinching instinct to survive and a bottomless optimism. If a meteor came down on the planet today, as all of humanity deserved, she'd probably be the last one standing, through sheer force of will alone.
She laughed and meant it. Spoke the truth. Didn't try to butter him with sweet nothings and bat her eyelashes at him. She just was, and he liked that.
He'd fallen for that. Hard.
He'd spent his life in the shadows, of course he'd wanted some of her sun.
Instead, he'd betrayed her. The way her eyes had frozen over with hurt on the day of the ceremony, completely blocking him out, would haunt Raiden for the rest of his days.
He'd had to do it. Banu and Dima wouldn't have accepted anybody but Kimbra as the Brotherhood's Crown Princess.
That "accident" with Azor? Patrice had tested the carrots herself—laced with a dangerous steroid. Small wonder the horse was still alive. They'd also found gunpowder residue near the trail where Ava had fallen.
He had to take down the advisors much faster than he'd originally planned.
If Banu and Dima had risked killing her once, when all they'd seen Raiden do was shrug at the mere idea of Ava, if he'd made her Crown Princess, she would've died before the wedding. If he'd rejected Kimbra, they probably would've shot Ava at the ceremony.
So Raiden had hurt her first. Great plan. Fan-fucking-tastic.
But she was still alive and would be if he kept the act up.
Kimbra tousled his hair, like she used to do on the playground. "How was your dinner with Ava?"
Raiden groaned and fell back onto the mattress, throwing his arm over his eyes.
Kimbra tsked. "How could you screw this up? Bethany and I literally went through this evening with you step by step. You go to her place—"
"We didn't get to the dinner," he bit out, more harshly than he should have. "She's worried I'm going to cheat on you with her."
"Awww, Ava is such a sweetheart. Kind of naïve—"
“Too naïve,” Bethany mumbled.
“—but her heart’s right. Too right for our Underworld.”
Raiden grimaced. Was it still? Because he'd seen the look in Ava's eyes when she'd stabbed Darius. Had felt her tremble in delight when she'd bitten his lip. The Underworld was getting to her.
Raiden wanted to hate that—should hate that out of survival instinct if nothing more; she'd threatened to kill him, too—but...he liked seeing that fire in her.
Ava was going to become Queen. Better she learn ruthless now.
He liked it when she lost control. When she was on the edge between innocent and an inferno.
He licked his teeth. The Underworld had gotten to him. Then again, weren't all royals, mafia, civilian, and everything in between, depraved down to their core?
"You need to make this right," Kimbra said. "Go to her tomorrow and—and—"
"And risk being seen by your parents' minions and have her subjected to another accident? Or poisoning?"
Banu and Dima had to have spies, implanted deep.
"I'm sorry," Kimbra muttered.
"It's not your fault." Like how it wasn't Raiden's fault his parents hadn't decapitated Banu and Dima years ago, when they hadn't had so much power and influence.
"We need to disappear from the city for a few days," Raiden said. "All three of us."
If the plan had any chance of working and catching Banu and Dima in the act, the advisors needed to think they were invincible. They always hesitated and cowered when Raiden was around. They had to taste success; only then would they make a fatal mistake.
"We could jet off to Paris," Kimbra said. "You can charm Ava away from the Brotherhood. I'd love to stroll down the Seine with Bethany."
Bethany sighed. "That would be nice."
Romance had to wait until none of them were in mortal danger. "Maybe next year. No, we're going to the festival in the Northern town. Perfect excuse."
The King and Queen usually took care of the festivities—the only part of their job they seemed to like—but Raiden could talk them out of it. He was going to become King, wasn't he? The Brotherhood had to see him enjoying himself and not grimacing for once.
Ava would probably love getting out of the city, too. She hadn't gone out walking since the wedding. One more thing Raiden's act of cruelty had taken from her.
"I'll visit Ava tomorrow and tell her about the festival, then,” Kimbra said. “Make sure she sees a friendly face in this viper pit."
Raiden clucked his tongue. "And that will make her think of me as less than a monster because…?"
"Don't worry, I'll talk you up. It's the least I can do."
"Yes, by all means, tell her how great I supposedly am with you, when I've been nothing but heinous to her. She'll love that."
"I'll be super inconspicuous, promise."
He knew one thing for sure, though, he thought as Kimbra and Bethany retreated into their room and he mustered the strength to go shower.
He couldn't wait for the day when he'd crawl into Ava's embrace, the only woman he truly loved.
Chapter Thirty
AVA
"I'm sorry, I'm tired." Ava ran a hand down her face, trying to wipe the exhaustion away. After what had happened in Raiden's study—whatever that had been, because she still couldn't make sense of it—she'd tossed and turned all night. At least nobody had fucked loudly under her window again. A small victory, but she'd take whatever she could at this point. "Can you repeat that? Because it sounded like you said—"
"Someone tried to kidnap me. And kill Axton," Ella said much, much too calmly. "We're in a safe house now, all good."
Ava shook her head. "Are you—are you joking?"
"No," Ella said patiently. "But if someone's after me, then they might be after you, too. The assassins that came attacked us were wearing weird masks, nothing like I've seen before. Until we find out what the hell is going on, keep your eyes open and your backs protected."
Oh, good. So on top of everything, now Ava had to worry she might get taken. Again.
She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "I don't like this."
The Underworld was still a great big blob of mean, but even she knew you didn't go after Axton—the most dangerous assassin in the world—and Ella without a good reason and a big plan.
Something was very, very wrong.
Ava was tired of wrong. Was tired of looking over her shoulder. Tired of the Brotherhood rules and all the emotional hell its Prince had put her through. She was so damn tired of Clan life.
But she seemed to be the only one. Her cousins were acting as if this was all normal. Just another day in the Underworld.
Ella looked a bit frazzled, shoulders too tight, bags under her eyes, but nothing to hint that she'd almost been kidnapped, for heaven's sake. "Don't worry, it's not like it was the first time someone tried to take me. And we all know it won't be the last."
Did they?
Enza, Nat, and Toni laughed over the chat, as if they were all sharing an inside joke.
Ava gawked at her monitor. "How can you all be so calm about this?"
"I already knew," the three of them said in unison, then laughed, and went on, in sync, "Jinx."
They roared with laughter. Ava gave a half-hearted snicker.
She loved her cousins, the only real family she had left. She'd give her life for them and they'd certainly been prepared to give theirs to protect her at her first wedding.
She still remembered playing in the dirt with them, fighting over the last cookie, crowding grandpa Baron's armchair at night for storytime.
But Ava disappeared when she was six. The rest of them had grown up together. Had gone through the Syndicate's secret initiation together. Had seen each other through thick and thin while Ava had been whistling to herself in the forest.
She'd missed so many moments, even the miserable ones that had brought the four of them together. They understood this world and had done their best to help Ava learn it quickly. But she still didn't get it.
No matter how many clothes she sewed or how hard she tried to force a smile on her face, she wasn't happy. She hadn't been happy back at home, either, but at least she hadn't felt this lost.
"Patrice told me about it this morning," Enzo said, a feline grin stretching his beautiful face. "Axton was quicker with the message than dear Ella."
"He had to find out who came after us, I had to come up with a plan. Divide and conquer," Ella said primly, but Ava heard the warmth in her voice at talking about her fiancé.
"Logan told me as soon as he got off the phone," Nat said. "He's upstairs looking through about two-thousand-fifty-three books trying to find a clue about those masks."
"Mason told me, too," Toni said. "Well, grunted, but it's the thought that counts."
"So...all of your fiancés told you?" Ava's voice shook; she hated it.
"Raiden didn't mention it?" Toni asked, clearly shocked.
The chat went silent.
Her beloved husband hadn't said a word to her about it. He could've sent a messenger to deliver the news if he hated talking to Ava that much.
Did he?
She had no clue what was twisting in that head of his. He ignored her for days, then kissed her like she was the air he needed to survive. He promised not to cheat on her, then he went and got another wife.
Ava couldn't keep living like this. Getting her heart trampled every other day. There was only so much a person could take.
Without the title of Crown Princess, she didn't have an ounce of authority. How could Ava help others when she couldn't help herself? She was doing the same thing as back home—hiding away in a house.
What was the point of going on?
"Enzo?" she began, already hearing the tears in her voice. "Did you find out anything about those Syndicate men who forced me to come back?"
Ava's life might be in tatters, but she'd put up with anything to find her parents' murderers. Revenge could keep her heart warm at night for the rest of her days if that was her only option.
Enzo's brows furrowed. "Not yet, spitfire. But I swear I'm getting close. I won't let you down, I promise."
So many promises.
Ava sighed, feeling her entire chest cave in. She felt like a feather carried by the wind. Directionless. Weightless. Lost.
"You know," Ella began. "If someone—not you or us, of course—but if someone had a gripe with the Prince, someone—again, not us—might, I don't know...plan to get rid of him?"
Toni rolled her eyes. "I set up this chat myself, it's secure."
"I know it is, that's why I mentioned assassinating the Brotherhood Prince. But you don't know what's on Ava's end in the Capital."
Enzo scoffed. "They've probably bugged the toilets, too. The Brotherhood is the worst—"
"I don't want anyone to kill Raiden." Ava sighed again.
His Clan loved him. She'd heard the awed whispers and seen the look in her employees' eyes. Even Seleka, who seemed to loathe the Brotherhood, never said an unkind word about Raiden. He was important to a lot of people.
The problem was Ava wasn't important to him.
"You really hate it there that much, Ava?" Nat asked.
Ava hesitated. She didn't hate the Capital itself. Apart from the advisors, whose eyes seemed to sneer at her even as their lips twisted into mocking smiles, she liked everyone here. And from what Ella had told them at the start of the conversation, she had good reason to not trust those two.
The transition clause didn't harm Ava, who'd never even seen a mission memo, but it numbed everyone else.
But as long as she stayed here, she'd be nothing but the second choice. As long as she was that...she couldn't have a real life.
She nodded.
Nat sighed, working her jaw. She opened her lips too many times, as the rest of them kept their attention glued to her.
"I've been looking over the marriage contracts," she finally said. Nobody knew more about Underworld laws than her. If anyone could find a loophole, it was Nat. "They're as solid as any Clan document I've ever seen. We can't get out unless one of the parties breaks a clause."
Ava licked her lips. Of-fucking-course.
Nat leaned so close to the camera, Ava could see herself reflected in her eyes. "But you can."
Chapter Thirty-One
AVA
"Midday snack?" Marcella asked, digging so far into her satchel, her head had vanished halfway inside it.
Ava laughed. "Yes, we have enough food for a week."
"First-aid kit?"
Seleka grimaced. "Check."
"Flares in case we get lost?" Marcella went on.
"Relax," Ava said. "We're going out for a walk in the forest. We'll be back in a couple of hours."
Marc
ella whipped her head out of the bag. "It's a jungle and going outside the gates is dangerous."
Seleka rolled her eyes. "It's a glorified garden and we're sticking to the graveled paths. Kids play on those."
"Oh, really?" Ava asked, a bit disappointed.
After the talk with her cousins and listening to Nat explain the potential dangerous fallout of ending her marriage, Ava needed a stroll through nature.
She had to clear her head. Climb away from everyone for five seconds and just listen to her thoughts, the wind, the leaves, and nobody else.
"Maybe we can go exploring for an hour or so." Seleka sighed, defeated. "But don't tell."
Ava bounced toward the gate. "Who can I tell? Rossen? He packed our lunch."
Ava greeted the guards and hurried to open the gate before they did it for her. She froze as soon as she stepped out into the spotless street.
"Hi! Accepting visitors?" Kimbra floated into view, an absolute vision, as always. She and Bethany each carried a small basket, both filled to the brim with cakes and sweets. Kimbra's smile faltered as she took in Ava's backpack. "Are you leaving?"
Haven't decided yet, have I? "Going for a walk outside the city."
Ava hadn't seen Kimbra since that awful sham of a formal breakfast. She tried not to have any resentment toward her. She failed.
What had happened hadn't been Kimbra's fault. It had been Raiden's and Raiden's alone. He'd made promises and broken them. But Kimbra could have warned her so Ava wouldn't make a fool of herself in front of everyone. Instead, she'd pretended at being her friend—and still tried to, apparently.
Yet, as soon as they locked eyes, deep, raw guilt took the breath out of Ava. Had Raiden told Kimbra what had happened in his study? Should she?
If Ava had been in Kimbra's place, she'd want to know her beloved was going around giving bloody kisses.
But what if Kimbra didn't believe her? What if she took it as Ava's way or worming herself into her and Raiden's business?
Ava did not need this right now.
"Mind if we join you? Bethany is super outdoorsy," Kimbra said so excitedly, it was really, really hard to say no.