Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,87

you’re saying that the last you heard from him was when he called you from the Royal Archives?” he clarified, pushing aside fears that weren’t going to help at the moment and attempting to get back on track by sorting through the facts.

Oliver’s chin wobbled. Eddie was far more than just their brother. He was their security, their safe space, their glue.

“Ollie?” Leo prompted as Hugo reappeared with a tray of hot tea.

“Um, yeah,” Oliver said, straightening his spine and accepting a steaming mug from Hugo. He took a sip, and it seemed to fortify him. “That was the last time we talked to him,” Oliver went on in a stronger voice. “And we didn’t really worry, because we knew he’d probably had to pull an all-nighter—”

“Because that horrid Hans is a useless ass,” Linnea mumbled under her breath.

“And because Eddie always works too hard,” Tilde said, her voice quavering. “He’d totally stay all night if that’s what it took.”

“He wanted to get the whole project done before the ball,” Astrid whispered, still huddling against Leo’s side as Hugo dispensed tea to her sisters. Then Astrid pushed away a little so she could look Leo in the face. “Are you… Leo, are you really going to marry him? Because he was super excited about the two of you announcing your engagement today, but you never even gave him a ring.”

Leo’s chest filled with a painful pressure. She was right. And he hadn’t just failed to give his love a ring, he’d failed to give Eddie a proper proposal at all… two facts that had unfortunately only occurred to him after Eddie’s adorable rambling had caught him up short for a moment during their most recent FaceTime call.

I want to marry you, Eddie had said. I didn’t actually say yes because you didn’t actually ask… but I would have.

Farging hell. Leo truly wasn’t qualified to love Eddie the way Eddie deserved, but he’d already acknowledged that hurdle and decided to overcome it. Just as soon as he got his little librarian back, his first priority would be to make up for each and every one of his shortcomings in the love department, but until then, well… they needed to focus on simply getting Eddie back.

“Of course he’s going to marry Eddie,” Tilde said when Leo failed to answer quickly enough, squeezing the mug Hugo had given her so tightly that her hands turned white as she added, “Right, Leo?”

Her voice may have wobbled, but the look she pinned him with reminded Leo so much of the fierce way Eddie had defended Linnea on the day they’d met that his throat tightened.

He cleared it, holding her gaze steadily. “Yes,” he said firmly, not ever wanting any of them to doubt it. “As soon as he’ll have me.”

Her shoulders relaxed and the whisper of a smile ghosted across her mouth. “Good,” she said, dropping her eyes as she took a sip of her tea.

“We just… we just assumed that, you know, he’d decided to come over here last night,” Astrid said, her voice trembling as she hugged herself, looking lost.

“Tea, Miss Astrid,” Hugo murmured, guiding her over to a plush, upholstered chair and pushing a mug into her hands.

She took it, but didn’t drink, her eyes still locked onto Leo like she needed him to make things right… like she trusted him to.

He wouldn’t let her down. He wouldn’t let any of them down. He wanted to be responsible for them, to take care of them, to make things right in their lives… and it was exactly what he’d discovered about his duty to Rosavia: responsibility for something he truly loved wasn’t a burden at all. It was a privilege, and for a moment, in the midst of heartache, Leo suddenly felt blessed.

Love would always be worth it, even when it came with a side of tears.

“We will find him, Astrid,” Leo said, willing her to believe him.

And it had to be true. Leo simply wouldn’t accept any other option.

“But… but how? He wasn’t in his room this morning and his bed was still made and we were… we were happy for him,” Astrid said, a tear rolling down her cheek as she whispered, “We thought he was with you, and we were happy. He… he really likes you, Leo.”

“You were just happy Eddie wasn’t around to hover outside the bathroom door when you were using up all the hot water in the shower, Astrid,” Linnea snapped, setting her mug down on the