Stealing His Princess (Kings of Conquest #2) - Adelaide Forrest Page 0,31
floor. I shrugged on my shirt, hurriedly fastening the buttons.
The longer I stayed, the longer I risked being caught. She didn't know it, but keeping this a secret was just as much for her protection as mine. The vultures would tear her apart if she gave them a reason, and sleeping with a King who wasn't meant to be hers was plenty.
If it came out, the only thing I'd be able to do to help her was marry her. But the marriage would always be tainted by the way we started, accusations that we were only together out of a desire to save her reputation.
Allies could crumble and countries could suffer for years and decades to come because of our selfishness.
"That's not what I meant," I sighed, but I didn't soften my tone. I couldn't let her see how affected the hurt that flashed across her face made me. Bristol was a siren who would see that she was my weakness and use that to her advantage without ever realizing what she was doing.
She couldn't know that she made me weak, or that she was the one thing that threatened to unravel everything I'd worked so hard to achieve.
She didn't bother to meet my eyes again as she stood and made her way for the bathroom. "I sincerely doubt this happening again will be a problem, considering I cannot even stand to look at you,” she said. Her voice cracked as she hovered at the edge of a breakdown. “Get out.” She stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her and leaving me to finish dressing in privacy.
As soon as I'd finished, I snuck out of her suite and made my way to my own. Dread settled over me: the distinct feeling that I'd fucked up the best thing to ever happen to me. My mood was already abysmal by the time I reached our suite, and I wanted nothing more than to go shower myself clean of the guilt of what I'd done. Being with Bristol was both the most beautiful moment in my life and my greatest shame.
But the same confliction ran through me, because to wash her off would mean I would never again have her scent on my skin. I would never again feel the ghost of her nails clawing my shoulders or her hair tickling my face while I nuzzled her neck.
I stood in the middle of the empty suite, feeling alone and bereft. Whatever punishment I thought I deserved for the sins I’d just committed, I was already suffering through the hell of knowing what Heaven tasted like.
Then having it ripped away before I could even fight for it.
I stalked to the bar to pour myself more scotch. Like my father had done when he’d regretted his actions, I was determined to drown myself in alcohol. Numbness was preferable to this sharp, all-consuming ache. I looked down at the liquid, disgusted when the color of it reminded me all too clearly of the look in Bristol’s eyes as they had gathered tears before hardening like stone.
“Fuck!” I shouted, throwing the glass toward the sitting room wall, watching in fascination as the crystal shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. The dark amber liquid ran down the light wallpaper like golden tears. I needed to get Bristol out of my head, but I knew, without a doubt, I never would.
My mood only soured more when the door opened and Mother walked in, arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. Her eyes trailed to the shattered pieces of crystal littering the floor. "Where on Earth have you been?" she asked, glaring at me in accusation. "And where is Alina?"
“Mother…” I was in no mood to deal with the shit she regularly spewed at us. “Stop it.”
“So, you don’t know where your very own sister is?” She sat down on one of the occasional chairs, her leg bouncing up and down in agitation.
Resentment choked me at all the expectations people just seemed to pile on me before I shoved it down and remembered Alina. Guilt flooded me with the realization that I'd left my little sister on her own to fend off the wolves. I only hoped Reece was good to her and had given her his protection. "She's still at the picnic, the last I checked," I muttered, moving to the bar and pouring myself a scotch.
Bristol’s eyes be damned. The alcohol was necessary at that moment.