or something. That’s what Mom told me anyway. She didn’t talk about him a lot. He left when I was ten, and I’ve made it a specific point not to look him up. I think, technically, I could be the same rank as Alyssa and those other girls because of him. But I don’t give a shit about that, and I don’t think it would be fair of me to use it as leverage to get anyone to respect me. After all, Dad ran out on us. Doesn’t exactly speak volumes about his love for me or Mads—and call it stupid pride, but I’m not going to start name dropping my asshole father just to win a battle of social ranking with some shallow, desperate girls.
“Because you don’t care about any of it. I like that.” Asher’s voice is soft, and he squeezes my knee.
“I might have, if I’d grown up in it,” I admit. “Mom did magic, so we knew about its existence, obviously. But we were pretty isolated from that whole world. I don’t know much about… well, anything. I feel like a complete outsider. If I was raised by my dad, maybe I would care about all this, just like Alyssa.”
“But that’s a what-might-have-been, and if you think too much about those you’ll go crazy,” he replies with a gentle laugh. “You’re you, and I like who you are. You don’t care what people think about you. You don’t let it change who you are.”
“But… what if I do care?” I ask softly.
“What do you mean?”
I shrug, finishing up my sandwich. Asher’s sweet and lets me, waiting, not pushing or changing the subject. I look down at my hands, rubbing them together to warm them up. “I don’t know how much you heard…”
“Enough.”
I nod, still focused on my hands in my lap. “I know it’s not true, but it’s hard not to… to hear them when they call me names like…”
My voice trails off, and I wrinkle my nose as my eyes sting. Goddamn it. For all my brave talk to Alyssa’s face, I can’t help but feel hurt by her words.
Slut.
Leading them on.
Is that what I am? Is that what I’m doing?
Especially the “leading them on” part. Roman’s made it clear he wants something more with me and is okay with sharing, which is a whole mindfuck I’ve been avoiding thinking about, but I’ve been clear with him from the start I can’t promise more than sex. Cam and I have made out, and he flirts with me like we’re already dating, but we haven’t really talked about it in an official way. Asher and I have kissed twice now, and we’re sitting here so close together, and he’s said that he wants to be with me…
“If I’m leading you on,” I whisper, “or being unfair to any of you…”
“Hey, no. No way.” Asher takes my hand, squeezing gently. “If you were, I’d say something. There’s a difference between leading someone on and trying to figure out what you want.”
“You seem so sure.” I glance up into his deep green eyes. “You seem to know… so much. And then here I am just bumbling around in the dark about literally everything.”
“I wouldn’t say I know a lot,” he replies with an easy smile. “And I’ve had to be sure of who I am, even if others don’t always like it. I’m the youngest of thirteen, so it sort of comes with the territory.”
I gape at him. “You’re what?” I knew he had a big family, but not that big.
Asher laughs. “Your face is amazing. Yeah, there’s some old spell that affected the Prince family ages ago—we always have a ton of sons. I guess it was supposed to be a blessing of some kind? Back in medieval times when kids died a lot and sons were oh-so-important and all that.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, I know. So. Twelve older brothers. My mom jokingly called me Hans after we saw Frozen.”
“You’re not secretly planning on stealing a throne, are you?”
“Nah, way too much trouble.” He smiles. “But, honestly, growing up with that many people in the house—I had to learn that I wasn’t always going to get all the attention. That I might fade into the background sometimes. And that that’s okay, if I’m confident in who I am. My time will come; everyone gets their turn. So that’s why I’m… the way I am. It wasn’t always easy, but I’ve made it work, and I think I make myself