The Prince's Bride (Part 1) - J.J. McAvoy Page 0,64

and your sister.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not,” I said, giving my ticket to the valet to get my car. “I’m not answering Augusta’s calls because of her actions, not yours. But I have to ask since you’re here. It’s been over twenty years. How much longer do you plan on tormenting my mom? I know the reason you seem to want to keep my inheritance away from me isn’t just greed. Now that Augusta has gotten half, she has more money than she could ever need in her life. She will never be able to spend it all. The reason you want to stop me from getting mine is that you hate my mother and want her to have nothing. Why? I don’t want to think you are just evil. My father wouldn’t have cared about you if you were. So why? Aren’t you tired, Yvonne?”

She forced her thin pink lips upward, and in her eyes, all I saw was anger. “You have only ever seen the world from your mother’s perspective. I’m sure in your eyes, she has done no wrong and that I am the only one plotting. But that is Wilhelmina’s gift. She makes people underestimate her and then strikes.”

“Again, this hate—”

“Did she tell you that she was still in contact with your father—not about you—behind my back until he died?”

I froze and shook my head. “That’s a lie. They always fought.”

She snickered bitterly to herself. “Sure, they did. You don’t know, yet you are always asking for it to end. I’ll be honest with you. I hope your mother drops dead one day for the things she did to me.”

Just like that, she walked back into the main restaurant as my car pulled to the front.

What did my mother do? Were she and my father still in some sort of relationship?

I wanted to know, but I was also scared to find out. I tried to push it to the back of my mind. This was the last thing I needed to be thinking about now.

Chapter 16

The next night, my secretary had a button on his coat that read, “We are Wyntor’s storm,” and he was not the only one. We stood in the very front row of over a thousand people, if not more, and they all had buttons or shirts or writing on their faces with some sort of tribute to Odette. I had heard people refer to themselves as Wyntorbirds, Odette’s swans, and Wyntor Nation. Not just women, either, but men, too, like Wolfgang, who was obviously a fan but somehow had hidden it well up until this point.

“Would you like a photo, sir?” Wolfgang questioned, lifting his phone.

“Have you lost your mind?” Iskandar asked him, and he was truly curious.

I never thought the day would come when I would see Iskandar as normal, but the day had arrived. Because I really did not understand the rest of the people around us who were shaking with excitement.

“When did you become part of this Wyntor Nation?” I finally asked him.

He grinned sheepishly. “I was driving the princ—your sister, and she requested I play her music. I know all the songs on her album, The Watch of the Nightingales—that one really got me. Her songs are full of symbolism. A Parliament of Owls, The Conspiracy of Lemurs, Lion’s Pride, The Parade of Elephants, and The Brace of Mallards.” He listed all of the albums or songs, pointing to his hands. “The last song on it she titled ‘WyntorsBird.’ It sounds odd, and she never mentions any of the animals outside of the title, but you sort of understand who she is comparing to them. It is like a code, and you have to figure out how they relate.”

“I do not understand a word he is saying, do you?” I questioned Iskandar.

He shook his head. “I stopped listening after he said I know all the songs, sir.”

I snickered. Iskandar grew funnier by the second. Shaking my head again, I looked to the stage where her name on the screen twisted and turned in different colors of lights. The air filled with excitement. Taking my phone, I raised it and took a picture.

“You too, sir?” Iskandar questioned, clearly regretting having allowed this outing. He was stressed enough, scanning the area around me every time someone leaned forward.

“Do not mind me. I am only tormenting my sister,” I replied, sending the photo to Eliza, grinning as I knew she would curse me for days because of this. Slowly, the lights