my eyes seems to ease. Besides Cara, Beckett was my best friend growing up. He’s actually my half-brother—our mother had him with my father’s brother, which caused about as much controversy as you can imagine—but he’s as much my brother as Theo is.
“Try not to let them get to you.”
“Who?”
Beckett rolls his eyes. I know who he’s talking about—our brother, Theo, and his beautiful, graceful wife, Cara.
Also known as the love of my life, the shatterer of my heart, the bane of my existence, and, unfortunately, my new sister-in-law.
Beckett lets out a sigh and exits the limousine. His lopsided smile greets the flashing cameras, and I take a deep breath. I’m next.
Reaching into my pocket, I pop two painkillers into my mouth. Whenever I get stressed, my body screams with burning pain. Nerve pain. Right now, as I stare up at Theo and Cara, it’s bad.
When I walk out, I don’t look at the cameras. I ignore the clamoring of reporters and the death glares my eldest brother gives me. I just walk straight toward the castle without acknowledging the crowds.
What do I care about the people of Farcliff? Why should I give a fuck about the journalists and news reporters who have done nothing but tear me to shreds? They’ll look for any glance, any facial expression, any word to show how heartbroken I am over Cara’s wedding to my brother.
Not that it’d be hard to find something.
Theo’s eyes burn holes into my back. I pause on the top step, and I can sense his approach without even turning to see him.
“Behave yourself,” he hisses in my ear. “This visit in Farcliff is important.”
“For you, you mean.”
“For all of us. For all of Argyle. This is your first public appearance since Singapore, in case you’ve forgotten. It’s your chance to show yourself to the world.” His trimmed beard has a few white hairs growing in it. He looks old—a fact that brings me more pleasure than it should. He lowers his head toward me as cameras continue to flash. “Just don’t make a scene. Your date will be here any minute.”
“Wonderful.” I roll my eyes. “I’m so glad you were able to arrange a suitable match for me, Your Majesty. Or are you going to take her into your bed as soon as I turn my back, too?”
Beckett distracts the photographers by stepping forward with a dazzling smile. He glances at me for just a moment, giving me a pointed stare.
His eyes say, Don’t do it. Calm down. Get through the night.
Theo is staring at me, too—and his eyes are blazing. His anger only serves to feed mine. It pours into me like liquid heat, sending sharp daggers through my chest.
Who the fuck is he to be mad at me? I didn’t swoop into his life and steal his bride away. He did that to me. And now, I’m supposed to forget it ever happened?
Fuck. That.
I’ll make a scene if I want to.
Cara appears beside him, hooking her arm into Theo’s. She smiles at me with soft eyes. The aggression inside me evaporates, replaced with a dull thud in my empty chest.
“Everything okay with you two?”
I incline my head. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Luca, I wish you wouldn’t call me that.” Her plump, red lower lip juts out, and I remember sucking that lip between my own not too long ago.
I arch an eyebrow. “Why not? You earned the title.”
She earned it by sleeping with my brother while I was getting my spinal cord stitched back together and learning to walk again. She earned it after assuring me that she’d wait for me.
Theo clears his throat. “Here comes your date. Behave.”
I turn to the bottom of the wide steps to see a blonde woman with an entourage bigger than ours. Her dress looks painted onto her perfect body, and I can’t deny how beautiful she is. Her tits are plump and perky, and every step she takes as she climbs the stairs makes her look more seductive than the last. She walks in like she belongs here, flashing a dazzling smile at me, angling her face toward the cameras.
I feel nothing.
I’m empty, except for the low, simmering rage that always bubbles when Theo’s near.
“Your Majesties,” the woman says as she curtsies for my brother and his wife. The blonde beauty turns to me, and a slight pink tinge colors her cheeks. She bows her head. “Nice to finally meet you, Prince Luca.”