shoulder. “I hope you
decide to win, because the rest us of love you and want to feel close to you,
like family should. We hate that you’ve isolated yourself. We’re all here for
you. You just have to decide to join us in the love and laughter. In the light.
This is your home. I hope you start acting like we’re your family, too.”
Piper brushed a kiss across her cheek, and it took
everything inside Alea not to pull away. Piper must have felt or sensed it
because she had the saddest look on her face as she turned away.
And she’d screwed up again. Alea sank to the couch. It
seemed like the only thing she was capable of lately. The doors closed behind
Piper ,and Alea suddenly felt how very alone she was. Piper’s words rustled
around in her brain.
“Lea?” a soft voice called out.
She should lock her doors.
Alea sighed. “Yes, Yas?”
Yasmin walked in, still in her perfectly tailored gown. “I
heard there was trouble.”
“It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to bring her cousin in on
all the problems of the evening. She really just wanted to shut out the world
and go to bed.
“I doubt that.” She spoke with an upper crust British
accent, no hint of her Bezakistani roots at all. Yas had worked for years to
fit into the English ideal of perfection. She’d bleached her hair a platinum
blonde and maintained a slender figure. She wore the right clothes and the
right makeup. She was everything Alea wasn’t. Somehow picking out the perfect
outfit for the season didn’t matter so much anymore.
Find the good. That’s what Piper had recommended. There was no good. She was wrong.
“Lea? Are you still with me?”
Alea shook her head. “Sorry. I’m really tired.”
“I heard about what Tal and those horrible guards of yours
did. Is it true that he gave them complete control over your security?”
“What?”
Yas leaned in, sympathy softening her face. “Tal released
those brutes from his service tonight and dedicated them to your protection
full time.”
It was the absolute worst outcome. Dane, Cooper, and Landon
would be on her case twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And now they
had no reason to be nice about it. They would watch and hover, silent and
unsmiling, a constant reminder of how awful she’d been. “Are you sure?”
“Oliver overheard them. You know he’s always been dreadfully
concerned about your welfare. It’s very difficult for me to forget that he was
interested in you before he was interested in me.”
And this was why she didn’t spend much time with Yas
anymore. Her cousin was never content to merely talk. She had to find a way to
turn the conversation to herself, usually about how terribly she was being
treated. It wasn’t that Yasmin was a bad person. She’d simply always felt like
a lesser relation because her parents hadn’t lived in the palace. “We’re just
friends, Yas. He married you.”
“I know.” Her eyes turned down. “I just always wonder if he
regrets not marrying the real princess.”
Not that again. “Yas, I only have the title because our
uncles legally adopted me, and they only did that to protect me. They were
still my aunt and uncles. That’s what I called them, not mom and dad. They made
certain I didn’t forget my real parents.”
“Still, you’re referred to as a princess and you have the
trust fund to go with it. Most men would be interested in marrying into that.”
“Well, it’s Bezakistan. Even as a ‘princess’ who isn’t in
line to ascend, if I marry, I’ll be expected to take at least three husbands.
Our country is modern compared to some of its neighbors, but it’s still steeped
in tradition. Be grateful you got a choice to marry exactly who you want and
love.”
Three husbands. Big and broad men who could protect her and
care for her if she would only let them. Dane, Coop, and Landon’s faces swam
through her thoughts.
Yasmin
decide to win, because the rest us of love you and want to feel close to you,
like family should. We hate that you’ve isolated yourself. We’re all here for
you. You just have to decide to join us in the love and laughter. In the light.
This is your home. I hope you start acting like we’re your family, too.”
Piper brushed a kiss across her cheek, and it took
everything inside Alea not to pull away. Piper must have felt or sensed it
because she had the saddest look on her face as she turned away.
And she’d screwed up again. Alea sank to the couch. It
seemed like the only thing she was capable of lately. The doors closed behind
Piper ,and Alea suddenly felt how very alone she was. Piper’s words rustled
around in her brain.
“Lea?” a soft voice called out.
She should lock her doors.
Alea sighed. “Yes, Yas?”
Yasmin walked in, still in her perfectly tailored gown. “I
heard there was trouble.”
“It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to bring her cousin in on
all the problems of the evening. She really just wanted to shut out the world
and go to bed.
“I doubt that.” She spoke with an upper crust British
accent, no hint of her Bezakistani roots at all. Yas had worked for years to
fit into the English ideal of perfection. She’d bleached her hair a platinum
blonde and maintained a slender figure. She wore the right clothes and the
right makeup. She was everything Alea wasn’t. Somehow picking out the perfect
outfit for the season didn’t matter so much anymore.
Find the good. That’s what Piper had recommended. There was no good. She was wrong.
“Lea? Are you still with me?”
Alea shook her head. “Sorry. I’m really tired.”
“I heard about what Tal and those horrible guards of yours
did. Is it true that he gave them complete control over your security?”
“What?”
Yas leaned in, sympathy softening her face. “Tal released
those brutes from his service tonight and dedicated them to your protection
full time.”
It was the absolute worst outcome. Dane, Cooper, and Landon
would be on her case twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And now they
had no reason to be nice about it. They would watch and hover, silent and
unsmiling, a constant reminder of how awful she’d been. “Are you sure?”
“Oliver overheard them. You know he’s always been dreadfully
concerned about your welfare. It’s very difficult for me to forget that he was
interested in you before he was interested in me.”
And this was why she didn’t spend much time with Yas
anymore. Her cousin was never content to merely talk. She had to find a way to
turn the conversation to herself, usually about how terribly she was being
treated. It wasn’t that Yasmin was a bad person. She’d simply always felt like
a lesser relation because her parents hadn’t lived in the palace. “We’re just
friends, Yas. He married you.”
“I know.” Her eyes turned down. “I just always wonder if he
regrets not marrying the real princess.”
Not that again. “Yas, I only have the title because our
uncles legally adopted me, and they only did that to protect me. They were
still my aunt and uncles. That’s what I called them, not mom and dad. They made
certain I didn’t forget my real parents.”
“Still, you’re referred to as a princess and you have the
trust fund to go with it. Most men would be interested in marrying into that.”
“Well, it’s Bezakistan. Even as a ‘princess’ who isn’t in
line to ascend, if I marry, I’ll be expected to take at least three husbands.
Our country is modern compared to some of its neighbors, but it’s still steeped
in tradition. Be grateful you got a choice to marry exactly who you want and
love.”
Three husbands. Big and broad men who could protect her and
care for her if she would only let them. Dane, Coop, and Landon’s faces swam
through her thoughts.
Yasmin
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