Page 40 of Royally Bad

“Here,” she said, offering me a pair of white flats. “No hurting your feet today.”

I took the shoes, but I was still dazed. “Fran, it’s hard for me to believe all of this.”

“Why?” She pulled her hair up, watching me in the mirror as she tied it back. “It doesn’t change anything. We’re not ruling the world, it’s all just a technicality. Dad’s brother is king in his homeland. I’m not sure why he left, but hey, he met Mom and they had babies and now I’m here to give you awesome clothes and make the world a better place.” Laughing, she winked at me. “Too bad, though, I would have kicked ass as a princess in a royal court.”

Kain’s a prince.

I’d slept with a prince.

If I’d kept a sex bucket list, I might have made a check mark next to that.

“Instead of running a country or getting married, I just get dragged off to jail thanks to my asshole family,” she mumbled.

That’s right. The ceremony was interrupted.Studying her, I noticed how tight her jaw was. “I’m really sorry about that. When are you and Midas going to finish tying the knot?”

“Never, at this rate.” Slamming her palms onto her vanity, she huffed. “Daddy isn’t going to let anyone onto the estate until things settle down. He trusts no one right now, not even a priest, of all people.”

An idea crossed my mind, but I didn’t get to voice it. Knuckles banged on the door, startling us both.

“Hey,” a rough, oddly quiet male voice said. “Is she in there with you?”

“It’s Costello,” Fran said, scowling at the door. “Give us a fucking minute!”

I flinched at her swinging mood.She really doesn’t like him.I wondered what the scarred brother had done to earn her ire.

Opening the door, I stared up at the tallest brother. He didn’t wear a comfortable smile like Kain. He also lacked that casual, predatory curiosity that I’d seen on Hawthorne. With a face as still as a pond in spring, the pale-eyed brother looked down on me.

I’d meant to tell him to relax, here I was. Somehow, faced with his steady, somber eyes that dug through mine and kept on searching, I lost some of my backbone. Maverick didn’t scare me, but Costello ...

Dressed in a loose, burlap-textured shirt with a laced-up neck, his lean body was like a master swimmer’s. Everyone in this family was graced with stupidly good genes.

Has he even blinked yet?I wondered.

Costello turned away, and I had the oddest sense that I’d failed some test. “This way,” he said boredly.

Collecting myself, I followed him down the stairs. “Where are we going?”

“Maverick wants you.”

“Did you guys find photos from the wedding?”

“We did.”

Making conversation with him isn’t easy, ugh.I was saved from having to bother. Pushing the den open, he motioned for me to enter. I slid under his arm, not having to duck to do so.

The men were all standing around a table inside. They looked up, the air full of expectancy. How long had they been waiting for me?

Kain’s eyes were hollow, the lower edges purple and shiny. He looked flat-out tired. When he spotted me, his exhaustion lifted away so that he could grace me with that half smirk of his that I found so thrilling.

“There she is,” Maverick grunted.

I waved, but the soft rumble of my stomach said hello before I could. I didn’t blush, though; how could they not expect me to be starving?

“Good,” Hawthorne said. “Let’s get this going.”

A wave of lightheadedness shook me. “Before I do anything, I need something,” I said.

The guys all shared a look. Maverick eyed me warily. “Whatever it is, just ask.”

---