Page 31 of Royally Arranged

Kurtis rocked forward, his elbows on the table and his fingers woven together. “I don’t mind getting to the point. I assume your mother and father laid out our offer?”

“Is that what you’re calling it,your offer?” I snorted. “Say it for what it is: a threat so that I’ll marry Nova. This isn’t much different than the offer you made to me and my family months ago. How did you put it back then? Something about no danger coming to us as long as we didn’t try to rise above our stations?”

Every eye was on me. Kurtis’s lips were thin from being pressed together. I wondered what my father’s expression was, but I didn’t break from my stare-down. I wanted Kurtis to know he didn’t scare me. None of them did.

Valencia breathed in, gathering herself and shattering the tension with a little clap. “All I heard in that little rant of yours is that you’ve chosen Nova. Which is good, that’s a step in the right direction.”

I stiffened at her observation. I’d been angry, but I hadn’t meant to reveal something that they could use against me. I looked over at Nova. She was chewing on her bottom lip, pulling it back and forth over her bottom row of teeth. I wondered what she was thinking. She was much harder to read than her sister, who was turning pink and openly scowling at me. I guessed she’d stop wasting her time flirting with me now.

Maverick motioned for a waiter. “The vibe is a bit aggressive,” he said. “Let’s order some drinks, and then we can continue with the details.”

“Fine.” I leaned over my mother so that I could speak to the waiter first. “Do you know how to make a brown derby?” The waiter blinked stupidly. “It’s not complicated. Tell your bartender to just mix some bourbon with some honey and grapefruit juice.”

Everyone else ordered wine. In silence we sat, and even after the drinks came, we still tiptoed around the elephant in the room. It was driving me mad. I started to count the hummingbirds to stay sane.

Under the table, something nudged me. Lifting my eyes, I caught Nova smiling. It was a tiny twist of her lips, like she was silently apologizing for the situation her family had put us in. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to be sorry. I knew the helplessness that came along with being the child of a power-hungry father.

Setting her goblet down, Valencia went, “Ahem.” It drew everyone’s attention. “Let me start by saying this. My sister has lived a very comfortable life here for many, many years.”

My motherhmm’dunder her breath. “Amazing that she’s willing to just walk away from all that comfort. I see she didn’t deign to join us, either.”

The other woman’s smile was plastic beneath her vibrant peach-colored lipstick. “Let me finish. She lived comfortably, but the people here never embraced her. She’s quite relieved to exit and return to the States. Austere won’t interfere with you taking the crown,” she finished while turning her hooded eyes to me.

“Of course she won’t,” I said, shrugging lazily. “She’s got a sister who’ll keep feeding her money, money probably supplied by this kingdom. All the reward, none of the work.”

“Thorne ...,” my mother sighed. Then she pursed her lips and said flatly, “Well. He’s not wrong.” She glanced over at Kurtis and his wife. “Both of you clearly benefited from her being the queen. I expect you’ll give her anything she needs to support her lavish lifestyle elsewhere.”

Her directness had me and my father grinning into our drinks.

Kurtis pushed his shoulder blades back, cracking his joints. “There’s more than enough wealth in the royal vaults to go around. A little to my sister-in-law won’t hurt anyone.”

Nova squirmed, suddenly interested in the basket of bread on the table. She took a piece, but she didn’t eat it, just looked at it from multiple angles.

“So break it down for me,” I said. “How exactly would you like this to go?”

Kurtis eyed his two daughters as he spoke to me. “You would marry one of them. Nova sounds like your preference.” He tossed me a quick look and a quicker smile. “We would then stage an engagement photo session to announce to Torino and the world that the crown prince in line for the throne is marrying Nova Valentine. That would lead some positive buzz into the coronation dinner. After that, it would be a simple matter to arrange the wedding, making it official.”

“You really do have our lives planned out,” I mused. Why was my glass empty already? I didn’t recall inhaling my drink, but I must have.

“There is more.” Kurtis turned his attention to my parents. “We all know that this marriage would only protect my family for so long. If something happened to Hawthorne, well, we’d be back to square one.”

“How considerate of you to worry about my health.” I didn’t hide the poison in my voice. “What would keep this union from just being a waste of time?” And as I asked, I knew the answer.

“A baby,” Nova said, finally lifting her eyes from the torn-up bread. “My parents expect us to create the heir that Austere couldn’t.”

Sweat began to sprout along my throat.

“Yes,” her father said. “That’s exactly it. A child is the only thing that would truly protect my family from being tossed aside in the long run. It secures our future claim to the crown by blood.”

“Thorne?” my mother asked gently. “You’re hearing this?”

“Oh, I’m hearing it. Loud and clear.” I tilted my glass, squinting into it. It was empty, it didn’t matter. No amount of alcohol could wipe clean the sensation of unease growing inside me.

I was going to become not just the king, but a father. My whole life was laid out in front of me. But it wasn’tmyfate. It wasn’t ever supposed to be. If it belonged to anyone, it was Costello. That thought made me realize how little my father had said in this whole meeting.

How could he sit there, silently letting this happen?

I pivoted so I could level my glare at him. He was hunched forward, all hard planes and emotionless rock. “I guess you shouldn’t have wasted all that time preparing Costello for this kind of life, huh?” I laughed, and I was sure they could all hear my disgust. “It’s just crazy.”

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