Page 29 of Broken Truths

“He seemed messed up,” Oliver says. “He looked straight through Edie like he was seeing a ghost.” Gazing at the rest of us, he taps his foot. “Okay, so what news does everyone else have?”

I turn toward Leo, but it’s Alaric who answers first. “My dad asked me to quit the college.” My stomach twists as I swing toward him. He’s staring at me. “I resigned last night. I won’t be your professor anymore.”

My shoulders droop. I knew Alaric’s father wasn’t happy about him leaving the business and, of course, losing a bunch of money, but I didn’t think he’d make him leave Carnegie in the middle of a semester.

“You going back to work for Barclay Enterprises?” Leo asks. When Alaric nods in confirmation, he leans back into the couch. “He’ll probably open up more. That’s exactly where he wants you.”

“That’s bollocks, Alaric. Sorry,” Oliver says.

Alaric shrugs. “It is what it is. He still wants me to watch Eden as my assignment. As long as that’s what the Knights still want me to do. If they decide they don’t need me, it’ll be hard to keep showing up here.”

My stomach tightens. “I guess we’ll deal with that if it comes to it.”

Electricity is thrumming through my veins. I can barely sit still.

“And,” Alaric adds, “my father wants me to think about my marriage prospects.” He sears an unnerving stare into mine. “He said he thought about talking to Alistair about Eden…” He smiles. “Except for your attitude.”

He’s done it. He’s said the M word. I wait, sure a hydrogen bomb is about to go off somewhere.

…Maybe it’s just delayed.

I chance a look at Leo, and he’s sitting there, smirking. Oliver has his arms closed around his chest like this topic is off-limits. Well, he’s not going to like it when Leo talks. That’s for sure.

“Funny you mention that,” Leo says.

I cringe.

“Grandfather wants me to marry, too. Except he does want me to marry Eden. He thinks I have her salivating for it.”

Oliver whips his head around, his gaze glaring between the two of them. “She’s already getting married.”

“Yeah, Grandfather didn’t seem to give a fuck about Keegan.”

“Not to Keegan,” Oliver growls. “To me.”

My eyes open wide. Oliver has said things before about making me his wife, but…

“Pretty sure even princes need to ask permission, fuck boy, and since that’s not something Alaric and I are aware of, it’s not a done deal.”

“Well, you’re certainly not marrying her.”

“Why not?”

“Because you just realized you liked her. I’ve loved her my entire life.”

Oliver’s standing now, his hands clenched into fists.

“Okay, okay…” Alaric panders, always the voice of reason. “Your grandfather said this to you, Leo?”

He nods. The veins pop out on his arms, and I can tell that he doesn’t want to say the next part, but he does anyway. “Of course, I can’t marry her. If I did, that would open her up to him,” he sneers.

“He’s not touching her,” Alaric and Oliver growl at the same time.

“Exactly why I can’t marry her!” Leo shouts, nostrils flaring. It’s killing him to say this. It was nice living in our fantasy last night. All the wife and husband talk was a turn on. For him to say he’d fuck me for the rest of his life… Ugh, panty-melting. But I can’t risk being a Jarvis with the way they run things. Leo is absolutely right.

He takes a few steadying breaths. “I told him I’d think of some alternatives, but you know how they are with these things. He could try to buy out Forbes’ agreement. He could be veered into another idea, though. We just have to see how it plays out, but he will not fucking touch her.”

Alaric wipes his brow. “Jesus. What is going on with our fucking fathers right now?”

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