Page 22 of The Nightmare Before Kissmas
“Then yeah,” I say to her silence. “It is terrible. Because this isn’t the goddamn Middle Ages.”
“But it’s still happening.”
“Like hell it will.”
She drops forward, head in her hands. “What do you propose we do?”
“Ugh, don’t use the wordpropose.”
“Stop it, Coal. What are our options, really? We fight this and refuse—and our fathers retract the joint announcement they’re making? You may be okay being labeled unreliable, but I work hard to be trustworthy.”
She throws that out so quickly, I have to stop myself from asking ifshethinks I’m unreliable.
So it makes me feel abnormally sleazy when I offer, “I could lean into my reputation, then. Refuse this engagement scheme. That way you don’t get blamed at all.”
She pulls back to look at me. “But what would that do to whatever alliance exists between Christmas and Easter?”
“You think we’d stop being friends if we can’t get married?”
“I’m not talking aboutus.I think ourHolidayswould struggle.”
“Well,I’mtalking about us. Because that’s what matters here.Us.Lily and I broke up, and it didn’t shatter any political alliances or whatever you’re worried about. So we’ll refuse this, and it’ll be fine too.”
Her face looks suddenly pitying. “You have no idea what your breakup with Lily did or didn’t shatter.”
My mind reels and I know it shows in the way I gape at her. I glance at Kris, but he shrugs.
“What are you—”
Iris cuts me off with a flick of her wrist and sinks into the chair, her head lolling on the back so she stares up at the ceiling. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just—” She sighs, muscles going slack. “Nothinghappened.Not really. It made some people in our court start up that conversation again about my family’s ability to lead Easter forward, that’s all.”
Her mom’s been dead for more than ten years, and there are still people in Easter who like to poke at the fact that Neodestabilizedour whole Holiday world by marrying a normal person. Which is bullshit and just an excuse for assholes to wrestle power away fromIris’s dad. I know other factions within Easter have been circling her family her whole life, but I had no idea they’d used my rather short relationship with Lily to feed into that.
Violation churns in my stomach. “You never told me that. Iris—”
She shrugs. “Nothing actually happened, like I said. It started a few arguments in some meetings. I would’ve told you if it caused any real problems.”
Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to believe her. But I frown.
What else is she not telling me?
She’s still looking up at the ceiling, and the emotions I catch flashing over her face are all so saturated in exhaustion that my heart breaks even more. “Your relationship with Lily was never announced like this. It was never presented as a clear sign of merging our two Holidays, but it was still interpreted that way. This is different. Our fathers put bigger things into play with this announcement, and if we walk back on it…”
Her voice fades and she shrugs again, a few tears gathering in little pools at the edges of her eyes.
First, my relationship with Lily fell apart. Now, Iris and I immediately split up before we’ve even really been in a relationship.
The people within Easter set against Iris’s family would have a field day.
“Would they force your dad to abdicate?” I manage.
Iris finally looks at me, her brows popping in surprise. “No. Not over this. But they’d get responsibilities reassigned to other houses under the guise of him beingclearly overworked.They’ve done shit like that before.”
I shove to my feet and drag my hand across my jaw. My eyes flash to Kris, silent and severe, backlit by the fire.
Why couldn’t it have been Kris with Iris? It would’ve been some romantic fairy tale if it’d been those two in an arranged marriage. Not that I want my brother being used as a pawn any more than I want Iris or me wrapped up in this.
But honestly, it isn’t hard to guess why Dad used me. Kris isn’t the one who needs to be tied down out of fear of public embarrassment; he’s always been the mellow one. I’m still the risk, even after years of my best attempts at fixing my behavior. And half the time, I think Dad forgets Kris is an option. I’m pretty sure that’s part of why Kris is the way he is, steady and straitlaced and well-behaved—that’s his way of trying to get Dad’s attention. I’ve got manic acts of negligence covered.
