Page 19 of Tall, Royal Hater
The scoff was automatic.Sweet, my fucking ass.
I thought the sound had been quiet, but when I peered up, Mum and Prince Arsh were staring at me.Fuck.
“What was that for, Sher?” Mum asked, her tone laced with accusation. I opened my mouth, but no explanation came out when her eyes narrowed. “You don’t agree that she’s sweet?”
Ah, shit.
No, I didn’t agree one bit. But I couldn’t tell Mum I thought Mariyah was about as sweet as the bitter peel of a lemon and just as sour as the flesh inside. I’d hear an endless lecture about how I was being rude and judgemental.
I straightened and scratched a set of fingers over my trimmed beard as I thought of a cover-up. “Uh, no. It’s not that I don’t agree.” I forced my lips up into something that hopefully resembled a smile. “I was just thinking of some of the things Mariyah and Princess Esmeralda used to get up to.”
Prince Arsh chuckled. “I take it they gave you a lot of trouble?”
I hummed and nodded. “They did.”
Trouble was one name for it. A fucking cycle of rage-induced aneurysms after hateful hard-ons was another.
“No wonder she’s getting on so well with Pierre,” Prince Arsh said and nodded to something on my left. “I mean, look. He’s still glued to her side.”
It wasn’t as if I wanted to look or as if I cared. But I had the same reaction as when someone said, “Look! A bird!”. My attention zipped around to find it.Find her.
My teeth, my fingers around the glass, and every damn muscle in my body clenched as a searing current sparked inside me and slowly pulsed up to cover the entire surface of my skin.
Pierre was handsome, I’d allow him that, with his ruby-red eyes and white-toothed grin. But he had no fucking concept of personal space. And Mariyah was drinking up his attention shamelessly.
They were chatting and staring into each other’s eyes like there was no one else there. Kind of like they’d been doing outside the kitchen. It was disgraceful.
Fuck. I wanted to go over there and yank them apart. Because Mariyah was Esmeralda’s friend, and it was embarrassing the way she was leaning up to whisper in Pierre’s ear.
My teeth rubbed across each other, creating a disgusting squeak in my ear that made my jaw twitch.
Someone needed to gouge Pierre’s eyes out for practically licking up her body every chance he got.
I could have done it. All I needed was a knife.
It didn’t have to be sharp. In fact, I’d have preferred it not to be.
“Oh, just look at them,” Mum fussed excitedly, placing a hand against Prince Arsh’s chest. “First Esmeralda and Kai fell in love, so wouldn’t it be sweet if now their best friends fell in love too?”
I gulped down the rest of my drink to avoid laughing at how ridiculous the idea was.
“What’s the plan?” Prince Arsh asked.
Mum lifted a brow. “Are you suggesting that I am about to meddle, dear?”
I covered my mouth with my fist as the sparkling liquid went down the wrong pipe. Eyes watering and burning, I tried hard to keep the spluttering coughs quiet while my focus flew between my mother and her secret boyfriend-turned-fiancé.
The man chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare, my love. But I agree that a little encouragement might help.”
“Brilliant! Then I’ll go speak to Esmeralda and see what she thinks.”
Mum kissed his cheek before patting mine and then left me standing there trying to catch up with the conversation I’d just witnessed. But as I blinked at Prince Arsh, and he smiled softly back at me, it occurred to me that Mother’s nonsense about Mariyah might have only been an excuse to get away.
She bloody damn schemed to force me to be alone with Prince Arsh.
Trying to talk to him for her sake would have been the right thing to do, but I was tired from the early morning flight, and I didn’t want to deal with an unwanted interaction. I promised Mum I’d be open to getting to know him better over our stay, but I hadn’t meant immediately.
I lifted the empty flute in my hand the moment Prince Arsh opened his mouth. “I’m going to get a refill,” I said and stepped back. I bowed my head and turned, but—
