Alexandra turned her glare on him. “Am I offending your noble sensibilities, brother? Too bad. I’m a princess and I do what andwhomI want.”
Nathan clapped and poured her a drink. “It’s good to see you, Alex, but I’m afraid you’re throwing off our clandestine meeting vibe,” he whispered conspiratorially.
“Sorry to say that I have unfinished business with my brother,” Alexandra said.
Teddy swallowed a gulp of whiskey warily. “None I’m aware of.”
She cocked her head and sweat broke out on Teddy’s lower back. She couldn’t possibly know what he’d done before the binding ceremony. Stella had been rushed, but he’d seen the sincerity on her face. She wanted to help, and she had.
And yet…her judgment nagged at him. She’d been adamant that she couldn’t promise Alexandra wouldn’t remember.
“Cut it a bit close today, Teddy,” Alexandra said, watching him over the rim of her whiskey. When he didn’t respond, she tugged on her linen vest and sat up a little straighter. “Not as close as Stella, though.”
Teddy tried to look disinterested, but all he had been able towrangle so far without being obvious was that Stella was advancing in the Games. He didn’tcareabout her, but he didn’t want her to die. The feeling of immense relief was just because she survived, and he didn’t have to feel her death or see her family upset.
He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. “Oh?”
Alexandra’s eyes lit up. “I knew you were interested.”
“Well, of course I am.” Teddy tapped his chest to indicate the bond.
She scoffed. “Yes, I’m sure you’re just concerned about your own well-being.”
Teddy scoured his brain for something to say to deflect. Stella hadn’t grown on him. If anything, it was just a magical bond that made him care. “I’m just worried about the fairy princess getting herself hurt in a tournament for warriors.”
Alexandra arched a brow. “I wish she’d heard you call her that. I’d love to see her clock you for being an ass. Stella is as well-trained as you are and you know it. Don’t be sexist.”
“I’m not sexist. I’m just saying that she is untested and too whimsical for this kind of brutality,” Teddy said.
Alexandra opened her mouth to counter him, but Nathan gasped and sat up straighter, his gaze fixed on someone at the bar.
“Who is that? In the lilac?” he asked.
Alexandra craned her neck to see who he was looking at. She turned back to follow Nathan’s gaze a second time, as if to check if he was joking. “You mean Rosie McKay?”
Nathan choked and sputtered on his whiskey. “Thatis Rosie McKay? Wasn’t she just a child?”
Teddy rolled his eyes. Nathan had always been in such a rush to seem older and more mature, but he was only two years older than Rosie.
Rosie sat on a stool at the bar with two friends. Intricately woven flowers adorned her lilac dress, and when the light fabric shifted with her movement, it looked like a living garden. That, combined with the flower crown atop her neatly braided golden-brown hair, gave her the look of a forest goddess. She was tanner than Stella and her eyeswere brown instead of green, but of course, the two weren’t related by blood. They did, however, share some of the same mannerisms, like the way Rosie glanced around the room every few minutes and the way she sipped her wine.
“Pretty sure you were children at the same time,” Alexandra said to Nathan, echoing Teddy’s annoyance. “But if you mean that Rosie has grown into her beauty, you’re certainly right about that. Not that she’d bother with someone like you.”
Alexandra met Teddy’s gaze over the rim of her glass, a hint of mischief in her eyes.
Nathan cocked his head to the side and glared at her. “What do you mean, someone likeme?”
Alexandra feigned a casual shrug. “You know, she likes romantic guys. She’s an artist. She wants someone more cultured and less…slutty.”
Nathan scoffed. “Alex, are you saying you think that’s a woman I couldn’t win over?”
Alexandra leaned her elbows on the table, her hands clasped under her chin. “I think you’d be suicidal to go after the youngest McKay. If her mother doesn’t chase you off, her warrior father will, and if either of them aren’t enough, let’s not forget that Stella and Leo would cut your dick off for even sniffing around their little sister. I’m afraid for all your charm, there are some women who are just not for you, Nathan, love.”
Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose. Alexandra may as well have put a target on Rosie’s back.
Nathan was on his feet and halfway across the bar in a second. Alexandra just laughed into her drink.
“My baby sister is a fucking menace,” Teddy grumbled.
