Daria nods again but doesn’t leave.Instead, a hardness rolls down her back.
“What is it?”Queen Calandra says.
Daria’s eyes flit to our group.Queen Calandra follows her gaze and then tuts, waving a hand at us.“Honoured guests, remember, and this is hardly the welcome I was hoping to give you all.”
Octavia and Xavier wave the queen off as if being exploded on was nothing.
“What exactly happened to him?”I ask, gesturing at my blood-soaked clothes.“I mean, beyond the obvious.”
The princess with dark hair, Morrigan, shoots a filthy look at her sister.“What happened is that Penelope ruined my fucking pre-wedding family dinner, because instead of going to a restaurant after your arrival, we’re back in the palace covered in magician.”
Penelope shoves a hand on her hip and shrieks at the top of her lungs.“Fuck you, Morrigan.I hardly call having my bodyguard brutally murdered in front of me, my fault.”
Annnnd the shouting we arrived to breaks out all over again.
I try to keep up.
Morrigan’s screaming at Penelope because apparently, she ruins everything.
All.The.Time.
“Oh, get a grip, Morrigan.Just because you’re the heir, you don’t have to be so fucking entitled.Everything always has to be perfect for Morrigan.”Penelope waggles her fingers in a tone that is aggressively sarcastic.
Calandra jumps in.“I hardly think throwing childish jibes at each other is the point, is it?You’re both grown wo?—”
But the pair of them cut her off, bellowing savage insults at each other.I can’t make out who did what.But these two make Octavia and I look like child’s play.If they weren’t already covered in blood, I’d be gobsmacked if their words didn’t slash fatal wounds across their bodies.Scarlett, stood at the back, closes her eyes and takes a heavy breath.
It’s Daria that shuts them up.“Quiet.”One soft word, but it severs their argument like fangs in a throat.“We have a bigger problem.”
“What is it now?”Morrigan says.
My body grows hot, not because of Morrigan, but because as I skirt around the group, I realise the blonde—I should stop calling her that, maybe legs would do instead?Princess?Deviant?Fuck toy?
I ought to stop objectifying her too.Fine,Penelope… has her baby blues set squarely on me.They drag down my body like she’s stripping me, layer by layer, dirty girl.Only as I cock my head to watch her do I realise she’s giving off the air of a very straight woman.Such a challenge.Maybe I’ll toaster oven her and make her gay just for me.I mean, I amthatgood.And she did kiss me.There’s hope yet.
Another woman comes sprinting down the hall.She looks the spit of Scarlett but with shorter hair.
“What the hell happened?”she says.
“Oh gods, Stirling,” Morrigan says and flings herself at the woman.Stirling glances at Scarlett, they share a series of expressions that reek of Gabriel and me.
Twins.
I’d bet money on it with communication like that.
Stirling kisses Morrigan, smearing the blood away before sliding her arm around her waist and tugging her in tight.
“You were saying, Daria,” Queen Calandra says.
Daria takes a deep breath.“Given the severity of the situation, and the fact that the wedding is in just under two days, all of our guards are otherwise engaged.With the investigation, the forward planning for the wedding, manning the gates, providing cover for Morrigan and yourself, we are stretched to capacity.”
“And?”Penelope says, throwing that dramatic hand on her hip again.
“And therefore, I am out of guards.There’s no one left to protect Penelope, and given the events of this evening, I find that to be of critical importance.Someone clearly has it out for her.We can’t afford to have her wandering the palace unguarded.”
The princess’s pert little nose flares, just enough to spark an overwhelming urge within me to sit on it.Naked.
Penelope huffs.“I am here, you know.You can speak directly to me,Daria.”
