Theo was meant to be king by more than birth. He genuinely loved his people, and he’d been in the process of putting policies into place that would bring their country to the world stage in a big way. That was important. More than that, Theo knew Phillip wouldn’t be satisfied until he sat on the throne, instead of behind it. Right now, he stood as third in line. The only way he could achieve his ambition was if both Cami and Edward were removed from the equation. He couldn’t pull the same trick of picking the legalities oftheirparents’ marriage apart. Their mother hailed from one of the oldest Families in Thalania. Her relatives would never stand for it.
Phillip would kill them.
It might take years. He was never one to do something to cast suspicion on himself, but he would do it.
Galen didn’t say any of that. He didn’t have to. Theo knew the truth, just like Galen knew why he was letting despair creep in. He walked around the corner of the island and pulled Theo into a hug. “We had a setback. It’s not the end. Don’t let this fuck up your head.”
“I know. Fuck, I know.” Theo’s lips moved against his temple as he spoke. “It’s hard to see the positives in this. I’m fighting and fighting and if we succeed, the prize is that I have to sacrifice two people that are most important to me.”
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
Theo huffed out a laugh. “Now I know you’re worried—you’re misquoting Shakespeare at me.”
Galen clasped the back of his neck and rested his forehead against Theo’s. “You were born for greatness. You were born to keep your people—allyour people—safe. That matters more than anything as mundane as happiness.”
“Fuck, Galen, you’re terrible at pep talks.”
“It’s not one of my skills.” He couldn’t let Theo diverge from his path, no matter how attractive Galen found the idea of walking away and never looking back. It wouldn’t work. Theo was too ambitious to sit back and meander through life without some great cause to fight for. He might think he could leave Thalania behind, but the truth was he’d change his mind.
Or he’d spend the rest of his life resenting Galen and that resentment would poison everything.
No, there was no other way.
Theo had to be king.
Galen would do whatever it took to make it happen.
Something had changedwhile Meg was in the shower. After pulling on one of Galen’s T-shirts, she’d walked out to find Theo brooding, his normally expressive face closed down and discouraging questions. Galen’s mood hadn’t lightened, either. Meg picked at her pasta and promised herself that next time she would most definitely eavesdrop. It was the only way to get reliable information with these two, for all that they claimed they wanted open communication.
Apparently, that only applied to sex.
It shouldn’t sting. They hadn’t promised her forever, despite Galen’s comment earlier, and she’d be a fool to want it.
Shewasa fool to want it.
Sometime in the last few weeks, Meg had slipped. Her anger and desire had morphed into a deeper emotion that she wasn’t quite ready to put a name to. It didn’t matter. Itcouldn’tmatter. When this was over, she’d go back to her life in New York and she’d only have her memories with these two men and the magic the three of them created together.
It wasn’t perfection. They were too human for something so flawless. What they had was messy and complicated and filled with an intimacy she hadn’t expected. Meg wasn’t sure of much in this world, but she was sure that Galen and Theo cared about her.
It wouldn’t stop them from leaving, but it still warmed her.
“Why an accountant?”
She jumped at Theo’s voice filling the silence at the table. Meg looked up to find both of them watching her. Had he asked the question more than once? She took a quick sip of water. “What?”
“Of all the things you could pursue a degree in, why did you choose something as boring as accounting?”
He would see it that way, wouldn’t he? She fought down her instinctive urge to bristle and tried to sort out an honest answer. “My home life wasn’t a dream when I was growing up. I worked my ass off to get enough scholarships to get the hell out of the town I grew up in, but I knew the only way to stay gone was to go into a stable career. You know that old saying about death and taxes? There is never a lack of demand for accountants.”
“Stability.”
She glanced at Galen. “Yes. There’s the added bonus that numbers make sense to me. There’s no gray area or emotional bullshit. It’s just cold, hard facts. Black and white and red.”
Theo considered the bourbon in his tumbler. “What would you do if you weren’t so concerned with stability?”
“I don’t understand the question.” He shot her a look and she sighed. The jokehadbeen flat. “I don’t know, Theo. I never put much thought into it. Pipe dreams don’t pay the bills. They don’t put food in the fridge. They sure as hell don’t keep a roof over your head. That’s what matters to me—not following some half-baked dream.”
He took a long drink. “Indulge me, princess. If money wasn’t an issue and you had no ties, where would you go? What would feed your soul?”
