Lately, I hated the travel because a certain brother-in-law of mine… Err… Was he considered a brother-in-law if he was my brother-in-law’s brother? It didn’t really matter what his official title was or how his relationship to me was classified. He was off-limits. Forbidden. Someone I shouldn’t even consider messing around with.
Then again, that ship had sailed on the night of the wedding. It wasn’t as if we could undo what we’d done… multiple times now.
Since hooking up that one time, Jaq and I made it a regular thing. We knew it was wrong, and we knew it may cause trouble with our brothers. That didn’t stop us.
Still, I should at least try, right?
But tell that to my dick and my brain.
Jaq had continued to stay at the palace, though every so often I heard him talk of being ready to leave. There was always some job waiting for him in France or the Americas. Yet, each time I came back, he remained.
This thing between us… We didn’t talk too much about it. I simply went to his room, and that was that. We enjoyed each other’s bodies. I got the chance to worship him like he deserved.Afterward, he kicked me out. Delicately, of course. But I could tell he didn’t want me lingering.
The staff had to know, but they were discreet, as always. If any of my brothers suspected, they didn’t say a word. My parents didn’t know, and they never could. They had enough to worry about with all my other brothers. Plus, they were retired now, it was only fair that they get to remain stress-free.
I arrived back at the palace, my luggage handled by whatever staff was dealing with it. I went straight to my room, or at least that was the plan.
Instead, the door to the library, or the family room as we tended to think of it now, caught my attention. It was our own personal, homey space, not meant for entertaining anyone outside the immediate family. Over the years it had become our sanctuary, where we could let our guard down and just be ourselves. It was filled with all of our favorite things. Bookshelves filled with family albums—the real ones, not whatever the press put together.
Since each of my brothers had settled down, except for Kalwin and me, it was filled with toys, so much so that we had taken down a wall and expanded the room.
Jacques sat in there now, staring off into the roaring fire.
“Hello,” I said.
He jumped, leaping to his feet. “Your Highness, I’m sorry. I—I’ll go.”
“No, stay,” I said, despite the fatigue that weighed on me after my long flight and the fact that I was still in my travel suit and really needed to change.
I settled into a chair. I doubted that Jacques would want me to sit directly next to him, not where everyone could see. As a rule, Jaq didn’t interact with anyone outside of Cort and Thomas. He kept himself in the background when he could.
He cleared his throat. “How were your travels, Your Highness? I assume all went well.”
I smiled at the formality of it. He insisted on being so proper, even when it was just the two of us. Unless, of course, we were in his room. Then the minx came out. He still called me “milord” or “his lordship.”
“It was very good. Seven different countries in the past seven weeks.” Each one with their own separate customs and traditions for hosting royalty, which meant I had a lot to learn and memorize between each trip. It was exhausting.
“That’s a lot. I don’t think I’ve been to seven countries total.”
“No? How many have you been to?”
“Two. My own, and this one.” He stared back at the fire and was quiet. “Apologies, Your Highness. I’m not the best company today.”
If that was code for him letting me know he wasn’t up for anything, it was unnecessary. I would return to his room with him at the drop of a hat, but it wasn’t something I expected out of him. We may have settled into a routine in the past year, but I didn’t expect anything from him.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking about the future. I… I should do something with my life, right? I can’t just freeload around here forever.”
I stayed quiet. He wasn’t freeloading. No one thought that. But I couldn’t tell him so, because he wouldn’t believe me, and in all the times we’d been together over the past year, he’d never opened up so much. I didn’t want it to end.
“I’m not quite ready to leave. I guess I keep saying I’m going to, but I don’t. I should at least find an apartment in the city so I can move out of the palace. It isn’t fair to you all that I continue living here. Thomas talked about hiring me as a nanny so I can help with his son while he’s busy, but that feels like I’m taking advantage.”
“By providing assistance? By filling a job that you are very qualified for? Who better to help with the baby than his ownfamily?” It made perfect sense to me. And there was a precedent for it. My father’s brother had been our tutor for many years.
“You know, it’s not the same. I can’t—the public—”
“Fuck the public, Jaq. If you want to stay here so you can be a part of your nephew’s life, no one is ever going to tell you no. Hell, even if you wanted to stay here and mooch off the couch and eat our food, none of us would care. You are welcome here.”
