But you know what I never did? I never fuckingasked.
“No. I mean it. Let me do this straight. Okay? Adrian. Will you succeed me as King?”
When he doesn’t even reach for his cigarette to fiddle with, I know I have him.
“I want to make sure I understand this. When you say ‘succeed’... you mean, like, if you die without an heir, you want me to take over?”
“I want you to say ‘yes’ and then I sign a piece of paper that says that you’re now the King of the Order.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Adrian stares at me. “You realize that there’s a good chunk of the Order who will have a problem with this. They’ll say that stepping down isn’t exactly an option. If you try to leave the Order?—”
“I don’t want to leave it. How can I keep Lucy safe if I go rogue and the new King will have to send his enforcers after me? Fuck no. But what if I go back to my old position of being the King’s enforcer.” I jerk my chin at him. “You’re the one who says we’ve had a blood oath since we were born. You’ve had my back. I’ve got yours. Let me watch it for you after you take the crown.”
“Dal—”
“Think about it. Even as kids, you were the brains of the operation. And I know you like playing Kingmaker, making deals behind the scenes, but can you imagine how much your smart ass can accomplish if you’re the face of the Order.”
Adrian rubs his jaw. “It’s a pretty good once, isn’t it?”
I stifle my chuckle. “It’s those Collins genes. We’re two good-looking mother fuckers, aren’t we?”
“And so modest, too,” he adds, lips twitching. He exhales, and in that one sound, I know that he’s back to being serious. “Tell me… you really mean it? You want me to take over?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it,” I say honestly. “Or if I didn’t think that you’d kick ass as the job. Remember how, after Jack kicked it, we talked about turning the Order around, making it better? Remember what I said?”
“If I recall correctly, it was ‘fuck the Order’.”
Okay,true.
“Yeah, I said that,” I agree. “But then I listened and agreed that there were still some bones to the old charter that were worth saving. With you as the King, I think you could really make something of it. So what do you say? What do you think?”
When he doesn’t answer me right away, I play my trump card.
“Come on, Adrian. If you refuse, I gotta go to Bas next. You really want me to do that to him?”
Adrian considers my question for a long moment before he finally sighs.
“You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack.”
“You wantmeto be King.”
“That’s right.”
Adrian shakes his head. “You’re insane.”
“Yeah. Probably.”
Adrian’s mouth curves slightly. “Must be something else I get from Mom’s side of the family because I’ve gotta be nuts, too.”
My heart skips a beat. “That mean you’re going to do it?”
“Why not? Maybe it’s time I take my princess and make her aqueen. But,” he adds, starting to rise from his seat as if he can go hurry back to Loni now, “if this explodes in our faces, I’m blaming you.”
