“Don’t expect an invitation to my wedding.”
“I wouldn’t go anyway. It would be a terrible black mark on my reputation if I were seen as being the bigger person. I’ll send a gift.”
It rather felt more like a threat than an offer, but then most things of King Lucian did.
“I’ll look forward to receiving it.”
He was done. And now, all that was left was to plan the wedding.
“I was worried about you.”
Emerald was awash in anxiety waiting to hear what had happened with Lucian and Andrei. She was worried for his safety. She…
When she had arrived back at Basilia, Onyx had given her some reprieve. He hadn’t demanded an explanation immediately, but today, all bets were off.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t the one who spirited me off to Romania with no means to contact you.”
“What were you thinking? Why would you decide to marry Lucian when you wanted Andrei?”
“Because I had decided that I couldn’t have him.”
“Why?”
“He isn’t royal.”
“That is high level bullshit, Emerald. I certainly never told you that you had to marry a man with royal blood. I never even suggested it. Andrei is my best friend. He is the most trusted man—he was the most trusted man—in my employ. I would have given you to him happily.”
This was what she had been afraid of. This conversation.
She realized that now, as her brother looked at her with confusion and ferocity in his eyes. He would have allowed them to be together. Of course he would have. He didn’t demand that she make something more of herself. He wanted her to be happy.
She was the one who hadn’t been able to accept it. She was the one who had been fleeing these feelings for Andrei, and now she was stuck in this great and terrible middle ground with him, where there was something of a truce, but no more passion.
It was her own fault. It was her own fault because…
She tried to take a breath.
“But I wanted something more. I wanted to make something out of myself. I wanted…” She closed her eyes. “It made me feel close to Mom. This idea that I was going to have a dynastic marriage. One that changed something. I just… I wanted to be like her. Because I can’t know her. I can’t be with her. And if I have to accept that, that I just have to accept the grief. It’s just so horrible. It’s endless. And I…”
“The past is undeniably tragic,” Onyx said. “For all of us.”
“Yes.” She looked at her brother, who had a remote expression on his face. She knew he missed their parents. She knew he loved her. But he could be so detached sometimes, like it was what he had to do in order to be king.
But she wished sometimes it wasn’t that way.
“I do not give this my blessing,” Onyx said. “He kidnapped you. He forced you down the aisle. You are clearly in a state.”
“I’m not asking for your blessing. I’m just asking you to… Be my brother. While I try to figure out the situation that I’ve gotten myself into.”
“I am always your brother. You always have me.”
“And Andrei?”
“He and I will take some time before we repair our relationship. He took you away from me. He put you in danger. He didn’t tell me where you were. He didn’t trust me. It will take time for me to get over that.”
“And fair enough. But he is the father of my baby.”
“And he is that simply through donation of genetic material. To be called a friend is something he will have to earn his way back to.”
