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Especially when I fled Otherworld. I still had the first letter she had sent me, the one that called me a coward and a failure as a prince and a son. I wasn’t sure why I’d kept it.

I flinched and my ears twitched when a door slammed nearby. I had excellent hearing, so over the years I’d picked up the ability to discern which of my colleagues was coming and going from their dressing rooms.

That had been Vince. I knew it instantly.

Reflexively, I grabbed my brush and dragged it through my hair, my eyes still burning with anger as I stared at my reflection.

The way he’d spoken to me during court was disgusting. He was a pig. He genuinely acted like he’d been raised in a barn. He had no decorum. Shouting and swearing, unable to control his temper.

I was trying to remember which of us had managed to get the last word in. He’d called me a “condescending asshole.” I remembered that. And a “pompous, arrogant jackass.” Both favourite phrases of his when it came to me.

When Corey had initially said that he would speak to Holt about us, fear had streaked through me. I couldn’t get fired. I couldn’t. My brothers would never let me live it down. My mother really would disown me for shaming her name and her family and her court even more than I already had.

At least you’d be truly free of her then. The sly, whispery little voice drifted into my head—the one that appeared sometimes and made my stomach twist with terrified nerves and excitement. The one that had prompted me to hastily pack a bag that night at the palace, six years ago now, and flee from Otherworld with hardly any clothes, only a handful of skincare products and even fewer jewels, most of which I’d sold to get by when I’d first arrived in this realm.

Well… ‘get by’ was probably a stretch. I’d been able to make a cash offer on a decently sized house after a few weeks of living in the best hotel in the city.

But still. No staff. I’d had to learn how to cook, for gods’ sake. Not clean, though. I’d immediately hired a housekeeper—a fae called Ren who was still with me now. He’d jumped at the chance to work for royalty.

I’d built a life for myself here, a life of my own, and I wasn’t willing to lose it because of an uncouth ghoul who had decided we were enemies.

At least he isn’t entirely useless, I reluctantly thought, gritting my teeth, because he had backpedalled just enough for Corey to change his ruling and give us one last chance to be civil before he took the matter to Holt.

I sneered at my reflection. I was always civil. I was perfectly civil. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t call Vince names. If either of us were going to fuck up this last chance from Corey, it would be him. It would absolutely be him.

And if he ruined things for me, I was going to hire the best fae magic practitioner in the godsdamned country and have them curse him for the rest of his fucking life.

Chapter Two

Pompous, Smug Asshole

Vince

Fuck. This.

I was so fucking angry I couldn’t think.

When court ended and the other wrestlers started murmuring to each other, I was locked in place on the couch, too stiff and tense to move.

I flinched when my fellow wrestler Dullahan Dan gripped my shoulder and squeezed. “You okay, man?” he asked quietly.

“Fine,” I got out through gritted teeth. I shoved myself up off the couch to vanish into my dressing room.

But then I saw Crossbody stand elegantly, brushing off the front of his pants, his face calm and blank as if none of that had just happened. My fury surged, making my hands clench into fists. When he, without saying a word to anyone, swept out of the backstage area, I gritted my teeth and stayed where I was. I didn’t want to run into him in the hallway right now, not with Corey around. I’d just start yelling again. Then Corey really would go to Holt without giving us a chance to “reconcile” first.

I had no fucking interest in “reconciling” with Crossbody.

“Do you want to talk about what just happened?” Dan asked uncertainly, standing up beside me. He kept glancing over at Rafe, our IT Manager and a ghoul like me. He was still hunched over his laptop by the training ring, having sat in to watch the proceedings, and was clearly just waiting to see Dan before he went back to his office.

“No,” I said shortly. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

Dan hesitated. “Maybe we can go for a beer after work or something? Me, you and Rafe.”

I didn’t want to talk about Crossbody. I didn’t even want to think about him. I hated how much I already thought about him.

“Maybe,” I said noncommittally, because I didn’t want to be an outright dick to my buddy. “Might be busy.”

“Okay.” He hesitated again, then squeezed my shoulder before walking off to speak to Rafe.