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Pace very badly hides a scowl. “Yes, sir.”

Father dabs his lips with a napkin. “So who will it be for tonight then, Daughter? Lex?” He nods at my brother. “He can keep a close eye on you during the night to ease any,” a wrinkle of his nose, “episodes. Although all three would be better.”

Her brow furrows. “Tonight? What happens tonight?”

“Ideally, a full night’s rest,” Father says, reaching out to ring the bell for Danner. “You’ll be given some warm milk first. A Princess may never retire alone.”

“Retire?” Alarm spreads across her features, those green eyes pinging to Pace. “Wait. You—you were serious about that? It’s a covenant that we have to…”

Pace very pointedly spears a carrot. “Sleep together. One or all.”

“It’s for the Princess’ protection,” Lex explains, not bothering to meet her gaze. He’s glaring down at his mashed potatoes as if they’ve spent the whole dinner mocking him. “We’ve had break-ins in the past.”

“Attacks,” Father curtly corrects. “I won’t have any Princess left defenseless in this palace, least so my heir and his mother. So make your choice, girl.”

“I—I—” she sputters. “I can defend myself!”

Lex releases a quiet scoff, all of us remembering the nights he sleepwalked into her room and had his way with her.

Father’s head snaps up, eyes tightening. “Don’t be ridiculous. This is the way it’s done. My sons have agreed to abide by the covenant and protect you, and theywill. You won’t leave this table until you’ve chosen one to bed down with. Unless you’d prefer I choose for you.”

Danner strides through then, a steaming glass of tea on a tray. Through the tense silence, he carefully places it on the table beside her plate, unbothered by the obvious discomfort in the room.

He recedes, disappearing through the door to the kitchen, and Verity swallows. “Wicker.” The reply is so strained and hushed that I’m not sure I hear her right at first. Then she looks up, meeting Father’s gaze. “I choose Whitaker.”

* * *

“Fuckingwomen,”I snarl, pacing back and forth behind Pace’s chair. My fists are clenched, and from the leather couch, Lex is obviously laughing at me. Not outwardly, but I see it in his eyes behind his douchey glasses. “You treat them like garbage for weeks, and somehow, they still want you. The fuck is that about?”

Pace answers distractedly, tipping back a bottle of rum. “She doesn’twantyou. You’re probably just the least threatening.”

I stop short, jaw tensing. “Ex-fucking-scuseme?”

Lex, always the de-escalator, gets up to snag the bottle from Pace, giving it a furtive sniff, “It’s more likely she thinks you want it the least. It’s a tactical play. Go in there, fuck her brains out, and put her in her place.” Shrugging, he takes a long gulp from the bottle. Ever since our old covenants expired, I doubt any of us have spent more than a 5-hour stretch sober.

“No.” Shaking my head, I rip the bottle of rum from Lex’s hand. “She’s not getting my dick again. Not even if she begs for it.” I’m not really sure when I came to this decision; I just know that I have. I gave Verity Sinclaire more dicking-downs than any other girl in Forsyth. And what did I get for it?

Contractual obligations and her knife in my back.

“Sure,” Pace says, all drawn out and mocking. “You’re going to go without any pussy for seven months. Uh-huh.” I know why he rolls his eyes at me. I’m not exactly famous for my willpower—not when it comes to sex—but shit changed when Verity betrayed me.

I gave her that power.

With mydick.

“I am,” I insist, and at the skeptical silence, louder. “I am!”

Lex sighs, taking the bottle back. “We’ve got a long way to go here, Wick. Do what you can to make it bearable, yeah?”

“Fuck that!” I snap. Beside me, Effie squawks, startled by the volume of my voice. Inhaling, I decide, “In fact, none of us should fuck her. We operate as a team here.”

Pace turns to glower at me. “Leave my dick out of this. Some of us can rail a chick without divulging sensitive information to her in the afterglow.”

I watch him for a moment, and then Lex, who’s looking pretty fucking in agreement. “You want her,” I realize, disgusted. “Both of you. Even after what she’s done to us, you’d still—”

“No one’s saying we want her,” Lex argues, adjusting his glasses. He looks tired, even though Father cleared all of our schedules for tonight—for her. It’s the only way I know for sure he hasn’t been back on the Viper Scratch.

“Good pussy is good pussy,” Pace says, shrugging. But it’s a lie. I can see it in the way his eyes flick to the leftmost screen. It’s eight blocks of CCTV footage, the middle being the Princess’ bedroom, where she’s currently occupying the window seat, gazing out at the gardens below.