Page 24
Story: Princes of Chaos
Ashby holds my gaze for a long moment before sliding his gaze to Pace, who’s frozen stiff, somewhere in the middle of dunking his toast into a puddle of red jam. He straightens, an odd cautiousness in his posture. “We were up all night moving,” Pace says, glaring at his toast. “I haven’t set up her email yet.”
I look around the table, realizing now how exhausted the three of them look.
Ashby’s only response is a long, disconcerting stare.
Pace drops his fork. “It took a while to get Effie settled down. I didn’t even get my computers into the Palace until a couple hours ago,” he insists, glancing at his brothers. After a suspended pause, Pace stands, huffing. “I’ll do it now.”
Anxiety prickles the back of my neck at the fury in his eyes, and I stammer out, “I-it can wait.”
But before Pace can answer, the phone beside his plate glows to life, chiming loudly. His expression giving nothing away, Pace swipes it up, tapping at the screen. His eyes harden at whatever he sees there. “There’s someone attempting to breach the front gate.” His gaze slides to Lex. “I use the word ‘breach’ very lightly.”
“Who is it?” Lex asks, tossing his cloth napkin on the table and pushing his chair out.
Pace’s eyes meet mine. “Looks like your feral gutter rats came looking for you.”
Startled, I ask, “My… what?” But that can only mean one thing.
The Dukes.
Shit.
The boys all jump up, but I’m frozen as I watch them parade out of the room, their strides strong and worryingly confident. The Dukes, as much as I love them, aren’t exactly known for their subtlety and restraint. Even if they have weapons, they’re still on someone else’s territory.
Double shit.
Looking at me, Ashby dabs his mouth with the napkin, saying, “You may want to get your cubs under control, Princess. There are consequences for this kind of thing, you realize.”
“Y-yes, sir,” I say, rising as quickly as I can with the limitations of my lower body. Adjusting the tiara, I try to follow the path his sons took, making two wrong turns before I finally find the foyer and front door. Throwing it open, I limp down the driveway, hoping to catch them before there’s bloodshed.
My heart leaps as I get closer, seeing the three of them. Sy stands in the middle, shoulders tense, body stiff. One look at the girth of his biceps and you know he could snap a man’s neck with one twist. Nick stands beside him, fingers laced through the wrought iron gates above his head. Someone who isn’t studied in Nickology would think he looks downright casual, the curve of his body lean and laconic, but I can sense the agitation rolling off him in waves. It doesn’t help that the gun tucked into his waistband is conspicuously visible.
Remy is already halfway over the gate.
They’re my family—my big brothers–and as much as I know that them showing up here is a terrible, stupid idea, my chest blooms with affectionate warmth at the knowledge they came.
Loyalty.
I only hope they understand that what I’m doing isn’t a betrayal.
“Verity!” Remy shouts when he spots me. His body jerks wildly when Pace opens a security box and presses his thumb against the screen, looking annoyed.
“Must be something about West End that makes you people unable to read a map,” he snipes.
The gate slides open and Remy jumps off before he gets crushed. As soon as it’s open enough to squeeze through, all three march inside without an invitation.
“Verity, what the hell is this?” Sy holds out a phone, showing me the screen. It’s a post on social media, announcing the new Royalty. I knew telling them about this would be hard, but now that it’s here, I feel sick with guilt.
I wring my hands, grimacing. “Uh, well, you see…”
Nick pushes past him, chin raised as he stares the Princes down. “If this is revenge for what happened with Felix—”
“This was a legitimate process,” Lex says, looking just as composed here as he did at the dinner table. “The Princess received an invitation and accepted. But you’re right.” The smile he gives them is chilling in its sharpness. “We’re not even when it comes to Felix.Yet.”
“This is bullshit,” Remy says, pacing back and forth, his frame long and lithe. “Verity would never agree to anything with you assholes, which means this is a kidnapping.”
Wicker laughs, looking deceptively boyish as he struts to my side. “We invite our women to come to our ball. Unlike the rest of you animals, there’s no kidnapping, trafficking, or bartering in our process. They have the free will to accept or not.” He tosses an arm over my shoulders, jarring me. “Miss Sinclaire accepted our invitation.” I feel his cold gaze when he looks at me, lifting his free hand to sweep an obscene caress down my breast. “Didn’t you, Princess?”
The weight of his arm on my shoulders brings it all back to me. The force of his grip as he pushed me down on that phallus. The way he drove me into the table. The stinging heat of his semen as it filled me. A wave of nausea rolls over me, and I’m unable to answer.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213