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“Med school?” she asks, eyeing him thoughtfully. “That plus a newborn is going to be fucking brutal.”

I shrug. “That’s why I’m taking the semester off with Red. And Pace is taking an easy course load, so he’ll be around.”

Defensively, Lex adds, “The whole frat and the Court is willing to help, too.”

She doesn’t look particularly assuaged by this statement. “Well, the cubs pitched in for a crib and got it all set up in Ver’s room, so when?—”

My knife clatters to the cutting board. “He’s got a nursery already,” I snap, overcome by a sudden flare of red-hot panic. “They’renotcoming to stay here every other month. The contract only covered her pregnancy.”

She looks momentarily stunned at the outburst, the magazine fluttering to the counter in front of her. And then she reaches for the knife, pointing it at me with a stern look. “Look here, blondie. This has nothing to do with a contract. I’mgoingto see my grandbaby. And if you’d let me finish before having your possessive freakout, I would have gotten to the part where I offered to babysit—on occasion—to give all four of you a break now and again.”

I blink. “Oh.” Glancing at the tip of the knife, I swallow. “I guess that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Mama B harrumphs, handing the knife back to me. “I don’t know what you’re worried about. She made it very clear at the beginning of the month that she preferred being in the Penis Palace. God only knows why.” Aggressively flipping a page, she adds, “Consideringhe’sstill there.”

I exhale, trying to get that weird flare under wraps. Don’t know what the hell that was about. I just know the thought of Verity and Justice living here makes me see fucking red.

Huh.

“He’s dead.” Lex’s voice is quiet and grim, and when I look up, he’s holding Mama B’s stare.

Her jaw tics as she searches his eyes. “When?”

Throwing a handful of diced onions into the pot, he answers, “About ten hours ago.”

She takes this in silently, seeming to absorb it as we get started on dicing the garlic. After a beat, she gets up and grabs three of the crude shot glasses, setting them in a row. Lex and I share a glance as she snags a bottle of liquor from the cabinet over the fridge.

“Wait,” Lex says, frowning. “Is that…?”

She pops the cork. “Yep. Your brother brought it to Family Dinner after the mutiny.” Pouring some into each glass, she raises her own. “To the victor go the spoils.”

Grabbing for mine, I give it a sniff before raising it, correcting, “To create is to reign.”

She laughs a low, scratchy laugh. “Oh, blondie. Same fucking thing.”

20

Verity

“It’s mostly a formality,”Wicker says as we whiz through town. “They already have proof Rufus is dead—the Barons collected his body. They’ll need documentation that the frat voted Justice in, although the… er… specifics are allowed to remain secret. Each frat does it their own way. All of that is protocol. What isn’t is…” his hand rests on my belly, “well, frankly, you.”

The four of us sit in the back of the car while a pledge drives. It’s tense because no matter how many times they assure me everything about the meeting is ‘protocol’, there’s no denying that what's about to happen is unprecedented.

PNZ may accept this vague leadership decision, but the other Kings?

I guess we’ll find out.

“I can handle Sy,” I say with more confidence than I feel. The Dukes have made huge progress under Sy’s new leadership, but their King still sees me as a little sister. “And Killian seems reasonable. At least, sometimes.” Pace snorts, mutteringsomething that sounds suspiciously like the word ‘meathead’ but I ignore him and look back at Wick. “And if you can play nice with the Baron King, just for today, we can get this over with and go for lunch.”

There’s a suspended silence where each of my Princes simply stares at me.

“What?”

“You just ate six pancakes,” Lex says, gaping. “And eggs. And a double serving of bacon.”

“Seven,” Pace corrects. “Seven pancakes. She stole one of mine.”

My jaw drops in outrage. “Yourchildstole one of yours,” I retort, not even the slightest bit ashamed. I knew carrying a baby would make me hungry, but something flipped once Rufus was no longer in the house. My appetite is insatiable—and not just for food. I woke up to Pace buried deep inside me, and then showered with both Lex and Wicker.