He chuckles and leans over to kiss her lips. “Sweetness, you continue to forget that you’re the queen and can make that decree yourself.”
“Fine,” she concedes. “Whatever Emily needs to stay here at the palace with Javier and be comfortable, we’ll provide. So let it be written, so let it be done.”
I choke out a laugh. “Who are you? Yul Brynner as Ramses?”
She shrugs and returns to her eggs, shovels a bite into hermouth and talks through it. “Something like that. It always sounded so good when he said it. Plus he was sexy.”
Sebastian tickles her side, making her laugh, and it’s the best sound in the world. Since the kidnapping, Bellamy has struggled. It’s been a rough seven and a half months for her. First Samil nearly killed her, then her father died, and after that, the woman they hired to care for the children betrayed them and tried to kill Bellamy.
Honestly, I don’t know how she gets out of bed most days. I give her so much credit. She’s stubbornly strong. Both for herself and the children, and she’s brought that strength to all of us.
That said, sadness lingers in her eyes, and she has horrific night terrors. Screams that pierce the air and make your bones chill over. I can hear from down the hall. I want her to find peace again, and I know Sebastian is desperate for that.
No one has mentioned the curse since she came home, but I’d be lying if I said we all weren’t still feeling its weight on our shoulders. After almost losing Bellamy more than once, Sebastian is adamant about not letting it affect him, and for the most part, he’s succeeding.
We thought it was broken, only it seems like it’s just warming up, preparing for its next act. I’m not sure how much more we can take. It’s been keeping all of us up at night. I’m determined to change all our fates. It’s not just Sebastian and Bellamy. It’s Phaedra, Sabrina, Zayer, and the twins too.
What Bellamy doesn’t know is that Sebastian and Javier brought in a dozen extra guards to the palace and installed more cameras. He’s terrified about when the twins are born. About other dangers creeping out of the darkness.
I never believed in the curse. Not once. Not even when our father died when I was a boy or Nora went down in the helicopter. But these last months have challenged that belief.Something is coming for us, and unless we can stop it, it won’t relent until it wins.
I don’t have it in me to leave. I have a residence down on the Messalinian coast, not to mention my yacht, but I can’t make myself go.
I have to be here. It’s my job to fix this.
I can’t explain it. It’s a gut instinct.
I have to see Bellamy deliver the twins safely. I have to ensure that my brother, my nieces, and my nephew are okay. There are already too many variables hanging over our heads, and until I can locate Marie Elonaise and put her behind bars along with her daughter, Charlotte, I won’t rest.
I haven’t since the night Desta was taken, and our father was murdered. I’ll never forgive myself for what happened. I didn’t go into Desta’s room with my father. I never woke up my mother. I never alerted the guards.
So many costly mistakes, and our family hasn’t been right since. None of us has been. I have no sisters. Desta is gone, and Brea is fragile, living in a place I don’t even know about. I’ve never even had contact with her. She was sick as a new baby, and we weren’t allowed anywhere near her, and that was it. Our mother is cold and distant, locked in a grief so thick it’s cost her everything and hardened her soul. We haven’t spoken to her since she came here several months back and lied to us about who stole Desta and killed our father.
She said everything she did was to save our family and avoid scandal, but at what cost? Plus, she doesn’t approve of Bellamy, so there’s that.
“Excellent.” Althea taps her iPad a few times, drawing me out of my reverie. “Now that that’s taken care of, there is a summer festival in Tourin.”
“No,” Sebastian cuts in sharply. “Absolutely not.”
Bellamy is finding it impossible to contain her smile.
“I think the children would love it,” she says gently.
My brother throws her his best attempt at a scathing look, but he doesn’t sell it anymore. He's a beast king no more when it comes to the softness in his heart for his wife.
“The last time you took the children to a festival in Tourin, they came home with a rodent.”
Bellamy rolls her eyes. “A Mustelidae and don’t pretend you don’t love Arthur.”
“I will neither confirm nor deny my affections for the rodent, but what pet will they steal for their own next time?”
“We didn’t steal Arthur, Papa,” Sabrina protests.
“Yeah,” Phaedra chimes in, more than a little indignant. “He was going to die if we left him. He was so cold out there and all alone.”
“I love Arthur,” Zayer tacks on. “He sleeps in my bed with me.”
And just like that, Sebastian is a puddle of mush. “I know, my darlings. But I don’t think we need to add anymore potentially dying critters to our family.”