He doesn’t respond — doesn’t react at all except to lift one hand and slowly push a plastered lock of hair out of my eyes. The rain continues to fall in a steady torrent, spattering both our faces. I stare at the droplets clinging to his lashes, watch how he winks them away like tears, and ignore the part of me that longs to taste them as they race down his cheeks.
“Carter, I… I…”
A low sound rattles in the back of his throat as he leans in, closing a tiny fraction of the space between us. For a single instant, I think he’s going to do something utterly reckless…
Instead, he drops his arms and pulls away.
“We should go,” he says flatly, shoving his hands into his pockets, looking anywhere but at me. “They’ll be looking for us.”
“Right. Of course.” I clasp my pruned fingers tightly together as I turn my back to him, heading down the path that leads back to the house as fast as my legs can carry me.
Ten minutes ago, I would’ve rather stayed out here all night than stepped foot in that manor again. Now, the Lockwood Estate looks pretty damn good, compared to the prospect of even one more minute spent bonding with my newbig brother.
Chapter Seven
This house is haunted.
If not by actual dead spirits, then by the ghostlike guards and service staff who move silently down its many halls, only the vaguest creak of floorboards giving away their presence. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I can’t shake the sensation that there are eyes on me at any given moment.
Watching.
Waiting.
As we stand in a semi-dark hallway upstairs, I shift anxiously from foot to foot while Carter roots through a linen closet in search of towels. My legs, still aching from our ascent up that endless grand staircase, drip steadily until a small puddle forms on the hardwood beneath my feet.
“Here.”
It’s the first world he’s spoken to me since our walk back from the gardens. It might as well be a scream in the eerily silent house. I shiver and glance around. There are too many rooms with locked doors, too many creeping shadows, too many strangers lurking just out of sight.
“Here,” Carter repeats impatiently, shaking the towel in his grip.
I grab it and wrap the warm fabric around my waterlogged crop-top and skirt, which are now clinging to my curves tight enough to make a two-dollar whore experience secondhand embarrassment. Carter retrieves a towel for himself before kicking the linen closet closed. The bang of the door in its frame makes me jump about a foot in the air.
“Relax,” he mutters, voice muffled by the towel as he pats his face dry. “By now, Octavia is riding the Ambien Express and, though Linus may be the King, the man could sleep through a damned revolution. He wouldn’t wake up until they had him strapped down to the guillotine, his head bound for the basket.”
“Must’ve come in handy as a teenager when you snuck out at night,” I murmur, wringing water out of my hair.
His brows go up. “Never had to sneak. The Lancasters aren’t exactly proponents of hands-on parenting, as you’ll soon find out.”
“Oh?” My numb fingers being to tingle as circulation returns. “You assume I’m staying.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Why would I?”
He simply stares at me.
“I can’t just snap my fingers and become…royal.” I wince at the word. “I don’t understand a damned thing about this life.”
“Take it from someone who grew up living it — it’s mostly boring state dinners and the occasional ribbon cutting or charity event. Smile. Wave. Keep your mouth shut.” He shrugs. “Seems to me, they aren’t looking for you to be a leader. They need someone to prop up as evidence that the Lancaster line is alive and well, someone they can use to convince the public they’re unbroken by the loss of King Leopold and Queen Abigail.” His eyes narrow on mine. “With Henry in the hospital… right now, you happen to be pretty much the only person left on the planet who can step into that role. I don’t see them letting you walk away from that. Like it or not… you’re the vital pawn in this particular game of chess.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I scoff angrily. “You don’t think I realize that the only reason I’m standing in this hallway talking to you right now is because they literally haveno other optionsat their disposal?” My voice jumps an octave. “Don’t look now, they’ve dragged the illegitimate love child out of the shadows!Really scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren’t they!”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s the truth.” I shake my head. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to spend your entire life wanting validation from someone, then finally get it… but for absolutely all the wrong reasons?”
His expression turns to granite. “No. I fucking don’t.”