Right. I suppose he wouldn’t — not with Octavia for a mother. She doesn’t exactly seem like the validating type.
My mouth opens, then promptly closes again. There’s little point even trying to make him see things from my perspective.Lord Carter Thornewas raised in this life of excessive riches and grand responsibilities. He couldn’t possibly understand how strange it is to someone like me — an ordinary girl, thrown gracelessly into a game with rules no one’s even bothered to explain.
I glance at the door to the room Simms had the house staff prepare for me. There’s a card-stock placard affixed inside the embedded nameplate, etched with my ridiculous new title in sloping calligraphy.
Her Royal Highness Emilia Victoria Lancaster
“Frankly, all of this is a moot point anyway,” I say after a long moment, looking sharply away from the door. “Because Prince Henry is going to recover. He’ll take back the crown, he’ll rule… and I’ll go back to my life.”
“Are you really so eager to return to it?” Carter asks, staring at me like I’m a puzzle he can’t figure out. “Most girls would be over the damn moon if someone told them they got to live in a castle and wear a crown. It’s the dream, isn’t it?”
“Notmydream.” I pull the towel off my shoulders fold it in my hands. “I have obligations back in Vasgaard. I can’t just abandon them because some outdated figurehead snaps his fingers and demands I give up my life, my internship, my spot at university. Not to mention, there are people I care about—” Owen’s face flashes in my mind and guilt floods me. He must be out of his mind with worry. “I can’t just leave him,” I finish softly, shaking my head.
Carter’s eyes sharpen to blades, cutting into me with each pass they make over my face. “Poor little princess, can’t see her boyfriend because they’ve made her royal.Spare me.That’s not a real problem and you know it. You’re just looking for reasons to walk away from something that terrifies you.”
I flinch at his callous words. “Back to being an asshole, I see.”
“Fitting, since you’re back to being more transparent than plastic wrap.”
I glare at him. “Why do you even give a shit about any of this? About what choices I make? About whether I stay?”
“I don’t.”
“Could’ve fooled me!”
“Then you’re more deluded than I thought.”
We glare at each other, both panting. I’m not exactly sure when this conversation escalated to an argument, but I’m suddenly flush with anger. From the looks of it, so is he. The foot of space between our faces practically shimmers with heat, the molecules bending like air around a boiling kettle.
“If you truly feel that way,” I say through clenched teeth. “I’mshockedyou didn’t leave me out in the rain to freeze to death!”
“Already have one funeral to attend this week,” he seethes, hands curling into fists at his sides. “Wasn’t in the mood to work another into my social calendar.”
“Wow.” I twist the towel in my hands, so I have something to do besides wring his neck. “You know, I thought maybe we could be friends. I see now that was a terrible mistake.”
“AndIthought maybe you wouldn’t turn out to be as predictable and shallow as the rest of them. Guess even my instincts are wrong, occasionally.”
“Ugh!” The towel falls to the floor, but I barely notice as I take a furious stride in his direction. “You know, of all the awful people I’ve encountered during this long, miserable day, I have to tell you —youare the worst.” My voice shakes with rage. “And, just to be clear, your competition includes a father who abandoned me at birth and the evil shrew he married afterward!”
Carter’s eyes burn bright with anger but his tone is tightly leashed when finally he speaks again. “I think we’re about done with this failed attempt at friendship. Don’t you,sis?”
“Oh, we’re more than done,” I snap. “We never even started!”
“Perfect.”
Whirling away from him, I stomp to my door and shove my way inside. I start to slam it shut, but make the mistake of glancing across the hall first. My hand stills when I catch sight of Carter standing in his own doorway, directly across from mine — white-knuckled grip on the knob, face dark with fury as he glares back at me.
I know I should shut the door on him, cut off this venom-laced eye contact before things escalate further, but there’s a cluster of words still stuck in my throat. I can’t draw a proper breath until they’re clear.
“You might not be capable of giving a shit about anyone except yourself, butIam. I care about people. It doesn’t make me weak for not wanting to leave them behind. ”
His tone is so cold, it’s barely recognizable. “Anything else?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Neither of us moves. For the life of me, I can’t explain why.