“Then people should piss you off more often, E.”
“Honestly, if there was an award forBitch of the Year,Ava would give Octavia a run for her money.”
Chloe snorts.
“I’m not joking!” I insist. “She’s a terrible person.”
“That’s common knowledge.”
“Has she always been like that?”
“Pretty much. I think she came out of her mother’s womb wearing that same haughty expression.”
“How on earth did Carter ever date her?” I shake my head, as if to reject the mere thought of them together.
“It was a long time ago. Almost a decade. We were teenagers. And…”
“What?” I ask.
“Ava’s a mega bitch, but even I can’t deny she’s a hot piece of ass.”
Staring out the window, I strive to slow my pulse. It’s a futile effort. My mind is awhirl with thoughts — about Ava and Henry and Carter. About the strange love triangle I never knew existed.
“How did it end?”
Chloe sighs. “It was never serious — at least, not on Carter’s side. He was a horny seventeen-year-old and she was an easy mark.”
“But it was serious to her?”
“I don’t truly believe someone like Ava is capable of love, but I do think she felt something for him. Of course, whatever feelings she had for my brother were quickly extinguished when she realized she could marry Henry and become the Queen of Germania. Amazing how fast her heart flipped from one boy to the other.”
“How did Carter react?”
“Not well, as you might guess. Seeing a girl who claimed to love him choose power and opportunity over what they had together only reinforced all the shitty things he already believes about relationships.”
My face goes pale as I digest that information. I have the sudden urge to weep.
Rejected twice by a would-be queen.
God, he’s going to hate me forever.
Chloe sighs again. “Looking back, the Ava drama just about wrecked our entire friend group. The guys still hung out, of course… but it was never the same after that. The trust had been breached. There was no going back to the way things were.”
I suddenly find myself thinking about last month, when we shared a limousine with the Sterlings on our way to King Leopold and Queen Abigail’s funeral. Replaying the memory with fresh eyes, certain details stand out starkly.
Alden’s strained silence.
Chloe’s pointed commentary.
Ava’s predatory looks, when she saw me sitting beside Carter.
It all makes sense.
I glance over at Chloe. “Is anything in this world ever uncomplicated?”
“Nope! Now, let’s get back in there before we miss everything.”
“Sorry, but no amount of mimosas is going to convince me to go back in there to be picked apart by those… thoseshrews. And since when did you start caring about rubbing elbows with socialites?”