“I have my reasons,” he murmurs lowly. “The chance to launch a real career, for one.”
The chance to get away from Germania — and its queen — for another.
He doesn’t say it aloud, but the possibility bounces around inside my head anyway. My fist curls unintentionally around the handful of popcorn I’m holding, reducing it instantly to crumbs. I feel my world shift into slow motion, like someone’s turned down the dial that controls the earth’s centripetal force.
He’s leaving.
Actually leaving.
“The meetings I’ve been going to all week…” Carter shifts his weight from foot to foot. “They’re actually the second phase of a project I’ve been working on for a while now. If the investors come through and things go as planned… I’ll be moving to Switzerland.”
“Switzerland?!” Chloe explodes. “How could you not tell me about this sooner?”
Carter’s avoiding his sister’s eyes. And mine. “Nothing’s final yet.”
“Final or not — you should’ve told me!”
“The past three months… you haven’t exactly beenchatty, Chloe,” he points out. “And since you’ve gotten clean, you’ve been doing so well… I hesitated to derail your progress with news that might upset you.”
“But why would you leave? This is our home.”
“I don’t have a home anymore, Chloe. I guess I never really did.” He laughs, but there’s no amusement in the sound. “Linus was the Duke. He was our link to Hightower. And now he’s dead. We’ve been staying there with royal generosity—” His eyes flicker to mine for the briefest of moments. “—but we cannot continue to count on that.”
My mouth opens. “But—”
He cuts me off. “I have no title. I have nothing except my own hands to make a name for myself. With the inheritance Linus left me in his will… for the first time, I have a chance to carve out my own path. To make the nameThornemean something.”
“It already means something!” Chloe protests.
“Right — the royal hangers-on. The freeloading family that attached itself to the crown like those suckerfish on the underbelly of a shark.” Carter’s words are scathing. “I will not continue our mother’s tradition of leeching off the Lancasters for my entire life, Chloe. I can’t.”
“Fine! Whatever!” Her hands lift in surrender. “But you don’t have to leave the country to do that.”
He cranes his neck and glances at the ceiling, trying to keep his cool. “I know you don’t want me to leave. But can’t you understand? You’re stepping out from the shadow of who you used to be. It’s time I do as well. Past time.”
She falls silent.
“You can stay at Hightower,” I interject, struggling to keep the plea out of my voice. “As long as you want. As far as I’m concerned, it’s your home—”
“No.”
“Here, then,” I offer recklessly, unable to hold back.
Carter’s jaw ticks with tension. “Absolutely not.”
I bite my bottom lip to keep the rest of my pleas locked inside. My body feels tight as a bowstring, every muscle tense with the realization that nothing I say will make him stay.
He’s really leaving.
“Don’t be stubborn, big brother.” Chloe pouts at him. “Stay.”
“Chloe, I’m glad you’re back here at the castle. Truly. I’m glad you’ve found a place for yourself.” He sighs. “But now… I need you to let me find mine.”
“I just can’t believe you’d actually leave,” she whispers.
Suddenly, Carter’s looking right at me. I’m unprepared for the emotions blasting at me from his eyes; they hit me like a sucker punch. “Things change, Chloe. People change. Priorities change. I’m not going to stick around a place where there’s no future for me. Not anymore.”
My stomach sinks into my feet, heavy as a cannonball.