AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
My affections for Augustus, the crown prince of Aldrich, felt like an inside joke, some humorous, cruel twist of fate I had to laugh through to survive.
He was my best friend.
My future king.
But worst of all? He was a boy who liked to play with my heart. He smirked when I wore his favorite color. His chest swelled with pride when he held my trembling fingers. And last night? When we danced together at our favorite club, with slick sweat dripping down our skin, he left me to dance with some socialite with bigger breasts and a much bigger bank account.
Love was a fickle thing, and August only liked receiving it. I supposed it was safer that way. He was too scared to let his heart loose. Was probably worried it would run off and leave him behind if given half the chance.
We’d always been so close, but it seemed now every time we were together, August would come up with an excuse and push me away. I didn’t understand it.
“Are you going to keep sulking in the corner, beautiful?” Atticus DuPont asked. He’d joined me in the library this morning to watch me study while scrolling on his cell phone. His dark hair was slicked to the side, and he left the top button on his crisp shirt undone. As August’s best friend, he got a front-row seat to every humiliating aspect of my crush.
“I’m not sulking.”
The sun was shining through a massive window, basking Atticus in light and highlighting a bruise the shape of fingers around his forearm.
“Your pretty little mouth is pouty this morning. Might I keep it preoccupied with other things?” Atticus smirked at me while leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees.
Atticus was always flirting with me. Always crossing some invisible line that I’d set. I wasn’t sure if he actually wanted me or not. He already had everything his heart desired, but it didn’t fill the void. I suppose chasing after August’s possessions fulfilled him somehow.
And I did belong to August. My heart practically beat for the boy, and his parents took me in when my own died. I was the queen’s adoptive daughter. The king’s thorn in his side. The prince’s plaything.
“You sure do have a fascination with my mouth lately,” I said, blushing at how impolite I was being. He didn’t really want me. He wanted the idea of me.
“I do have a particular fondness for it, though I wish I were intimately acquainted with your lips.” I rolled my eyes and continued to take notes on the book I was reading. Atticus wasn’t going to let me sulk in peace, though. “You know, August will marry some rich heiress one day. Or maybe even a princess. The kingdom of Ovistra has been wanting to establish a lucrative alliance. Their daughter is the same age as us.”
I scowled at that. It was true. I might have been a beloved member of the House of Rose, but I was nothing compared to a princess. “I’m not disillusioned, Atticus.”
He licked his lips. “So why pine after him? Why him?”
My eyes roamed his handsome face. There was the faint shadow of a bruise under his right eye. When I’d asked him about it last week, he’d said it was a business deal gone sour. He’d been working with his father more and more lately, taking on additional responsibilities and disappearing for days at a time. I didn’t understand what he was doing, but there was a dark edge to his personality as of late. The only time he seemed unburdened by it all was when we were alone together.
“Why anyone?” I asked, my tone coy to hide the fact I was dying inside.
“He’s a prick.”
“He’s a nice person to me,” I argued. “It’s the little moments that make a man, Atticus. August was there for me when Mum and Papa died.”
“I was there for you, too.”
“He says kind things to me when it’s just us.”
Atticus bit his lip. “Kind words are like air. They can’t feed you, protect you, or build you a home, Christine.”
Shame made my chest tighten. “They’re still nice to hear.”
He got up from his seat and walked over to me, the smell of his expensive cologne washing over me in waves. He crouched at my feet. “Is that what it takes to earn your affections, little one? Some pretty words to wrap around your ears?”
I patted him condescendingly on the cheek. “Authenticity, too.” He frowned. “Kind words mean nothing if they mean nothing. You want me because August has me. You have a fascination with collecting things that mean something to him.”
He gave me a meaningful look. “Perhaps he doesn’t deserve them.”
August strolled into the library, his hair a mess and wrinkles littering his shirt. His curly hair looked unwashed, and there was a hint of dark scruff on his jaw. “Last night was so much fun,” he said before plopping into a cushioned chair and winking at me. He dragged his palms over the tops of his thighs and sighed. “But I need hair from the dog that bit me if I’m going to survive the day.”
God, his winks made my heart flutter. It was embarrassing how my body reacted to him.
