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Corrine had made a little sound in the back of her throat.I never want to add fuel to a fire, Madelyn, but I will say that as far as I can tell, my sister was born disappointed. I know. I was there.
She thought of that now as the silence grew between her and her parents. And unlike so many of the times, growing up, that she’d fallen all over herself to fill these awkward spaces, this time she said nothing.
This time, she stood there as regally as possible. And waited.
“We received the news from an emissary of your...of the King,” her father said after several moments inched by. He scowled at her. “He insisted that we come and support you.”
“And, naturally, since a random king I doubt you’ve ever heard of insisted, you came at once.”
“We heard of him when those rude journalists camped out on our doorstep,” her father barked at her. “The neighbors will never look at us the same way.”
“The horror,” Madelyn murmured, with a bit more sarcasm than befitted an almost-queen.
“I see that the years haven’t softened you any, Madelyn,” her mother said with a sigh that made it clear she considered herself the victim here. “That’s a shame.”
Madelyn let out a laugh. “I didn’t want to give Troy away. You wanted nothing to do with me unless I did. I’m not sure whatsofteningwould have done to make that scenario any better.”
Her father made a low noise, as if registering how concerning he found this conversation. But Madelyn kept her focus on her mother.
As ever, Angie Jones managed to look as if Madelyn wasdoingsomething to her. Possibly pummeling her where she stood. Or choking her.Somethingthat she wasjustmanaging to fend off. Heroically.
The roller coaster inside her tossed her upside down, then flew through a few loops. Somehow, she kept from reacting to the sensation the way she wanted to.
“I worried all the way over here that this was just another way for you to sidestep the impact of your decisions,” Angie said sorrowfully. She shook her head with pity. “I’m just so disappointed, Madelyn, that no matter what, you always look for the easy way out.”
Madelyn didn’t know what she might have said then. The roller coaster tossed her off into the air. She could feel her eyes opening wide and that same searing fury inside barreling through her to pool in the back of her throat, as if she was about to breathe fire.
But she didn’t get the chance.
“Madam,” came a lazy, amused voice she knew entirely too well, “I am a great many things. Most of them splendid indeed. But I can assure you,easyis not one of them.”
Her mother made a strangled sort of sound. Her father began to look red around the ears.
Paris Apollo walked up beside Madelyn and slid his arm around her. She could feel the curious hardness of his palm, when, by any measure, he should have been soft. Pampered. It made her wonder exactly what he’d been up to in the Hermitage for two years.
She wondered about this a lot, but usually while she wasn’t dressed.
“Ask anyone,” Paris Apollo invited her parents. “I am remarkably hard work.”
Madelyn could see that Angie and Timothy Jones—born and bred in Fresno, California—were wholly unprepared for King Paris Apollo of Ilonia.
She enjoyed that far more than she probably should have.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Paris Apollo said in his indolent way. “This is something of an engagement party for us. We’re so pleased you could attend.”
He whisked her away, seeming to see deep inside her with a single, searing glance, but she didn’t forget her parents were there. Hunkering like dread in the corner of the evening and doing their best to suck all the light away. No matter how many people congratulated her. No matter how many times strangers complimented her and seemed to mean it. No matter how many people seemed to genuinely be excited that the King was marrying a regular woman.
“Like us,” a woman said shyly when they were introduced. “But ever so much more beautiful.”
Madelyn couldn’t understand why her parents were the only two people at this party that she couldn’t seem to impress.
Or why she still cared.
“You seem far away,” Paris Apollo said as he ushered her out of the party some time later, leaving the guests to entertain themselves. Madelyn had been told this was the privilege of royalty. Tonight, she was glad of it.
“I’m right here,” she replied.
Ungraciously, she could admit.
