AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Castor picks his clothes up off the bed and stabs his arm through his shirt. “You’re sleeping in here?”
“Yes.” Is he nuts? “I’m not her mate.”
“How can you protect her if you can’t hear her at night?”
“You think I’m sleeping at night? I’m across the hall listening, but I’m not her mate. So I’m not in the podbed.”
He shakes his head. “No, no, you’re not. Neither am I. But she’s a mermaid in transition. She’s going to have needs. Needs that need to be eased.”
“Obviously. We had sex an hour before you got here.”
“You had... fuck, right.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t taking care of her. I said I wasn’t sleeping in the pod bed with her.”
Castor’s clothes are the finest you can buy. And I can’t help but glare at them. Pants for a king on a king-to-be.
“What are you glaring at?”
“You.” Yes, we have lived together for a decade. But most of that time I was on a submarine or he was in Athens. In those ten years, the actual number of hours we spent together added up to less than a week.
“I realize.” He tucks his shirt in and runs his fingers through his hair. But then he turns around. Finger pointed, he steps toward me. “Are you ever going to forgive my family? I didn’t do it. And we don’t know that my parents had anything to do with Richeal’s death either.”
“And we don’t know that they didn’t. And no. I’m not going to forgive you, because you’ve never admitted that your family is less than perfect.”
He shakes his head. “My family has kept you safe your entire life. My family has done everything they can for the dome, to make it the most prosperous and dominant dome of the whole city.”
“Your family has lined their own pockets with gold. It just happened to help the rest of us by default. Don’t go thinking that you’re above us.Viro, geminae—we’re all the same.”
“We’re all Glyden, and that’s what makes us better.” His fists are on his hips. He’s a few inches shorter than I am, but he’s a puffer fish with his spikes on display. Oh, he’s fit—years of swimming to Athens has given him that. But he’s not a soldier. The fact that Nico thinks of him as the golden boy of Glyden, the future king who will change our society, makes me want to laugh. “But you’re right.Viro, geminae, we are all the same. Together we will change the Veiled City. We will make our society stronger. We will overcome our population issue and defeat the Vikings.”
“That’s a mighty big list of campaign promises there, King Castor.” I glare at him, my chin tilted up. Daring him. Pushing him. I’ve never wanted someone to hit me as much as I’ve wanted him to throw the first punch.
But he shakes his head. “I don’t want to fight with you, Holter. I’ve had enough fighting.”
“Whatever you want, golden boy.”
“What I want is for you to realize I’m doing my fucking best. You think I don’t want Annabelle?”
I don’t say anything to him. Because I don’t know what he wants. And I sure as hell think he doesn’t know what he wants.
“I want her. I want to be with her so much, I didn’t know it was possible. Every night I practically have to use Nico’s straps to keep me from coming down here and mating her. But what I want—no, what I need—doesn’t fucking matter.”
And that’s it. He’s so lost in his head, he’s never going to see the truth. So there’s no point in saying it. “Whatever you think is best.” I shrug at him.
“Whatever I think is best? Fuck you, Holter. I’m sending another set of guards down.”
“I don’t need your guards.”
“I don’t give a whale’s cock about you, Holter. It’s for Annabelle.”
“Belle is better off without you.”
“On that, we both agree.” He’s out the door, and I’m guessing out of the apartment, because by the time I’m dressed and in the living room he’s gone. I glance down the hallway, but Annabelle hasn’t woken up. Which says more about the thickness of the walls and how tired she is than the level of Castor’s yelling at me.
It’s way past lunch when Annabelle comes out of the bedroom.
“Castor’s gone.” I look up from the sauce I’m making for dinner. It’s her favorite.
