Page 48 of War and his Queen

“What is it…” My brows lift.

“Yeah, what is it that you need to tell us?” Priest baits her, and I know—I just know—she’s about to slap us all in the face. The tension in the air shifts as the car stops, but none of us move from our seats.

She takes a swig of the amber liquid, swiping her mouth with the back of her hand. There’s a knock on the window at the same moment her mouth widens.

She gestures outside. “Oh well. Isn’t this a turn of events.”

I look out the window to see River and Stella standing against the two pillars on the porch.

“What the fuck—” I shove the door open, ignoring the prying eyes of the two Lost Boys who have both jumped out of idling cars.

I point to Stella and my sister. “What the fuck are you both doing here?”

Stella rolls her fucking eyes to the back of her head, brushing her hair over her leather-clad shoulder. “What? You think that you’re the only ones who are Kings? Or that it rests solely on Halen?”

River shakes her head. “Let’s go inside. We can’t do this out here, we don’t know who is watching.”

“Wait a damn—”

River cuts me off. “War, I swear to God.”

My lip curls up as I force myself back down into the car, grabbing Halen from around her wrist and hauling her out.

“Ouch! War!” she howls but ambles out.

I shove her against the side of the car and when I catch movement in the back, I glare at Priest. “Don’t fucking even…”

His eyes narrow for a moment, before his big shoulders lift when he climbs out of the car.

I know he isn’t good with this, but he and I will talk about it later, and besides, he understands the way I feel about River and how much I have tried to keep shit from her all her life. She’s even more sheltered than Halen and Stella. Stella has always done whatever the fuck she wants, but River was the good one. She did what she was told, never put her nose into shit she knew not to, and always kept to the girls.

“What the fuck have you done?” I force out from gritted teeth.

Halen has always been the diva. She got what she wanted, whenever she wanted, and no one ever asked questions.

Until now.

She tries to whack my hand away, but I tighten my grip. “Halo…”

“It’s not me, you ass!” Her eyes flash with defiance. “We—” She gestures between her and the girls. “—have been doing morethan you know. The Fathers approved a long time ago, War, so if you have beef, go take it up with them.”

I shove her back and as soon as she’s not in my grip, I fucking hate it.

Priest finally rounds the car, his eyes meeting the girls. “I thought he was joking.”

Vaden flicks Stella against her head with a chuckle.

“What do you meanyou thought he was joking?” I flex my fingers in the palm of my hand to stop myself from punching him straight in the jaw.

Priest turns over his shoulder an inch, to make sure no one is watching before coming back to me. “Years ago, he said the girls would join when the time was right, but I thought he only meant Halen.”

“War!” River snaps her fingers. “I’m not a fucking kid anymore, and when wego insidewe can talk about it all. Together. As a family. As it was supposed to be.”

My jaw turns to steel. I need to put some distance between me and everyone standing here at this moment. Did I think this would happen? No. I didn’t. I made the mistake of assuming that it would only ever be Halen who would be partaking in the ritual. I did the unthinkable so that she didn’t have to.

All along, it didn’t matter.

Shoving the front door open, I don’t stop when Katsia halts halfway down the round staircase, her satin robe split enough to see a slither of her sun-bronzed skin.

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