Cracked Kingdom (The Royals #5)(3)

I tense up as he stomps toward Hartley’s seat.

Ella wraps one arm around Hartley’s shoulder in a protective gesture, but my dad briskly shakes his head at her.

“Let them go,” Dad barks. “Bastard’s right—they don’t belong here with us.”

Panic lodges in my throat. I don’t want Hartley to go. And I especially don’t want her to go with her father. Who knows what he’ll do to her.

Hartley obviously agrees, because she instantly balks when her dad tries to grab her. She shrugs off Ella’s arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“You have no choice,” he snaps. “I’m still your legal guardian whether you like it or not.”

“No!” Hartley’s voice is like a crack of thunder. “I’m not going!” Her head swivels toward my father. “Listen, my dad’s a—”

She never finishes her sentence because in the next second she topples forward, crashing to the floor. The sound of her head thudding against the tile is going to live with me until I die.

A hundred hands seem to reach for her, but I get to her side first. “Hartley!” I yell, pulling on her shoulder. “Hartley!”

“Don’t move her,” my dad barks, and tries to shove me away.

I jerk out of his grasp but let her go. I lie down on the floor so my face is next to hers. “Hartley. Hart. It’s me. Open your eyes. It’s me.”

Her eyelids don’t move.

“Get away from her, you punk!” screams her father.

“Easton.” It’s Ella, and her voice is lined with horror as she gestures to the side of Hartley’s head, where a thin stream of blood is spidering out. I feel like throwing up, and it’s not just because of the alcohol still buzzing through my veins.

“Oh my God,” Ella breathes. “Her head. She hit her head so hard.”

I swallow my terror. “It’s fine. It’s going to be fine.” I turn to Dad. “Get a doctor! She’s hurt!”

Someone grabs my shoulder. “I said get away from my daughter!”

“You get away from her!” I spit at Hartley’s father.

Suddenly there’s a commotion behind me. Footsteps. More shouts. This time I let myself be wrenched away. It’s like Sebastian all over again. Hartley’s on a gurney, and doctors and nurses are barking orders at each other as they wheel her away.

I stare at the empty doorway, numb. Stunned.

What just happened?

“Oh my God,” Ella says again.

My legs can no longer support my own weight. I drop into the nearest chair and gasp for air. What. Just. Happened?

Hartley was hurt this entire time and didn’t say anything? Or maybe she didn’t realize it? The paramedics cleared her, damn it.

“They said she was okay,” I croak. “They didn’t even admit her.”

“She’s going to be fine,” Ella assures me, but her tone doesn’t hold much conviction. We both saw that blood, and the purple bruise forming at her temple, and her slack mouth.

Oh fuck. I’m going to be sick.

Gotta give Ella credit—she doesn’t jump away when I bend over and throw up all over her shoes. She simply strokes my hair and smooths it away from my forehead. “It’s okay, East,” she murmurs. “Callum, go get him some water. I don’t know where Sawyer wandered off to when I sent him to get some. And you—” I assume she’s talking to Mr. Wright, “I think it’s time you left. You can wait for news about Hartley somewhere else.”

“Gladly,” Hartley’s father says in disgust.

I know the moment he’s gone, because the air in the room loses some of its tension.

“She’s going to be fine,” Ella says again. “And so will Sebastian. Everyone’s going to be fine, East.”

Rather than feel reassured, I throw up again.

I hear her murmur under her breath, “God, Reed, would you just get here already.”

The waiting game begins again. I drink water. My dad and Sawyer sit in silence. Ella throws her arms around Reed when he finally shows up. He had to drive all the way from college and he looks exhausted. I don’t blame him—it’s three in the morning. We’re all exhausted.

News of Sebastian’s condition is the first to trickle in. His head injury is the biggest concern. There’s swelling in his brain, but the doctors don’t know how serious it is yet.

My oldest brother Gideon arrives a bit after Reed, in time to hear the part about Seb’s brain. Gid throws up in the wastebasket in the corner of the room, though unlike me, I don’t think he’s drunk.

It’s hours later when a different doctor appears in the doorway. It’s not the one who operated on Seb, and he looks incredibly uneasy as he glances around the room.

I stumble to my feet. Hartley. This has to be about Hartley.





Chapter 2





Hartley





A bright light aimed at my face wakes me up. I blink groggily, trying to decipher actual shapes from the blobs of white in front of my eyes.

“There she is. Sleeping Beauty has awakened. How are you feeling?” The light flashes again. I reach up to wave it away and nearly black out from the pain that washes over me.