Cracked Kingdom (The Royals #5)(91)

The weather is just on the cusp of getting hot, but there’s a sweet afternoon breeze coming up from the ocean. It’s a perfect day for a wedding.

I make my way past the dining room that seats fourteen and across the marble floor under the crystal chandelier that sparkles so brightly it could rival the sun. The long room in the front has been transformed into a beauty parlor. Callum hired an army of staff—caterers, waiters, hairdressers, makeup artists, musicians. I feel like half of Bayview is here prepping for this event.

“Oh good, you're here. I was just about to come and get you.” Dylan prances over. Her long hair, so similar to mine, has tiny braids around the crown. A crystal and enamel floral headpiece sits just behind those braids, and around her neck is a simple necklace with the same enamel flowers.

I suspect the jewelry is worth more than some people's cars. Callum Royal throws money around as if there’s a printing press in the basement. And there's no point in putting a stop to his generosity. Easton says it's because it makes him feel less guilty and that if I have any compassion I'll accept all these gifts with a smile.

It's easier to do when they’re showered on Dylan, because she deserves the world.

“You look beautiful,” I tell her.

“I know.” She twirls in a circle, her skirt flying up. “Your turn now.”

I give myself over to the team to dress me, perfume me, do my hair and makeup and slip on red-soled shoes onto my feet. Next to me, Ella’s best girlfriend, Val, gets the same treatment while Savannah, Gideon’s girlfriend, plays UNO with Dylan.

The wedding planner sticks her head in the room. “If everyone is ready, can you take your places?”

The four of us make our way outside onto the vast lawn that overlooks the endless sea. Dylan and I take our seats in the front row—the row designated for family. My sister slides her hand beneath mine. Our finger lengths almost match. I glance up in surprise. Dylan’s growing up. I hadn’t realized it before when she was spinning like a top before me.

My attention is diverted when Easton walks up from behind the floral arch with his oldest brother behind him. I nearly swallow my tongue. Eastern Royal in a tux should be illegal. I wonder how many other women in the audience are getting pregnant just from looking at the two Royal brothers.

“You’re disgusting,” Dylan whispers.

I dab a finger at the corner of my lips. “Am I drooling?”

“Not yet.” She sniffs with disdain. “But any second now I expect your eyes to fall into your lap. Can you act with some self-control? Both of you are an embarrassment.”

Both of us? I look up to see Easton staring at me like I’m his favorite dish and he hasn’t eaten in two weeks. I blush.

Dylan nudges me. I nudge her back.

“No, I can't act with any self-control.” The smile that breaks across my face is uncontrollable, but Dylan is saved from any further antics when Bruno Mars’ “Marry You” starts playing.

The entire congregation rises to watch Ella Royal stroll down the center of the aisle looking like a fairy princess come to life, decked out in a tightly-bound satin bodice with tiny sleeves and a huge ball gown skirt that appears to be made of a thousand layers of tissue-thin silk. Her blonde hair is caught up in a delicate bun at the base of her neck. Around her head she wears a diamond tiara, and a train floats so far behind her that if you stretched it out, it might reach the house several yards away.

Reed Royal stands opposite Easton in a dark tux and snow-white shirt, but it’s the pure love shining from his Royal-blue eyes that captures everyone’s attention.

I like to think of myself as not overly sentimental, but I cry during the wedding. It might be a remnant of last winter’s trauma when my father was killed, when Easton was shot, when he endured a long and painful recovery from his kidney transplant.

But it might be out of happiness. That I’m alive. That Dylan’s with me. That Easton’s as healthy today as he ever was. That his sister and his brother are marrying even though neither of them is even in their twenties. Reed proposed at Christmas and to everyone’s surprise, Ella said yes. She did so with a lot of caveats, though. She was going to college. Then she was getting a job. They would live only on the money the two of them made. Reed agreed with everything. She could have said that she wanted him to wear the dress and I think he would’ve said yes.

I think she was ready because she’d lost so much—her mother, her father. I’m clinging extra hard to Dylan these days, much to her dismay.

I'm not the only one who cries, though. Dylan weeps. So do Val and Savannah. I swear I see Gideon wipe his eyes. Callum doesn’t bother to hide his tears. And all those claims about mascara being waterproof are bullshit. Every single female looks like a damned raccoon.

After the ceremony is over, the army of folks who were hired to make us look beautiful in the first place descend on the wedding party and fix us up so we can take pictures and party during the reception looking perfect once again. Easton gives a hilarious and embarrassing toast recounting how Ella became part of the family.

“Reed swore up and down that he didn’t like her, but then he’d go sit outside her bedroom waiting for her to come home every night,” Easton reveals, which makes both his siblings blush for different reasons. “He was like her own personal guard dog.”

Reed shrugs and makes a woofing sound. Ella turns even redder. And the redder she gets, the louder the crowd roars. When Easton is done teasing them, Gideon stands up and then it’s the twins’ moment to turn up the heat.