Vicious Prince (Royal Elite #5)(67)

That was when Uncle Eduard came. He was drunk; I could tell by the shrill laughter and the way he smelled like ‘John’s cheap liquor’, as Lars called it.

He was wearing a green suit and had a clown mask in his hand. When he approached me, he slurred. “Happy Halloween, little nephew. Look at you all scary.”

“I’m Dracula today.” I puffed out my chest.

“Ooh, I’m scared. Come on, I’m already late.” He extended his hand to me, and I took it.

Uncle Eduard didn’t come by often. Dad always yelled at him and called him useless and said he spent a lot of his money. Besides, Uncle Eduard always looked like a clown, even without the mask. He has a nose that’s nothing like Dad’s and mine. Mum calls them beautiful. She’s never called Uncle Ed’s nose beautiful.

Lars intercepted us at the entrance and stopped to look Uncle Eduard up and down then smiled at me. “Would you rather go to bed early, Ronan?”

“No. I want to show off my costume.”

“You heard the kid, Lars. Get out of the fucking way.”

“Language, sir.”

“Oh, fuck you and your sir, Lars.” Uncle Ed dragged me behind him, loosening his tie. “Even the fucking servant thinks he can tell me what to do. You’ll see, Edric. You’ll fucking see.”

“Mum says those are bad words,” I whispered.

“They are, aren’t they? Charlotte is such a good woman, so, so good. Edric always got good things. Even his wife and son belong in a museum.” He smiled at me, but it was fake. Even at that age, I knew there was something wrong with that smile.

Uncle Eduard ushered me into a van. I thought it was cool at the time. It was as big as a bus and there were lights and we had a screen between us and the driver. The windows were tinted like in Dad’s car so I could see the people but the people couldn’t see me.

How cool is that? I thought.

I must’ve spent so long staring at the lights because Uncle Ed asked me if I liked them. I said yes. He was drinking from a blue sparkling bottle.

“What is that, Uncle?”

“This, my dear nephew, is how I remain sane despite all the shit your dad puts me through.” He loosened his tie again. “Fucking Australia. He’s basically sending me to exile.”

“What does exile mean?” I sat on the bench across from Uncle, my feet dangling in the air.

“It means your father hates me.”

“He said he doesn’t. He only wants you to do better.”

“Fuck it. You sound like him even this young.”

“Where are we going, Uncle?”

“My friend’s party. Everyone will be wearing costumes like you.” He abandoned his chair and offered me the sparkling drink. “You want to try it?”

“Is it alcohol?”

“No, it’s juice. Sparkling juice.” Uncle Ed grinned. “It makes you stronger so you can protect your mother. Don’t you want to protect your mother?”

“Of course I do.” I puffed up my chest and took the drink. Mum and Dad said I shouldn’t take anything from strangers, but this wasn’t a stranger; it was Uncle Ed.

The first sip made my face scrunch up. “Eww, it tastes bad.”

“You’re a coward then.” Uncle shook his head.

“I’m not a coward.” I took one more sip and closed my nose like I did whenever Lars made me drink milk.

I hate milk.

Maybe this was like milk but for juice.

The more I drank from it, the closer Uncle got to me. Soon enough, he was hugging me, setting me on his lap.

I didn’t know how it happened, but then, my cape was gone and my shirt was half-open and Uncle was feeling up my wiener.

Why would he want to do that? I always tugged on my wiener and even showed Mum. Dad told me not to do that in front of Mum and said my wiener is for me alone, said no one else should see it or touch it.

“What are you doing?” My voice was wonky, as if I were going to fall asleep.

“I’m not your uncle, my beautiful boy.” His voice was wrong, so wrong. I didn’t like his voice and I didn’t like that he was unbuttoning my Dracula trousers and touching my wiener.

“You’re Dad’s brother…my uncle.” I held on to the glass of sparkling blue with stiff hands, thinking if I didn’t, something bad would happen.

“Not a real one. That’s why he thinks I’m disposable.” He ran his tongue over my cheek, leaving a damp, disgusting trail.

“Eww. Stop it, Uncle.”

He gripped me hard by my wiener over my trousers and I screamed. His other hand wrapped around my mouth, muffling my voice. “Listen, my beautiful boy. You’ll let your uncle take care of you, massage you, and you’ll keep your fucking mouth shut. If you say a word about this to your father, Charlotte will get sick and die. Do you know what death means, brat? It means you’ll never see her again.”

No. Mum will never die.

I didn’t know if it was his words or the fact that I didn’t like the way he touched me or how he took away my cape and ruined my costume, but something made me snap.

I bit his hand and threw the glass and the blue juice at his face. His hold on me faltered and I fell to the floor.

“Mum will never die!” I still spoke strangely, but I managed to slide open the car’s door with shaking fingers.