Twisted Games (Twisted, #2)(119)

Andreas’s face broke out into a devious grin.

“Don’t be a dick,” I warned.

“Me? Never.” he drawled before turning to Bridget. “I appreciate the gratitude, cousin dearest. Does this mean you owe me a favor in the future?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t push it.”

Andreas shrugged. “It was worth a shot. While you’re here, maybe you can explain place settings to your boyfriend. I drew a perfect diagram, but alas, it’s not enough.”

Bridget’s confusion morphed into amusement when I explained the situation, glaring at Andreas the whole time.

“He doesn’t know his forks,” Andreas said after I finished. “I’m trying to civilize him. Imagine using a salad fork to eat pasta.” He sniffed with disdain.

“I know them enough to stab you with one of them,” I said.

Booth snorted from the doorway.

“The violence is another thing we have to work on.” Andreas finished his whiskey and set it on the counter. “You’re dating a princess now. You can’t go around stabbing people.”

“Oh, I think people will understand once they find out who I’m stabbing.”

Bridget laughed. “Forget about him,” she told me. “I’ll help you.” She turned to Booth. “I’m fine here. Rhys is with me. I believe there’s a football match you want to watch?”

Football as in soccer, not American football. It was one of the thousand small things I had to get used to.

Booth’s face lit up. “If you wouldn’t mind, Your Highness.”

Since it was getting late and Andreas had no groceries except for milk and eggs, we ordered takeout while Booth watched his game in the den and Bridget and Andreas fought to teach me about place settings. Eventually I got the hang of it, and we moved on to nobility ranks. It wasn’t hard to remember. After the royal family, dukes and duchesses ranked highest, followed by marquesses, counts, earls, and barons. Eldorra had a similar hierarchy to Britain.

“You might make a good Prince Consort after all.” Andreas wiped his mouth with a napkin and checked the clock. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a call with an old friend from Oxford. Don’t destroy the kitchen while I’m gone.”

“Good to hear. You know how I live for your approval,” I deadpanned.

“I do.” He clapped me on the shoulder on his way out, and my annoyance ratcheted up another notch.

I couldn’t believe I shared DNA with that guy.

When I turned back to Bridget, she was trying, and failing, to suppress a smile.

“What’s so funny?”

“You and Andreas. You bicker like Nik and I do.” Her smile widened at the incomprehension on my face. “You bicker like siblings.”

Siblings.

It didn’t hit me until that moment. I’d known Andreas was my brother, but he was my brother. A real, albeit annoying, one I saw regularly. We argued all the time, but maybe that was just what siblings did, like Bridget said.

I wouldn’t know. I’d been alone all my life…until now.

My stomach swooped with the oddest sensation.

“I still don’t trust him fully,” I said. Cynicism was hard-wired into my DNA, and while Andreas hadn’t done anything shady since I confronted him about being my brother, it’d only been two months.

“Neither do I, but let’s stick with optimism for now. Besides, it’ll be nice for you to have a brother here. Even if I wish he were less…”

“Andreas-y?”

Bridget laughed. “Yes.”

“Hmm. We’ll see.”

I drew her closer and kissed her forehead. I could hear Booth’s football game in the den, and our takeout containers lay scattered on the kitchen island along with Andreas’s empty whiskey glass and the rumpled diagram he’d drawn for me.

It didn’t look like a royal gathering. It looked like a normal Wednesday night at home.

And as Bridget wrapped her arms around my waist and Andreas returned, grumbling about a delayed bachelor trip to Santorini, I finally identified the odd sensation gripping me.

It was the feeling of having a family.





51





Rhys





Three months later

“Rhys!” Luciana’s face creased into a huge smile. “Como estas?” She looked Bridget over with a twinkle in her eye, and when she spoke next, her words held a teasing note. “Es tu novia?”

I laughed and tangled my fingers with Bridget’s. “Si, es mi novia.”

“I knew it!” Luciana said with delight. “Finally. Come, come. I have food for you.”

She ushered us to the same table we’d sat at during our last trip to Costa Rica. I couldn't believe that had only been a year ago. So much had changed since then.

Hell, so much had changed in the past three months alone. Bridget and I could finally enjoy being together, even as preparations for her coronation ramped up and I slowly acclimated to the spotlight. I didn’t enjoy the attention, but I was more comfortable with it, and that was the best I could hope for.

“This was a good idea.” Bridget sighed with happiness when Luciana brought out a feast of meat and rice. “I needed a vacation.”