Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Everyone has been talking about him, that’s all. I thought he was marrying—”
I hold up my hand, not wanting her to finish that sentence. Yes, I know who he was planning to marry. I just don’t want to think about her. Or the fact that he so easily brushed her aside to choose me, something I think he did only because of what we’d done in the private room. And after finding out I was a princess. It was his duty.
“Well, he can marry her for all I care.” I barely get the words out before I burst into tears all over again. My sister grabs me and pulls me into another hug. “God, I’m an idiot.”
“Did you and he share something special?”
When I don’t answer she takes my silence as confirmation.
“Did you go to the ball tonight with Dad?” She pulls back to look at me, and her face is hard and angry. The mother bear inside of her is coming out. “Did he announce that he was going to marry another woman tonight right in front of you?”
She half-shouts her question, and I shake my head. She stares at me for a moment, and her anger melts into confusion.
“Did he announce he was going to marry you?” She doesn’t understand why I’m upset, and I’m embarrassed to tell her.
“I think?” is the only response I can muster.
I cringe because I’m not totally sure what happened after I left. I didn’t want to stay and find out, but if what the blonde, Nikki, said was true, then he was going to say we were getting married. But it wasn’t the marriage I wanted. I’d always hoped for a man to come into my life and sweep me off my feet. It may seem silly, but I wanted the fairy tale.
Maybe Nikki would still want him, and if so, she can have him. I don’t want to be someone’s second choice.
“Gigi,” my sister pushes.
“It wouldn’t be a real marriage. I mean, I guess it would, but not all roses and hearts. Not the happily-ever-after love I want.”
She lets out a little breath, and I know what’s coming. I can’t stand to hear it. Not right now. Not after what happened tonight.
“Please don’t,” I tell her. I can’t bear to hear what everyone always says. I know they mean well and are probably right, but I have enough to deal with right now.
“Marriage isn’t easy, Gigi. Life isn’t all—”
“I know!” I snap at her.
Her eyebrows draw up in shock because I never snap at anyone. They like to say I live in candy-land world where everything is soft and sweet and I don’t understand what the real world is like. They all think that I need to grow up. Maybe they’re right. I came out of my little bubble for one day and look what happened to me.
Then Melanie smiles at me. “Turns out you’ve got a little fire in you. I’ve never seen it before, but I like it.”
I drop my eyes down to my lap again. I don’t feel like I have any fire in me.
“You’re going to need it, Gigi. If the King wants to come find you, then we can’t stop him.” She stands up and walks over to the window in the family room. She looks out before turning to look back at me. “We’re on his land here. I married a businessman and gave up any royal title I had. He’s your king, and I can’t stop him from coming here.”
“He’s not mine,” I mumble out, and I wish that were true.
That’s part of the problem. It seems the man I chose to be my king would belong to others as well. What neither of us anticipated is that I’m the youngest in my family by far, and I’m not good at sharing. There was never anyone to have to share with, so I never learned how. Which just makes me all the more possessive of Karim. And the fact that I wasn’t his first choice just makes me even more bitter.
“If he wants you, then you’re his.”
I jump up from my seat. “I’ll call Ethan!” I tell her, rushing over to the phone.
“Did you sleep with him?” I pause at her words, the phone halfway to my ear. “Not that it matters. We both know our brother would agree to a match with Karim, as would our father. Such a pairing would be in both our families’ interest. In fact, I believe not too long ago Ethan tried to pair Megan with him.”
Anger floods though me at the thought of my other sister with Karim.
“He turned the offer down,” she adds. “Wouldn’t even take a meeting.” She gives me a smug look. “I have a feeling you slept with King Karim. So if I were you, I’d get used to the idea of being his.”