Chapter 217

Nicholas

I pushed my errant brother through the door of the first nearby empty room. It was a library with floor to ceiling bookcases.

I shoved Joyce into the center of the room and he fell to his knees. The King and Queen came in behind me, with Julian sauntering in last. Nathan closed the door to the room and stood outside of it, protecting the shattered remains of our privacy.

Joyce whimpered where he sat on the ground. He wiped at his eyes were genuine tears were beginning to well. His face was a mix of fading determination and building sadness and stress.

“Joyce, you absolute twat,” Julian said, and there was unbridled fury in his voice. Fury I couldn’t quite bring myself to feel for my youngest brother.

I had never hated my brother. He kept to himself, but seemed thoughtful and well-educated. Perhaps his lack of social awareness led to his downfall here. As furious as I was, for his accusations against Piper, I felt angrier at myself for being unable to protect his weakness.

As an older brother, I failed him.

“I wasn’t lying,” Joyce said. His bottom lip trembled. “I slept with Piper.”

Our father rubbed his forehead and growled with annoyance.

Our mother was softer. She knelt down and spoke softly, “Joyce. We know that’s not true.”

I shot a quick glare to Julian, who pointedly avoided looking at me. Yes, I was relieved that he had stood up and announced Piper was with him, even though it was a horrible, horrible lie. This protected Piper’s reputation from the tarnish of being with all of the princes.

But facts were, Piper was still a virgin. And the only one here I would tolerate her being with was me.

Even if we couldn’t be together. Even if everything was a big mess…

No. I should protect Piper from me too.

Joyce shook his head vehemently. “Maybe she left Julian and came to me. I don’t know. But she knocked on my door in the middle of the night and then… She was very persuasive…”

The King looked first at Julian, then at me. “How well do we trust Piper?”

“Implicitly,” I said at once. Piper’s honor would not be questioned here. I’d damned well see to that.

I might have failed Joyce, but I would not fail Piper.

The King stared at me for a long moment. I held his gaze, matching his ferocity with my own. He would see that I’m serious.

His gaze then switched to Julian. Julian didn’t waver either.

“And she was with you?” the King asked.

“Does it matter, really?” Julian deflected. “What we know for a fact is that she wasn’t with Joyce. I’m not sure they’ve even had more than two conversations together.”

“So he hallucinated?” the King asked.

“I didn’t imagine it!” Joyce said, outrage overtaking the tears for a moment. Our mother touched his shoulder. “I didn’t,” he said softer, to her. “She was real.” He sniffled. “She was my first.”

God damn Jane. She would pay for this.

I thought this outburst would thaw Julian’s frozen heart toward Joyce, as it had done for me, but Julian just glared at our youngest brother.

“You are a good actor,” Julian said. “If I didn’t already suspect you, I might have bought what happened tonight same as the rest of the family.”

“I’m not!” Joyce said.

The King’s words were sharp, “This is no time to fling baseless accusations, Julian.”

“What’s so baseless? We all saw what he did tonight,” Joyce said. “That’s not something Joyce would have thought up on his own.”

A sinking pit opened up in my stomach. “What are you talking about, Julian?”

Julian considered me. “Whether or not the story tonight is concocted…”

“It wasn’t!” Joyce cried.

“It could have been black magic,” the Luna said. “Someone disguised…”

“You can’t mean the underground is behind this!” the King said, fired up now. God, I hoped he carried his blood pressure medicine with him tonight. He was going to need it. His face was already red.

“They manipulated my baby,” the Luna said. “It’s the only explanation.”

Joyce avoided our mother’s loving gaze. He was the most spoiled of us three princes. He received the most attention from our parents, particularly the Luna. Usually he ate it up. But this time…

Something was different.

Maybe he was manipulated. But I was suddenly starting to realize that that manipulation might not have all that recent.

Locking eyes with Julian, he nodded at me. “You get it. Remember how, on the night you were almost taken, Nicholas, Joyce lured Piper to the balcony and trapped her there. He wanted her out of the way in case she decided to…” He didn’t finish, but we both knew.

They didn’t want Piper to be present when I was taken. If Piper had been with me that night, I would have immediately known Jane was the one at the door, and she wouldn’t have been able to get the collar on me.

Neither of us could say that allowed without revealing Jane’s existence, and my promise to keep that secret for Piper kept my mouth firmly shut.

“But if Joyce was involved in that incident,” I said, “Then how far back does his connection to the underground go?”

“You are all talking nonsense,” the Luna said, but there was panic in her eyes. Her hand on Joyce’s shoulder wasn’t holding on quite as tightly anymore.

Joyce, meanwhile, was still playing pathetic.

“We should check for the mark,” I said, and glanced at our father for permission.

“No!” the Luna said, but there was fear in her voice. Maybe she didn’t want to know the truth.

The King, however, could see that it was necessary. “Do it.”

I stepped toward Joyce. He immediately cowered away.

“T-this isn’t necessary!” he said, and his voice was shaking.

“Don’t make this difficult,” Julian said.

I took another step. Joyce tried to dodge from me, but I gripped his shirt and yanked it up.

There, on Joyce’s chest was a tattoo of an upside down wolf skull. The symbol of the underground.

It was not a fresh tattoo, but seemed stretched out with his growth spirts. Then he was like Veronica, taken in as a child, manipulated and groomed for the purpose of serving the underground.

“Shit,” Julian said.

I understood the sentiment.

The King had gone quiet. The Queen was softly crying.

Joyce looked hollowed out and broken. He was silent now, frozen. He didn’t whimper, didn’t cry. He just sat there staring at nothing.

“We have to keep this secret,” the King said. “Terry’s betrayal was enough to break the public’s trust in us, but this? This would ruin everything…”

“We can’t just keep him around,” Julian said. “Listening.”

“How could you?” the Luna sobbed softly to Joyce. Joyce stared blankly back. “Oh, my little boy.”

“Maybe we could deprogram him. He’s obviously brainwashed. We could bring him back,” I said. I looked at Julian. Like Veronica. Maybe she could even help.

Julian sighed, and I knew he was conceding. He’d been ice cold before, but now that the truth had fully been brought to light, he seemed more resigned.

Maybe he was thinking of all the intel we could get from Joyce if he did return to us.

Or maybe he, too, was just worried about our youngest brother.

“Fine,” Julian said.

“Then we are in agreement,” the King said.

“Yes, we – ah!” I clutched at my chest as a shot of sharp fear spiked through me. Inside, my wolf was snarling, and throwing itself against the walls I used to contain it.

“Nicholas?” Julian asked, stepping closer.

“It’s Piper,” I said. I had no idea how I knew my words were true, but I could feel the truth in them with every fiber of my being. Wherever Piper was, she was terrified. “She’s in trouble.”

Confusion seeped over Julian’s face. He pulled out his phone. “She hasn’t pressed the tracker.”

“I’m telling you,” I started, then growled. The wolf was winning the fight. I’d shift soon. I had to get to Piper. She needed me.

I pushed away from my family and barreled toward the door.

Julian rushed after me. “You don’t even know where she is!”

But I did. I had no idea how.

I could feel her presence tugging on my heart. All I had to do was follow.