Chapter 272

Nicholas POV

“You should have kissed Bridget, Nicholas,” my father said to me.

We were standing in the private rooms he shared with my mother. The King was glaring at me. The Luna was sitting at the table, busying herself with needlepoint and paying us little attention. I knew my father had her full support, however. Talks like these were usually part of a two-pronged attack.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire conversation hadn’t been mainly my mother’s idea.

“I didn’t think the play needed it,” I said.

“To hell with what the play needed,” the King said. His blood pressure was rising. His face was turning red. “You should have kissed her to kiss her.”

“You aren’t giving Bridget enough of a chance,” the Luna said from the table.

I nearly sighed but held back. Like I had guessed, my mother was more involved than she pretended to be.

“Bridget and I are just friends,” I said to her, because I knew she was the one I was talking to, and that my father was just a mouthpiece to her wishes.

The Luna lowered her needlepoint down to the tabletop, then turned in her chair to face me. “This is a competition to find your Luna, Nicholas. You have no friends here.”

Ah. There it was. My mother already chose my bride for me, now she intended to guide me into selecting the woman she’d already chosen.

The only one I really wanted, Piper, was off-limits. They had made that clear plenty of times.

Piper herself had made it clear she didn’t particularly want the job. And even I worried about bringing her and Elva into the dangerous and precarious situations such a role would require.

But to have the choice taken entirely from me rankled my nerves like no other.

These competitions were such a farce. Most of these girls could go home right now and it wouldn’t make any difference. Keeping up the ruse felt dishonest.

“I thought Lilliana was the one you wanted me to pair up with,” I said.

“Don’t be smart, boy,” the King snapped.

I dipped my head a little. It wasn’t like me to speak out of turn to my parents, but this entire day had been one event after the next of people not listening to my wants and making decisions for me.

I was an Alpha. I had not just an urge, but a need to be in charge of my own life. My instinct was to protect those around me. To shield them. Not to cower behind my aging mother’s skirts and have her pick things for me.

The imagined vision made me furious. I respected my parents. Respected Bridget. I was so tired of being disrespected in turn.

The only person in the entire palace who seemed to actually respect me, other than Mark, was Piper. God, I wished I could talk to her now. She had a way of putting things in perspective. If I only had her beside me…

But I couldn’t.

I could roar in frustration. I was just going in circles, around and around again.

“Nicholas,” my mother said – and she was my mother now, so much softer when she acted that part, instead of that of a Queen. “Even if you only see Bridget as a friend. Who better than a friend to be your wife? She is not a stranger. You trust her. Your heart could melt for her over time.”

I couldn’t believe that. Bridget had always been my friend, and though I could admit her beauty, I never truly desired her, not once I realized what desire truly looked like. When I had been young, I had thought myself in love. But then I met Piper, and I learned what love truly was.

Yet, I couldn’t fully deny the logic behind her words. If I excluded Piper from the running, most of the women here, even those I had dated, remained strangers to me. Lilliana never allowed me to see her true self. And Olivia’s true self was to meld herself into the moment. I hadn’t seen beyond her hard shell.

Bridget was my friend. She had my trust. Though I didn’t think love would form from it, I couldn’t deny it would be a good match. Bridget would be a good Luna.

However, I did not think she would be a good wife. And that kept me from agreeing to the match.

That, and my desire for Piper. I knew we needed to end things, but how could I? If I could keep her by my side longer, simply by turning all others away, I would.

“There’s no secret that Bridget’s presence has helped quell some of the unrest in the kingdom,” the King said. “Her continued presence in the palace could only help us moving forward.”

He was right. I fucking hated it but he was right.

“Speak to her,” the Luna said. Her cold, queenly exterior had returned. “Perhaps she can convince you where we could not.”

“I will speak to her in the morning,” I said. I really needed to rest tonight and clear my head. I didn’t want to jump into something while my head felt so muddled.

“Speak to her now,” the Luna commanded. “She is waiting in your rooms.”

It was against the rules for the candidates to be in the princes’ rooms without their express permission. It seemed my mother had trumped that rule without my consent.

Another choice ripped from my hands. Another disrespect.

I dipped my head low, because I didn’t trust my voice anymore. A growl was brewing in the back of my throat. For anyone, even a prince, to growl at the Luna would not go unpunished.

I left their room without another word. I didn’t want to speak with Bridget, but I reasoned I could talk to her and tell her to come back in the morning.

I opened the door to my rooms and walked in. Bridget was waiting in a chair and immediately jumped up at my arrival. I closed the door behind me.

“I know this can’t be what you had planned,” she began. She must have been prepped for this conversation, likely by my mother. Not letting me get a word in, even to say hello, was likely part of their strategy. “It’s not what I had in mind either.”

“Bridget…”

She walked to me, closing the distance faster than I would have liked. I held my ground though, and stood taller. I would be defiant in whatever small ways I could be.

“Your friendship is important to me, Nicholas. So I want to stay by your side. And who knows?” She lifted a hand and traced it down the length of my forearm. “Maybe someday it could be love.”

No. It wouldn’t.

Not while Piper was a person that existed in the world. Even if she and I could never be together, she was the only one I wanted in my heart. Even if that made me lonely. Even if Piper eventually moved on.

Piper was my heart.

I opened my mouth, ready to turn Bridget down as gently as I could – or at least, set the record straight.

But then there was a knock on the door. I went to it, drew it open, and there stood Piper.

For her to find me in here, this late, with Bridget, made my heart sink, coated in black ink. Piper would be hurt, and she would have right to be.

Especially with the careless things I had said to her before.

Here she was, ready to give me another chance, and I had to turn her down flat.

“Go back to your room, Piper,” I said, and closed the door.