“Right. Look. What you did, the secrets you kept, it…. No, Sam. I wouldn’t. And he wouldn’t ask, regardless of what my answer would be. He doesn’t see me like that. As disgusting as it is, his heart belongs to you. And I don’t know that I ever loved him that way. I cared for him, sure. But… it was a power move. For the both of us. I wanted my father off my back, and Ryan wanted to prove himself to the knights. It was mutually beneficial, and it really wasn’t anything more than that.”
“You slept together,” I said, the words slightly choked.
He shrugged. “And? He’s hot. Of course I did.”
“He really is.”
“The beard is gross, though.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I demanded. “The beard makes me want to sex his face.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, that’s not something I ever want to hear about. Especially with the sounds of a unicorn achieving orgasm somewhere behind us.”
He was right. Gary was making his orgasm wail. The fact that I knew what that sound meant made me realize it was time to set some boundaries for our friendship.
“His beard is sexy,” I said.
“It makes him look like a beggar.”
I felt a little cold at that. “Well,
the both of us used to be, Your Highness.”
Justin shoved me on my good shoulder. I’d taken the sling off the week before, but it was still slightly tender. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I don’t see it like that anymore. People can change, Sam. And as loath as I am to admit it, I am one of those people. Working closer with my father has… broadened my horizons.”
It’d been a point of contention for Justin, feeling like the King hadn’t cared about him as much as he did the people of Verania. It’d been bullshit, of course, because I didn’t think there was anyone the King loved more than his son. Granted, he might not have known how to show it, and Justin had had a point where it seemed as if the King had been more interested in marrying Justin off than allowing him to make his own choices, but that was all in the past.
“I know,” I said, sitting back up. “Old habits, I guess. I’m still protective of where I came from.”
“And can you say they feel the same for you?” he asked. “It seems to me that part of Lady Tina’s army is built of people from the slums, even if that seems to be to her distaste.”
“Ugh,” I said. “Can I tell you something, not as the Prince of Verania, but as my best friend 5eva?”
“We’re not—”
“I knew I could trust you. Secret handshake!” I started the intricately complicated motions for our handshake.
He just sat there.
“You’re right,” I said. “We can just practice later.”
“I didn’t say—”
“So, as my best friend 5eva and not the Prince of Verania, how would you go about plotting the demise of a teenage girl?”
He stared at me.
I waggled my eyebrows at him.
“How did we even get here?” he asked.
I frowned. “People often say that to me in our conversations. I have no idea why.”
“I’m sure you don’t.”
“The King and Morgan wouldn’t tell me about anything happening in the City of Lockes. At least having to do with the We-Hate-Sam-A-Lots.”
“That’s because you have other things to be focusing on.”