Volatile Love (The Gilded Sovereign 2)

“Who is it?” Momma’s voice filters down the hall toward me. She’s crying, her sobs are louder than Dad’s voice, and it drowns out what he’s told her. “Tell her I’ll call her tomorrow.”

There’s silence after that and I hear Momma and Dad’s bedroom door shut. And that’s the last I ever heard him mention a lady called Yasmine.

A noise breaks through my daydream of what happened that night, but even after the memory, I don’t know what all this means. There isn’t anything that makes sense or even sticks out for me to piece the puzzle together.

The door swishes open, forcing me to my feet, and when I glance up, I’m met with the deep blue eyes of Thane.

“The princess is awake,” he grins. He’s handsome, strangely so, and I wonder if he’s related to one of the Crowns from Tynewood. There’s a familiarity about him that I can’t pinpoint.

“Are you letting me go?”

He laughs at my question, a chuckle that’s both filled with humor and darkness. He’s older, with an aura of confidence and calmness that seems to emanate from him. But he also has an aura of violence that seems to hang heavily over him.

“I don’t think so, little one.” He saunters into the room, leaving the door open. “Will you try to run?” he questions, noticing me glancing between him and the door, “because I do love to hunt.”

“You’re a monster,” I bite out.

“And Etienne Durand is not?” He arches a dark brow in question, stilling me from saying anything more. How would he know about Etienne? Unless he saw what happened in the office last night.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He crosses his arms in front of his chest. The white button-up that he’s wearing tightens around his muscled arms as he closes himself off to me.

“I detest liars,” he tells me. “I’m not stupid, Rukaiya, the boy was here to fight for you. So, tell me,” he smirks, closing the distance between us. “What are you to him? Because when I kill him and his friends, I need to know just how heartbroken you’ll be.”

15

Etienne

Ares enters the room as I shift around trying to sit up, staring at him as he reaches me. It’s been one long fucking night, and Tarian is still refusing to talk to me. Peacemaker—Ares—has tried everything, but our friend is being stubborn. I’m still in pain, and every time I move, it feels as if there are broken bones, even though I know there aren’t.

“Where is he?”

“Talking to Dahlia,” Ares informs me as he settles down on the couch that’s set against the wall. The room is one of the many guest suites in the Lancaster mansion. I spent most of my childhood here, hiding from my mother and father, and when Dad left, I mainly hid from mom. “Your dad called, he’s on his way Stateside.”

“Fuck, I don’t need him and his judgmental comments.” Running my fingers through my hair, I cast a glance at Ares who’s watching me. “What?”

“There’s something you need to know, something Tarian just figured out. He’s been at work hacking into the information my father left behind when he was taken in. There were a few files that had been encrypted, and we haven’t been able to figure them out until now.” Ares is normally the relaxed one out of the three of us, but when he’s serious, it sets me on edge.

“You’re freaking me the fuck out and that’s the last thing I need right now, man,” I tell him before the door swings open with a whoosh and Tarian walks in. He looks as fucked up as I feel, and I know it’s all my fault.

“I finally got into that last folder,” he tells Ares, not meeting my questioning gaze. I wish he’d just talk to me. Allow me to apologize for everything I’d done. I feel guilt weighing on me, and it hurts.

“What’s up?” Ares questions as he reaches for the pages in Tarian’s hands. I don’t know what’s on there, but something tells me it’s nothing good. I watch Ares scan the information before he looks up at me and hands me the information. I take the pages, my eyes roaming every bit of what’s on them. My gaze snaps to Tarian, and I know he’s angry, but not at me right now. No, he’s just found out his family is bigger than he’d initially thought. He’s no longer alone; he isn’t just an orphan anymore.

“Do you think Thane planned this?” I ask, hoping with all I have that my best friend speaks to me like he used to. Tarian and I were always closer than Ares and I. Having him look at me with rage and disdain, as well as disappointment, hurts more than I care to admit.

“I wish I knew. My uncle has always been underhanded, but I don’t know what to make of this. I mean…” his words filter off into the silence that’s so thick in the room that it makes it difficult to breathe.