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Farcliff Kingdom is beautiful. It’s located between the United States and Canada, to the east of the Great Lakes. The summertime is warm and sunny. Picture-perfect. In the countryside, where we are, the air tastes sweet and flowers are in full bloom.
I just…prefer the cold. I like being wrapped up in a warm jacket, staring out at a vast, white expanse of tundra. I like sitting on the edge of the Arctic, feeling alone in the wilderness with my people. I like staring into a fire, watching the flames dance and knowing my frail, human body is no match for the elements. My kingdom is called Nord, and I love every jagged coastline, every frozen lake, every explosion of life that happens during the short summer months.
Muggy heat? Happiness? Birds singing in trees and flowers bursting to life all around me while I feel altogether too damp?
Stifling.
My brother Silas nudges me with his elbow. “Lighten up, Pen. You’re supposed to be happy for Prince Gabriel and his bride.”
“It’s too warm in Farcliff,” I grumble.
“For your cold, dead heart?”
“Don’t you have some poor woman to swindle into sleeping with you?” I arch a brow at him.
“I’ve never swindled anyone.” Silas grins, mirth dancing in his deep blue eyes. A curl of rich, chocolate-brown hair falls over his forehead. Somehow, Silas’ brow isn’t damp with sweat like mine. He looks roguish and happy, not a bit bothered by the sticky heat.
I turn away from him, casting an eye over the wedding guests and all their finery. “No, you just leave a trail of heartbreak wherever you go.”
“I leave a trail of something.” Silas laughs, gulping down champagne as he scans the room—presumably for a woman who will serve as his next conquest.
I wrinkle my nose. “You’re disgusting.”
“Come on, Penelope. You haven’t left Nord in months, and you haven’t seen Prince Gabriel in, what, ten years?”
I nod. “Since my own wedding.”
“At least try to pretend to be happy for him.”
“I am happy for him. He’s marrying the love of his life, which means he’ll forever be exposed to having his heart wrenched out of his chest if anything goes wrong. Hooray for him.”
Silas lets out a sigh, wrapping an arm around my shoulder in an awkward half-hug. “I know this is hard for you,” he says quietly. “I’m proud of you for being here.”
Shaking my brother off, I pinch my lips together. “It’s fine. It’s no harder than the dozens of state dinners I need to attend every month.”
“It’s a bit different.” Brown eyebrows arch as he stares at me, waiting for an answer I won’t give.
He’s right, of course. This isn’t just a state dinner. This is the wedding of an old friend—and seven years after the death of my own husband, it’s the first wedding I’ve had the guts to attend.
Gabriel and I went to the same boarding school. I’ve known him since I was a child, but we’ve had vastly different lives. His wife-to-be, Jolie, came to work at the castle as a gardener. She and Gabriel fell desperately in love, and the whole kingdom of Farcliff has embraced their beautiful romance.
How wonderful for them.
Oh—and she’s heavily pregnant, which feels like another dagger in my heart. That’s one thing I never got to experience before the love of my life was taken away from me. Xavier and I didn’t have a whirlwind romance. We didn’t meet in dark rooms and steal kisses from each other. It was all arranged, approved by the people who needed to approve—but it was far from loveless. Our marriage blossomed into something that felt deep and real and everlasting.
’Til death.
Being here, on what must be the happiest day of Prince Gabriel’s life, makes me feel hot and uncomfortable. I readjust the neckline of my dress, bringing my glass of champagne to my lips with a shaky hand. “Where are these mining moguls I’m supposed to scope out?” I ask my brother, scanning the room just like he is.
“Donovan Enterprise’s CEO is supposed to be here. Reginald Donovan. He has two large mines in Farcliff, and there have been mentions of his desire to expand into Nord.” My brother grunts, jerking his head across the tent. “There.”
An old, graying man gives a big belly laugh, looking a young waitress up and down with lecherous eyes. I pinch my lips together. “He wants to mine land in Nord?”
“Hundreds of acres in the north of the kingdom, near Roston. They’ve found vast diamond fields. He has a bad track record with environmental breaches, and they say his company is in financial trouble.” My brother’s gaze shifts from the old mining tycoon to the group of ladies again, and I know I don’t have much time before he leaves my side.
“Tell me again why it’s a bad idea for him to expand to Nord?”
“He’s notorious for having little or no regard for the environment, for one,” my brother says, shifting his gaze back to Donovan. “And there are rumors he’s shorted the Farcliff government out of millions of unpaid royalties. He’s bad news, Pen.”
