Page 149 of Mate of a Monster

Not long ago, there were only two chairs up there—our father, the king’s, and mother, the treacherous queen’s.

Then he died and the crowns fell on our heads, making us responsible for an entire fucking kingdom whether we liked it or not.

None of us expected it to go this way. We all thought we knew what the future looked like when the time came for father to pass it down. Knight, Sinner, and myself would be the fuckoffs, free-for-all, political bullshit—the disorderly Lords. That left a single king to rule over Rathe.

King Creed Deveraux, firstborn and heir to the throne of dark magic.

My insides stretch tight and I clench my teeth. Guilt, anger, –the desire to die just so I can kick his ass in the afterlife—all eating me up on the inside, threatening to hollow its way out.

“Careful,” the Nightkin murmurs in the back of my mind, his voice more like my own conscience. “You are about two breaths away from her setting those guards at her door on fire.”

“I will beg her to set the entire palace on fire if they touch his seat again.”

“And she will happily agree,” he says thoughtfully, “but that will ruin her surprise.”

Surprise. Right.

That alone is enough to make me breathe out slowly. Sorry, baby.

She yanks on the bond angrily in response, and a small smile twitches my lips.

I close my eyes and drag a hand down my face before turning back toward the room. “The throne stays. It doesn’t need to be fucking moved.”

“The throne stays.” Knight steps up beside me, his expression unreadable even though the grief behind his eyes hasn’t faded any more than it has for the rest of us.

Sinner joins on the other side, arms folded and jaw tight.

Once the guards have all scattered back to the corners of the room, Knight’s hand falls on my shoulder.

“He loved you, Legend,” he says quietly. “He loved all of us.”

Sinner snorts harshly. “And look where that love got him,” he mutters bitterly. “Yet another reason I will never fucking mate.”

Knight sighs and I slide my eyes to his twin.

“In fact,” Sinner continues, pacing a few steps away, the energy under his skin having nowhere else to go and riding him hard for release. “Forget loving or caring, I won’t even allow myself to like anything anymore.”

Knight raises an eyebrow. “You like us.”

Sinner stops to glare. “Different,” he says. “You’ve always known I’d die for you.”

Knight tilts his head. “How is that different than Creed dying for all of us?”

Sinner stares at him, the answer obvious but completely unacceptable.

“Fuck you,” he mutters, then turns and stalks toward the exit, seeing himself out. “Hurry the fuck up, Legend.”

He disappears through the doors just as London steps through them.

She stops beside Knight, and his hand folds over her ass as she looks up at me. “Hey,” she says softly. “None of that.”

“None of what?”

“The brooding.”

“I do not brood.”

“You absolutely brood.”