Fate of a Royal (Lords of Rathe, #1)(67)

I don’t bother shaking my head because sometimes Father just likes hearing himself talk, even when he’s arguing. There’s no fucking way. I’ll prove to everyone that she isn’t. That she’s nothing but a pointless little fucking human. A plaything.

“You better watch your mother around her. You know how she gets.”

I push up from my chair.

“Knight!” he calls, just as my hand comes to the door handle. “If it is you, I don’t care if you’re taking the throne today or in one hundred years. You talk to me that way again and try to choose my company, and I’ll feed you to the dragons for a week, you hear?” I push the door open and slam it behind me, throwing up a portal and stepping through.

Yeah. We will fucking see about that.





Twenty-Four





London



Sin looks between the car and me, a wide smile on his face. “Do you like it?”

“Are you proud?” I ask, a raised brow. I hate to admit it, but I think I like Sinner. Or Sin. Well, I like him enough to follow him out the front of the house to see his new surprise. Which just so happens to be a—“You…magic’d up a Ferrari?”

His mouth falls. “You want it pink?” He snaps his fingers and the color changes to pink.

“Err, I don’t really care.” I snatch the keys from the palm of his hand, jogging to the driver’s side. “So long as I get to drive.”

He watches me curiously, tucking his hand into his jean pocket.

He and Knight are one-hundred-percent identical. It’s almost eerie. Yet somehow, I can differentiate between the two with ease, something no one else can do…or so Sinner claims.

Or maybe it’s just that Knight is always moody, and Sinner is somehow lighter. No. Lighter isn’t the right word. I get the feeling he’s equally as fucked up as Knight. Maybe he just hides his internal shit better where Knight lets his shit roar.

“You want me to come with you?” It comes out a whisper, almost like he’s asking himself the question more than he’s actually asking me.

“Why would I not?” I tilt my head to the side. “I need a trouble buddy.”

“I’m not your buddy,” he warns, only his mouth crinkling slightly in a gentle smirk.

“Fine.” I roll my eyes. “Then I need a bodyguard. I’m guessing there’s a reason why your brother dragged me—no—stole me. And I’m guessing you want to honor that.”

His smile turns into a wide-tooth smirk. “Bingo.”

I pull open the driver’s door and carefully close it. Running my hand over the leather steering wheel, I chuckle. “I would have never thought I’d ever so much as be in something like this, much less drive one!”

Sinner snorts, shoving his seat belt over his chest and clicking it in.

I glare at him. “Are you for fucking real? You’re immortal, yet you put your seat belt on?”

“Girl.” He lifts his hips to grab out a small tin from his back pocket. “No offense, but I don’t care how many lives I got. I ain’t about to put shit past the only girl my brother has ever acted like a feral inmate over. For him to turn into a possessive asshole? You’ve either got a magic pussy—that I’m a little sad I didn’t get to dip into before you figured out there were two of us—or you’re a crazy bitch on the inside. It’s without a doubt, one or the other.”

“You know what?” I tap the gear into drive and slowly press my foot to the accelerator. “Turn the music on.”

Sin doesn’t get offended, but merely shrugs. I want to ask him if we can portal this baby back to my world, but I get the feeling it just simply won’t exist. Maybe this doesn’t exist and it’s all a dream. One of the many nightmares I have.

I follow the road even though I don’t know where I’m going, dragging the sharp edge of my thumbnail across my other thumb. If it’s a dream, that should wake me up.

Only I’m still here. Driving a half-a-million-dollar car in a world I didn’t know could exist much less actually exist.

“You know where you’re going, baby girl?” Sinner asks amusingly from the passenger seat.

“I don’t know, but I want to say yes?”

“A’ight.” He chuckles, his finger tapping against his jean-clad thigh to the beat of Metallica.

“You guys listen to our music?” I figure wherever I’m going is going to be a long-ish trip. If only portals didn’t make me queasy.

If only I knew where I was fucking going.

What if I end up in front of another witch, or oh my god! What if I get to meet a fairy?!

Wait. No.

I should not be excited about the things this world might offer.

Fear. Anger. Hope of going back home. Those are the things I need to focus on.

“Your music?” Sin leans his head to the side, and I blink when the dark sky slowly transforms to a soft pastel hue of colors. Saturn hovers right above us, with its ring sparkling a brilliant gold. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of. “You do know that James Hetfield is a regular over here?”

“No.” I focus back on the road. “But I don’t know anything about your world. In fact, just days before, I didn’t know any other world existed except for my own.”