Page 25 of Heartless Sinner

His face reddened more with each chew until he swallowed his bite. “Jesus. Can I not go a fucking day without hearing about that girl?”

My mother dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin while silently mouthing, Sorry, to Adelina.

“No, Adelina.” He was using all his restraint to keep his voice calm. “Didn’t your mother tell you we have many events on the schedule during your break? Your obligations just won’t allow it.”

“Okay.” Adelina stabbed a piece of broccoli with her fork, then shoved it into her mouth, refusing to look at him now. No more sweet smile.

I didn’t know why she wasted her time. Everyone knew what the answer would be.

I took a slow sip of the Bordeaux, hiding my sucks to be you smile behind the glass.

Adelina didn’t get to decide where she went, but I did.

And I knew exactly where I was headed.

Straight to fucking Calira.

Five

Daphne

Isettled into the plush leather seat of the Caliran government jet and dropped my bag onto the one beside me.

The cabin smelled faintly of citrus and the sea.

I shut my eyes, pretending I was already home.

Calira was a tiny Mediterranean island where my mother had grown up and I’d spent half my childhood.

We were small but definitely not irrelevant. Rare minerals kept world leaders interested, billionaires fought over cliffside estates, and our beaches looked so unreal that people assumed the photos were edited.

I loved Calira. It had just stopped feeling like home after I moved to the States.

My mom lived there permanently now and expected me to move back after graduation.

When I’d asked what I had to do to stay in the States, she had looked me straight in the eye and said, “You have to become a Fawn and convince your Night Son to marry you.”

I’d almost laughed.

If Brooks chose me, in no universe would we ever fall in love.

I’d probably go down as the first Fawn in history who murdered her Son.

That meant it was either Calira or prison.

People heard princess and imagined my life was a fairy tale. Mine sure as hell wasn’t.

My happily ever after came with an arranged marriage to whatever man everyone decided would make the best king. Love was optional, which was heartbreaking to a princess.

It was also why my mother had left in the first place. She’d only returned after my father’s scandal destroyed her reputation.

Now my grandfather, King Octavian Vermont III, was already searching for her next husband.

“Mind if I take this?”

I looked up to find Cory standing in the aisle.

“The seat, not the bag,” he joked, lifting my bag while waiting for my reply.