Royal Line by Carrie Ryan (lightweight ebook reader .txt) 📗

I knew right away who he was...the king.

The King of fucking Alden.

The two flanking him like the Men in Black were London’s other brothers, Breck and Wilder.

“Aren’t you going to let us in?” the cocky one asked, and I knew that one was Breck.

The other one, Wilder, didn’t live up to his name. He just pushed his way through, silent and brooding. It seemed the wild one was Breck, at least from what I could tell from news outlets. The brothers had been named wrong, or maybe they had been named just right.

“Come right on in, why don’t you?” I scoffed, pissed off that they were on my doorstep, and ready for whatever fight came.

“I’m sure you would’ve invited us in eventually,” King Roman said, glancing around my loft.

I was rarely at home. And when I was, it was just to sleep, train, and get ready for the next mission.

It had been that way at my old job and continued as I had built my company.

The only reason I had the place was for storage and to be able to say I had a home. But I didn’t really. It was hard even to stay there most days. Phoebe had never been in my home. I’d gotten it after I had lost her.

And I even had a bit of her stuff packed away in the closet, which I’d never again look at. Including that damned box from the nursery.

I’d given most of the things to her family. Her parents hadn’t even spoken to me since her death.

But I kept a few things—a few things I didn’t need to see.

“Should I fix the punch now or what?”

“I take it you know who we are?” the king asked, his voice cultured, that same coolness I had heard over the phone and in countless media appearances.

He was a hardass, but I supposed that came from ruling a country. I respected Roman, but that didn’t mean I had to like him, especially when I saw parts of his sister in his face.

I didn’t want to think about London. I couldn’t.

“I’m Breck, this is Wilder, and you know the king. And you must be the asshole who broke our sister’s heart,” Breck said, leaning against my counter.

I shook my head. “Your aunt did that. I was just there to pick up the pieces,” I said.

“Oh, our aunt did a lot,” Wilder said. “We’re just here to make sure you didn’t take advantage of her.”

I tightened my jaw. “I didn’t.”

“So you say,” Roman said. “But I know my sister. We all do. And she’s not broken merely over our aunt being the treacherous snake that she was. She’s quiet. Doesn’t tell us much. But we know. And we know you fucking touched our sister.”

I met the king’s gaze and then pulled my eyes away so I could look at the others.

“She’s a grown woman. What we had was consensual. It’s over.”

“You say it’s over, and yet, look at you, sitting here alone in the dark, licking your wounds.”

“I’m sorry, but do you actually know anything about me? No, you don’t. Feel free to go and self-fornicate,” I snapped.

Roman’s brow lifted even as the corner of his lip twitched. Breck coughed a laugh before recovering himself, and Wilder, well, his expression didn’t change.

“Our sister is in pain. You hurt her. So what the fuck did you do to her?” Wilder asked, his voice not even raising a bit.

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “I just told her the truth.”

“That you didn’t love her?” the king asked.

“What did she tell you?” I asked, my heartbreak reflected in my voice.

“She told us enough,” Roman whispered. “But you just told us the rest. You’re an idiot.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, my gaze going from brother to brother.

“You love our sister, don’t you, asshole?” Breck asked, looking down at his phone.

“That’s none of your business,” I bit out.

“I see that wasn’t a no,” Wilder said, shaking his head. “Should have just said no if you want us off your dick,” he whispered.

I barked out a laugh. “I don’t want any of you anywhere near my dick.”

Wilder grinned for just a moment before looking over at Breck.

“He sounds almost like you,” Wilder said.

“Excuse me? I am one of a kind. Nobody can sound like me. Not even the idiot who broke our sister’s heart.”

“She’s not broken up over me. She’ll get over me in a minute.”

“If you truly believe that, then you’re not worth her,” Roman said.

I looked up at Roman. “I wasn’t worth her to begin with. She’s a princess. Who am I?”

“You’re the man who saved our sister,” Breck said. But I didn’t look over at him.

Instead, I kept my gaze on Roman. “I saved your sister, but she still got hurt.”

“I would give you anything you asked for. Thank you for keeping our baby sister alive.”

What I wanted to tell him was that I wanted her. I needed her. But trying to tell him he wasn’t at liberty to give her to me would not have gone well. Besides, I didn’t deserve her. “There’s nothing I want. As long as she’s safe.”

“Liar. I can see it on your face,” Roman said. He looked over at his brothers and nodded before turning back to me. “Kannon, our plane leaves in an hour. Be on it if you want to at least apologize for being an asshole or if you want to do something good for yourself and for our sister. It’s up to you. We’re not going to force you.”

“But we could force you,” Wilder said.

“What the hell?” I asked, taking a step back to look at the three of them.

“All we’re saying is we like you. You saved our sister. But you hurt her. You better fix it,” Breck said.

“How am I supposed to fix this?” I asked, my heart racing.

“You’ll figure it out,” the king said slowly. “But if you hurt her again, I have two words for you.”

“I’m afraid to guess.”

“Diplomatic immunity,” he whispered. And chills