The Heir's Bargain (Of Fire and Lies)

Chapter 3

Women thought gettingready was easy for men, and to some extent, I suppose it was.

The staff didn”t have to spend an hour or more on my hair to get it perfectly curled or braided into an intricate design. On the contrary, my hair only took a little over a quarter of an hour to give it that flawlessly rolled out-of-bed tousle that all the women in Pontia fawned after (was that egotistical of me to think? Maybe, but I couldn”t help it if it were true). Even if the women didn”t say it aloud, I often saw how their eyes flicked to my hair as their heated gazes drank me in. If that wasn”t enough confirmation, the thoughts I overheard as I passed them by proved it.

I did not have to don a corset that sucked in my waist and restricted my breathing or mobility. Instead, the staff spent a tedious amount of time polishing every inch of me, from the buttons on the collar to the tops of my shoes—which was a different sort of pain to bear. Because to stand in front of a mirror while someone primed and polished you had a way of dehumanizing you. It was as if they were shaping me into a statue, molding the clay to fit their vision of the ideal prince. Yet no matter how much the buttons sparkled or the creases in the trousers were ironed smooth, I felt like a fraud.

One would think that growing up a prince my entire life would have made this behavior feel normal. However, I don”t think I could ever get used to feeling like a human smothered in clay and marble only to be stared at and admired.

No one would be paying attention to the shine of my shoes. Soon enough, the very buttons the staff fretted over would be smeared with some woman”s fingerprints—especially if my mother was set on me finding a wife.

I had thought my mother had set aside that wish, but apparently I was wrong. Tonight, my docket would surely be filled with women awaiting their turn to dance with me. When I was younger, I appreciated the attention. But now?

Now, I saw it for what it was: a race for the crown.

Still, when my mother walked in and brushed the lint off my shoulders with a crisp swipe of her hands, I smiled at her.

”You look just like your father,” she whispered, the tinge of loss and longing lingering in her voice as it did every time she talked about my father.

Once, Pontia was the safest kingdom in the world. For centuries, no foreign kingdom had been able to infiltrate the land. With the god Pontanius watching over the Red Sea, the waters were treacherous and wild. One had to be a skilled sailor with a seasoned crew and the gods on their side to traverse the sea without incident. If an enemy were able to cross the sea and surpass the torrential storms brought forth by Pontanius, they would have the kraken to face—a creature brought down from the stars by the gods themselves. Very few enemies had managed to cross the waters and navigate the cliffs in Pontia”s history. The last time an enemy had managed to step foot on Pontian soil, everything had changed.

Fifteen years ago, our defenses failed us, and our kingdom was infiltrated. That night, we lost so much as our home burned down and my father and sister were taken from us.

My father had been dead for fifteen years. While we did our best to carry on, the pain of his death still marked the castle. Yet many of us—myself included—still wished for revenge upon our enemies. No matter how much we tried, it was hard to put the past behind us.

When we were children, we didn”t understand what had happened. We were angry, upset, and scared. But we were only children. What could a bunch of eight-year-olds do?

We were no longer children, though.

Yet now was not that time either.

Now was never the time, according to my mother. Currently, her primary focus was on me and my future rule.

Lucky me.

”You say that every time, Mother.”

”And it continues to be true.” With an assessing gaze, she nodded. ”Any woman would be lucky to win your heart.”

I straightened, swallowing the lump in my throat. Changing the topic, I asked, ”Is Terin ready?”

My mother chuckled. ”He”s been ready, darling. It is you whom we have been waiting on.”

I couldn”t help the eye roll.

Terin was lucky. While being second in line for the throne still meant that my brother had to look his best, he didn”t bear the impending weight of the crown.

I forced a smile and faced her. ”Were you not the one who said a royal is never late, but rather their guests simply early?”

My mother grinned. ”Ah, so you have been listening to me.”

”When it suits me, I suppose.” With a wink, I held my elbow out.

With a wistful sigh, she slipped her arm around mine. ”I suppose I will need to cherish these moments at your side, son, for soon—if all goes well—your future wife will be at your side instead.”

I knew what the people thought of me: I was a rebellious and flippant prince. Some believed I did not take my role as heir to the throne seriously. But it wasn”t the crown that I feared. In truth, I enjoyed visiting the villages and the people of Pontia. When I thought about it, I even looked forward to taking the necessary steps to make this kingdom even better than it already was one day. This kingdom was my world, my life, my home.

However, a king or queen should not need to become some stuffy ruler to be a good one. I wanted my people to know who I was. I wanted them to see that I was human.

My fear of the crown was rather a result of how the title changed my mother when she was in the public eye. Her chin rose an inch higher, her posture straightened and grew more rigid, and the humor left her lips.

When the time came, I knew I would settle down, but now was not that time. Life was fleeting, and our youth even more so.

We only had our youth for so long before it was stripped away from us once our freedom was taken away by age and responsibility.

Finding my soul bond aside, marrying meant I was one step closer to acquiring the full responsibility of the crown. When I was crowned, where would that leave the woman beside me?

The heir or not, the king”s crown was not on my head yet, however.

So, I put one foot in front of the other as my mother held onto my arm.

She was right. We would cherish this moment while we still had it.

As I lookedout toward the crowd, the sun”s rays that poured in from the window warmed my back. The fur-lined robe was too heavy for the early spring heat. But it was tradition, so I kept my chin high and eyes cast on the crowd before me.

Soon, however, my attention flicked to my shadow, large and looming as it stretched down the center of the aisle.

Would I be able to fill the shoes of the kings and queens before me? Of my father? Of my mother? Or would my shadow swallow me whole?

I wasn”t sure of the answer.

Neither were the people in the crowd whose thoughts slithered around the edge of my mind.

Since only a select few people were granted clearance about abilities like mine, most of the minds in the room were wide open. While my hangover was long gone, my ability to shut the unwanted thoughts out was dismal at best. Their thoughts came at me like a storm at sea, loud and consuming.

He may look like his father, but he sure doesn”t act like it.

A kind boy but a spoiled one.

My choice would have been the other twin. He’s quiet and moldable. What was his name again?

Long live the queen.

My fingers twitched at my side as each thought rolled into my mind, each a wave I couldn”t prevent from smacking into the shore.

Despite the thoughts, when my mother stepped forward, I kneeled before the subjects of Pontia. Dropping my gaze to the silver runner covering the stone floors, I tried to cut the threads leading to the unwelcome yet persistent thoughts.

With my gaze diverted, the voices quieted.

Marginally.

In this large of a crowd, there was still a rush of noise, as if I was standing behind a waterfall. I slowed my breathing and focused on shutting out the thoughts. The silence of the room was an incessant buzz in my ears and only allowed the thoughts to seep through. I might have been skilled at breaking down the barriers of strangers and leaders, but I had little control over my own mind.

Silence, I found, was not a comfort but a nuisance, only leaving more room for the spiraling thoughts to take over.

It”s only a crown,I told myself as my mother lifted the piece of metal over my head.

One breath in; one breath out.

The crown sunk into my hair, the metal digging into my skull as if it meant to stay there.

With one light brush of my shoulder, my mother stepped back.

I rose, my legs heavier and my body stiffer than it had been moments before as I lifted my head.

”Please rise for the Crown Prince of Pontia, Heir to the Throne: Fynneares Andros Nadarean, first of his name, son to Queen Esmeray Ledia Starling Nadarean and the late King Marc Lorin Nadarean.”

My gaze swept across the room, and a thousand faces stared back at me, standing, shuffling on their feet. I quickly grabbed for the familiar threads, the ones that were warm and felt like home, before the torrent of thoughts rushed over me again.

As if they felt me reaching for them, my friends” thoughts poured down the invisible threads swimming in the air.

You”ve got this, brother, Terin whispered down the line. His thoughts were clearer than all the rest as he stood in the front row.

Beside Terin, Graeson, our childhood friend whom my parents had taken under their wing when his mother died, stood. I tugged on the strand leading to his mind, but per usual, Graeson kept his mind locked up. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, his silver eyes incandescent in the sunlight.

My smile grew wider. Leave it to Graeson to keep me in my place.

At last, my attention turned to the final member of our quartet. I trusted few people in this world. Terin, Graeson, and Dani were three of them. The four of us had grown up together and spent much of our childhood running around this castle, playing with wooden swords, and wreaking havoc for the staff. While there was less time for such tomfoolery these days, I could always count on the three of them to show up. Even if Dani, who stood beside her parents, grimaced as she fiddled with the lace gloves her mother probably forced her to wear.

As my closest friends and allies, they had all been trained in building mental shields to block out my ability. While it may have put me at a disadvantage when trying to read their minds, their protection was more important than my ability to invade their privacy. Because if there were one person who could read minds, who was to say there wouldn”t be another? While we knew our gifts came from the old blood of the gods running through our veins, there was plenty about our gifts that were still unknown. Graeson needed little training, for his abilities countered any interference with his mind lest he willed it. Terin took to it quickly enough since our relatives on our mother”s side all had a natural affinity for creating shields due to the nature of our gifts. And Dani? Well, she was able to achieve anything she set her mind to.

A smile blossomed on Dani’s face. I knocked on the door of her mental fortress. A single thought, quiet but crisp, escaped her carefully crafted barriers: I hope the crown doesn”t make your head look bigger than it already is.

I stifled the snort and looked away from my friends.

I could always count on them to support me, even when the rest of the world did not.

Musicfrom the most talented musicians in Pontia filled the ballroom as people danced and chatted the night away.

I smiled down at the current woman in my arms as we flew across the floor with the other couples. The woman was beautiful, but for the life of me, I couldn”t remember her name. She was talking, yet I couldn”t focus on the words coming out of her mouth. No amount of pleasantries, it seemed, could override the thoughts pouring out of her mind.

By the gods, he”s so handsome, she thought. My mother would die if I became queen.

It was hard to be interested in someone when you knew what was inside their mind. And while it might have been rude to admit it, my current dance partner had nothing going on in her mind besides superficial thoughts that held little weight.

When the song finally ended, I smiled politely and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. She curtsied, her cheeks bright red, as I tipped my head to her.

As she walked away, I quickly scanned the room for a staff member. Spotting a tall, slim man balancing a tray of glasses in one hand, I made a beeline for him before anyone could pull me into another dance.

”Let me help you out there, Jordan,” I said, picking up a glass.

Jordan tipped his head. ”Having fun, Your Highness?”

”Immense fun,” I mumbled, taking a sip of red wine. The wine was bitter on my tongue, perfect for how I felt as I observed the dancing and chattering guests.

I had lost track of the number of women my mother threw at me.

Blondes.

Brunettes.

Gingers.

How many dances would it take to make my mother happy?

Part of me thought I should simply pick one. Gather all the women my mother had made me dance with into one room and make them stand in a big circle. Then, with a blindfold tied over my eyes, I would spin around until the music stopped, and whomever I pointed to would be deemed my wife.

My mother would be more than happy with that if it meant I would settle down. It would no doubt appease the advisors and make them believe I was finally taking my role seriously.

At least, if I took that route, the search for a wife would be over.

Yet I couldn”t even contemplate whether any of the women I had danced with thus far could be a potential wife. They were all beautiful, and many found me attractive. But when they curtsied at the song”s start and placed their hand in mine, their thoughts swept through my mind like a windstorm. The women may have differed in height, accents, and backgrounds, but they all had one thing in common: they all sought my attention in the hopes of gaining a crown.

If I could have shut out the thoughts, perhaps then I could have been ignorant of their truths and their reasons for wanting to dance with me. But I couldn”t.

I spun the glass of wine between my fingers, the red liquid sloshing around the glass globe.

How many drinks would it take until the thoughts disappeared or until the voices in my head were finally silenced?

I sighed and scanned the crowd.

Across the ballroom, Graeson leaned against one of the pillars, wearing his usual annoyed expression as he listened to Terin, Dani, and a few others discussing something. Perhaps I only needed better company to occupy my mind. As I stepped forward, the tension in my shoulders lessened. But too quickly, it returned as another woman intercepted me.

But not just any woman.

”Rosie,” I said with a terse smile. My grip around the glass tightened.

”Fynneares,” Rosalina said, dipping into a curtsy. When she straightened, she brushed back the soft caramel curls that had fallen over her shoulder. She trailed a finger across her bare collarbone, my eyes tracking the movement. ”I wanted to give you my personal congratulations on being crowned heir.”

”Thank you,” I said with a polite smile.

Rosalina and I had a complicated history. Over the past decade, I had courted her off and on. We often fell into our old routine when I needed someone to attend a ball or a charity function one of the advisors or lords was hosting. However, I officially ended our arrangement a year ago when Rosalina finally realized there was no proposal coming any time soon. Apparently, I hadn”t been clear enough about my disinterest in marrying her.

But then I heard her thoughts.

Mother better be right about the queen”s desire for Fynneares to marry.

Of course, my mother was to blame. Lady Florentine was one of the women my mother often had tea with. According to Rosalina”s unfiltered thoughts, Mrs. Florentine had weaseled her daughter”s way onto my mother”s list of possible wives for me.

My gaze darted to Terin. But before I could catch his attention, Rosalina grabbed my hand and snatched my wine glass before discarding it. As she snaked her hand over my shoulder, I saw my mother watching from the corner of my eye.

My mother smiled, wide and bright-eyed.

I held back a grimace and swallowed my pride.

I promised her that tonight, I would be the Crown Prince she wanted me to be.