Chapter 27 #2
His mouth twists into a smirk that reminds me so much of Elliot that it almost hurts to see. At what point did things switch to Elliot being more familiar than Derek? “Yeah, I do,” he says. “Grimstad’s a politician.”
I whack his shoulder. “I am a politician, Derek!”
“Exactly. I know how frustrating you people can be.”
“I don’t know why Hot Scoop thinks you’re so perfect when you are nothing but annoying.”
Something dark flashes across Derek’s eyes, but his smile does not falter, so maybe I imagined it. “Annoying? That’s nice of you to say to the guy who’s here to help you make a decision.”
“You have not hidden your opinion on the subject,” I grumble. “You don’t want me to marry him.”
“No, I don’t, but it’s not my choice to make.” His smile fades to something more serious, and he shifts in his seat to face me. “Freya, why have you really not given Grimstad an answer yet?”
I would rather not voice it out loud. “You already know.”
“Why?”
“Derek.”
“I need you to say it.”
“Because I am falling in love with Elliot.” I exhale, any strength I might have had leaving with my breath. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Derek purses his lips in sympathy. “I wanted you to be honest with yourself. But…” He grimaces.
I sigh. “You rarely hold your tongue with me, Derek. Don’t do it now.”
“He’s been a good influence on you, hasn’t he?”
“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? He is your family, Derek.”
“I didn’t expect him to…” Shaking his head, he drops my hand and gets to his feet, moving to the window so his back is to me. “I thought if he took the position, it would be good for both of you, but you weren’t supposed to fall for each other.”
“‘Supposed to’?” I repeat, frowning at him. “Derek, you could not have predicted our feelings.”
“Exactly the problem,” he mutters. “Now you’re in a mess I don’t know how to get you out of.”
I stand, not sure if I am angry or confused or simply frustrated by the way he tries to control everything. He has seen enough life to know that that is not how things work. Elliot figured it out, so why can’t Derek?
“Listen to me, Derek Riley Reid,” I say firmly.
He spins around, his blue eyes wide and his mouth open, in what might be the first time I have caught him off guard. “What? How did you…?”
I roll my eyes. “Elliot Reid is your cousin on your father’s side, and you despise lying, so the name Riley had to come from somewhere.”
His hand moves to his hair again in the same anxious movement as before. “Right.”
Moving slowly, I step toward him until we are only a foot apart, and he looks down at me like a cornered animal. I have never seen Derek so uncertain, so I hope he will listen to me as I say, “Nothing in my life right now is your fault.”
“But—”
“I am talking, Derek.” Glaring, I hold up a hand as he clenches his mouth shut.
“Nothing is your fault. Yes, I have Hot Scoop’s interest because I am your friend.
Yes, you introduced Elliot into my life.
But you do not write the tabloids. You did not cause my heart to want him.
That, unfortunately, was all Elliot, though I can hardly fault him for being the best of men. ”
The air slides from Derek’s lungs in a slow exhale, and he dips his chin, lacking his usual calm confidence. “So, are your feelings for my cousin your only good reason to turn down Grimstad?” he asks quietly.
“I never said it was a good reason,” I say, just as soft. “Elliot and I can never be anything more than what we are now.”
He looks up. “Why not?”
“Candora forbids it.”
He opens his mouth, likely with a hundred questions, but his phone takes his attention as he pulls it from his pocket.
He quickly reads whatever message he received, then taps on something, his brow furrowing deeper with every passing second as his eyes jump across the screen.
Just as I am about to ask him if everything is okay, he turns an alarming shade of white.
“Derek!” I grab his arm, but he doesn’t take his eyes from his phone.
“Where’s Elliot?”
“Why?”
“Where is he, Freya?”
A jolt of fear shoots through me at the urgency in his voice, and I step back once. “What is happening, Derek?”
Finally looking up, he stares at me for a long few seconds like I might have the answer to a question he doesn’t want to ask. “Freya,” he all but begs.
“He is supposed to be resting, though whether he has listened remains to be seen.”
My words seem to pull Derek from whatever he was lost in, shifting his expression from fear to confusion.
“Resting?” he repeats, almost instantly turning to panic as he curses under his breath.
“Freya, was Elliot…” He curses again, this time losing the hat entirely as he runs a hand through his hair.
“Why did no one tell me he was wounded?”
I can’t decide if he is overreacting or if something is seriously wrong, but more than anything I hate that Derek has shut me out. “Because the two of you are cut from the same cloth,” I grumble. Too proud to be vulnerable.
Derek’s eyes flash with fire. “What do you mean?”
Why does he seem afraid of my answer? I take a step closer, narrowing my eyes when he takes a step back. “Because your cousin is very much like you,” I say slowly. “Derek, what—”
“Have you read this?” he asks, holding up his phone.
I recognize Hot Scoop’s website, but the headline is unfamiliar. “I haven’t been on the internet any more than you have because I am not keen to relive the debate. Should I have read it?”
“No!” Derek coughs. Takes a breath. Resets to his usual calm self.
I do not believe his acting for a second, and I am getting tired of him thinking he can hide from me.
Something is wrong, and I need to know what it is.
“They were pretty tame, all things considered,” he says with false nonchalance, “but you should focus on the election instead of paying attention to tabloid writers who don’t know what they’re talking about. ”
Well now I have to see what they said about me. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I begin looking up the tabloid, but Derek grabs my phone out of my hands. “Hey!”
He holds my phone over his head, and the man is so tall that I do not even try to reach it. “It’s a bad idea, Peach.”
“Derek Riley, you give me my phone this instant!” Out of the corner of my eye, I see the palace guards step forward to come to my aid, but I hold up a hand to stop them. Derek is being incredibly frustrating, but he is no danger to me.
Unfortunately, I probably should let them intervene because it is clear Derek has no intention of returning my phone. “Will you trust me?” he asks, a hint of desperation in his voice. “No good is going to come from reading Hot Scoop articles.”
“I’d like to think I am beyond being affected by that nonsense.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about.” Derek frowns, finally letting his face relax. It seems he was already acting when I first arrived because he looks far more tired now than he did when I walked into the room. He looks positively worn down in a way I have never seen him before.
My stomach twists. With the election to worry about and the proposal from Markham to decide on and a bone-deep need to be close to Elliot whenever possible, I am at my maximum.
But something is bothering Derek, and Derek Riley is not the sort of person who lets himself be bothered.
If he cannot fix something on his own, he usually knows someone who can fix it for him.
What has frightened him so thoroughly?
“Derek, what is going on?” I whisper.
He swallows and looks at my phone in his hand like it might hold the answers. Or maybe it holds the problem. “I really need to talk to Elliot, Freya. Please.”
Derek was already acting strange, but this is something worse.
I have never seen my friend like this, not in the seven years we have been friends.
“Okay.” I take his hand, waiting until he looks at me before I say, “Whatever this is, I am here for you, Derek. Just as you are always here for all of us. We can fix it.”
“Thanks, Peach, but I don’t think there’s anything to fix. Not yet, anyway.”
“What does that mean?”
Sighing, he squeezes my hand and pulls me in for a tight embrace. “I’ll tell you when I can. I promise.”
I wish Cole were here. Or Liam or Bonnie.
Cole has known Derek longer than anyone, and he can always get Derek to let his guard down.
Liam is so lovable that it is impossible to keep secrets from him, and Bonnie has spent the most time with Derek because of the relationship they feigned a while back.
I thought I had a strong enough relationship with Derek for him to tell me his woes and worries, but apparently I was wrong.
All I can do now is help him as best I can and hope he is just having an off day.
Still holding Derek’s hand, I lead him out into the corridor and toward the family wing, since Elliot has been staying in the room next to mine, and we are both quiet as we walk. That is not unusual for us, but the tension between us is. I dislike it immensely.
When we come across Hex and a woman I do not recognize, I am more than grateful for the momentary reprieve. “Hex!” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. “You remember Derek, yes?” Thank goodness I encountered the brother who dislikes Derek the least.
Still, Hex’s expression hardens as soon as he makes eye contact with my friend, and he glances at the woman beside him as if calculating how he wants to act around her. “Sure,” he mutters and holds his head high. “I remember he has a hard time bowing to royalty.”
I whack my hand across Derek’s chest right as he starts bending down. “Don’t do that, Derek. Hex, do not be a pain. Derek is a friend.”
“Of yours,” Hex replies.
Did I mix up my brothers and mistake Sander for Hex? I thought Hex liked Derek, at least a little bit. “Derek, I am so sorry. He should not be—”
“I think it’s my fault, Your Highness,” the woman says, dipping her head toward me. “I’m afraid I’ve put your brother in a bad mood.”
Hex grunts in response. “This is Astrid Storme,” he tells me without looking at the woman.
“Agent Storme,” she corrects, snickering at the way Hex is behaving like a petulant child. “RIA.”
Oh, she is an intelligence agent? But she looks so…nice. Sweet. There is a sharpness in her gaze, but if I had not been told, I would never have guessed her occupation. “It is lovely to meet you.”
“I would like to speak to you when you have a free moment, Your Highness,” Agent Storme says.
“About what happened in Skalridge. As the palace guards suspected, we’re finding evidence that there were more than two people involved in the attempt on your life, and any details you can give me would be most appreciated. ”
“For the record,” Hex says roughly, “I’ve told her everything about that afternoon, but she is refusing to go back to Invem until she talks to everyone involved.” With the way he glares at her, I am certain he has been trying all morning to rid himself of the RIA operative.
I should spare my brother, after all he has done for me these last few weeks. I am not keen to leave Derek with whatever is troubling him, but maybe Elliot will be able to help him where I cannot. Assuming Derek even lets him.
Putting on a smile, I slip my hand from Derek’s and say, “I would be happy to speak with you now, if you are free, Agent Storme.” I turn to Derek. “Elliot’s room is the third from the left. He may be asleep, but—”
“He’s on the roof, actually,” Hex says with the eagerness of someone much younger than his actual age. Apparently I made the right move for his sake, and he looks far happier than he did a moment ago. “I’ll take you, Riley.”
Derek hesitates, looking from me to Agent Storme with a calculating look, and I wonder if he is considering asking if he can join in on the conversation.
But he was not at the debate, and I need him to deal with whatever is bothering him before it becomes a problem.
The Celestial Ball is tonight, and if I decide to accept Markham’s hand, we will have to announce the engagement at the ball.
I cannot give Derek the attention he needs when that choice is looming over me.
“Go,” I tell him, then gesture for Agent Storme to follow me down the hall and back to the parlor.
All the while wishing I could be in a cabin in the woods with no troubles and no other company than a willful bodyguard with warm brown eyes.