Chapter 33
Istood at the window in the office, phone pressed to my ear, watching the setting sun cast long shadows across the street. My father's voice, sharp with that distinctive Cockney accent that had terrorised London's underworld for decades, sliced through me like a blade.
"What the bloody hell happened at that dinner, Logan? I'm hearing all sorts of things about your little Consort making a scene." I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to hang up.
"She didn’t make a fucking scene. It wasn't her fault. Her mother-"
"I don't give a shit whose fault it was," Nicholas Bale interrupted. "The fact is, the High Lords are talking. People are questioning whether you've got what it takes to control one fucking girl." My fingers tightened around the phone.
"She was ambushed by her mother, who publicly admitted to trying to abort her with a fucking knitting needle.
I'd say she handled it with remarkable composure, all things considered.
" There was a pause, and I could almost see my father's face, that calculating expression he wore when reassessing a situation.
"Is that right?" His tone shifted slightly. "Still doesn't explain why you've got a scholarship nobody instead of someone with the right connections. The Latters girl was primed for the position."
"Julia Latters is a vapid, useless bitch, who spent last year working her way through all three houses, opening her legs for anyone who was interested," I said flatly.
“Were you one of those interested, eh, boy?” I could hear the condescending tone through the phone.
“What if you got your dick wet and didn’t fancy another round?
” He had no room to talk, the man hadn’t had more than a couple of nights with the same woman in fucking years.
“And this one, she got a magical pussy or something?” I resisted the urge to growl down the phone.
“Cadence is different. She's genuine. People respond to her,” I gritted through my teeth.
"People respond to power, boy. Always have, always will." He sighed heavily. "Look, I'm coming to town in two weeks. I want dinner with you and this girl. I need to see for myself if she's worth the trouble she's causing." The familiar weight of my father's expectations settled on my shoulders.
"That won't be necessary-"
"It wasn't a fucking request," he cut me off.
"You've made your choice against my recommendation.
Now you'll prove it was the right one. Or I'll step in.
" My blood ran cold at the threat lurking beneath his words.
My father "stepping in" could mean anything from forcing me to replace Cadence with Julia to something far worse for Cadence herself.
"Fine," I conceded, hating the defeat in my voice. "We'll have dinner."
"Good lad. And Logan?" His voice dropped to that dangerous purr that had preceded violence throughout my childhood. "Make sure she understands what's expected of her. I won't tolerate disrespect or disobedience."
"She'll be perfect," I promised, though the words tasted like ash.
"She better be. For both your sakes." The line went dead, and I resisted the urge to hurl my phone across the room. Instead, I placed it carefully on the desk, took a deep breath, and headed for the dining room. Might as well get this over with.
The sound of laughter reached me before I entered the dining room.
Not the polite, restrained laughter of people playing social roles, but genuine, uninhibited joy.
I paused in the doorway, taking in the scene before me.
Cadence sat between Cole and Ryder at our large oak table, her head thrown back in laughter at something Ryder had said.
Her purple hair caught the light, falling in soft waves around her shoulders.
Cole watched her with a tenderness I'd never seen on his face before, his hand casually resting next to hers on the table, their fingers occasionally brushing.
Even Ryder seemed different, his usual manic energy tempered into something warmer, more genuine.
They looked like friends. Lovers. A unit. A unit that didn't include me.
Something hot and ugly twisted in my gut as I stepped into the room. Their laughter died immediately, the temperature dropping several degrees as I approached the table.
"Logan," Cole acknowledged, his expression warm. "Everything okay with your father?"
"Peachy," I replied, dropping into the empty chair across from Cadence. She wouldn't meet my eyes, suddenly very interested in pushing food around her plate. "He's coming to town in two weeks. Wants to have dinner."
"That should be fun," Ryder muttered, reaching for his water glass. "Always a good time when Uncle Nick's around." I ignored him, focusing on Cadence. "It’ll just be Cadence and me." She looked up then, her blue eyes narrowing slightly.
"Excuse me?"
"Dinner. With my father. Two weeks from now," I said, each word clipped and precise. "You need to be prepared. He'll be... assessing you."
"Assessing me?" she repeated, placing her fork down with deliberate care. "And you're telling me, not asking me?"
"It's not optional," I said, feeling my father's expectations pressing down on me. "As my Consort, there are certain obligations that come with the role. This is one of them."
The temperature in the room dropped another few degrees. Cole shifted uncomfortably beside her, and Ryder's playful demeanour vanished entirely.
"Maybe we can talk about this," Cole suggested quietly, but I was too far gone, too wrapped up in my own frustration and jealousy to heed the warning in his tone.
"She doesn't get to pick and choose which parts of being a Consort she embraces," I snapped, my eyes locked on Cadence's increasingly mutinous expression. "When it suits her, she's happy to play the role, to reap the benefits-"
"Benefits?" Cadence interrupted, colour rising in her cheeks. "What fucking benefits would those be, Logan? The benefit of being hunted through the woods? The benefit of being claimed against my will? The benefit of being publicly humiliated as punishment?"
"You seemed pretty happy with the benefits last night," I shot back, instantly regretting the words even as they left my mouth. "And all the times with Ryder."
The silence that followed was deafening. Ryder's eyes widened, and Cole's expression darkened dangerously.
"Go fuck yourself, Logan," Cadence said, her voice shaking with rage as she pushed back from the table.
"I'm not going to dinner with your psychopath father, and I'm sure as hell not going to sit here and be slut-shamed by you.
" She stood, throwing her napkin onto her plate, and stormed out of the dining room.
I half-rose to follow her, but Cole's hand on my arm stopped me.
"Let her cool down," he advised, his mismatched eyes studying me with concern. "You're not going to get anywhere with her right now." I shook him off, anger and something that felt dangerously like hurt pulsing through me.
"She doesn't get to walk away from this. From me."
"Logan," Ryder started, uncharacteristically serious, "maybe take a breath."
But I was already moving, following Cadence's path out of the dining room, my father's voice echoing in my head: Make sure she understands what's expected of her.
I caught up to her in the hallway leading to the staircase, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face me. Her eyes flashed with defiance, chin tilted up in that stubborn angle that both infuriated and captivated me.
"We're not done," I said, my voice low and dangerous.
"Yes, we are," she countered, trying to pull away. "I've had enough of your bullshit for one day."
"My bullshit?" I tightened my grip on her arm. "You're the one who's been playing games, Cadence. Giving it up for Cole and Ryder while keeping me at arm's length." Her eyes widened, and for a moment, I saw hurt flash across her face before it hardened into anger again.
"Is that what this is about? You're jealous?"
"This is about respect," I growled, stepping closer, backing her against the wall.
"About honouring your commitments. You don't get to pick and choose which Regent you spread your legs for.
Your pussy belongs to all three of us, or have you forgotten the terms of our arrangement?
" The moment the crude words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back.
This wasn't me, or at least, it wasn't who I wanted to be with her.
But my pride and my father's expectations and the gnawing jealousy were a toxic cocktail I couldn't seem to resist.
"Arrangement?" Cadence laughed, but there was no humour in it. "Is that what we're calling it now? Not coercion, not blackmail, not rape? An 'arrangement'?" Her words hit like physical blows, but I didn't back down.
"You gave yourself to them willingly enough."
"Because they asked!" she shouted, shoving at my chest. "Because they treated me like a person, not a possession! Because they didn't act like entitled manipulative assholes who own me!"
"I do fucking own you," I snarled, crowding her against the wall. "The contract-"
"Fuck the contract," she spat. "And fuck you, Logan. What's really bothering you? That I chose them first? Or that daddy's going to be disappointed in his little boy for not controlling his Consort?"
Something inside me snapped. My hand shot out, wrapping around her throat, pinning her to the wall. Not hard enough to cut off her air, just enough to assert dominance, to make her understand that she couldn't push me like this.
"You have no idea what you're playing with," I whispered, my face inches from hers.
"No idea what my father is capable of if he decides you're not worthy of the Bale name.
" For a split second, real fear flickered in her eyes, and it doused my anger like ice water.
What the fuck was I doing? This wasn't protection; this was the very thing I'd sworn I'd never become. My father.