18. Gabriel #2
“Yes I knew,” Alejandro spat over his shoulder like I was as thick as two short planks that pirate Alejandro might like me to walk off.
“It’s not that hard when one brother’s from Antarctica and the other one Charmington.
He makes you do all the dirty work so when he arrives everything is all nicely smoothed out and taken care of. ”
“It’s not like—”
“Enough.” Nicholas’s voice boomed through the room like a crack of thunder—or like the king he now was—and Alejandro clicked his mouth shut and straightened his spine.
It wasn’t until I looked past him that I saw Nicholas walking around the table, past Noah, who squeezed his hand gently, and stopping behind Alejandro.
“You’re right.” Now there were two words my brother rarely said. “Everything you said just now is exactly right.”
Alejandro’s eyes fell to mine, and while I could still see anger there, I could also see hurt. I swallowed and nodded, not sure why. It wasn’t like he was waiting for my permission or reassurance for anything.
But then he turned to face Nicholas and said, “You made a fool of me.”
“That was never my intention.”
“No? So you didn’t decide to swap places with your brother that night because you didn’t want to take the time yourself?”
“I—” Nicholas started, then cut himself off.
But when his eyes shifted to mine, I shrugged.
This was his mess, and he needed to own it.
While I wasn’t about to purposely hurt him for Alejandro’s revenge, I wasn’t going to dig him out of this one, either.
“I made a mistake that night. One that hurt several people.”
I looked over to see Noah’s eyes soften on his husband, his lips downturned, clearly remembering whatever Nicholas was referring to now.
“I should’ve been honest with you from the beginning,” Nicholas continued. “I should’ve talked to you and explained that my heart was with someone else.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Alejandro asked.
“I…” Nicholas again glanced at Noah and took a deep breath. “I was scared.”
He looked to Alejandro, and the expression on his face was one of the most vulnerable I’d ever seen on my brother.
Alejandro had accused him of being cold, stoic, and unfeeling—and yes, Nicholas could be all those things. But ever since Noah had stepped into his life, he’d become a new man, one who could be open with those he cared about and trusted.
“I was afraid of losing Noah. But that never should’ve been a deciding factor in how I treated you. I’m sorry, Alejandro, for any pain and hurt I might have caused you and your family. That was never my intention.” Nicholas lowered his head. “Is there anything I can do to—”
“Stop,” Alejandro said, and let out a sigh of frustration. “You can stop being nice. I don’t like it. Ask your brother.”
When Nicholas looked my way, I nodded. “It’s true. He’d rather stab you with his fencing sword.”
Noah snorted, and I arched a brow.
“You think I’m joking. I’m not. Best keep an eye on your husband while you’re here or he might come back to you in pieces.”
“Not true,” Alejandro said. “I’d only send one piece of him back.”
“And on that note…” I got to my feet and grabbed hold of Alejandro’s elbow. “I’d be more than happy to show my brother to his chambers, since I’m sure you have a few other men lined up to service you.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me in my own palace?” Alejandro said as I directed him to the door.
“I’m just trying to stop another diplomatic incident from happening now that we have fixed this one.”
I pulled open the door, and as I all but shoved him out of it, Alejandro leveled me with a glare that should’ve killed me.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” I said cheerily as I shut the door to his sunroom in his face and turned back to my brother and Noah, who were both frowning at me.
“What?” I walked over to the bottle of wine and refilled my glass, completely ignoring my brother.
“Don’t think for a second you aren’t going to tell us what that’s all about.”
“Nothing to tell.”
“Uh huh,” Noah said, finally relaxing back into the couch. “Just a newfound liking for spicy things, huh?”
I looked between Noah and my brother, and flopped back into my seat. “He’s become quite cheeky since meeting you.”
“And you’ve become quite…secretive since meeting Alejandro,” Nicholas said.
“Have not.”
He took the spot beside his husband and pulled him into his side. Noah kissed his cheek. “I’m proud of you.”
“I should’ve done that a long time ago.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think he was ready to hear it then. But now that he’s interested in Gabriel—”
I all but choked on my sip of wine. “What? There’s no interest, no—”
“Servicing?” Nicholas said, before giving the first smile I’d seen since his arrival.
“You did not just ask me if I’m—”
“Servicing the Prince of Solterra?” Noah chuckled. “Why? If I remember correctly, you had no trouble teasing me relentlessly when you discovered our secret.”
“Yes, but there’s no secret here,” I said with as much conviction as possible.
“That’s right, there is no secret,” Noah said, and popped a piece of cheese into his mouth. “Because we know.”
He was right. Alejandro had blown our connection wide open with his not-so-subtle servicing comment, and now that cat—or should I say kitten?—was out of the bag.
Should be an interesting dinner, that was for sure.
Well, at least apologies had been made, and dirty laundry had been aired.
What else could possibly go wrong?