Under His Rule (In the Spotlight #5)
Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Wynn
Glass shattered everywhere—like, everywhere. I stood frozen in place in my best friend’s living room as I watched little shards of crystal skitter across the hardwood floor and disappear under furniture.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Seth gently took me by the arm and guided me over to his sofa. “Sit. No more helping.”
“I’m so sorry. I was walking slowly; I think there’s a divot in the wood.”
He blinked slowly. “Right, a divot.”
I shrugged and relaxed into the soft cushions. “I can clean up the mess if you’d like.”
He held up both hands, palms up. “Please don’t. I’m not sure I can afford for you to break anything else.”
“Har har, so funny. I’m not that bad.”
Seth’s brows shot up to his hairline. “Really?” He started counting off. “Three frames, two mugs, the glass on my microwave, and a vase.” He pointed to the floor where the glass had shattered. “That’s just in the last three hours of you trying to help me move.”
I wanted to refute his claim but as I thought about it, I realized he was right. What I wasn’t going to do was agree—I’d sort of agree. “Whatever.” There, that worked.
He rolled his eyes and moved into the kitchen. He returned with a broom and dustpan. “Maybe you can order us something to eat, from the couch.”
“You want me to stay right here and not move?”
“Preferably.” He chuckled.
“I need to leave eventually. Are you going to carry me out of here?”
“If I have to.” He swept up the mess while I scrolled food apps for something to order. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“Six in the stupid morning,” I answered as I decided on pizza.
“Gross.” He snorted. “Sorry I can’t come on your birthday trip.”
I waved him off. “Hush, no big. With you moving in and starting a new job, there was no way it was going to happen. But it’s fine, you can make it up to me once I return.”
“Oh, how nice of me.”
I beamed. “Besides, I won’t be alone. Mark and Hannah are coming with me. And anyway, my real birthday was last week, and you were there for that.”
He nodded and brought everything back to the kitchen to toss. “True, but still. I’m jealous, though. I mean, wow, the Lamdera Islands…shit, it’s going to be so beautiful.”
“It’s a dream come true. I always wanted to go, but it was expensive. But hitting thirty made me realize I wasn’t getting any younger and that all this money I was saving, well, I can’t take it with me when I die, so why the fuck not go?”
Seth leaned against the doorjamb with a smile on his face. “I love that for you.”
“Yeah, and you know, there are a lot of fancy royalty there, maybe I’ll meet my prince charming?” I wiggled my eyebrows.
“If he has a sister, hook me up.”
I shot him two finger guns and finished ordering the pizza. We spent the rest of the afternoon with me sitting on the sofa watching Seth unpack, eating pizza, and talking about everything and anything as we always did.
I left his place at about eight. I was all packed for my trip but having to get up at ungodly o’clock for my flight, I needed to hit the sack at a decent time. Of course I was too excited to simply drift off to dreamland, so I took some melatonin and eventually slept.
All too soon my alarm was blaring and I grumbled, noticing that the sun didn’t greet me—just darkness. “Humans shouldn’t be up this early.” I really didn’t have anyone to blame but myself. I’d booked the flights, but it was either this time or midnight and I hadn’t been feeling that at all.
After a shower, shave, and all the things that made me appear awake were done, I poured coffee and sat at my breakfast bar waiting for Mark and Hannah to arrive.
The buzzing of my doorbell had me slithering off the stool and opening the front door.
“Are you ready for v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n?” Hannah singsonged.
I shifted my gaze from her to her husband Mark, who looked as exhausted as I was.
“You have no one to blame but yourself, Mark. You married a morning person.”
He hummed. “Come on, let’s get your bags and go.”
The ride to the airport was pleasant because no sane person was up at this hour. We got through TSA in ten minutes—which was amazing—and that meant we had way too much time on our hands. Our flight wouldn’t arrive for another hour.
“Oh, lookie!” Hannah thrust a magazine in my face. “Prince Julian Davaros is doing an island tour for a whole month. Maybe we’ll get a glimpse of the heir apparent while we’re there.”
Prince Julian Davaros was on the front cover of Royalty Magazine, and he was gorgeous.
Truly. His dark-blond hair was swept back away from his face, his gray eyes in shadow against the light, and he wore a black tuxedo.
The man stared at the camera like it was prey and he was the predator, and the power emanating off him in the photo sent a shiver up my spine.
“I’d probably stumble and accidentally shove him into oncoming traffic if I met him.” I snorted.
Hannah giggled. “Hey, you only tripped twice in the airport. That’s progress.”
I was clumsy, no way around it. There wasn’t anything wrong with me medically, I just…okay, my head got lost in the clouds sometimes and I’d been diagnosed with ADHD in high school, so that could have something to do with it.
I needed my brain and my body to get organized. I’d tried meds, and they helped, but at the end of the day my ADHD brain was gonna do whatever the hell it wanted. I just had to hold on for the ride and keep the casualties low in the process.
“Oh!” Hannah smacked my arm. “That’s our flight!”
I hadn’t heard the announcement nor felt the notification on my phone. This was why I couldn’t travel alone; I’d either miss my flight or end up on the wrong one.
My carry-on in hand, I followed Mark and Hannah to the gate. Excitement bubbled in my stomach as I walked through the sky bridge toward the airplane. This was going to be a trip of a lifetime. Memories would be made and dreams fulfilled. I couldn’t wait.