Chapter 14 #2
“Who’s laughing?” Theo took his shot and set the glass down on the counter with a clink.
“Phillip might be fucking evil, and Edward might be a child, but I have no doubt they want what they think is best for Thalania. They aren’t going to drive it into the ground and scatter its people to the wind.
Maybe it was narcissistic to think that I should be king.
I have you. We have Meg. We have more money than we could spend in a lifetime. Why the fuck do I need a country, too?”
Galen snagged the bottle and put it away before either of them could give into the temptation to get shit-faced.
“No, Theo. You’re not going down the road.
Your father wanted you to be king. He trained you to be king.
You have visions for Thalania that are a damn sight better than not driving it into the ground and scattering its people to the wind. That matters.”
“Why?”
He turned to look at his friend. Theo seemed to have aged years in the last few weeks. It should have made him look strung out and exhausted, but the stress had only sharpened his good looks. He really was a pretty fucker. Galen shook his head. “You know why.”
Theo was meant to be king by more than birth.
He genuinely loved his people, and he’d been in the process of putting policies into place that would bring their country to the world stage in a big way.
That was important. More than that, Theo knew Phillip wouldn’t be satisfied until he sat on the throne, instead of behind it.
Right now, he stood as third in line. The only way he could achieve his ambition was if both Cami and Edward were removed from the equation.
He couldn’t pull the same trick of picking the legalities of their parents’ marriage apart.
Their mother hailed from one of the oldest Families in Thalania. Her relatives would never stand for it.
Phillip would kill them.
It might take years. He was never one to do something to cast suspicion on himself, but he would do it.
Galen didn’t say any of that. He didn’t have to. Theo knew the truth, just like Galen knew why he was letting despair creep in. He walked around the corner of the island and pulled Theo into a hug. “We had a setback. It’s not the end. Don’t let this fuck up your head.”
“I know. Fuck, I know.” Theo’s lips moved against his temple as he spoke. “It’s hard to see the positives in this. I’m fighting and fighting and if we succeed, the prize is that I have to sacrifice two people that are most important to me.”
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
Theo huffed out a laugh. “Now I know you’re worried—you’re misquoting Shakespeare at me.”
Galen clasped the back of his neck and rested his forehead against Theo’s. “You were born for greatness. You were born to keep your people—all your people—safe. That matters more than anything as mundane as happiness.”
“Fuck, Galen, you’re terrible at pep talks.”
“It’s not one of my skills.” He couldn’t let Theo diverge from his path, no matter how attractive Galen found the idea of walking away and never looking back.
It wouldn’t work. Theo was too ambitious to sit back and meander through life without some great cause to fight for.
He might think he could leave Thalania behind, but the truth was he’d change his mind.
Or he’d spend the rest of his life resenting Galen and that resentment would poison everything.
No, there was no other way.
Theo had to be king.
Galen would do whatever it took to make it happen.
Something had changed while Meg was in the shower.
After pulling on one of Galen’s T-shirts, she’d walked out to find Theo brooding, his normally expressive face closed down and discouraging questions.
Galen’s mood hadn’t lightened, either. Meg picked at her pasta and promised herself that next time she would most definitely eavesdrop.
It was the only way to get reliable information with these two, for all that they claimed they wanted open communication.
Apparently, that only applied to sex.
It shouldn’t sting. They hadn’t promised her forever, despite Galen’s comment earlier, and she’d be a fool to want it.
She was a fool to want it.
Sometime in the last few weeks, Meg had slipped.
Her anger and desire had morphed into a deeper emotion that she wasn’t quite ready to put a name to.
It didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. When this was over, she’d go back to her life in New York and she’d only have her memories with these two men and the magic the three of them created together.
It wasn’t perfection. They were too human for something so flawless. What they had was messy and complicated and filled with an intimacy she hadn’t expected. Meg wasn’t sure of much in this world, but she was sure that Galen and Theo cared about her.
It wouldn’t stop them from leaving, but it still warmed her.
“Why an accountant?”
She jumped at Theo’s voice filling the silence at the table. Meg looked up to find both of them watching her. Had he asked the question more than once? She took a quick sip of water. “What?”
“Of all the things you could pursue a degree in, why did you choose something as boring as accounting?”
He would see it that way, wouldn’t he? She fought down her instinctive urge to bristle and tried to sort out an honest answer.
“My home life wasn’t a dream when I was growing up.
I worked my ass off to get enough scholarships to get the hell out of the town I grew up in, but I knew the only way to stay gone was to go into a stable career.
You know that old saying about death and taxes?
There is never a lack of demand for accountants. ”
“Stability.”
She glanced at Galen. “Yes. There’s the added bonus that numbers make sense to me. There’s no gray area or emotional bullshit. It’s just cold, hard facts. Black and white and red.”
Theo considered the bourbon in his tumbler. “What would you do if you weren’t so concerned with stability?”
“I don’t understand the question.” He shot her a look and she sighed.
The joke had been flat. “I don’t know, Theo.
I never put much thought into it. Pipe dreams don’t pay the bills.
They don’t put food in the fridge. They sure as hell don’t keep a roof over your head.
That’s what matters to me—not following some half-baked dream. ”
He took a long drink. “Indulge me, princess. If money wasn’t an issue and you had no ties, where would you go? What would feed your soul?”
He didn’t understand how much that question hurt.
He couldn’t. “Theo, I grew up in a double-wide that was one inspection away from being condemned. My mother drank herself stupid most days of the week, and when she didn’t have the cash to pay for that alcohol, she used other methods.
My childhood was hell. And when she went on a particularly brutal bender, she’d rant about how things were supposed to be different for her.
About all the dreams her pregnancy with me had dashed to pieces.
Dreams won’t get me anywhere but following in her footsteps.
” She set her fork aside. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be an asshole, I swear.
But what is an entertaining theoretical question for you is one that brings up a whole lot of emotional bullshit for me. ”
“It seems we’re all destined for futures that are practical and stripped of dreams.” He downed the entirety of his drink and gave himself a shake. “I’m the one who should apologize. I’m feeling particularly morose today. It’s not a good look for me.”
Galen pushed to his feet and gathered their plates.
“Thanks for telling us, Meg.” Here, in this place, he was softer than she’d ever seen him.
Not soft. She didn’t think there was a scenario where Galen could be soft.
But it was as if the sea and the house had dulled some of his sharper edges.
The anger that had rode him so hard for the last two weeks was nowhere in evidence.
She stood and walked around the table to press a kiss to Theo’s lips. “You don’t have to apologize for having a full spectrum of emotions, Theo.”
“Don’t I?” He shook his head. “I need some air.” He held up a hand before Galen could speak. “I’m not leaving the property. I’m going to take this bottle and go sit on the chair by the pool for a little bit.” He walked away before either of them could say anything.
Meg joined Galen at the sink. She grabbed a hand towel. “You wash. I’ll dry.” Through the window, she watched Theo stalk to one of the chairs and drop into it with a grace that he possessed even when angry. “Is he upset about the birth certificate or something else?”
“He’s pissed because I reminded him that we can’t have it all, no matter how much we want it.
” He scrubbed a plate, rinsed, and handed it to her.
“In a perfect world, Theo’s uncle wouldn’t be trying to kill us.
He wouldn’t have a country he needs to serve more than he needs to pursue his own happiness.
” He shot her a look. “You wouldn’t be going back to New York without us. ”
“Galen…” She dried the plate. Meg didn’t usually make a habit of asking questions unless she knew she was willing to hear the truthful answer. But she couldn’t seem to help it with these two. “What would a perfect world look like for him?”