Chapter 17
They drove Meg to the airport.
Galen stood next to Theo as they watched her work her way through the line to the ticket counter. In a few short hours, she’d be safe on a plane headed back to New York. On a plane out of their lives for good. “You sure about this?”
“Do you love her?”
Galen jerked around, surprise rocking him back on his heels. “What the fuck kind of question is that?”
“One you might as well have shouted your answer to.” Theo gave a small smile. “Have you thought about leaving it all behind? I know you liked New York.”
What was he on about?
Theo answered the question he hadn’t voiced. He held up his phone, the screen displaying an airline ticket with Galen’s name on it. “You should go with her.”
“What?”
“I took you for granted.” Theo slipped his phone into his pocket.
“You’ve always been there, and I never put much thought into a day when you might not.
It’s not fucking right, Galen. The only reason you don’t leave my side is because you feel like you owe me.
You don’t. There was never a debt, and if there had been, you would have repaid it a thousand times over.
I owe you.” His blue eyes held something akin to grief.
“You’ve given half your life to me, sacrificed every chance at happiness you had along the way. ”
He was going to fucking kill Theo. Galen closed the distance between them. “I love you, you idiot. You make me happy.”
“I made you happy. Made—past tense. It’s not going to work. Fuck, you know that better than I do.” Theo gave him a sad smile. “You deserve more than to be someone’s dirty little secret.”
“Who’s going to watch your back if I’m not there to cover your ass?” The thought of Theo moving through the tangled politics of Thalania without Galen at his six left him sick to his stomach. Who could he trust with Theo, besides himself?
He stopped short.
What the fuck kind of question was that? He had no business even considering how Theo would function without him, because he had no intention of going anywhere.
“I see that look in your eyes.” If anything, Theo’s smile turned even more bittersweet. “You’re just like our Meg, so focused on the path in front of your feet that you’ve never stopped to wonder if it’s the right one.”
“I’m not leaving you.” It was unthinkable. His life and Theo’s were inextricably linked. They had been for nearly two decades.
Theo cupped his jaw and stroked his thumb across Galen’s bottom lip.
“Yes, you are. Go with our girl. I can’t have her—I can’t have either of you—but I think you two could be happy if you both retract your spikes a little.
” He dropped his hand. “Besides, she’s going to need someone to stop her from hopping the next flight back to kick my ass the second she checks her bank account. ”
For fuck’s sake. “What did you do?”
“Go to New York with her and find out.” He half turned away. “Ah, here he is.”
Kozlov walked up with a bag in hand and passed it to Theo. “Packed to your specifications.”
“Thank you.” Theo turned back to Galen and shoved the suitcase into his hands.
“You’re checked in. Here are enough clothes to keep you for a couple days while you get your feet under you.
The apartment’s already been switched over to your name only.
” He chuckled, the sound dry and unconvincing.
“I considered putting Meg’s name on it as well, but then she really would fly back to Europe to kick my ass. ”
“Why are you doing this?” It was already decided. One look at Theo’s face told him that. If Galen tried to follow him, Kozlov no doubt had orders to knock him out and toss him into the cargo hold or something equally underhanded. No matter what he said, Theo would make sure he got on that plane.
Theo’s smile dropped as if it’d never existed and he let Galen see through all the bullshit to the staggering loss beneath.
It was like an abyss opened right in front of him, and one wrong move would send him tumbling in.
Just like that, Theo’s grin was back and his mask firmly replaced.
“Two out of three isn’t bad odds. Marry her.
Have a small horde of Mikos babies. Figure out what you both want without all the bullshit of responsibility and plans involved.
Be happy together.” Someone has to make it out of this happy.
The words he didn’t speak lay between them like a live thing.
Galen took a step back, the chasm in his chest growing deeper, more jagged. “You’re not giving me a goddamn choice.”
“Wrong. I’m giving you every choice.” Theo nodded at Kozlov and headed for the doors. “Be happy, Galen. Do it for me.”
You son of a bitch.
Galen spun on his heel and stalked to where Meg had just emerged from the ticket counter, her bag tucked under one arm. Her eyebrows shot up at the sight of his suitcase. “What’s going on?”
“Theo decided to play matchmaker.”
“Wait.” She caught his arm, and he dragged her a few steps before he finally slowed and turned to face her. Meg looked over her shoulder to where Theo had stood a few moments ago. “I’m going to need you to explain what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Our favorite almost-king has upgraded to playing god. He’s decided that since he can’t have you, I should. I guess I’m the fucking consolation prize.”
“Not a consolation prize.” She bristled. “He’s being a noble selfless idiot, isn’t he? Just like he was when he decided that I’m getting carted off home. I didn’t hear you complaining about that decision.”
“Because it’s the right fucking decision. You don’t have a stake in this game. You’re just a walking liability, and you deserve better than to play second fiddle to whatever noble Theo marries.”
Meg looked up at him with hazel eyes that saw too much. “It sucks when someone else makes the call for you, doesn’t it?”
Fuck, he hated having his choices thrown back in his face, but hell if she wasn’t right. Galen clenched his jaw. “Fine. I’ll play. What would you do if we didn’t decide to cart you back to New York?”
“I love you.” She reached out, almost tentatively, and pressed her hand over his heart.
“It seems stupid to say it like it means nothing, but it does to me. I love both of you.” Meg hesitated.
“This was never in my plan, and I don’t have some neat little answer for you.
I would have gone with you to Thalania. I would have done whatever Theo needed from me to help him take back the crown.
And after… I don’t know what would have happened after.
But I would have made my own decision about where I ended up. ”
They turned almost as one to look at the airport security line.
Galen had been following orders his whole fucking life.
First with his father, and then to Theo’s father, and then to Theo.
Granted, it was different with Theo. He loved that idiot, and Theo usually knew when to back down and let Galen’s expertise take over.
Not this time.
“If something happens to him, I’ll never forgive myself.”
She poked his chest. “That’s cute. Try again.”
Damn it, what did she want from him? But he knew, didn’t he?
“We keep saying there isn’t a way for the three of us to be together, but we haven’t even fucking tried.
Maybe it’ll blow up in our faces. Fuck, it probably will.
” He caught the edge of her smile and it made something in his chest twist. “I love you too, Meg. Both of you.”
Theo did, too. He wouldn’t be this determined to see them happy if love wasn’t involved. The emotion made people do stupid, noble shit like sending them off to be together while he resigned himself to a life apart.
No. Fuck that. Galen wasn’t leaving.
Neither, it seemed, was Meg.
He did some quick calculations. “They’ll have driven. Kozlov hates flying and avoids it whenever possible. If we leave now, we’ll barely be an hour behind them.” He knew Kozlov well enough to know which route he’d take back. The man was cautious and he’d be overly careful with Theo as a passenger.
They might even be able to make it across the border before Theo did.
Meg’s eyes lit up and she gave him a grin that was downright wicked. “What do you say we go get our man?”
He hooked the back of Meg’s neck and pulled her to him. Galen kissed her hard, loving the way she melted against him. When he finally lifted his head, they were both breathing hard. “I love you, Meg. I said it before, but I fucking mean it.”
“I know.” She nipped his bottom lip. “If you didn’t, you would have let me get on that plane and gone after Theo yourself.”
It would be complicated. He didn’t see a way forward for them that didn’t involve a shit ton of compromise and a healthy dose of pain.
Galen didn’t give a fuck.
For so long, his life had boiled down to one hard task: keep Theo safe. That wouldn’t change, but now there was somehow room for more. He’d make room for more.
He took Meg’s hand and tugged her toward the doors. “Let’s go get our man.”
When they drove across the border between Greece and Thalania, Theo expected to feel relief. Like he was finally coming home. Unfortunately, relief was in short supply.
Peace had left the building, too.
He had one chance to get this right or Phillip would no doubt build a dungeon just to throw him into it for the rest of his life.
But all Theo could think about was Galen and Meg.
They’d be close to landing in New York by now.
Meg would want to go back to that threadbare little apartment, but Galen would growl at her until she snapped and agreed to go to theirs.
No, not theirs anymore. Galen’s.