13
Alarie
Rhett shot the eight ball into the far corner pocket with a deafening thud, looking smug. Bar Louie was particularly busy for a Tuesday night, but we’d managed to grab one of the three pool tables.
“Rack ‘em baby,” he crooned in a sultry manner, running a hand through his golden hair.
Even when he was gloating about beating me, he still managed to be supernaturally good looking, I thought, annoyed. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the pool table. Luke walked over from our table near the bar, and my gaze focused in on the way his cotton t-shirt pulled over his muscled chest. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, an extremely casual look for him and one that I really thought he should embrace more often.
With a knowing smile, he leaned over me, resting his palms on the pool table on each side of my body. I looked up into his dazzling sky-blue eyes. He leaned in, and I parted my lip slightly, ready to accept his kiss. He moved to the side of my face instead and whispered in my ear.
“I’ll rack them for you, Al baby.”
Unlike when Rhett used the nickname, the words on Luke’s lips made something in my body react. I felt like his sultry words were somehow directly tethered to the space between my thighs. He pulled away from the table with the triangular rack in his hands. I slapped his chest, squeezing my thighs tightly closed.
“Tease,” I said, accusingly.
Rhett, Luke, and I had quickly and easily moved past the events that occurred between us at and after the Summer Ball. There had been no further discussion, or concern, about me being Rhett’s mate. Rhett was still hot and heavy with James. And Luke and I had gone back to doing what we wanted, when we wanted. We weren’t exactly dating. If anything, we were perhaps a little more guarded with each other now. When we had been worried that I was Rhett’s mate, things had gotten awfully intense, awfully fast, and that just wasn’t what either Luke or I was looking for at the moment.
Things were actually going quite smoothly for me at the High Court lately. My role with House Dumont now felt more like a success now that we had at least one lesser fae liaison placed at every House at the High Court. Already the Court felt more lively and diverse with the new faces around.
“You guys want to meet over at my place before the Ball tomorrow?” Rhett asked. “James will be over. I’ll have some people from out-of-town over, too.”
Reaching for a stray ball, Luke shot a glance my way from over his shoulder and then straightened up, plopping the ball in the rack with a thud.
“I have to meet up with Karina for the Ball. Karina Dempsey,” he clarified. “She just moved to the High Court. And I…” Luke looked over at me again. “I promised my mother a while back I’d take her to the Fall Ball. And you know, with things how they are in the north, the King is expecting me to make sure House Dempsey remains a strong ally.”
Luke was almost rambling, which was odd for him. Rhett faded to the other end of the pool table, applying chalk to the tip of his cue stick like he wasn’t the one who had started the conversation to begin with.
“But, you know, I could probably get out of it. My parents are used to me disappointing them at this point,” he joked.
I looked at Luke, furrowing my eyebrows. I knew about Luke’s agreement with his parents regarding Karina. He’d told me about it months ago. And it wasn’t like Luke and I were exclusive. We had just happened to have been with only each other lately.
“What? Because of me?” I asked. “Oh. No, Luke. It’s okay,” I assured him.
I was under no illusions regarding my relationship with Luke. We were friends with really, really great benefits. But he wasn’t dating me like he was going to date Karina. There were no hopes of the King and the Kingdom tied to our time together. He looked at me from under his brows.
“I’m good.” I nudged him with my shoulder and gave him a small, reassuring smile.
Rhett began to head back to the head of the pool table to make his break.
“You don’t have to worry about me. Really,” I reassured Luke. “Actually, Cass wrote to me and told me he would be there and… he asked me to go with him,” I said.
Rhett veered back to the end of the pool table, seemingly deciding his cue needed even more chalk.
Cass had written and asked to take me to the Fall Ball. But almost immediately after his first letter, a second letter had shown up saying he didn’t know if he’d be able to make it, after all. But I would figure it out if he didn’t show. I just didn’t want Luke to feel obligated to be my date for the evening. Luke pressed his lips together, the faintest hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Well, I guess that settles it, then,” he said. “We both have dates.”
Rhett popped up between us. He’d clearly been listening to every word we’d said.
“Good! It’s settled. I’ll see all four of you tomorrow at my place,” Rhett concluded.
Rhett leaned over the pool table, stroking his cue and preparing to make his break as victor of the last game.
“Are you inviting the Prince to your little shindig?” Luke asked.
Rhett ceased his stroking of the cue and perked up, looking at Luke.
“The Prince? Why would I?” Rhett asked, bemused.
“You didn’t hear?” Luke asked. “The Prince has decided to grace us with his presence for this Fall Ball.”
Rhett raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Really? I thought he only came around the High Court for the Choosing?” I asked.
I had never so much as glimpsed the Prince in all of my time at the High Court. To my knowledge, the only time he had been to the High Court in years was for the Prince’s Choosing, which only occurred once a year. And last year I’d been away with Jay at Breakpoint during the Prince’s Choosing.
Although I’d never met the Prince, I got the general impression that he was not well-liked around the High Court, particularly among the male fae. I could see why the men may not appreciate the Prince’s annual ceremony involving their sisters, girlfriends, and, in some instances, wives, because no one was exempt from the Prince’s Choosing. The women were lined up like cattle, picked through, and then passed over by the Prince year after year.
The women around Court, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as put out by the process of the Choosing. After all, whatever flaws the Prince may have, he was still the sole Prince of Valencia and heir to the throne. And drop dead gorgeous, according to James.
James previously explained to me how she’d gone through the Choosing many years ago. This year, I would have to participate in the ceremony. I think I sided with men at Court on their opinion regarding the Prince. I didn’t care how amazingly good-looking he was. I wasn’t some piece of chattel to be compared with the rest. And I wanted to pick my own future, including my future partner.
“Apparently, he wasn’t able to wiggle out of this one,” Luke replied. “With Jay being out of town because he is expecting the baby any day now.” Luke cut his eyes to me, and I tried to appear as blaséas possible.
The truth was that I had some regrets about how things ended with Jay, but my decision to bow out of being part of the new, happy Vitruvian family was not one of them. Jay’s unborn baby was nearly as renowned and mystical as the Prince around the High Court. The miracle baby, the first fae baby to be born in twenty-three years. I didn’t think that mistress or House Consort to the happy new parents would be an enviable position to be in at the High Court. I was thankful that, for the most part, my relationship with Jay was relegated to whispers at the High Court and that the Lord of Whispers could contain those.
“I doubt the Prince wants to come to my little get together, anyway,” Rhett replied. “After all, I don’t think we’ve received a single invite to any event at the Emerald Court since the Queen’s passing,” Rhett noted.
This was another reason for the Prince’s apparent dislike at the High Court. The only time he ever showed his face at Court was for the Choosing. There was an understanding around Court that the Prince thought himself too good to mix with the masses. Instead, he kept to himself at the Emerald Court and surrounded himself with sycophants. The Prince infrequently hosted events at the Emerald Court, and when he did, the invite list was always very exclusive.
Rhett got back to his break and shot the cue ball so hard it struck the rest of the balls with a resounding crack, causing many of the balls to scatter into pockets.
“Your turn, Al baby,” Rhett said, handing me his cue.
“Actually,” Luke interjected, intercepting the cue, “I called winner.”