33. Rurik #3
“What the fuck do you mean? Are you saying his mom is some sort of royal?” I walk up behind him to try and make sense of what he’s saying.
“I am saying exactly that. He’s a prince.”
“What? Of, like, England?” This has got to be a prank. I’d know if he was Harry’s brother. Plus, he’d be a lot balder. “Did Locke put you up to this shit?”
But Locke wouldn’t have. He isn’t nearly funny enough.
“No, not England. There are other countries that have kings.”
“Still? Sounds fake.”
“Yes, still. For as smart as you are, this is a really weird knowledge gap.”
I shrug. “I don’t believe in fairytales that don’t involve great dick. I probably assumed all that stuff was fake.”
“In school?”
“Where is his kingdom?” I lean forward looking at his screen.
“It’s a small European country.”
Ash’s words echo in my head: his brother is inheriting a much bigger title…
He downplayed the fuck outta that.
How did I not put this together?
“What’s the connection to the royal family?”
“His father, Gustav Conrad, married the King’s younger sister. Hence no last name for his mother.”
It all adds up, and Ash under fucking sold it a lot, which also makes sense. Christ. No wonder his brother’s life is in danger. King is a much bigger deal than some meaningless title. Even if it’s attached to a fortune and a bunch of land.
King is silent.
“There’s more?” There has to be. If it was just this, he could have emailed me. It’s fucked but not I need to speak to you in person fucked.
“Yeah.”
“Well? Rip the damn Band-Aid off.”
He makes a pained face. “His mother was a Hastings. Kind of.”
I have no words.
None.
It can’t be.
And then my mind races.
Time stops, and my vision narrows. “What do you mean, kind of?”
“It’s not their official surname. It’s like saying Prince William’s last name is Windsor.”
“What’s her first name?” I almost don’t want to ask.
It’s not King’s fault, but I’m getting impatient, and my intuition is screaming at me like it has been for weeks. I know I’m fucking missing something.
He pulls it up. “Eleonore.”
The name isn’t even close to Astor.
“Is there an Astor anywhere in the royal family?” I pace his room, trying not to lose my shit. Not able to process how Ash is so close to all this. How it’s all too close without any fucking answers.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get that far yet. I figured you’d want to know immediately. Or maybe your father just called one of them Astor? Could it be a nickname?”
Is she Astor? Could we all be wrong in thinking my dad was cheating with a guy when it was a woman?
“Where is his mother? Could her nickname be Astor?” My gut tells me she’s not. My father was cheating with a man. We all knew it.
King types for a minute. “Er—She’s dead.”
No wonder Ash has never mentioned her. Shit.
“For how long?”
“Let me check.” He types again, opening a different screen. “A decade.”
“Fuck.” I need more than ever to kill the motherfucker that is my father for even making me doubt Ash. “Can you get me a file on his father?”
“Of course. Give me a few days.”
“Okay.”
“You know I have to tell Locke.”
“Can you give me a few days?”
King hesitates. “Maybe.”
King knows how long I’ve been looking for Astor Hastings. It’s been over two years since my mom found out, so it can’t be Ash. He would have been fifteen or sixteen.
It doesn’t make sense. Ash is too fucking innocent.
So what am I missing?
I find Kiho and regurgitate the entire conversation I had with King.
“I am speechless.”
“Me, too.”
We sit in silence for a long time.
“You’re different with him. I’ve never seen you like this with anyone.” There’s sadness in his eyes, and I don’t even want him to say anything else.
“I know.”
Kiho locks his dark gaze with mine. “What if he’s using you to get in?”
“He’s not.” I’m sure of it.
“How can you know another’s mind?”
“If he is, I’d let him do whatever he wants to me. I’d let him kill me if it makes him happy.”
Kiho falls silent again but finally says, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does he know you love him?”
“I didn’t tell you I love him.” But I’m sure my face gives it away now.
“You didn’t have to.”
“It’s really rude of you to know me so well, even if we are best friends. I’m not good with being transparent in my time of crisis.” I need to fucking put all the pieces floating around in my mind into place so I can figure out what the fuck is going on.
“Do you want me to pretend to not know?”
“Fuck off.”
“I’m doing my best with American pretending everything is fine culture.” He gives me the most judgmental look I’ve ever seen.
“He’ll get there.” I think he does, in his own way.
“Are you sure?” Kiho is soft with me and I love him for it.
“I can lead him to water and drown him if he doesn’t drink.”
He starts to nod in agreement but stops himself. “I don’t think that’s how that saying goes.”
“I think it is.”
“It’s lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Like you can try to make him love you but can’t force him.”
“I like mine better.”
I get back into bed with Ash, but I can’t sleep.
Maybe I should just ask him who Astor is, but every time I decide I’m about to, I feel like I’m on a cliff, and if I do, we’ll both be shoved into unknown waters.