Fatal Princess by Ella Miles

Ri

“Ready to go to bed?” Caius asks me as the ballroom slowly starts clearing.

The others glare at him.

“What? I didn’t mean go to bed with me, just go to sleep,” Caius snaps back.

I put my hand on Caius’s arm. “I knew what you meant.” I yawn, stretching my arms. “And yes, please.”

I’m not sure where we are all going to sleep, but I’m more than ready to stop watching Beckett and Odette’s displays of affection, real or fake.

I stand up, and Caius leads me outside, followed by the others. The sun set hours ago, and there’s a chill in the air. I shiver, and Caius is right there to put the blanket I left behind in the banquet hall around me.

“Thanks,” I say with a soft smile.

“Of course.” He puts his hands in his pockets as we walk toward a nearby hotel where Caius has rooms reserved for the night. The others follow behind.

No one speaks about Beckett’s declaration of war. No one knows what’s going on in his head anymore, and no one wants to speculate. That, or they don’t want to bring up his name around me in case it hurts me.

We reach the hotel, and Caius goes to the desk to collect our keys.

He returns and holds out a key for me.

“What about everyone else?” I ask.

Hayes runs up to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. “We aren’t letting you out of our sight again.”

“Since that worked so well the last time,” Lennox grumbles.

Hayes frowns. “Well, this time, we’ll do shifts, so someone is awake at all times. We won’t let anyone through, not this time. We promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I say.

Hayes’s scowl deepens.

Caius starts walking toward the elevators, and I follow. Then we are all riding up to the top floor, where we will all be sharing a room. But when Caius opens the door, I realize it’s a suite taking up half the floor. There are plenty of places for the guys to crash that aren’t two feet away from my bed—thank god.

“I’m going to shower,” I say, walking through the suite to the main bedroom and ensuite bathroom.

Every guy in the room starts following me.

I snap my head back toward them. “Alone.”

Lennox and Hayes chuckle. “We aren’t going to stand in the bathroom with you, but we need to do a quick sweep first. Then someone will be outside your door at all times,” Lennox says.

I roll my eyes but let the guys pass. Every single one of them heads into the bathroom like they don’t trust the others to do a security sweep.

Finally, one by one, they file back out. “All good?” I cross my arms over my chest as I smirk at them.

“All good,” Gage says.

I walk into the bathroom. Apparently, Hayes got bathroom duty because every five minutes, he hollers into the bathroom, and I have to holler back to keep him from breaking down the door.

I sigh as the hot water pours over me. So much for a hot, relaxing shower in solitude to wash away the pain of the day.

I find a robe on the back of the door and wrap it around me rather than putting my dirty clothes back on. I open the door to find all five of the guys inspecting the bedroom or lounging on the bed.

“You do know this place has a lot more space than just this one room, right?” I say, toweling off my hair.

Their eyes zero in on my body, peeking out a little too much thanks to this loose-fitting robe, but I don’t care. I’m not Beckett’s. And I’m comfortable. I’m not ashamed of my body, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to fuck any of them either.

I walk over to the edge of the bed and climb up as no one responds to my snarky comment.

“What?” I finally ask, knowing there is something they aren’t telling me.

“Corsi called,” Ryker says.

I frown, and all the warmth in the room leaves. “What did he want?”

“To talk to you.”

I take a couple of deep breaths. I don’t know if he was behind Kek kidnapping me. I don’t know what crazy thing my father demands of me now, but I need to talk to him.

“Get him on the phone,” I say.

Caius pulls out his phone and dials a number, then hands the phone to me.

I take it, unsure if the others should be listening to this conversation or not, but I doubt I’ll convince any of them to leave. Even if I do, Gage will just fasten something to listen through the door.

“Hello,” Vincent’s deep voice comes through the phone.

“Vincent, you called?”

“I did. I’m surprised you returned my call so quickly. You have a tendency not to follow my directions.”

“Just trying to keep you on your toes.”

He ignores me. “I thought you’d like to know that you get to pick the next game.”

My eyes shoot out of my head. I wasn’t sure my father really considered me part of the game. I didn’t think if my name was selected, he’d actually let me choose the game.

“Do I need to tell you ahead of time?” I ask.

“I’ll summon you about an hour before the game is supposed to start. That should give us enough time to set up whatever you have planned.”

Suddenly, the phone line goes dead.

He ended the call without a goodbye or a chance for me to ask any other questions.

I lower the phone, still in shock.

“What did he want?” Caius asks.

“I get to choose the game.”

Everyone’s mouth drops.

“I know,” I say, my own mouth hanging open.

“Do you know what game you’ll pick?” Gage asks.

I shake my head. I honestly don’t.

“If you could give me a heads up, Princess, I’d appreciate it. I’d like to not die this week,” Ryker says.

I smile at him. “I’ll make sure it’s a game that won’t end in your death. Maybe just seriously injured,” I tease.

He laughs.

I get to pick the game.

I could pick something that plays to my strengths. Something I could win and have all the power. If I won, would I get to take care of myself for the week instead of having to live with others?

I don’t know if Vincent would ever allow that.

I climb into the bed, exhausted and tired of violence. Whatever game I choose won’t be violent. It will be civilized, maybe something to help my father actually see the men’s merits. See why they would or wouldn’t make a good husband for me.

It probably won’t help, and the next week someone else will come up with another violent game. But at least this time, I can do something that won’t end in death this week.

I close my eyes as ideas start spinning in my head. The guys make themselves comfortable on the floor around me in silence.

“This bed is big enough for at least one or two more. Not everyone should sleep on the floor,” I say.

There’s some hushed mumbling, and then I feel two bodies climbing into the bed, one on either side of me.

I smile and peek my eyes open to see Hayes on one side and Caius on the other.

I’ll sleep well tonight.

The sounds come. They’re muffled at first, but they grow stronger with every bang of the bed against the wall.

I can’t breathe, I’m suffocating, this is my worst nightmare.

I don’t think the others realize who it is at first. They, after all, are not intimately familiar with the sounds one of them makes like I am. But after a minute of the sound coming through the wall, there is no denying who is on the other side and what they are doing.

How could they end up in the room right next door?

My memories are fuzzy about the last couple of days. I thought I was okay with Beckett choosing Odette. As long as he’s happy, I’m happy for him. But this…this breaks me—every moan, every bang of her head against the headboard, every cry of his name.

The tears fall, and they don’t stop.