Page 54 of Fate of the Fallen
I pushed my chair away from the table and dropped the napkin I held beside my fork. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll finish my meal in my bedroom,” I announced, doing little to hide that this was an exit strategy, doing my best to get away before the accusations began to fly. I was certain my brothers knew exactly what Liam and I had been up to, but weren’t gracious enough to pretend they didn’t.
“And uh … will Liam be joining you up there? Perhaps for dessert?” Tobias asked next—this question being the straw that broke the camel’s back. They exploded with laughter and I could feel my face warming.
“You’re disgusting,” I accused, doing all I could to deflect. “All of you.”
I cast a look toward Liam who, smiling, took another healthy bite from the leg of lamb he held in his fist. He wasn’t bothered or embarrassed in the least, but hadn’t confirmed any of my brothers’ charges.
I took a step, but Declan had my wrist. “Don’t run off, Evangeline. We didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said sweetly. “It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t give you two a hard time about this.”
I stood there a moment, my chest and shoulders heaving after having been humiliated, but then I settled into my seat again. Ivan grabbed my hand and squeezed it when he smiled.
I was quiet, moving food around my plate, but not bothering to eat. My stomach was too topsy-turvy to even try.
My brothers had gone silent, too. And that was, perhaps, the most unnerving part. I was used to them being a boisterous bunch, so this strange behavior had set my nerves on edge.
Frustrated, I let out a sigh and dropped my fork to the plate, eyeing each of them.
“Just … say whatever it is you have to say,” I urged. “The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can move on.”
I sat, waiting, but none of them spoke.
“Seriously? First, you couldn’t seem to keep your snide remarks to yourself. Now, you’re suddenly all out of things to say? Unbelievable …” I scoffed.
“Calm down,” Ethan chuckled. “You know how we feel about Liam. He’s as much a part of our family as anyone else sitting at this table. None of us could think of a better man to love and care for you, our one and only sister.”
A smile followed the statement and some of the hostility I built up toward them faded.
A little, anyway.
“Have either of you thought of how you’ll break the news to Father?”
It was Caleb who asked, and all eyes darted toward him. While the current me had no recollection of what Noah was like as a father, the version of myself in this memory felt a spike in her heartrate. I guessed that meant she was at least mildly concerned how he’d react.
“There’s no reason to tell him,” I blurted.
Caleb erupted with laughter and I stared at him. “Are you insane? Noah believes it is his God-given right and his duty to know everything that goes on in hiskingdom.Sowhat makes you think he won’t be angry if something beneath this very roof goes on without his knowing?”
“And what’s so difficult about it?” Ivan jumped in again. “You’ll only be telling him one of his sons has been … intimate … with his beloved daughter, the jewel in his crown. Nothing odd about that, right?”
The crass phrasing made me uncomfortable, my expression shifted to match.
“Yes, Liam is family, and like a son to him, a brother to you six, but … I’ve never looked at him that way,” I shared. The part of that I didn’t admit out loud was that I never looked at him in that light because, even as a little girl, I felt something for him.
Love that was not familial in nature.
I cleared my throat after pondering that for a moment, deciding it was too personal to share.
“Oh, I can hear the rumors now,” Ethan laughed. “Scandal in the palace,” he added, stating the words as though they would be the headline of some newspaper.
Or … whatever people relied on for news updates back then.
“How did you all know anyway?” I asked, finally feeling settled enough to give eating another try. I’d just bitten into an apple when Tobias answered.
“The same way Mother and Father would have known iftheyhad the misfortune of their bedroom being in the same wing as yours.”
His response made me swallow before I meant to, and the chunk of fruit in my mouth went down the wrong way. I reached for my wine again as they all shared a laugh at my expense.
Brothers …