Page 8 of Royally Tempted

“Hey, good luck today with your hot new boss.” I almost didn’t say it, but I couldn’t resist.

“See if he’s got a crown tattoo!”

Julia bolted from the apartment as I chuckled and sipped my coffee.

The second she was gone though, I ran back to the desk in my room and opened the notes from the night before.

Okay, this story hadlegs, and now, I was determined to see where it led.

Chapter 3

Landon

The wind was stillas we knelt on the edge of cliffs overlooking the sea on the Bellhaven shore. My eyes closed, and I tensed my fist, forcing myself to keep my voice steady and my emotions in check.

“Anyways, sir, we just wanted to say we were thinking about you today. Hope you’re having a great party wherever you are.”

I glanced at my brothers, all of us nodding solemnly at each other as we rose. Malcolm picked the bottle of the 30-year scotch we’d brought and took a solid swig out of the bottle before passing it to Joaquin. My other triplet did the same, his eyes fierce as he looked out over the water before he passed it to me.

“Here’s to you, Dad,” I said quietly. “Happy birthday.”

I took a drink from the bottle before the three of us turned to each other, hugging the others fiercely before pulling away.

It’d been almost a full year without him, but this was his first birthday without dadhere, amongst the living. Time had helped with the grieving process, but the hurt was still real from the loss.

Our mom we’d lost early, when my brothers and I were still little. So it was our father who’d raised us to the men that we were today. Not all kings would have done that, and we knew it. Most kings would have left the raising of his children after the death of his queen to the help — to nannies and tutors, and people he could pay to raise his kids how they ought to be raised in the world of royal blood.

Not our dad though. Even as the lord regent of a kingdom, the man had raised us, spent time with us, taught us, and loved us every damn day of our lives — bringing us up to be the men of honor and dignity that we were.

And then one day, he was gone.

The cancer had spread so fucking fast it still made me furious to think about. That a man like our father — a brave, immeasurably strong rock of a man had gone that quick to something as bullshit as the big C-word had been like taking a knife to the gut. One day he’d been with us, laughing and smiling, and the next, he was gone, leaving Bellhaven without a king.

And in Bellhaven, that presented a problem. You see, our kingdom was a little old-fashioned. The line of succession here was like the old days — father to son to grandson. A lot off kingdoms were doing things differently these days — senates and councils and all that, which was probably the better idea seeing as it was the modern age and not the land of King Arthur anymore.

But Bellhaven hung onto its traditions. And normally, the oldest son would become king, but when the king leaves behindthreesons and they happen to be identical triplets?

Well, exactly. That’s a problem.

Technically, one of us was older than the other two, but when we’d been born, in an effort to make sure no one was ever the favorite and each was loved no matter what, our mother had had the official order of birth expunged. So it was a mystery which of us had actually popped out first. I suspected it was Malcolm, for whatever reason — maybe just instinct — but no one really knew.

Which meant no one really knew who was to be king.

We hadn’t hadmuchtime to prepare for dad’s passing, but he’d always been a man of planning and foresight. Except, he’d never said a word about who was to take the throne after. Even when it’d come up, he’d just said that we’d know when the time came.

Well, then it came, and it turns out, he hadn’t written it or willed it anywhere. So, for almost a year, the whole thing had been under review with no end in sight. Three princes, one throne, and no solution in sight. We’d even offered to just draw straws and get it done with. After all, the stability of our kingdom camefarbefore any personal pride for us. We honestly didn’t care which of us was “officially” king. We knew whoever it was, it’d really be all three of us making the decisions anyways.

But the council said no.

Fucking traditions, man.

The thing was, we’d be great at running and governing Bellhaven as the three of us. Hell, we could practically read each other’s minds half the damn time, being triplets and all. I knew how my brothers thought through problems and tough decisions, because it was howI’dthink them through.

And on top of that, we were beyond close. Hell, we were three parts to one whole, really. We did everything together. We’d played the same games and sports as kids, and on the same teams even. We’d picked up the same hobbies, read the same books, wanted to be the same superheroes for halloween.

Then we’d gotten older, and figured out something else that we all wanted.

The samegirls.

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