Page 37 of The King's Fake Bride

“Try not to stress yourself out about it.” I clap him on the shoulder as his phone starts ringing. “Sooner or later, Jorge will come around, and he’ll see that I’m right like I usually am.”

Atticus scoffs and shakes his head, pushing open the doors to the stables. “In your imagination, probably.”

“Honestly, I doubt even there.”

My cousin laughs, drawing Amy’s attention as she walks her horse slowly back and forth in front of the barn. Atticus nods to her, his smile falling slightly.

I elbow him in the side. “I don’t know what your problem is with her, but you need to get it together.”

“There’s no problem with her. I just know that when she leaves, you’re going to be wrecked,” Atticus says, then groans as hisphone starts ringing. “I bet a hundred dollars that Jorge is calling us back for a full council meeting.”

“He would be.” I roll my eyes as Atticus checks his messages. “I told him to do something with the idea that I was going to spend the rest of my day the way I wanted, and now I’m going to have to get reamed out by the council over and over.”

“Maybe not over and over, but I’m sure you’re not going to hear the end of this,” he says, hauling open the door and gesturing into the castle. “After you.”

I sigh. “What are the chances of me running away and you not telling them that I did?”

“If I have to suffer, so do you.”

As he leads me inside, I’m sure it’s for the best.

If I spend the rest of the day with Amy and avoid all the other duties I have to fulfill, someone is going to have something to say about it.

I’m going to give the council more than enough to complain about over the next two and a half years. Paperwork doesn’t need to be one of them.

And it would be good to spend some time away from Amy.

I can’t lose myself in her only to wake up one morning and find her gone.

CHAPTER 14

AMY

Gabby’s face fills my screen, her margarita untouched in front of her. “I can’t believe you’ve been engaged forthree weeksand didn’t tell me. I had to find out while scrolling on my feed.”

I wince and shrink back in my chair, kicking my feet up on the coffee table. “I know I should’ve told you sooner, but honestly it still seems insane. Getting engaged to a man I just met on the beach is something wild. It’s not me.”

She scoffs, taking a big sip of her drink. “Yeah, sure, let’s keep pretending this is some random man and not the king of Katastinia. That’s a great idea.”

“I feel like we’ve entered a very sarcastic place right now.” I bite back a smile as she rolls her eyes, but the guilt still eats at me. “I know I should’ve told you about him, but there’s never been a good time. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.”

“Do you love him?” Gabby asks, her tone stern as she leans closer to the camera. “Because if you love him, I’m all for this, but if not, then I don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I think I will, in time.”

I bite my lip. I haven’t told Gabby that this whole arrangement is fake. And even though there’s this part of me that wants to tell her the truth, I can’t.

This is the first time it’s felt like I’m catching up to my friends in years, and I’m not going to ruin it.

Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Is a divorce or a massive lie better?

“All right, so that’s what I don’t understand, then. Why are you marrying this man?”

“I just… I want an adventure. We like each other, and when I’m with him, it just feels right.”

There.

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